25+ FUN things to do in Nebraska - Adventures of A+K (2024)

In this guide we’re sharing 25+ fun things to do in Nebraska! Trust us, you’re going to be very surprised by this midwestern state!

Nebraska may not be at the top of your “must-visit” state list. And if we’re being honest, it wasn’t at the top of ours either. But on our mission to visit all 50 states, we spent 5 days road tripping around Nebraska, our 41st state.

Unlike most visitors who quickly drive through and never venture off of I-80, we wanted to (mostly) abandon the highway and discover the state’s hidden gems. And wow, were we VERY pleasantly surprised!

During our road trip we saw crazy geology and rock formations, floated down the river in a stock tank (TOO much fun!), and ate some seriously delicious local eats. It was a great reminder that there are amazing things to do everywhere, even in the places you may not expect.

And in this guide we’re sharing some legitimately FUN things to do in Nebraska! Whether you’re just passing through or want to dedicate a whole road trip to the state, Nebraska is full of underrated gems just waiting to be discovered.

25+ FUN things to do in Nebraska

Statewide

Although we are splitting up most things to do in Nebraska by region, there is one thing that you can do across the entire state that is WELL worth mentioning.

Runza is a fast food chain in Nebraska, with over 70 locations, and is known for its Runza sandwich. This is a yeast dough bread pocket filled with seasoned ground beef, cabbage and onions. And minus its shape, it is basically the same as a bierock, a popular Midwest food item brought to the area in the 1870s by German Russian Mennonite immigrants.

They sell a variety of Runza sandwiches and we tried their cheese Runza, plus Philly cheesesteak Runza and both were delicious! We also heard good things about their fries and onion rings, so we got an order of those as well, plus their delicious ranch dressing.

Despite Runza being popular, we had heard mixed reviews on it, but we really enjoyed it! It definitely makes for a filling, hearty snack or meal while on a Nebraska road trip. And if you visit in the fall, make sure to try their chili and cinnamon rolls…it’s a weird combo that surprisingly works!

Want to transport to another planet? Head to Toadstool Geologic Park! This park is not only home to badlands, which began forming 30 million years ago, but also its namesake, the toadstools. These mushroom-like formations are created when wind and water erode a layer of soft claystone faster than the hard sandstone that caps it.

This park feels a lot like a mini Badlands National Park in South Dakota. And it actually does have a connection to the park. The badlands here are related to the same rocks found there!

To experience the badlands and toadstools, we suggest hiking this trail, which winds through the formations and will make you feel like you’ve left Earth. It’s especially beautiful at sunrise, as you can watch the light transform the area.

For a longer trail, head out on the Bison Trail. This trail will take you to the Hudson-Meng Education Center, where you can see one of the most important paleo-archaeological discoveries in North America. The Hudson-Meng Education Center has limited hours, so check the National Forest page for updates.

Besides hiking, you can also camp here! The park has 6 sites with picnic tables and fire rings, for $15 a night. There are also two vault toilets, but no water.

Fort Robinson State Park is located in Nebraska’s Pine Ridge region. It is a former US Army base that was used for a variety of purposes for more than 70 years. But it is most notably known as the site of where Oglala Lakota leader Crazy Horse died back in 1877 and for the Cheyenne Outbreak in 1879.

This is when a group of Cheyenne Indians broke out of the fort, eluding US soldiers for 12 days, until their hiding place was found. 64 Cheyenne and 11 soldiers were killed and more than 70 were recaptured. The number of casualties of the Cheyenne Outbreak made this one of the major conflicts of the Indian Wars.

Today, it is now a state park with trails, old buildings to explore, camping, cabins (former officer quarters) to rent, and endless activities. In fact, because it offers so much to do and has lodging to fit large groups, it has actually been named one of the nation’s top family reunion spots by USA Today!

Here are a handful of the best things to do during your time at Fort Robinson State Park.

The park has 60 miles of hiking trails. During our visit we hiked the Lover’s Leap and East Red Cloud Buttes Loop. This trail gives amazing views of the very unique buttes in the park! But be careful when following the AllTrails route, it isn’t entirely accurate.

