Visiting Fort Worth, United States: Top Sights on Foot

The best things to do in Fort Worth combine American Western heritage with museums, historic architecture, aviation, and science. From the art-filled Cultural District to downtown’s Sundance Square and the historic places connected with cowboy culture, Fort Worth offers several distinct areas to explore on foot. Neywo has a free audio guide for Fort Worth with 66 narrated places.

What to See in Fort Worth

Kimbell Art Museum

The Kimbell Art Museum is one of Fort Worth’s most distinctive cultural destinations. Its collection began with works gathered by Kay and Velma Kimbell, who also provided the funds for a building to house them. Designed by architect Louis I. Kahn, the museum is widely regarded as a significant work of modern architecture.

Its vaulted gallery ceilings are especially memorable for the silvery natural light that enters the spaces. Alongside its collection, the museum presents traveling exhibitions, educational programs, and an extensive research library.

Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Also in the Cultural District, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper created in the United States and its territories. The collection ranges from the early nineteenth century to the present.

The museum opened in 1961 as the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. Its original collection included more than 300 works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, assembled by Fort Worth publisher and philanthropist Amon G. Carter Sr. Photography is a particular strength, with works spanning the earliest years of the medium to contemporary images. Rotating selections from the permanent collection mean that the experience can change from one visit to the next.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Known simply as The Modern, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth focuses on international modern and contemporary art from the period after the Second World War to the present. Its collection includes more than 3,000 works, including painting, photography, prints, sculpture, video, and digital art.

The museum’s building is itself a major part of the visit. Japanese architect Tadao Ando designed it in collaboration with former chief curator Michael Auping, and it opened to the public in December 2002. The collection includes movements such as abstract expressionism, color field painting, pop art, minimalism, and new image painting from the 1970s.

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History brings together science, history, and interactive learning in the Cultural District. Its attractions include permanent and traveling exhibitions, the Noble Planetarium, and the Omni Theater.

The museum’s different spaces cover a wide range of subjects. The Fort Worth Children’s Museum is designed for young visitors up to age eight, while the Cattle Raisers Museum follows the history of the cattle industry. Energy Blast examines how energy is produced and used, and DinoLabs and DinoDig turn paleontology into a hands-on experience. Innovation Studios adds five glass-walled spaces for experimentation: Inventor, Doodler, Designer, Imaginer, and Explorer.

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame celebrates women of the American West and honors their courage, pioneering determination, and influence on the region’s history. The museum began in a small basement beneath a library in Hereford, in West Texas. Margaret Clark Formby founded the collection, and Fort Worth became its home in 1975.

Beyond the Hall of Fame, the museum includes exhibits, a research library, and a collection of rare photographs. New honorees are added each year, keeping the achievements of women in the American West at the center of the institution.

Botanical Research Institute of Texas and Fort Worth Japanese Garden

The Botanical Research Institute of Texas connects plant research with public learning. This nonprofit institute brings together scientific study, conservation, and the sharing of botanical knowledge. It was established in 1987 for the herbarium and botanical library collections of Lloyd H. Shinners from Southern Methodist University.

The nearby Fort Worth Japanese Garden offers a quieter setting within the Cultural District. Together, these places show a different side of Fort Worth, where botanical knowledge, conservation, and carefully designed natural spaces complement the city’s museums.

Sundance Square and the Sid Richardson Museum

Sundance Square is one of the best places to explore downtown Fort Worth. Its historic surroundings include notable buildings and architecture from different periods. The area is also home to the Sid Richardson Museum, whose admission is always free.

The museum’s permanent collection grew from the personal holdings of oilman and philanthropist Sid Williams Richardson. It includes paintings by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as works by other artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The paintings present both artistic visions of the American West and the realities associated with it. The museum opened in 1982 in a replica of an eighteen ninety-five building designed to fit the character of Fort Worth around the turn of the twentieth century.

Fort Worth Water Gardens and St. Patrick Cathedral

The Fort Worth Water Gardens are a notable downtown stop and a rewarding place to experience the city on foot. Nearby, Saint Patrick Cathedral is a Catholic landmark at the corner of Twelfth and Throckmorton Streets. It serves as a parish of the Diocese of Fort Worth and as the seat of its bishop.

The present cathedral began in 1888, when its first stone was laid, and was officially dedicated in 1892. Architect James J. Kane combined Second Empire, Gothic Revival, and Prairie styles, giving the building a distinctive character. Saint Patrick Cathedral is also a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Fort Worth Stockyards and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame

The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame is located in Historic Barn A and celebrates people who have demonstrated excellence in rodeo and supported the Western lifestyle in Texas. Its exhibits include the Sterquell Wagon Collection, the John Justin Trail of Fame, the Chisholm Trail Exhibit, the Applewhite-Clark Exhibit, Adventures of the Cowboy Trail, and the Zigrang Horse Bit Collection.

The museum also displays Amon G. Carter’s 1933 Cadillac and includes The Jersey Lilly Old-Tyme Photo Parlour. Behind the Exchange Building, visitors can view the steers in public pens, take photographs, and speak with drovers about their work and the history of the practice.

The Stockyards area also includes Cowtown Coliseum and Billy Bob’s Texas. Together with the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, these places make the district an essential stop for anyone interested in Fort Worth’s Western identity.

Fort Worth’s aviation museums

The Fort Worth Aviation Museum stands next to Meacham International Airport. It was rebranded in 2013, having previously been known as Veterans Memorial Air Park.

The Vintage Flying Museum is another place to explore the city’s aviation history. It preserves America’s flying heritage through aircraft and the people who care for them.

Other historic places in Fort Worth

Several smaller sites add depth to a visit. Van Zandt Cottage and the Rogers-O’Daniel House are historic places in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. Tarrant County itself was established in 1849 and organized the following year, with Fort Worth serving as its county seat and largest city.

Fort Worth is also home to the headquarters of oneworld, the global airline alliance founded on February 1, 1999. Since December 2022, its headquarters have been located in Fort Worth.

For more ideas across the state, explore Texas, or continue your trip to Dallas, Austin, or El Paso.

Explore Fort Worth with Neywo

Neywo turns Fort Worth into a self-guided audio experience. The app offers four walking tours, one bus route, and one bike route, with 66 narrated places in total. The walking tours range from 0.63 to 3.9 km and from 26 to 98 minutes. The bus route covers 9.6 km in 41 minutes, while the bike route covers 0.5 km in 2 minutes.

Choose the route that suits your plans:

• Sundance Square: Skyscrapers, Panthers and a Watching Knight — 2.25 km, 84 minutes, 12 stops
• Water Gardens, Cathedral and Quality Hill Mansions — 3.9 km, 95 minutes, 9 stops
• Cultural District: Kimbell, Cowgirls and a House of Tomorrow — 3.65 km, 98 minutes, 9 stops
• Stockyards: Honky Tonks and Cowboy Halls of Fame — 0.63 km, 26 minutes, 4 stops
• The Dash: Cultural District Back to Sundance Square — 9.6 km, 41 minutes, 7 stops
• Cultural District Museum Hop by Bike — 0.5 km, 2 minutes, 2 stops

Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages. Download Neywo and explore Fort Worth while the app tells the story of each museum, building, garden, and historic district as you arrive.