2 hours ago
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November 26, 2025 — 5:00am
You rarely hear anyone rave about Nebraska. In fact, it might just be America’s most-maligned state. Before visiting, I’d been told to brace myself for a flat, uninspiring landscape with few notable attractions. “Just fly over it,” advises one New Yorker.
So it is with suitably low expectations that I disembark Amtrak’s California Zephyr at Omaha station before dawn. A morning stroll around the CBD does little to challenge the stereotype – corporate skyscrapers shade wide, empty streets. Apart from the odd office worker, there’s little evidence that I’m in a city of almost 500,000 people.
But then I spot a buffalo leaping through the side of a building. Followed by another one grazing in a manicured office hedgerow. Intrigued, I follow the herd down to Pioneer Courage Park, where dozens of bronze sculptures depict dramatic scenes from the westward explorations of the early pioneers.
Teams of oxen and horses pull canvas-topped wagons while women and children in bonnets walk alongside. Incongruously surrounded by gleaming office buildings, it’s one of the largest bronze sculpture installations in the country.
It’s my first glimpse of Omaha’s fabulous collection of public art, which ranges from the stunning Fertile Ground mural – a colourful block-long depiction of the city’s history and culture – to whimsical sculptures of jugglers and stilt walkers outside the convention centre.
From here, I stroll down to The RiverFront, a $US325 million development that has revitalised 29 hectares of land to create a delightful corridor of parks, playgrounds and water features between the Missouri River and the historic Old Market district. Leaping over the river (and the state boundary with neighbouring Iowa) is the soaring Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge where I join several others taking selfies with one foot in each state (known locally as “Bobbing”). And, naturally, living under the bridge is a bright blue troll called Omar.
There are more surprises in the Old Market, where 19th-century brick warehouses have been repurposed as apartments, restaurants, boutiques and galleries. In the Old Market Artists Gallery, I meet 73-year-old Frank Costanzo, one of the gallery’s 12 resident artists, who specialises in colourful, retro-themed pop art. “Omaha has a thriving art scene and is very progressive,” he says. “We’re a blue dot in a red state.”
The city’s commitment to art is self-evident at the Joslyn Art Museum, an impressive institution with a striking new wing that’s an artwork in itself. As well as notable works by Rembrandt, Monet and Titian, it has an extensive American West collection by Karl Bodmer and Alfred Jacob Miller. Entry is free.
Zoos have become increasingly divisive attractions, but it’s hard not to be impressed with Omaha’s, which regularly gets voted the nation’s best thanks to innovative exhibits such as the world’s largest desert dome and the biggest indoor rainforest in the US.
Train enthusiasts will enjoy the train-related exhibits in The Durham Museum, housed inside the beautiful art deco Union Station, plus the Union Pacific Railroad Museum just over the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Although Omaha has been the birthplace of many well-known figures (including Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando and Malcolm X), the one that most people know about is billionaire investor Warren Buffett. And so on my last night, I visit The Drover, which I’ve been told is one of his favourite steakhouses. An unassuming brick venue on the outskirts of town, it’s been serving its famous whiskey-marinated steaks for more than 40 years. Taking a seat at the bar, I join a woman from New Jersey, a couple from Iowa and a guy from Minnesota, all of us here for the same thing. The verdict? Hands-down the best steak I’ve ever eaten.
Clearly, Buffett’s stock-picking genius applies to steaks and cities too. Despite his phenomenal wealth, he’s lived in the same modest five-bedroom Omaha house for the past 67 years.
THE DETAILS
FLY
Qantas flies to Omaha via Dallas/Fort Worth. See qantas.com
TRAIN
Departing daily from San Francisco to Chicago (and vice versa), the California Zephyr makes five stops in Nebraska, including Omaha. See amtrak.com
STAY
Housed in a handsome 1930s art deco building, Hotel Deco has spacious rooms, a stylish restaurant and is walking distance from the Old Market. From $US155 ($236) a night. See omahahoteldeco.com
MORE
visitomaha.com
The writer was a guest of Brand USA (visittheusa.com.au) and Nebraska Tourism (visitnebraska.com).
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