Make sure to download the map ahead of time and follow the white poles to figure out where to go. We also found the parking to be confusing and parked here, which worked out great!

Want to get 30% off an AllTrails+ membership? Use our code aplusk30 (you must redeem this code on the website, not the app)!

We use AllTrails+ on every single hike and it is the most helpful hiking tool out there! Some of the features we love are offline maps (so we can navigate even without cell service), wrong-turn alerts, and its 3D maps feature, so we can get a feel for trails before we hike.

There are countless activities in the park, including mountain biking trails, trout fishing, horseback, jeep and stagecoach rides, and cookouts. You can see pricing for most activities here and to inquire about tour times and reserve, contact the park.

Note: Nebraska State Parks do have a fee to enter. For in-state visitors it costs $7 per day (or $35 for the year). And for out of state visitors it costs $14 per day (or $70 for the year).

As Nebraska’s oldest state park, Chadron State Park has been a hot spot for visitors for years. This park is located among Nebraska’s Pine Ridge and offers a mix of hiking, camping, outdoor activities, and even a swimming pool (for a fee) for those hot summer days!

If you’re like us and prefer to explore parks by foot, there are quite a few trails to check out, including the Blackhills Overlook Trail (3.3 miles roundtrip), Steamboat Trail (1.3 miles roundtrip), and a 6 mile loop!

Scotts Bluff National Monument sits 800 feet above the North Platte River and will make you feel like you’ve been transported to the Southwestern United States.

But beyond its beauty, it has been an important area for many years, starting with Native Americans, who lived and traveled in this area. It also served as a landmark for travelers who came through here when heading west on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. And it was on the route of the Pony Express mail service!

One of the most popular things to do here in the park is to go to the summit of Scott’s Bluff. During specific hours, vehicles can drive to the top on Summit Road, which is the oldest concrete road in the state of Nebraska and features the only three auto tunnels in the state. However, there are some vehicle restrictions, so make sure to check them in advance!

But for the more adventurous, you can also hike to the top on the Saddle Rock Trail (3 miles roundtrip), which is what we did! Along this trail you will wind up to the top of the bluff, going through a fun tunnel along the way. Once at the top, there are a handful of different overlooks that provide sweeping views of the area!

About 30 minutes down the road from Scotts Bluff is Chimney Rock, which, similar to Scotts Bluff, was a major landmark for travelers over the centuries. It was the most noted landmark in travelers’ journals along the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.

Chimney Rock is a very unique rock formation that will truly make you wonder, “is this Nebraska or Utah?” The formation is 325 feet tall and has a 120 foot tall spire, which used to be much taller. Over the years it has eroded, losing about 30 feet in the last 150 years. But it’s still very impressive and unlike anything else in the area!

You can walk close to the formation, but we read that rattle snakes are very abundant, so we viewed it safely from the parking lot of the Chimney Rock Cemetery. Another option is to view it from the Chimney Rock Museum, which has exhibits about westward migration.

If you’ve ever wanted to visit Stonehenge, but can’t make it to England, just come to Nebraska and check out Carhenge instead!

As the name implies, Carhenge is a replica of Stonehenge in England. It is made out of 39 gray cars in the same proportions and shape as Stonehenge. Some of the cars are held upright in pits five feet deep, trunk end down, while the cars across are welded into place.

This was created by Jim Reinders, who wanted to build this in memory of his father who lived on the farm where Carhenge stands. So in 1987, 35 family members gathered to build it and it’s now a super popular roadside stop here in Nebraska!

Want to step back in time? Head to Dobby’s Frontier Town! This town is the project of Kenneth Dobby Lee, who wanted to share what a historic Nebraska frontier town would’ve been like. He saved 19 historic buildings and brought them back to life, to what you see today. In the town you can find a blacksmith shop, jail, photo studio, saloon, and so much more!

It is free to visit, but donations are extremely appreciated to help them keep up the town.

