Des Moines in Iowa, at the heart of the US “corn and pig belt” is actually far more interesting than many of your friends would have you believe!
Des Moines has a beautiful capitol building, some amazing parks, the Art Gallery, a Botanical Garden, a nice riverside and of course it is only half an hour away from the famous Bridges of Madison County and the birth place of John Wayne.
There are plenty of things to do in Des Moines, so read on to get some extra inspiration!
Reasons To Visit Des Moines In Iowa
The main reason for my visit to Iowa was to attend the 30th World Pork Expo and while I was in Des Moines I extended my business trip with a few days of holidays (what a bleisure!).
I began planning my trip to Des Moines back in February, four months before I was due to fly. The problem was I was struggling to find any guide books about Des Moines as Lonely Planet had none and even a rep from the US Tourism Board in London said I would be hard pressed to find anything interesting to do in Des Moines.
I thought it was highly unusual and so I searched for things to do in Des Moines on the local tourism board’s website. It turns out there is far more to do in Des Moines than I expected!
I am mighty surprised that it doesn’t get any mention in the Lonely Planet “Eastern USA” guidebook where they feature Minnesota and Illinois but not Iowa. They also took exception to Missouri, and I wonder why? They haven’t published a US Midwest guidebook so I am guessing they did not think it was worth their time. And how wrong they were!
I had a great helper in the form of Jordan Powers, the comms manager at Catch Des Moines, the local tourism office. She was super helpful and prepared an exhaustive list of things to do in Des Moines, some of which I will have to do during my next visit as unfortunately I had not time to tick them all off!
Getting To Des Moines
As there are no direct flights from London to Des Moines I decided to fly to Chicago with British Airways then rent a car from Holiday Autos and drive to Des Moines on the Historic Lincoln Highway and I-80.
On the way to Des Moines I stopped off at many historic places like Dekalb, Geneva, Rochelle, Fulton, Clinton and Davenport, as well as Walcott and West Branch. I will write about these locations in a separate article, here I will focus on Des Moines and the surrounding area only.
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For the first two nights in Des Moines I stayed at the Econo Lodge by the Fairgrounds where the Pork Expo was held. This hotel has a swimming pool, a free car park and is on the bus route 1, which takes you directly into the city center past the capitol, various museums and the Botanical Gardens.
I would say it is a pretty good, low-cost location but there are plenty of other hotels downtown like the Marriott or the Hilton if you want something more up-market.
The Capitol Building In Des Moines
I had a car so one morning I decided to drive up to the Iowa State Capitol Building in Des Moines where there is visitors parking and entrance is free. The Des Moines Capitol Building is amazing already from the outside and inside it looks even better with a huge dome and painted ceilings.
Construction on the building started in 1871 and was largely finished in 1886. Perhaps the most beautiful part of the Des Moines Capitol Building is the Golden Dome, which towers 275 feet above the surrounding area.
The outside of the doom is covered in 23-karat gold leaf, costing USD300,000 in 1998-1999 to re-guild the structure.
The Des Moines War Memorial
The Des Moines Capitol Gardens are also very pretty, with various administrative buildings in the surrounding area.
My favourite part was the War Memorial to the left of the building where the locals remember the fallen soldiers that departed from Iowa to fight in the two World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Korean War as well as a number of other battles.
The Korean War Memorial was very thought provoking: 1.46 million dead on the UN coalition side and another couple million on the Korean side – and that is in only 37 months! Total butchery!
The Pappajohn Sculpture Park
From here I made my way to downtown Des Moines to check out the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park which features 29 sculptures on 4.4 acres in the middle of Iowa’s capital city.
Following this I went for a walk in the Historic East Village. This part of Des Moines comes with a hip vibe, really growing in the past several years. Here you will find dozens of independently owned restaurants and shops where you can easily take a break from all the walking around Des Moines.
Food And Beer Recommendation
If you are unsure of where to eat here are a few of the restaurants that you should try when in Des Moines:
Waveland Cafe – I had breakfast here one morning and I still think about the place! Their hash browns are super tasty with the scrambled eggs on the side.
Drake’s Diner – The name is a bit deceiving as they also open for breakfast and lunch. My favourite was the scrambled eggs, their French toast sticks and the hashbrown.
The El Bait Shop – a quintessential Des Moines hot spot with a quirky menu (everything from fish tacos to liver and onions) and the world’s largest selection of American craft beers on 262 taps!
