Exploring Omaha, Nebraska
Time needed in this city: A weekend (2 nights)
Omaha is one of those cities that everyone questions why you’re going to visit there, until they visit there themselves. The city has done an incredible job repurposing/renovating historical buildings, bringing in new restaurant and shop concepts, and making it a clean, very walkable city.
The below information is a complete guide of the best places to stay, the top rated places to dine and drink, and all there is to see and do. We’ve also included a summary of the history of this historic city!
Jump To:
Where to Stay
The Peregrine Hotel is newer to downtown Omaha and is definitely a recommendation of ours. It’s just a few blocks’ walking distance from everything but in a much quieter section of the city.
They have a restaurant and bar on site, including a rooftop bar and restaurant.
other recommendations
Where to Dine & Drink
Prime cuts of beef, seafood & a large wine selection offered in an elegant, clubby setting.
Alpine Inn
Known for their fried chicken and in the evenings, their furry guests - about 50 very friendly raccoons that love to come over for their evening meal. (Yes, you can feed them,)
La Buvette Wine & Grocery
La Buvette is a unique, intimate wine bar and grocery in the Old Market area of downtown Omaha. They offer a French menu, bar, grocery, bread baked daily, and an extensive wine selection.
Memoir
Per their website, “A vibrant sanctuary nestled in the heart of Omaha’s newest development project, Brickline at The Mercantile. Here, amidst flowing cocktails entwined throughout quality conversations that linger long after the glasses are emptied, meals are crafted into delightful masterpieces, nourishing both your palate and soul.”
Ted & Wally’s Ice Cream
Open since 1984, all of their flavors are home made!
The Boiler Room
Rustic-chic loft eatery with a wine cellar serving craft cocktails & inspired New American fare.
The Stuffed Olive
Serving 100+ martinis, crafter cocktails and small tapas.
V. Mertz
Elegant restaurant in snug Old Market digs crafting gourmet New American plates & a tasting menu.
Wicked Rabbit (Speakeasy)
Charcuterie & a large drinks list, including rare spirits, in a plush saloon with haute interiors.
Things to See & Do
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium was named the "world's best zoo" in 2014, by TripAdvisor. The zoo is known 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.
TIPS:
You must buy tickets in the park for Skyfari or the train - do that first - you can use them at any time. Otherwise, you are waiting in long lines to do so.
If you are gluten-free, the only place that offers gluten-free food is Tree Tops near the front of the park. Nowhere else will you find options. You may also bring your own food as well.
Historic Ashland
Ashland is located at the site of a low-water limestone ledge along the bottom of Salt Creek, an otherwise mud-bottomed stream that was a formidable obstacle for wagon trains on the great westward migrations of the late 1840s and 1850s. The Oxbow Trail, a variant route of the Oregon Trail, ran from Nebraska City (on the Missouri River) to Fort Kearny (on the Platte River), where it joined the main route of the Oregon Trail. The town was established in 1870 and named after Ashland, the estate of Henry Clay.
Joslyn Castle
George and Sarah Joslyn, Omaha’s first millionaires, finished their home in 1903. Originally, it overlooked a vast stretch of prairie west of Omaha. As the city expanded, the rural castle became a buried gem in the heart of the city.
After George and Sarah both passed, the castle was given to the public, never to be lived in again. The artistic details inside, which draw from art nouveau, art deco, and gothic architecture, have been preserved and restored throughout the decades.
Lauritzen Gardens
Lauritzen Gardens is an urban oasis with more than 100 acres of botanical beauty including a Victorian Garden, a rose garden, and a four-acre arboretum. You can even watch as model trains travel twiggy trestles in the model railroad garden or check out the real thing – Lauritzen is also home to two of the most powerful locomotives ever built.
Millwork Commons
In the 1880s, Millwork Commons was once a bustling economic hub, housing millworkers and furniture makers who were the innovators of their time.
With more than 60 companies and nonprofit organizations located in the repurposed Mastercraft Building, WP Engine (formerly Flywheel), located in the historic Ashton building, Millwork Commons is a hub for tech, art, design, and community growth. The neighborhood also includes distinctive businesses such as Archetype Coffee, Hutch Modern, Kros Strain Draft Works, Sweet Magnolias Bake Shop, Clean Slate, and Coneflower Creamery, with more dining and services coming soon! HELLO Apartments opened in 2022 and is the first of a variety of housing options in the neighborhood.