Where to stay in the Nebraska Panhandle
Scottsbluff is the largest city in the area, but the nearby smaller towns and state parks offer lodging as well.

Hotels: Hampton Inn & Suites Scottsbluff and Fairfield Inn & Suites Scottsbluff

Vacation Rentals: UpTown Suite (Alliance) and Chadron Downtown Loft (Chadron)

Campgrounds: Toadstool Geologic Park has six campsites with picnic tables and fire rings for $15/night. There are also two pit toilets onsite. Fort Robinson State Park and Chadron State Park also have a variety of different campsites, plus cabins!

Free camping: Bayard City Park has FREE camping with power and water hookups for RVs! We noticed that many small towns in Nebraska offered this and it was very much appreciated. There are only a few sites here and we snagged the last one, so make sure to arrive early!

Nebraska has over 79,000 miles of rivers, with 197 miles of them designated as Wild & Scenic, which is the nation’s strongest form of protection for free-flowing rivers and streams. And a popular way to experience them is to go tanking!

You may be wondering, what the heck is tanking? Tanking is a unique Nebraska activity where you float in a stock tank down the river. It was hands down the best thing we did in Nebraska!

There are a few places you can rent tanks from, but since we went outside of the prime summer season, we rented a tank from Glidden Canoe Rentals in Mullen. They’ll follow you with your car to the end point, drive you to the start point, and then you’ll float back to your car.

Since we went tanking in the fall, we had the entire river to ourselves. And it was a blast! We enjoyed a few hours floating down the crystal clear river, surrounded by sandhills and running into branches, and laughing and smiling nonstop. It was some of the most fun we’ve had in years and we can’t recommend tanking enough!

To see the highest waterfall in Nebraska, head to Smith Falls State Park! This 63 foot tall waterfall cascades down a rocky wall, creating a unique waterfall that gets wider and has multiple streams as it crashes to the bottom.

It’s a short and easy walk to the falls and if you visit in the summer, swimming in the Niobrara River is a popular activity!

During our time in Nebraska the walkway to the falls was under construction, so we unfortunately had to skip this spot.

The Nebraska National Forest is North America’s largest man-made forest, which was hand planted in 1902. And in the Bessey Ranger District there are many recreational opportunities like hiking, fishing, camping, OHV riding, and horseback riding.

However, right before our visit, there was a large fire that destroyed many of the trees and a popular lookout tower. While you still can visit, your options will be more limited. But we still wanted to mention it, as it is quite the contrast from the otherwise tree-less sandhills that surround the area.

Where to stay in Nebraska’s Sandhills
There are no major cities in the Sandhills region, so lodging is a bit limited. We couldn’t find many hotels or vacation rentals that met our criteria for sharing, but there are a few camping areas!

Campgrounds: The Bessey Recreation Complex has a campsite with both non-electric and electric sites. Smith Falls State Park also has a campground, but we hear the sites are a bit small and close together.

Free camping: During our time in the area we camped (for free!) at Thedford City Park. It was basically just a parking area, but it had electric hookups!

One of our favorite things to do in a larger city is check out its local coffee scene. And during our day in Omaha, we headed to Zen Coffee. Not only does this place have great coffee, but what makes them unique is that they offer coffee flights! You get to choose 4 different drinks and they are a pretty good size. We tried some unique lattes, like a puppy chow latte, which was delicious!

Note: Due to high demand, especially on the weekends, Zen requests that you make a flight reservation in advance, so they can ensure they have a flight board (what the cups go on) available for you!

Another must-visit spot in Omaha is the Old Market. This is a historic area of town that back in the late 1800s was bustling with produce dealers, buyers, and transporters. In the late 1900s, activity in the area slowed down and it was at risk of being torn down. But a local named Sam Mercer, whose family owned some of the buildings, saved the day! He had the idea to save the buildings by repurposing them for new uses, which created the Old Market that you see today.

This area is super cool, with tons of historic brick buildings, restaurants, shops, and hotels. It is so neat to see how they have preserved the historic charm, while giving the buildings new life!

