Discover 35 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Omaha (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Fun-Plex, and Omaha Children's Museum. Also, be sure to include Baxter Arena in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Omaha (Nebraska).
Table of Contents
Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
Animal exhibits plus a giant desert dome. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is a zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Its mission is conservation, research, recreation, and education. In August 2014, TripAdvisor proclaimed Henry Doorly Zoo the "world's best zoo", leading San Diego Zoo and Loro Parque, based on an algorithmic assimilation of millions of reviews for 275 major zoos worldwide.
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is nationally renowned for its leadership in animal conservation and research. Evolving from the public Riverview Park Zoo established in 1894, today the zoo includes several notable exhibits. "Kingdoms of the Night" is the world's largest nocturnal exhibit and indoor swamp; the Lied Jungle is one of the world's largest indoor rainforests, and the "Desert Dome" is one of the world's largest indoor deserts, as well as the largest glazed geodesic dome in the world. The zoo is Nebraska's top-paid attendance attraction and has welcomed more than 25 million visitors over the past 40 years.[1]
Address: 3701 S 10th St, 68107 Omaha (South Central Omaha)
Fun-Plex
Amusement park in Omaha, Nebraska. Fun-Plex is an amusement park located at 7003 Q Street in the Ralston neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. It is the largest amusement park in Nebraska, and the site of the only roller coaster in Nebraska. Fun-Plex began as “The Kart Ranch” in 1979 with just a go-kart track. In 2015 Fun-Plex is putting a brand new water feature called Makana Splash a water play structure with a 317-gallon bucket that drops water on you. In 2016 Fun-Plex built Nebraska's Only Swim up bar called Breakers Bay Bar. In 2018 Fun-Plex adds Rockin’ Rapids, the biggest and most impressive addition to the park in 40 years! The attraction features two tube slides for single or double riders.[2]
Address: 7003 Q St, 68117-1649 Omaha (South Central Omaha)
Omaha Children's Museum
Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha Children's Museum is a nonprofit learning and exploration space for young people located at 500 South 20th Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The museum has received a national award from the Association of Science and Technology Museums.[3]
Address: 500 S 20th St, Omaha
Baxter Arena
Sports arena in Omaha, Nebraska. Baxter Arena is the sports arena owned and operated by the University of Nebraska Omaha located in Omaha, Nebraska. Completed in 2015, Baxter Arena serves as the home of several of the university's sports teams, known as the Omaha Mavericks. The arena opened to the public on October 23, 2015 when the Mavericks men's ice hockey team hosted Air Force, winning 4–2.[4]
Address: 67th and Center Streets, 68162 Omaha
Joslyn Art Museum
Diverse collection and rotating exhibits. The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States of America. Located in Omaha, it was opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. It is the only museum in the state with a comprehensive permanent collection, and although it includes works from Paolo Veronese, El Greco, Titian, among others, its greatest strengths are the outstanding art collections of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries of American and European artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and William-Adolphe Bouguereau.[5]
Address: 2200 Dodge St, 68102-1292 Omaha
Gene Leahy Mall
Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Gene Leahy Mall, also known locally as Central Park or The Mall, is a 9.6-acre park located at 1302 Farnam on the Mall in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. and bordered by South 10th Street. The Mall is encircled by a long pathway that wraps around a large lagoon. There are also waterfalls, two huge slides, a horseshoe pit, and an amphitheater where outdoor concerts are held in the summer. The mall is decorated with thousands of lights during the winter holiday season. Connected on its eastern edge with the Heartland of America Park, it is also borders the W. Dale Clark Library, the former Burlington Headquarters Building, the Old Market and the ConAgra campus.[6]
Address: 1203 Farnam St, 68102-1837 Omaha
Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge
Footbridge in Omaha, Nebraska. The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge is a 3,000-foot footbridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska. It opened on September 28, 2008.
Interest in a landmark bridge across the Missouri River arose after Omaha and Council Bluffs began replacing their older crossings with girder bridges which do not have towers (most notably the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge). The bridge is named after former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, who secured $18 million of federal funding for the bridge in 2000.
The bridge was redesigned in 2004 after the lowest bid for the project was $44 million. In May 2006, a final cable-stayed bridge design by Kansas City engineering and architectural firm HNTB was selected for the bridge. The $22 million bid included two 200-foot (61 m) towers and a clearance of 52 feet (16 m) above the river. Groundbreaking for construction of the bridge occurred on October 26, 2006.