Old Lincoln Highway
In 1913, the Lincoln Highway, running 3,300 miles from coast to coast, connecting New York’s Times Square to San Francisco’s Lincoln Park, opened.
In Nebraska, a three-mile stretch of the highway, between Omaha and Elkhorn, remains exactly as it was a century ago, formerly complete with the same bumps and waves lining the brick-paved road but now, flat concrete. The section was paved with a lower layer of concrete and a top surface of bricks as part of a surface improvement project in 1920.
While this section no longer serves as a crucial road link, it’s the longest remaining original brick-paved part of the country’s first coast-to-coast highway, and due to its significance, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
HOW TO GET THERE: The route begins by exiting I-480 at Dodge Street and following it westward, past when it becomes West Dodge Road. The actual route is Douglas St. from the river west to 18th or 24th (depending on the year). South to Farnam St. West on Farnam St. to 40th St. North on 40th to Dodge St. West to 78th St. North to West Dodge Rd. West on West Dodge Road to 180th. North to the longest stretch of original Lincoln Highway bricks in the country.
Orpheum Theatre
In 1895, "Creighton Theater" (named after philanthropist, John A. Creighton) was built. It was most noted for their iron curtain that weighed 11 tons. Eventually, it was added to the Orpheum Circuit, which by 1900, had expanded to nine western cities: Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, New Orleans, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. The reference to Creighton was eventually dropped from the theater's name.
By 1926, a new, larger theater was built on the same site as the original Creighton Theater. When vaudeville acts were no longer in fashion, a screen was added and the theater operated as a downtown movie theater from the 1940s through 1971. A year later, the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben purchased the building and began a $2 million renovation and to restore it to a performing arts venue once again.
In 2002, Omaha Performing Arts Society assumed management of the Orpheum Theater from the City of Omaha, and the Orpheum underwent a $10 million renovation, making it capable of accommodating larger and more complicated scenery and sets. The Skylink was added in 2004 for increased convenience and accessibility to the theater. The 200-foot-long elevated, enclosed and climate-controlled walkway connects the OPPD parking garage to the venue.
In October 2013, the steel-letter marquee that was installed with the 1975 renovation was replaced with a digital electronic display board. The signage upgrades also included the installation of LED posters in the theater's lobby.During the summer of 2017, the theatre received a $3 million update, including paint, new carpeting and a refresh of seating.
The Durham Museum
In May 1971, after the establishment of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (now Amtrak), Union Pacific Railroad closed Union Station. The station was donated to the City of Omaha in 1973 and two years later, the Western Heritage Museum opened. The museum is dedicated to preserving and displaying the history of the United States' western region.
The Passageway
The Passageway is home to many artisanal shops, restaurants, and a great coffee shop. It’s worth wandering the levels to look at the hidden art work, as well as shop for some great finds!
Wahoo
The official Home Office of the Late Show with David Letterman since 1996 this small Nebraska town also is home to the only submarine memorial in the United States. Stroll through town and enjoy lunch at the WigWam Café and pick up a tasty pastry from the Wahoo Bakery.
Wander through history
With the development of the Omaha Stockyards and neighboring packinghouses in the 1870s, several workers' housing areas, including Sheelytown, developed in South Omaha. Today, they have been revitalized to become lofts, shops, restaurants, and offices. Wandering around downtown lets you see these beautiful buildings in all their glory!
A History Summary
17th century - The Pawnee, Otoe, Sioux, and Ioway all variously occupied the land that became Omaha.
18th century - The Siouan-language Omaha tribe had arrived from the lower Ohio valley.
1804 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by the riverbanks that would later become the city of Omaha.
1806 - Fort Lisa was built.
1811 - The Astor Expedition came through.
1819 - Stephen Long passed through the Omaha area on his Platte River Expedition. The military outpost, Fort Atkinson, was built as well.
1822 - Cabanne's Trading Post was built by the American Fur Company.
1825 - 1845 - A fur trader named J.B. Royce built a stockade and trading post on a plateau near the present-day block, formed by Dodge Street and Capitol Avenue, Ninth and Tenth Streets. It was abandoned 20 years later.
1829 - Adventurers and fur traders were frequenting the region, trading at Fort Lisa.