As we mentioned, Omaha is located right on the Iowa border. And you can walk into Iowa via the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. This is a 3,000 foot bridge with a cool design that goes over the Missouri River. The bridge is lovingly referred to as Bob and Bob even has his own Instagram and YouTube channel!

And if you stand on the state line of Nebraska and Iowa and take a photo, it’s called “Bobbing!”

There is also a creature lurking under the bridge…a troll named Omar! He makes for a fun photo op before or after walking the bridge!

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is consistently ranked one of the best zoos not only in the United States, but in the world! With over 160 acres, 13 exhibits, and the largest indoor desert in North America, there is plenty to see and do here to fill a whole day.

It is also a leader in endangered species conservation and is widely considered to be one of the most ethical zoos in the world. So if you decide to be one of its 2 million annual visitors, you can feel good knowing that the animals are treated well.

Every June, Omaha turns into a baseball hotspot as it hosts the College World Series. Eight of the top college baseball teams in the country head to the city with the hope of leaving as champions.

We visited in October, so we were a bit too late to attend the College World Series. But even if our beloved Texas Longhorns (who are the third most winning team in CWS history!) weren’t in the tournament, we would’ve loved to catch a game!

Visiting outside of June as well? You can tour Charles Schwab Field during some parts of the year!

Another must-do for us when visiting a larger city is checking out its local restaurant scene.

During our time in Omaha we checked out Amsterdam Falafel and Kabob, which was an affordable, quick, and delicious spot. It is perfect for lunch!

For breakfast, Saddle Creek Breakfast Club is a popular spot and for something a bit fancier for dinner, both Yosh*tomo and Au Courant are both very highly regarded. And Krug Park and Nite Owl are hip spots to grab drinks!

Don’t you worry, we didn’t forget about dessert! For some of the BEST ice cream we have had in the United States, head to Coneflower Creamery! Their butter brickle flavor is heavenly!

What is butter brickle you may ask? It is a chocolate-coated toffee that was first sold in the early 1920s. The Blackstone Hotel in Nebraska is credited for first selling butter brickle ice cream and Coneflower has their own spin on it, with their homemade butter brickle.

We went to the location in the Blackstone District, which was a super cool neighborhood to walk around!

Looking for a nature escape near Omaha? Head to Fontenelle Forest! This 1,500 acre forest is under a 15 minute drive from downtown, but will feel like worlds away. While in the forest you can hike one of its many trails or get a bit more adventurous and tackle its aerial adventure park!

A few important things to know before visiting:

Another beautiful natural space to check out is Indian Cave State Park. While it’s not technically in Omaha, it’s less than a 1.5 hour drive south, making it a great day trip!

This park is named after a large sandstone cave, which you can access via a quick ADA-accessible boardwalk. But if you want a longer adventure to view the cave, you can hike the Indian Cave Trail (3.1 miles roundtrip).

Another great hike to check out is the Rock Bluff Run Trail, which is about 6 miles roundtrip and has great views of the Missouri River! You can also horseback ride and camp (both front country and backcountry) in the park!

Where to stay in Omaha
Being the largest city in the state, Omaha has endless options of places to stay! Here are a handful of good options to get you started.

Hotels: Hilton Garden Inn Downtown/Old Market, Magnolia Hotel, Hampton Inn Downtown, Residence Inn Downtown/Old Market, and DoubleTree Southwest

Vacation Rentals: Charming Benson Home, Stylish Omaha City Escape, Jungle-O Bungalow

Campgrounds: Walnut Creek Recreation Area has campsites with electricity for only $20 a night (a STEAL). Another great option pretty close to the city is Two Rivers State Recreation Area, which has a variety of sites. And as we mentioned above, Indian Cave State Park also has a campground, but it is a bit of a trek from the city.

Harvest Hosts: Being a city, free camping is a bit tougher in Omaha. We stayed at an alpaca farm near Omaha during our time in the city, which was great! There are a couple other Harvest Hosts in the area as well. Want to get 15% off a Harvest Hosts membership? Click this link and then use the code HHFRIENDS15!

