Saline County: Hotels for Art, History, and Nature

Saline County offers attractions spanning art, entertainment, history, family recreation, and outdoor activities. When looking for a hotel, you can start by considering which themes you want to shape your stay: exhibits and events, historic buildings, or time in nature. The places and activities vary considerably and provide concrete starting points for planning your trip.

Art, Exhibitions, and Events

SculptureTour Salina is an annual, juried outdoor exhibition in downtown Salina. A self-guided tour leads to the sculptures; there is also a public vote for the favorite work. The exhibition combines viewing the artworks with choosing a favorite. Another event is Boom! Salina, an annual mural festival in the center of downtown Salina.

Oakdale Park hosts the Smoky Hill River Festival every June and the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular Car Show every July. The recurring events therefore take place in two different months and focus on different themes. If one of these events is a deciding factor for your trip, check the specific event dates before making plans.

The performing arts and music are also cultural highlights. The Fox-Watson Theatre, now the Stiefel Theatre, opened on May 19, 1931, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its history began with performances by national touring productions; the theater is also home to the Salina Symphony.

Museums and Historic Buildings

The Smoky Hill Museum offers interactive, hands-on exhibits, a children's area, and virtual exhibits. The Rolling Hills Zoo is home to more than 120 animals and focuses on conservation and educational activities. The Wildlife Museum at Rolling Hills Zoo offers a different emphasis: its 64,000 square feet feature seven regions, ranging from the Arctic to the rainforest. The offerings differ both in scale and in whether your interests lie in exhibits, animals, or conservation.

Christ Episcopal Cathedral in Salina was built in 1907 in the Gothic Revival style and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has numerous stained-glass windows; Episcopal church services have been held there continuously since 1908. Another building on the Register is Pioneer Hall on the campus of Kansas Wesleyan University. The four-story Collegiate Gothic building is known for its importance to local education and its architecture.

Other buildings and educational sites offer insights into different periods and topics. Lowell School is an educational building from the Progressive Era, built in 1915, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The US Post Office and Federal Building in Salina is listed there as a Modernist building. The grounds of Roosevelt-Lincoln Junior High School include two historic school buildings separated by a restored green space.

The HD Lee Company Complex consists of three connected brick buildings dating from 1904 and 1927. Its historical significance lies in its commercial and industrial importance. The Teague Nelson Building, built in 1886, illustrates the role of building and business owners in the development of downtown Salina. These examples offer different ways to explore history: architecture, education, and the development of commerce and industry.

Parks and Outdoor Activities

Coronado Heights is on the southern edge of Saline County. The public park covers 16 acres. In Salina, Lakewood Park offers nature trails, picnic areas, disc golf facilities, and a fishing pier accessible to people with disabilities. The lake is suitable for rowboats, canoes, and boats with small electric motors. These details can help you distinguish between walking trails, picnicking, disc golf, fishing, and the types of boats mentioned.

Indian Rock Park covers 35 acres and has trails for hiking and exploring. A small pond and prairie grassland are among its landscape features. River Woods Nature Area offers an easy, 1.6-mile loop trail for hiking and mountain biking. The two areas can be compared using different specific details: the first is described in terms of its acreage, pond, and prairie grassland; the other in terms of the length and uses of its loop trail.

Salina Municipal Golf Course also has features that can help you plan a round: it has 6,500 yards of rolling, bluegrass-covered fairways, and each hole has four tee boxes. Kenwood Park is home to the historic Union Pacific locomotive No. 477. It adds a transportation and technology history theme to the range of outdoor places to visit.

Getting Around Salina

CityGo is Salina's fixed-route bus system and serves more than 80 percent of the city. If your plans include getting around the city, you can consider the system as a point of reference. As route details may change, check the operator's latest information before your trip.

Discover more destinations: Salina, Crawford, Lyon, Harvey County, Sedgwick, Russell County, Leavenworth County, Geary County

For the broader travel overview: Kansas.