Orginally opened in 1984, the museum was Closed for three years to Completely revamp the Entire…read moremuseum with exhibits designed by award winning Dimensional Innovations (The Amelia Earhart Museum and Atlas9 are two of their amazing designs), the Kansas Museum of History reopened in winter 2025 and it is amazing! The Why Kansas Gallery acts as the crossroads of the 5 other galleries(plus a special events space) with themes of What Is/Was Kansas, Bleeding Kansas, Connecting Kansas, Making Kansas and Changing Kansas. Sit in a traditional teepee, play engineer on a 1880 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train (which now has several cars open to explore, several airplanes, and look down into a log cabin from a new elevated ramp... don't miss this! It is easy to miss! Lots of fascinating information on the fight for statehood and freedom, women's suffrage,, civil rights, industries and SO much more plus interactive exhibits(actually smelling the stockyards was a highlight..LOL). Such a rich history. Lots of imaginative play areas for kids inside and out, plus an authentic one room school house and restored Indian mission visible on the nature trail with a swinging bridge. They gave us a scavenger hunt at the front desk that takes you through the whole museum and if you finish it you earn a fun souvenir button or snall toy :) Even if history isn't your thing this museum is vibrant colorful fun and informative and is a true gem and a worthy day trip for any and all.

This sucks. 80% poster boards. Very few actual items being displayed. So much better when downtown…read more Moved west and quality declined severely. Completely redone and so much worse once again. Terrible for kids due to limited displays. No kids want's or can read hundreds of poster boards. Takes about 10-15 minutes to see the items being displayed and a week to read all the posters.

The Holley Museum of Military History is a five-room, self-guided museum tucked away inside of the…read moreRamada Topeka. The museum features numerous miniatures, mementos, diagrams and dioramas that are described by a recording that plays on loop throughout the day. At the entrance to the museum is a seat where a curator may have once sat, but next to it is a sign that reads "Will return in five minutes." The individual must have gotten lost years ago, because in all of my visits to the hotel I have never seen anyone sitting there. The museum is a wonderful way to pass twenty to thirty minutes if you have a break in whatever conference you are attending at the hotel. The museum takes guests through each American war chronologically. The collection was started by a Mr. Holley who built models and dioramas in his basement as a hobby. After his death others have added their memorabilia and memories to what eventually became the exhibit that is on display now. There are sections on women in the military, buffalo soldiers, Navajo wind talkers, as well as more conventional military history. If you are looking for a diversion it's a fun oddity to come across randomly as part of the hotel. If you invest the experience with any prior expectations it would be disappointing, however. I definitely enjoyed the museum and if you're in the hotel for other business I highly recommend popping in to check it out.

A quaint rock structure built nearly 170 years ago that originally housed the Democratic party…read moreheadquarters. This was when the Democrats were the pro slavery party and were trying to force Kansas into the union as a slave state. My goodness; how times have have reversed the major party roles over the last century and a half! Ironically Lecompton uses the image of Lincoln in their promotional tourist signs, very strange since Lecompton was the headquarters of his enemy - strange. Thank goodness for the Free Stater Jayhawks to save the day. The building itself is not worth the trip here, but bundled with the Territorial Capital and Constitution Hall, it's worth a 5 mile drive off the interstate or 10 miles from Lawrence.

This small art museum on the campus of Washburn University is a bit dynamic and a bit challenging…read more It's interesting art that is a bit more contemporary and yet they have a few classic 16th century pieces too. When I visited, the exhibitions were Novel Art - Narrative Paintings by Michael Young and Ian Young, 100 minus 5: Variations in the art of Printmaking and Unpacking Chinese Apartment Art. I particularly enjoyed the "Geometric Abstration - 1960s and 70s" exhibit. Not a very large collection but definitely worth an hour of your time. [Review 11422 overall, 1199 of 2019.]

I visited during a student exhibit and on the final day of an exhibit by Montana artist Theodore…read moreWaddell - "Hallowed Absurdities". he uses dead animal carcasses, and creates weapon type instruments or transforms weapons with other medium; odd and unsettling and sometimes ironic, so I guess he did his job, but not my most memorable exhibit. The rest of the collection was not that impressive or vast, but a small museum is better that no museum. I would definitely return on future visits to Topeka for rotating exhibits. Loved the Art-o-mat vending machine!

