8 best things to do in Kansas City in 2027
Published: 19 October 2026
By Colleen Cabili
via the Quartz website
National WWI Museum exhibit
The best things to do in Kansas City in 2027, from barbecue and the National WWI Museum to free streetcar rides and 18th and Vine
Kansas City sits astride the Missouri-Kansas state line, and that split is the least interesting thing about it. The city spent the past decade rebuilding its downtown and extending its streetcar. It also leaned harder into what it already does better than most places its size: smoked meat, jazz history, fountains and museums with national standing. It heads into 2027 fresh off hosting 2026 FIFA World Cup matches at Arrowhead Stadium, and the hotel and transit projects timed to that tournament outlast it.
The best things to do in Kansas City in 2027 are largely the ones that defined it a decade ago. Burnt ends, the charred cubes cut from the fatty point of a brisket, are the local contribution to American barbecue. Charlie Parker grew up in the neighborhood around 18th and Vine, and that block still holds a jazz museum, a live club and a theater built in 1912. South of downtown, a limestone memorial to the dead of World War I rises above the rail yards, with a museum built into the hill beneath it.
What changed is how easily a visitor moves among them. The KC Streetcar runs fare-free along Main Street, linking the River Market at the north end to the Crossroads Arts District and Union Station. An extension carries the line farther south toward the Country Club Plaza and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A traveler without a car can string together several stops in one day instead of paying to park three times.
The eight stops below each stand on their own. Some fill an afternoon; others fit into an hour between meetings. Choose by interest — World War I history, barbecue, live jazz, Spanish-revival architecture, craft beer, frontier archaeology or a restored 1914 train station — and by how many days you have. None of them depends on a festival date or a limited run, so a trip built around them holds up in any season of 2027.
National WWI Museum and Memorial
The National WWI Museum and Memorial is the only American museum devoted entirely to World War I, and Congress designated it the country’s official museum on the subject in 2004. It sits beneath the Liberty Memorial tower, a 217-foot limestone shaft dedicated in 1926 that still anchors the skyline south of downtown Kansas City. Residents funded the memorial through a public subscription drive in 1919.
Entry to the galleries crosses a glass bridge suspended over a field of 9,000 poppies. Each flower stands for 1,000 combatant deaths, which puts 9 million losses underfoot before a visitor reads a single wall panel.
The main galleries run chronologically, from the war’s causes through its spread across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, then into the armistice and the settlement that followed. Displays cover both the Allied and Central powers, with uniforms, artillery, field equipment, propaganda posters, personal letters and a reconstructed trench. A second gallery turns to American entry in 1917 and the mobilization behind it.
An elevator carries visitors to the observation deck at the top of the tower, which opens onto views across downtown and the Missouri River valley. Two stone sphinxes guard the memorial, one facing east toward the battlefields of Europe and the other west, each shielding its face with its wings.
Two hours is a reasonable minimum for the galleries, and longer if you plan to watch the orientation film or spend time in the research center. Admission is charged, with reduced rates for groups including students, seniors and military visitors. The museum closes on Mondays during parts of the year — worth checking before a trip rather than after arriving.
The site stands near Pershing Road and Main Street, a short walk from Union Station and a few minutes from the Crossroads Arts District, which makes it simple to fold into a half-day downtown itinerary.
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