7 Coolest Towns In Oklahoma For A Summer Vacation

Seven Oklahoma towns are built for a summer vacation. Medicine Park has a granite swimming hole downtown. Grove holds the busiest stretch of Grand Lake. Boise City has the darkest skies in the state. The rest add spring creeks, cold trout water, and a catfish contest. They spread across the whole state, with Panhandle grassland on the western end and pine forest down in the southeast.

Boise City

Boise City gives a summer trip the highest ground in Oklahoma. Black Mesa tops out at 4,973 feet. Boise City is the closest town to the trailhead. The summit comes after an 8.4-mile out-and-back. The path climbs through pinyon-juniper grassland. Cimarron County wraps around the town. It is the only US county that touches four states.

Black Mesa State Park lies about 30 miles to the northwest. It has campsites and fishing at Lake Carl Etling. The state gave the area an official Dark Sky designation. The stargazing here beats anywhere else in the state. The Cimarron Heritage Center stands on Cimarron Avenue. It keeps Dust Bowl history close. The exhibits include original WPA murals and a real sod house. Farmhouse Cafe and Guera's Tacos cover the downtown lunch crowd. Boise City holds the Cimarron County seat. The town has one traffic signal and about 1,100 people.

Medicine Park

Medicine Park has been a summer resort since the early 1900s. Every building is local cobblestone. It was Oklahoma's first planned resort town. Bath Lake holds the payoff. The swimming hole has granite walls and a sandy beach. Lifeguards work it through the summer.

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge spreads out just west. It covers 59,020 acres. It is the oldest managed wildlife refuge in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service system. A free-roaming bison herd of about 650 head lives here. Longhorn cattle, elk, and prairie dogs share the granite. Mount Scott climbs to 2,464 feet. A paved road reaches the summit. The Medicine Park Aquarium covers more than 90 species. Mrs. Chadwick's Bakery and the Riverside Cafe handle breakfast. The menus lean on pecans and chicken-fried steak.

Grove

Grove puts the whole summer on Grand Lake. Grand Lake o' the Cherokees covers 46,500 acres. The shoreline stretches 1,300 miles. Grove gets the busiest part. Boaters fish, tube, and wakeboard all summer. Bass tournaments fill the calendar. Toes in the Grand takes over Wolf Creek Park each June. The festival brings live music, a carnival, and hydroplane races. More than 14,000 people show up.

Har-Ber Village covers the southern shore. It is a sprawling open-air pioneer village. Around 100 reconstructed buildings fill the grounds. A working print shop and a one-room schoolhouse are among them. Lendonwood Gardens fills eight acres nearby. More than 1,000 plant species grow across its English and Japanese sections. Matt's Place, Raggedy's Cafe, and La Casita De Martin round out the food stops.

Sulphur

Sulphur cools off in cold mineral springs all summer. Chickasaw National Recreation Area protects them. The park covers 9,899 acres at the edge of town. Spring-fed creeks and travertine terraces fill it. The 2,300-acre Lake of the Arbuckles lies inside. It opened in 1902 as Sulphur Springs Reservation. That makes it the oldest National Park Service unit in Oklahoma.

An EF3 tornado tore through town on April 27, 2024. It killed one person. It damaged much of downtown and the park. Recovery has continued since. The Chickasaw-owned Artesian Hotel is open again. So is the Chickasaw Cultural Center. Travertine Creek and Antelope Springs stay busy. Some perimeter trails close off and on during cleanup. Check conditions before a long hike. The Cultural Center hosts daily programs on Chickasaw language and stomp dance.

Tahlequah

Tahlequah pairs a summer trip with the Cherokee Nation capital. It is also the seat of the United Keetoowah Band. The Cherokee National Capitol Building dates to 1869. It stands over the downtown square. It now holds the Cherokee National History Museum. The exhibits cover Cherokee government and the Trail of Tears.

The Cherokee National Prison Museum fills an 1875 building. It once jailed Cherokee Nation prisoners. The old Cherokee Supreme Court building dates to 1844. It is the oldest surviving government building in the state. It once printed the Cherokee Advocate newspaper. The J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve protects 17,000 acres of Ozark foothills nearby. A reintroduced elk herd lives at the southern edge of its range. Northeastern State University grew out of the 1846 Cherokee National Female Seminary. About 7,500 students attend. Emery's Grill, White Wolf Steakhouse, and the Kroner & Baer Brewpub cover the food and drink.

Pauls Valley

Pauls Valley builds its summer around catching catfish by hand. It hosts the Okie Noodling Tournament every June. The event is billed as the world's largest noodling contest. Noodlers reach bare-handed into submerged root cavities. They haul out flatheads up to 70 pounds. The tournament draws more than 10,000 people. That nearly doubles the town for a weekend. Noodling stays legal year-round in Oklahoma. The rule is hands only, no hooks.

The Toy and Action Figure Museum stands on Main Street. It holds more than 13,000 figures. Star Wars, Marvel, and DC displays fill the cases. Sculptor Kevin Stark's prototypes are among them. The 1908 Santa Fe Depot Museum covers railroad and ranching history. Turner Falls Park lies about half an hour southwest. The state's tallest waterfall drops 77 feet there. It pours into a natural swimming pool. Primavera Italian Restaurant and Sugar Babie's Sno Cones cover the downtown rotation.

Broken Bow

Broken Bow cools off on a clear lake in the pines. Broken Bow Lake covers 14,000 acres. Pine-lined shoreline stretches 180 miles. Beavers Bend State Park wraps the southern end. It spreads across 1,300 acres along the Mountain Fork River. Trout hold in the cold tailwater below the dam. Largemouth and smallmouth bass live in the main lake. The David L. Boren Hiking Trail covers about 12 miles. The Mountain Fork gives kayakers a few Class II rapids.

Cedar Creek Golf Course threads 6,762 yards through the pines. The Kiamichi Mountains rise behind town. They are a subrange of the Ouachita Mountains. Neighboring Hochatown incorporated in 2023. It built a cabin-and-tasting-room scene on the lake's west shore. The Hochatown Distilling Co. and Beavers Bend Brewery lead the strip. Doughnut Theory and Rogue Local cover the food and coffee stops.

Where Oklahoma Goes To Cool Off

A good Oklahoma summer rewards a long drive. Sulphur sends you wading up Travertine Creek through the springs. Tahlequah lines three museums around the old Cherokee Nation capital. Pauls Valley fills a park to watch catfish come up by hand. Boise City swaps the water for a climb up the highest point in the state. Down in the pines, Hochatown pours small-batch whiskey near the trout water at Beavers Bend. The towns cover every corner of the map.