There’s something about fall that makes wandering around a city feel like an activity all its own. The air cools down, patios become prime real estate and suddenly walking a few extra blocks for a museum, mural or locally brewed beer sounds like an excellent plan.

Good news: Wichita makes it easy.

Downtown Wichita and the surrounding Old Town, Delano and Museums on the River districts pack an impressive amount of art, history, culture and local flavor into a relatively small area. You can spend the morning with a T. rex, walk across a piece of Chihuly glass, watch miniature trains make their rounds, stumble onto public art between stops and end the day with a locally brewed pint on a patio.

In other words, wear the comfortable shoes.

First things first: breakfast

Museum hopping requires fuel, and downtown Wichita gives you several ways to start the day.

In the heart of downtown, settle in for breakfast at HomeGrown Wichita at Naftzger Park or head just east of downtown to The Big Biscuit for hearty breakfast classics. Doo-Dah Diner is another Wichita breakfast favorite near downtown, known for putting its own spin on comfort-food classics.

If you're more of a grab-coffee-and-get-going traveler, make a quick stop at Mokas Cafe along the Arkansas River. Grab a coffee, breakfast sandwich or something sweet and consider yourself properly caffeinated for what comes next.

Start with museums in the heart of downtown

You don’t have to venture far to start uncovering Wichita’s stories.

At the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, explore local history inside Wichita’s original 1890 City Hall, a landmark worth seeing before you even make it through the front door.

Head east into Old Town and things get considerably older at the Museum of World Treasures, where more than 3,000 artifacts span multiple floors. Dinosaurs? Check. Ancient civilizations? Yep. Mummies? Those too.

Old Town is also home to the Great Plains Transportation Museum, where Wichita’s railroad history comes with the real thing. Explore historic locomotives and railroad equipment along with indoor displays of signs, lanterns, tools and other artifacts.

For trains of a considerably smaller variety, make your way to the Wichita Toy Train Club & Museum. Detailed model train layouts create miniature worlds for visitors to explore while exhibits introduce kids and adults to the hobby of collecting, operating and maintaining toy trains. It’s an especially fun addition if you have younger train enthusiasts along for the ride.

Wander west toward Delano and the river

Cross the Arkansas River and you’ll find another cluster of museums and attractions, along with some of the best views of downtown Wichita.

The Wichita Baseball Museum located inside the Home Run Dugout at Equity Bank Park tells the story of Wichita’s long relationship with the game. Sports fans can also find the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inside the nearby Wichita Boathouse, where Kansas athletes, coaches and others who have made their mark on sports history are honored. The Hall of Fame is currently open by appointment, so plan ahead if you want to add it to your route.

From there, continue toward the Museums on the River district.

Exploration Place makes science something you can get your hands on, while the Mid-America All-Indian Museum shares the art, history and cultures of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Nearby, Old Cowtown Museum takes immersion seriously. More than 50 historic and re-created buildings transport visitors to Wichita’s early days, when dirt streets, cattle drives and the occasional questionable mustache were all part of the scenery.

At the Wichita Art Museum, explore American art before doing something you generally aren’t encouraged to do in an art museum: walk on the art. The museum’s colorful Chihuly glass installation can be viewed from above, including by walking across a glass bridge.

And don’t rush off when hunger strikes. EAT at Wichita Art Museum gives you a reason to linger with sandwiches, salads, soups, flatbreads, desserts and specialty drinks right inside the museum. On Fridays, EAT reopens in the evening during WAM Nights, making an art-and-dinner combination especially easy.

And yes, Botanica Wichita is technically a botanical garden rather than a museum, but we’re not leaving it out. Wander the gardens, find the larger-than-life troll and see how the landscape changes with the season.

Find art without going inside

Some of downtown Wichita’s best art doesn’t require a ticket, or even a front door.

Keep your eyes up as you explore for murals, sculptures, painted alleyways and other public art scattered throughout the city center.

Gallery Alley, tucked just off Douglas Avenue, turned a once-overlooked alley into a colorful public space filled with local art. Downtown also has numerous sculptures and installations to discover as you wander.

Head west into Historic Delano for public art celebrating the neighborhood’s Chisholm Trail roots or venture east along Douglas Avenue into the Douglas Design District, where murals have turned buildings into canvases.

Make a game of it: pick a direction and see how many pieces you can spot before someone in your group needs coffee.