The bridge is north of the Interstate 480 (I-480) girder bridge and connects the Port of Omaha's Miller Landing to One Renaissance Center in the former Dodge Park Playland in Council Bluffs.
The lights on the bridge were donated by Gallup, which has their corporate headquarters and Gallup University located on the Missouri River adjacent the Omaha landing of the bridge. The bridge lights include programmable controls that can display multiple colors in the large lights at the top of the towers and alter brightness and timing of the lights that run the entire length of the bridge. The lights were officially unveiled in a ceremony on September 13, 2008. The bridge lights were turned on while the Phil Collins song "In The Air Tonight" was played over a PA system. The event was accompanied by fireworks.
Due to safety concerns prompted by the 2011 Missouri River floods, the entrance on the Iowa side was closed on July 2 of that year. It reopened September 3, 2011.
In 2015, the bridge joined Twitter as @BobTBridge, an effort by the Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau.[7]
Address: 705 Riverfront Dr, 68102-4206 Omaha
Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters
The Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters is a museum and visitors' center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located in the Florence neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The museum interprets the story of the Mormon Trail along with the history of a temporary Mormon settlement known as Winter Quarters, which was located in the Florence area between 1846–1848.
The museum is located on a bluff above and to the west of the Winter Quarters settlement site and is directly across the street from the historic Mormon Pioneer Cemetery and the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple.[8]
Address: 3215 State St, 68112-1703 Omaha
Lewis and Clark Landing
Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Lewis and Clark Landing is a public park located at 515 North Riverfront Drive in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The 23-acre park is situated along the eight-foot-tall river walk of the Missouri River just north of U.S. Interstate 480.[9]
Address: 515 N Riverfront Dr, 68183 Omaha
Lauritzen Gardens
Botanical garden in Omaha, Nebraska. Lauritzen Gardens are a botanical gardens and arboretum located at 100 Bancroft Street in the South Omaha neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. The gardens are open daily during business hours; an admission fee is charged.[10]
Address: 100 Bancroft St, 68108-1752 Omaha (Southeast Omaha)
Memorial Park
Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Memorial Park is a park located at 6005 Underwood Avenue near the Dundee neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. The park was created as a memorial for all of the men and women from Douglas County who have served in the armed forces.[11]
Address: 5700 Dodge Street, 68132 Omaha (Central Omaha)
Film Streams
Film Streams is a nonprofit arts organization in Omaha, Nebraska that oversees two cinemas: the Ruth Sokolof Theater, in North Downtown Omaha, and the historic Dundee Theater, Omaha's longest surviving neighborhood cinema. It receives funding from corporate and individual donors, members, and the government.[12]
Address: Omaha, 1340 Mike Fahey Street
Kenefick Park
Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Kenefick Park is located at 100 Bancroft Street in South Omaha, Nebraska, next to the Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha's botanical gardens. Kenefick Park features "two of the greatest locomotives ever to power Union Pacific Railroad": EMD DDA40X #6900,the first of the class, and Union Pacific Big Boy #4023.[13]
Freedom Park
Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. Freedom Park is an outdoor park and museum at the Greater Omaha Marina on the bank of the Missouri River at 2497 Freedom Park Road in the East Omaha section of Omaha, Nebraska. It displays numerous military aircraft and artillery pieces along with its two major exhibits, the World War II minesweeper USS Hazard and Cold War-era training submarine USS Marlin. The park closed as a result of flooding along the Missouri River in 2011, but reopened on October 7, 2015 after four years of restoration and cleanup work.[14]
Address: 2497 Freedom Park Rd, 68110-2745 Omaha (East Omaha)
Florence Mill
Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. Florence Mill, also known as the Weber Mill, is a historic mill located at 9102 North 30th Street near the 30th Street exit on I-680 in the Florence community in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was built in 1846 and operated into the 1960s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Weber Mill in 1998. The mill is also known as the Mormon Mill, Grist Mill, and Old Pink Mill. It is now operated as the Winter Quarters Mill Museum and ArtLoft Gallery.[15]
Address: 9102 N 30th St, 68112-1816 Omaha
Joslyn Castle
Mansion in Omaha, Nebraska. The George and Sarah Joslyn Home, is a mansion located at 3902 Davenport Street in the Gold Coast Historic District of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Built in the Scottish Baronial style in 1903, the Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It was designated as an Omaha landmark in 1979.