1840s - People from Council Bluffs, Iowa started illegally staking claim to land in what is now Omaha. The Mormons also built a town called Cutler's Park before resuming their westward migration on the Mormon Trail.
1853 - The Lone Tree Ferry opened to shuttle California Gold Rush prospectors and Oregon Trail settlers across the river between Kanesville, Iowa and the Nebraska Territory.
1854 - A treaty with the Omaha Tribe allowed the creation of the Nebraska Territory, and Omaha City was founded.
1856 - After a smallpox outbreak, cultural degradation, the elimination of the buffalo, and continued property loss, the Omaha nation sold the last of their claims.
1857 - Despite the Panic of 1857, Omaha emerged as the largest city in Nebraska.
1860s - Early citizens also created the Old Settlers' Association to record the early history of the settlement.
1862 - With the passage of the Pacific Railway Act, construction on the railroad began west from Omaha to avoid the difficulties of constructing a bridge across the Missouri River.
1867 - When the capital of Nebraska moved to Lincoln, many business leaders rallied and created the Jobbers Canyon in downtown Omaha to outfit farmers in Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and further west. Their entrepreneurial success allowed them to build mansions in Kountze Place and the Old Gold Coast neighborhoods.
1870s - With the development of the Omaha Stockyards and neighboring packinghouses, several workers' housing areas, including Sheelytown, developed in South Omaha.
1874 - Omaha Bee was founded.
1884 - 1894 - The Omaha Cable Tramway Company was the only cable car company that operated in Omaha.
1885 - Omaha World-Herald was founded.
1894 - The Ladies Axillary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a nationalistic Irish-Catholic fraternal organization, was founded.
1898 - City leaders rallied for the creation of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. During the Expo, famous madames Anna Wilson and Ada Everleigh were making a good living from the crowds. At the same time, Boss Tom Dennison compounded the city's vices in the notorious Sporting District, with the full support of eight-term mayor "Cowboy" James Dahlman. Many of these early pioneers are buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery.
1908 - Omaha University was founded.
Early 1910s - Growth of the city's Automobile Row along Farnam Street began.
1910 - African Americans were recruited for work by the meatpacking industry and came North in the Great Migration in highest numbers.
1912 - The NAACP formed a chapter in Omaha.
1913 - A devastating tornado ripped through Omaha, becoming known as the “Easter Sunday” tornado. It killed more than 100 people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and cut a long swathe through the city, including the heart of North Omaha's Jewish and African-American commercial district, which suffered the most damage. Also, Gerald R. Ford was born in this year (his birth home was demolished in 1971).
1919 - The Omaha Race Riot began.
1925 - Malcom X was born (as Malcolm Little) at 3446 Pinkney Street in North Omaha, though his family moved a year later.
1933 - The reign of Omaha political boss, Tom Dennison, ended after 35 years. He controlled gambling, drinking, prostitution and other criminal interests throughout Omaha, particularly in his seedy Sporting District. He controlled bootlegging operations in Little Italy through the Prohibition Era. He was closely allied with James Dahlman, Omaha's only eight-term mayor. Dennison was implicated in agitation of groups related to the Omaha Race Riot of 1919.
1930s - 1940s - the city became a meatpacking powerhouse. Several regional beer breweries developed, including Metz, Storz and Krug companies.
1945 - The Enola Gay and Bockscar were two of 536 B-29 Superfortresses manufactured at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Factory (now Offutt Air Force Base) in suburban Bellevue. That same year a Japanese fire balloon exploded over Dundee. The incident was part of a large World War II campaign by the Japanese military to cause mass chaos in American cities.
Late 1940s - The city's southern suburb became home to the Strategic Air Command.
1950s - 1970s - People flocked to the suburbs.
1950 - The Rosenblatt Stadium in South Omaha became home to the College World Series.
1960s - Joblessness was high and led to a high poverty rate however, the stockyard business of processing meat was booming.
1975 - Both a blizzard with 19 inches and an F4 tornado devastated the city.
1990s - An influx of investment cash reached the city to revitalize the area and bring in new businesses.
1999 - Improved truck and boxcar refrigeration capabilities encouraged the slaughtering process to move closer to feedlots. Plants were moved to rural areas and hired non-union labor. All centralized stockyard activity declined and the Omaha Stockyards were closed.