Houston to Wichita road trip: Distance, drive time & best stops

Planning a Houston to Wichita road trip itinerary

The Houston to Wichita drive connects the biggest city in Texas to southern Kansas.

The top Houston attraction is unquestionably the NASA Space Center, which takes you behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center. This includes the Mission Briefing Center, and a vast array of high tech exhibitions.

Other attractions include the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Children’s Museum

For more Houston experiences, try hip hop party bike tours, foodie walks in the Montrose neighbourhood and quirky tours of Houston’s tunnel system.

Top Houston accommodation options include the superb value Club Quarters Houston Downtown and the upscale but boutique Magnolia.

Good things to do in Wichita include the Museum of World Treasures, the Exploration Place Science Museum and the Great Plains Transportation Museum.

Of these, the Museum of World Treasures is the most gloriously eclectic. It flits from Ancient Egypt to World War II via shrunken heads and dinosaurs.

Houston to Wichita distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Houston to Wichita is 602 miles. That makes for a driving time of around eight hours and 46 minutes. The quickest route is up the I-45, then the I-35.

The best stops to add to a Houston to Wichita road trip itinerary are Dallas, Turner Falls State Park and Oklahoma City.

For more attractions, check out the guides to the individual legs of the journey.

Houston to Wichita drive: Dallas

Dallas has plenty of high quality cultural attractions. These include the Nasher Scupture Center, Pioneer Square and the Perot Museum of Science and Nature.

But for many visitors, the main reason to visit Dallas is the JFK assassination. Yes, you can go up to the Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly took his shot from.

Top Dallas experiences include a JFK Assassination and Museum tour, the GeO-Deck at Reunion Tower and a self-guided scavenger hunt.

Good places to stay in Dallas with a pool include the sassy Kimpton Pittman downtown and the historic Warwick Melrose near Turtle Creek.

The best way to combine the JFK sites in Dallas is a special themed tour. This takes in the JFK Memorial, Dealey Plaza and the Grassy Knoll before heading to Lee Harvey Oswald’s rooming house. It finishes in the Sixth Floor Museum of the Texas Book Depository. On the way, expert guides take you through the assassination facts and theories. Find out more here.

Houston to Wichita road trip attractions: Turner Falls Park

Turner Falls Park in Davis, Oklahoma, has a spring-fed creek running through the park. The highlight, though, is Turner Falls.

It is by no means Niagara, but the water does tumble 77ft into a seductive pool at the bottom.

There are three different swimming areas in the park – Honey Creek, the pool at the base of Turner Falls and Blue Hole Pool.

Walks will take you past caves and whitetail deer, while there’s also a somewhat out-of-place castle that you can poke your nose inside.

Best stops between Houston and Wichita: Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City provides a touch of big city life on the plains. The big attraction is the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, which delves into multiple aspects of cowboy culture. It’s a large, detailed, multi-pronged museum.

The sight that’ll probably stick in the memory, however, is the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. This commemorates the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 – the deadliest homegrown terrorist attack in US history.

Great Oklahoma City experiences include craft beer tours by bike, indoor skydiving and art and architecture tours.

The Arkansas River in Wichita, Kansas.
The Arkansas River in Wichita, Kansas. Photo by RJA1988/ Pixabay.

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