Public tours - $10, Adults/$8 Seniors, Students, Military
Sundays - 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Mondays - 10:30am, 12:30pm
Thursdays - 1pm[16]
Address: 3902 Davenport St, 68131-2316 Omaha (Midtown)
Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens
Garden in Omaha, Nebraska. The Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska marks the location of the house at 3202 Woolworth Avenue where U.S. President Gerald R. Ford lived for a couple of weeks after his birth in July 1913. It was the home of his paternal grandparents, Charles Henry and Martha King.[17]
Address: 3202 Woolworth Ave, 68105 Omaha (Southeast Omaha)
Trinity Cathedral
Episcopal church in Omaha, Nebraska. Trinity Cathedral is located in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Nebraska's first Episcopal parish, Trinity was established in 1856, and became the state's first Episcopal cathedral in 1872. Designed by noted English architect Henry G. Harrison in 1880, the cathedral was consecrated on November 15, 1883. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Today Trinity Cathedral is considered one of the most beautiful churches in Omaha.[18]
Address: 113 N 18th St, 68102 Omaha
El Museo Latino
Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. El Museo Latino is a museum featuring Latino and Hispanic art and history that is located at 4701 South 25th Street in South Omaha, Nebraska. Established in 1993, by Magdalena García, it is the first Latino art and history museum and cultural center in the Midwest.[19]
Address: 4701 S 25th St, 68107-2728 Omaha (South Central Omaha)
Omaha Community Playhouse
Playhouse in Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha Community Playhouse, located at 6915 Cass Street in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, is a nationally recognized community theater.
Founded in 1924, the Playhouse's first president was Alan McDonald, architect of the Joslyn Art Museum, and its first play, directed by Greg Foley in April 1925, was The Enchanted Cottage, which starred Dodie Brando, the mother of Marlon Brando.
When, later in the Playhouse's first season, the need arose for a young man to play the lead for You and I, Brando suggested that twenty-year-old Henry Fonda, son of her friend Herberta Fonda, contact the director. The Playhouse would later see the acting debut of Marlon Brando, Dorothy McGuire, and Julie Wilson, and appearances by Letitia Baldrige, Glenn Cunningham, and Lenka Peterson.
The Nebraska Theatre Caravan, the playhouse's touring unit, was founded in 1976.
The Playhouse experienced tremendous growth throughout the 1980s and 1990s under the direction of Charles Jones.[20]
Address: Omaha, 6915 Cass Street
St. Cecilia Cathedral
Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska. St. Cecilia Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, USA. Located at 701 North 40th Street in the Gold Coast Historic District, the cathedral was ranked as one of the ten largest in the United States when it was completed in 1959. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[21]
Address: 701 N 40th St, 68131 Omaha (Midtown)
Orpheum Theatre
Theater in Omaha, Nebraska. The Orpheum Theater is a theater located in Omaha, Nebraska. The theater hosts programs best served by a more theatrical setting, including the Omaha Performing Arts Broadway Season, presented with Broadway Across America, and Opera Omaha's season. The theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The main auditorium is a proscenium theater known as "Slosburg Hall". The theater has a theatre organ, made by Wurlitzer.[22]
Address: Omaha, 409 S 16th St.
Omaha Performing Arts
Theater in Omaha, Nebraska. The Holland Performing Arts Center is a performing arts facility located on 13th and Douglas Streets in downtown Downtown Omaha, Nebraska in the United States; it opened in October 2005. Designed by Omaha architectural firm HDR, Inc. in collaboration with Polshek Partnership Architects, the structure is owned and managed by Omaha Performing Arts, and specializes in events requiring an environment with good acoustics, including performances by touring jazz, blues and popular entertainers, as well as the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and Omaha Area Youth Orchestra. Kirkegaard Associates provided acoustics consulting and New York firm Fisher Dachs Associates provided theater planning and design consultation.[23]
Address: 1200 Douglas St, 68102-1815 Omaha
Carter Lake
Lake in the United States of America. Carter Lake is a shallow oxbow lake in Nebraska and Iowa, located next to Omaha and Carter Lake in the United States. Soon after its formation the lake was called the East Omaha Lake, and then Lake Nakoma.[24]
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is located in the Old Market Historic District of downtown Omaha, Nebraska, at the corner of 12th Street and Leavenworth Street. In addition to an international artist-in-residence program, Bemis Center hosts temporary exhibitions and commissions and public programs which are free and open to the public.[25]
Address: 724 S 12th St, 68102 Omaha
First National Center
Office in Omaha, Nebraska. First National Center is a high-rise office building located at 1620 Dodge Street in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. It has 22 stories, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city of Omaha. The building is attached to a 19-story, 420-room Doubletree hotel and a 550-stall parking garage.[26]
Standing Bear Lake
Park in Douglas County, Nebraska. Standing Bear Lake, also known as Dam Site 16, is a park located at 6404 North 132nd street in West Omaha, Nebraska.