One of our favorite spots to explore during our time in Lincoln was the Historic Haymarket!

This area gets its name after the original market square of 1867, which was an open-air market for produce and livestock, as well as a camping ground for immigrants and a general gathering place. In 1874 the city shifted the area a few blocks west and north and renamed it “Haymarket.”

It is now a super cool historic district with lots of revitalized brick warehouse buildings, shops, and restaurants. Besides just admiring the old buildings, we enjoyed wandering down the alley next to Burkholder Project, which has some sculptures and murals along the walls. And make sure to grab some coffee at The Mill Coffee and Tea!

The Lincoln Capitol Building is known as “Tower of the Plains,” with a 437 foot tall tower that literally towers over the city. In fact, it was the first state capitol building to incorporate a functioning tower!

Like many capitol buildings, you can go inside! You can either go on a free guided tour, which varies by day, or explore on your own. We opted to explore on our own, which always feels a bit crazy to us that they let the public wander around.

And trust us, you’ll want to go inside! It is quite possibly the most beautiful capitol building we have ever been in. The central atrium is very tall with a domed ceiling and beautiful mosaics that depict scenes from Nebraska’s history. Everywhere you look you’ll see intricate woodwork, polished marble, and decorative detailing. At times it felt like we were in some sort of historic European building!

After you finish admiring its stunning design, make sure you take the elevator to the top where you can walk out on its observation decks to see the surrounding area. The observation deck is free and accessible during the building’s hours.

The Sunken Gardens is a free garden that is located on a former neighborhood dumpsite. And since its creation in 1930, it has become an iconic feature of Lincoln. While the gardens aren’t huge and only take about 30 minutes to explore, they are loaded with gorgeous flowers!

But what makes it even more special is thinking about its history and how it was transformed from a dump to something beautiful. It’s well worth a quick stop!

Whenever we visit a college town, we love to check out its campus! It’s always fun for us to see what life would’ve been like if we went to a different school.

The University of Nebraska is the largest university in the state and has multiple campuses in Lincoln to explore. But we suggest going to the downtown campus, which has a handful of green spaces, a museum, plus a Dairy Store. If you visit in the fall, make sure to catch a football game and if you visit in the spring, you’ll be treated to blooming cherry blossoms!

Three of our favorite food items are BBQ, tacos, and coffee. So if you combine all three into one spot you can guarantee we’ll be in heaven. And lucky for us, Muchachos in Lincoln specializes in the trifecta!

This small, local spot is whipping up some delicious BBQ inspired dishes, like brisket and pork tacos and nachos, and loaded mac and cheese, plus unique coffee drinks. We got a cereal milk latte!

Besides the food, Muchachos has a really cool vibe, with lots of color and artwork on the walls.

Where to stay in Lincoln
As a college town, Lincoln is loaded with options for places to stay. Below are a handful of suggestions to check out!

Hotels: Hyatt Place Downtown-Haymarket, Best Western Plus, and Hilton Garden Inn Downtown/Haymarket

Vacation Rentals: Condo in Downtown Lincoln, Downtown Lincoln Loft, Frontdesk Apartment

Campgrounds: There are a handful of campgrounds close to Lincoln, including Camp A Way and Pawnee State Recreation Area.

Harvest Hosts: Similar to Omaha, Lincoln is a bit tougher when it comes to free camping. But if you’re a Harvest Hosts member and want to avoid a Walmart for the night, you’ll have some options here as well!

Nebraska doesn’t have a large international airport, but it does have a decently large domestic airport. Omaha’s Eppley Field (OMA) offers nonstop flights from many major cities in the United States, like Chicago, New York, Salt Lake City, Denver, Miami, Dallas, and more! This will be the most convenient airport if visiting the eastern side of Nebraska.

If visiting the western side of the state, the Denver International Airport (DEN) would be a better option. It’s about a 3 hour drive from Denver to the Panhandle region, saving about 3.5-4 hours of driving from Omaha.

Planning a road trip across Nebraska? We’d suggest flying into Denver and flying out of Omaha (or vice versa).