Twice the size of New York’s Central Park, Swope Park is Kansas City’s great green backyard: 1,805 acres of woodlands, lakes and meadows in the city’s southeast, home to the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium and a whole weekend’s worth of adventures.
The park has been Kansas City’s playground since 1896. Golfers tee off on two courses, anglers cast lines into Lake of the Woods, families gather at shady picnic shelters, and mountain bikers and hikers disappear into miles of wooded trails. The historic Swope Memorial Golf Course, designed by A.W. Tillinghast, is a bucket-list round for golf lovers.
Starlight Theatre, the park’s beloved outdoor stage, has hosted Broadway tours and summer concerts under the stars since 1950 — a Kansas City summer night at its finest.
Whether your day means elephants at the zoo, a round of golf, a lakeside picnic or a musical beneath the Milky Way, Swope Park holds it all. Big city, bigger backyard.