This place is a TREASURE!! The quantity and quality of artifacts and fascinating historical items…read moreis very impressive. The attendant was extremely knowledgeable and very adept at explaining the historical significance of the exhibits -- particularly the role that the Lecompton Constitution played in the early days of Kansas and Lincoln's presidency. There is so much to see that I want to return and spend more time. A lot of Kansas history is stored in this museum.

This place has a great Addams Family vibe -- very gothic-Victorian. There are several different…read morehouses on the same street which are part of the B&B, and we stayed in the main one, a 1920s Tudor-style mansion which was once one of the most valuable homes in Topeka. The living room was designed after a Tudor-era library, with lots of dark carved woodwork and stained-glass windows. The owner seems to be on a mission to save her block of this urban neighborhood in Topeka which is safe but has seen better days. As the rundown-but-beautiful houses on her block go on the market, she snaps them up, renovates them, and adds them to her little mini-village of bed-and-breakfast venues. She's a one-woman neighborhood rehabilitation program and has obviously made this her life's work, down to collecting decorative items to lovingly put her idiosyncratic touch on every square inch. Our room -- The Chester, named after the original owner of the mansion, Chester Woodward -- included a private full bath and a small gardenlike private rooftop deck with a hot tub. The room is cozy rather than spacious but very comfortable. Every night the owner brings out a homemade dessert (the night we were there it was a lemon-cheese ball to be spread on homemade sugar cookies the way you'd spread a savory cheese ball on crackers -- I'm so stealing this idea) and her morning breakfasts are lavish. She checked our convenience for breakfast and was clearly prepared to serve earlier or later depending on our needs. She was also happy to give us pointers on where to eat and what to see in Topeka. The Saturday night we were there she'd arranged for a couples' massage team to offer massages for guests. We didn't take advantage of it but other guests were. I would definitely stay here again if I were in Topeka overnight.

Great place wonderful inn keeper and it was all around a great stay. It's a little more pricey…read morethan most other places in Topeka but it is well worth it. Me and my wife will be returning.

We were in Topeka for a family event and got a block of rooms at the Cyrus. The hotel is clean, the…read morestaff is friendly, and the room we had was large with a comfortable bed. The night we arrived, we had met in the outdoor area of the bar and had fantastic service. There also are plenty of restaurants and bars around the hotel if you'd like to venture out. We'd definitely stay again.

I'm smitten! This trip, I stayed in a king deluxe suite! These rooms are ginormous! 2 TVs,…read morebeautiful sitting area! I love this hotel so much! The people are amazin

I took my 3 kids to Bonkers for a fun morning last week - it was my first time getting all 3 kids…read moreout of the house since having a baby 6 weeks prior. My older two kids have loved Up and Away in Lawrence so I thought the play maze looked similar and that it'd be so fun for them and bonus that it's in Topeka and I don't need to drive to Lawrence - I was wrong. Both of my children had feet get stuck because the webbing of the play place had multiple broken spots throughout. There were also multiple duct taped spots. My oldest could get her foot out herself, but my second child climbed to the top and her whole right leg went through a hole. She was crying so hard and there were no workers anywhere. (They were all in the front office.) My baby also decided that was when she needed to be fed so my 3 year old and baby are crying while I have to climb to the top of this maze to get the 3 year old unstuck. As a side note, the arcade games are all at a high volume for their music and the lights are super bright - Dave and busters isn't so overstimulating. I gave them 2 stars because they did give me my money back, although I think I'm being generous since never did an employee apologize for what happened or check to see if my daughter was okay. They also did not mention that they would fix the issue.

The games were fun. They had something for all ages. We went during the early afternoon so there…read morewasn't too large a crowd. The prices were what you would expect - but I had to take stars off for the food. We ordered two of the large "16 inch" pizzas for our group. They brought out the pizzas on the 16 inch pans - they were 12-13inches at best. Extremely thin and the sauce/toppings were far from the crust. I'm not impressed. We even asked the server about whether we were brought the right size, but were told that it was. They didn't even try to make it right. $40 on two of these disappointments. No thank you, we won't make that mistake again.