The park has a 135-acre (55 ha) lake with boating in the summertime, and ice skating in the winter. The park and recreation area covers about 396 acres (160 ha) of land surrounding the lake, with a 131-acre (53 ha) wildlife area is located on the west side of the park.[27]
Address: 6404 North 132nd Street, 68164 Omaha (Northwest Omaha)
Malcolm X House Site
The Malcolm X House Site located at 3448 Pinkney Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, marks the place where Malcolm X first lived with his family. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and is also on the Nebraska list of heritage sites.[28]
Address: 3448 Pinkney St, 68111-2832 Omaha
Mormon Pioneer Cemetery
Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska. The Mormon Pioneer Cemetery is located at 3300 State Street in present-day Florence at the north end of Omaha, Nebraska. The Cemetery is the burial site of hundreds of Mormon pioneers who lived in Winter Quarters, a temporary settlement that lasted from 1846 to 1848 as the settlers moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was designated a landmark by the City of Omaha in 1990.
Records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) indicate that 359 Mormon pioneers were buried at the site. Remnants of three of the graves are visible today, uncovered during the erection of a commemorative monument in 1936. The monument, a bronze statue by Salt Lake City artist Avard Fairbanks, depicts parents who have committed the body of an infant to the grave.
The graves of a number of Florence residents are also located in the cemetery. The community of Florence began to use the cemetery several years after the departure of the Mormons and prior to the Mormons the area had been used as an Indian burial ground.
With the exception of a commemorative marker in the nearby city park, the cemetery is the only visible reminder of the Mormon settlement.[29]
Address: 3215 State St, 68112-1703 Omaha
First Unitarian Church of Omaha
Unitarian universalist church in Omaha, Nebraska. The First Unitarian Church of Omaha, Nebraska is a Unitarian Universalist Church located at 3114 Harney Street in the Midtown area.[30]
Address: 3114 Harney St, 68131-3910 Omaha (Midtown)
Slowdown
Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. Slowdown is an entertainment venue located in the NoDo neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. A combination of a live music venue, shops, restaurants, and apartments, the venue was developed by Saddle Creek Records as a direct competitor to the Sokol Auditorium in Little Bohemia. Slowdown is said to be "unlike anything in Omaha - or the Midwest" because of its comprehensive, mixed-use design. The venue is named after the influential 1990s-era group Slowdown Virginia, who had a strong influence on the "Omaha Sound". Slowdown has shows three to four nights each week, as well as a weekly pub quiz. The venue is open one hour before each event and stays open until around 2am, often offering a post-show Happy Hour. Slowdown's shows are usually all ages unless otherwise specified, but on nights with no event, the venue functions as a bar. Slowdown bills itself as a place for "ock shows, socializing, dancing, going to the bathroom, sitting, standing, walking, pool, video games, board games, some light reading, etc."[31]
Address: Omaha, 729 North 14th Street
Sokol Auditorium
Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. The Sokol Auditorium is located at 2234 South 13th Street in the Little Bohemia neighborhood of South Omaha, Nebraska. It is a local icon for its historical context, as well as modern musical performances and gymnastics. It has a maximum capacity of 1,500.
Located below the auditorium is the Sokol Underground, where numerous concert promoters such as Hunt Industries host many rock and hip hop concerts.[32]
Address: 2234 S 13th St, 68108 Omaha (Southeast Omaha)
USS Marlin
T-1-class submarine. USS Marlin, originally USS T-2, was a T-1-class training submarine in commission from 1953 to 1973. She was the second submarine of the United States Navy to be named for the marlin, a large game fish. Except for the first 25 early development pre-World War I submarines, she was one of the smallest operational submarines ever built for the U.S. Navy.[33]
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Catholic church in Omaha, Nebraska. Sacred Heart Catholic Church is located at 2206 Binney Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha.[34]
Address: 2207 Wirt St, 68110-2055 Omaha (East Omaha)
Mormon Bridge
Cantilever bridge in the Pottawattamie County, Iowa. The Mormon Bridge is a bridge composed of two cantilevers that crosses the Missouri River connecting Pottawattamie County, Iowa with the Florence neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska via Interstate 680. The bridge is officially called the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Bridge due to its location on the historic Mormon Trail, which passed nearby.[35]