The Iowa Taproom – owned by the same company as El Bait Shop, but with a more “standard” American menu and all Iowa beers on tap.
Zombie Burger – an apocalyptic theme and unique burgers – my friend’s favourite is the fulci, topped with prosciutto, brie, caramelized onion and truffle mayo.
Fong’s Pizza – a tiki-bar vibe with unique options, including their famous crab rangoon pizza.
Confluence Brewing – a friend recommended this place saying it is one of her favourite breweries in town. Confluence Brewing is right on the bike trail in Des Moines and brews some amazing beers. Their taproom highlights all of their brewing equipment and they usually have a food truck on site.
Zoo Brew– a fun and quirky event at the Blank Park Zoo (just south of downtown), Zoo Brew supports zoo programming while allowing guests to enjoy beer and live music (along with cute animals).
Peace Tree Brewing– my other favorite brewery in town, Peace Tree started in Knoxville, Iowa before opening a taproom in the Historic East Village. They have a choose your own flight option which is usually my go-to.
Centro – a Des Moines favourite, Centro has an Italian flare. According to locals the Centro Salad is outstanding as a starter.
If you’ve had enough of stuffing yourself you can go cycling around town or walk to another attraction.
The Des Moines Art Center
My favourite location in Des Moines was the local Art Center – a world-renowned art museum with a pretty park around it and some interesting exhibits. According to the security guard, the most instagrammed spot in Des Moines is also here in one of the exhibition halls (clue in one of the photographs 🙂
The best is that the Des Moines Art Center is free to the public and is open late most days except Tuesday when it closes at 4PM.
More Things To Do In Des Moines
State Historical Museum of Iowa– this free museum is filled with Iowa history in the form of exhibits, tours and collections.
Jasper Winery Summer Concert Series– located just south of downtown, Jasper Winery hosts a summer concert series, with options to bring in a picnic or purchase dinner on site.
Driving Outside Des Moines
One afternoon once the Pork Expo finished I decided to drive out to Winterset, birthplace of John Wayne and home of the famous Bridges of Madison County!
The drive here takes about 30-35 minutes on the I-35 Interstate south towards Kansas City. If you are doing a road trip from North to South on Highway 69 I would definitely stop here as Winterset is a very pretty place with a lot going for it.
For me the number one attraction was the Covered Bridges Of Madison County from the famous Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep movie.
Unfortunately the house where they acted naughty is closed to the public as it is a private property of a local landowner but the bridges are free to access.
If you click this link you will be able to download a colour PDF map of Madison County with all the famous bridges on it.
Some of the covered bridges are closed to car traffic so you can only walk on them but others are apparently still open for traffic. Disclaimer: I went to see two out of the five famous bridges and they were both foot bridges only.
John Wayne’s Birthplace And Museum
John Wayne’s birthplace and museum is also in Winterset on (you guessed it) John Wayne Drive! I have to admit I had no idea he was born here until I arrived and one of the locals told me I must visit the place.
Unfortunately the museum was closed by the time I arrived but I still managed to take a picture of his house and some other things in the windows.
Since you are in Winterset you should also visit the main square with the court house and take a few shots of the historic buildings.
My food recommendation is not exactly exotic, but there is a Hardee’s near the gas station where they serve some pretty tasty burgers, so if you are hungry for lunch or dinner just pop in there!
Grove Cafe In Ames
North of Des Moines is Ames, a small town famous for its stunning Post Office, its historic downtown area and Grove Cafe, featured in Jane & Michael Stern’s Roadfood guide book. I’ve been using this book for my US road trips for a couple of years and their food recommendations are pretty amazing.
So when I found out that there is a cafe in Ames which the Stern couple recommended I decided to stop off and sample their best pancakes.
I was on my way to Minneapolis one morning out of Des Moines to visit a client for a day so I fuelled up for the long drive at Grove Cafe.
The most famous item on the list is their pancake, which is a huge, thick, plate-size dough, drizzled with cinnamon sugar with maple syrup on the side.
Needless to say I did not manage to finish it as it was just too much in one sitting but it tasted amazing!
Boone County Steam Railroad
Also, if you are in the area make sure to visit the Boone County Steam Train and the famous bridge it goes across.
Unfortunately I ran out of time so I did not manage to see either, but hopefully I will manage to come back again and tick those off my bucket list!
Anyhow, I hope this article will encourage you to visit Des Moines in Iowa as it really is a very interesting place, full of friendly people all waiting for you to visit!