Make your own art crawl

If looking at art makes you want to see more of it, you’re in luck.

Stop at CityArts in Old Town to see rotating exhibitions, then make your way to Gallery 12 on Douglas Avenue to discover works from local artists.

Another stop worth adding is the Envision Arts Center, an inclusive gallery that creates opportunities for artists who are blind, visually impaired and disabled to exhibit their work. The gallery is designed with accessibility at its core and gives visitors another way to experience Wichita’s creative community.

If your art crawl takes you farther east along Douglas, make a stop at Reuben Saunders Gallery in the Douglas Design District. Founded in 1978, the gallery represents local and regional artists and has become a longtime fixture of Wichita’s art scene.

Conveniently, there are also some very good reasons to hang around the neighborhood after you’ve looked at the art. More on those in a minute.

Time your visit for the first Friday of the month and you can experience Wichita’s First Friday gallery crawl, when galleries and creative spaces welcome visitors for an evening centered around local art.

No velvet rope required.

Leave room for a little shopping

A good downtown wander should include at least one place you didn’t originally plan to stop.

Browse vintage finds at Worn Again Vintage or Dead Center Vintage, both along Douglas Avenue. For something distinctly Wichita, pop into The Workroom, where you'll find locally made goods, art, gifts and plenty of things that may suddenly need to come home with you.

Consider it cultural exploration with a shopping bag.

Add some fall to your afternoon

Museums are only part of the equation. On a crisp fall afternoon, leave some room in the itinerary for wandering simply because it feels good outside.

Plant people — and people who just appreciate a very good beverage surrounded by greenery — can stop at GROW Plant Bar. Browse plants, pots, locally made art and gifts, build something at the DIY Plant Bar or settle in at BOTANIC for coffee, cocktails or mocktails.

For another easy outdoor stop, stroll through Naftzger Park or follow the riverfront paths toward the Keeper of the Plains. Around sunset, the Keeper and the downtown skyline make a particularly good backdrop for that inevitable “we should probably get a photo” moment.

Historic Delano is another neighborhood worth exploring at a slower pace. Wander Douglas Avenue past locally owned shops, restaurants, public art and reminders of the district’s colorful cattle-drive past.

Follow the trail to a Wichita brewery

After a day of museum hopping, you’ve earned a different kind of flight.

Downtown and the surrounding districts have plenty of local breweries where you can settle in for the evening. In Old Town, stop at River City Brewing Co. or head a few blocks north to Nortons Brewing Company.

You can also make a stop at The Leprechaun’s Lab on Douglas Avenue, where the brewery and beer garden put another locally made option right in the middle of your downtown exploring.

Then there’s that east-of-downtown detour we promised.

Pair a visit to Reuben Saunders Gallery with nearby Central Standard Brewing and Hopping Gnome Brewing Company and you’ve got the makings of your own mini art-and-beer crawl in the Douglas Design District. Look at art. Order a beer. Discuss the art over said beer. We see no flaws in this plan.

Closer to downtown, Tor Brewing offers another locally made option, while Wichita Brewing Co. & Pizzeria gives you an excuse to wander west into Delano.

Grab a patio seat when the weather cooperates — which, being Kansas, may require checking the forecast approximately seven minutes beforehand.

One more museum worth the short drive

Still have some museum energy left? Point yourself south.

Just a short drive south of downtown, the Kansas Firefighters Museum occupies Wichita’s historic Fire Station No. 6 at 1300 S. Broadway. The restored 1909 firehouse is packed with Kansas firefighting history, including historic fire engines, uniforms, photographs, equipment and firefighting memorabilia.

Outside, spend a few moments at the adjacent Kansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial, which honors Kansas firefighters who died in the line of duty.

The museum is currently open to the public on Saturdays, with tours available by appointment during the week, so check hours before making the drive.

Turn it into your own downtown Wichita culture crawl

The best part? You don’t need to check everything off in one day.

Start with breakfast. Pick a museum or two. Wander into a gallery you didn’t plan on visiting. Stop when a mural catches your eye. Find something vintage. Order something local. Sit on a patio longer than intended.

That’s kind of the point.

Downtown Wichita rewards a little wandering, especially when fall weather makes being outside half the fun. Whether you spend a few hours exploring Old Town or make an entire weekend out of museums, art, shopping, food and drinks along the river, you might be surprised by just how much there is to experience within a few miles.

Turns out, Wichita looks pretty good on foot.