Your Tulsa CME conference.

Tulsa after your study day

Study days finish at 2:00 PM Tulsa time. Good afternoon choices are a walk among the Art Deco buildings downtown, a visit to Philbrook Museum of Art and its gardens, or time in Gathering Place. Philbrook is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Greenwood Rising is closed on Mondays, so check days before you plan around either.

Travel, lodging and attraction admission are arranged separately by you. The city is the setting for your own plans, and nothing in this guide is scheduled around your study day.

Downtown’s Art Deco blocks

Visit Tulsa’s Art Deco guide describes the downtown business district as a living museum of 1920s oil-boom architecture. It names the Philcade, a Zig Zag-style building with terra cotta ornament and Egyptian-style columns, and the ARCO Building, a Streamline-style building a short block away. It also lists Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, completed in 1929 with a 15-story tower and terra cotta statues.

A company called Tulsa Tours leads Art Deco walking tours, and the guide says some include buildings that are not otherwise open to the public. Compare any tour’s schedule with your 2:00 PM finish.

Gathering Place, Philbrook and the river

Gathering Place is at 2650 S John Williams Way E. Its site describes imaginative playgrounds, peaceful gardens, riverfront views and outdoor adventures, with a lodge and a boathouse. Check its current schedule and any boat operations before you go, and allow time for getting there.

Philbrook Museum of Art is at 2727 S. Rockford Road. It has galleries and gardens, the gardens are open for picnicking and for drawing or painting, and the museum offers public guided tours of its galleries or gardens. For more time outdoors, Visit Tulsa lists Turkey Mountain, whose steepest path is called a test of endurance, plus an expansive bike trail system, Tulsa Zoo and Tulsa Botanic Garden.

The Arts District, Greenwood and Route 66

Guthrie Green, at 111 E Reconciliation Way in the heart of the Tulsa Arts District, is a community green space for picnics on the lawn and open-lawn games, with food trucks, including Food Truck Wednesdays. The Visit Tulsa attractions page also lists music landmarks including Cain’s Ballroom, the Woody Guthrie Center, the Bob Dylan Center and the Church Studio.

Greenwood Rising is a history center at 23 North Greenwood Avenue that focuses on Black Wall Street and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Its site says tickets are required and must be reserved online in advance, so plan ahead and confirm the schedule against your 2:00 PM finish. Tulsa also bills itself as the Capital of Route 66. Visit Tulsa describes countless murals across town, calls Tulsa the birthplace of the Tulsa Sound, and lists Circle Cinema, a historic attraction on the Mother Road that hosts silent film screenings, and the Tulsa Spotlight Theater, home to a show it says has run since 1953.

Hotels, stages and a brewery block

The Art Deco guide describes the Mayo Hotel, completed in 1925 and restored with 102 guest rooms, and the Tulsa Club, an 11-story building designed by Bruce Goff in 1927 that once housed the city’s Chamber of Commerce and now serves as a hotel. It also mentions The Vault, a former drive-through bank with six lanes that keeps zigzag Art Deco touches and is now a restaurant.

Visit Tulsa says the Tulsa Performing Arts Center hosts touring Broadway shows in the heart of downtown, surrounded by art galleries. A second Visit Tulsa article describes a Brewers’ Block, where several breweries are a few minutes’ walk from one another. Opening days vary, so check before building a plan around any one stop. The same article notes that many of these spots occupied abandoned buildings as recently as the 2010s, and it describes the city’s neighborhoods as lively.

When to visit Tulsa

April through June and September through October are a useful starting point for planning a visit. Use the local forecast when you plan outdoor time, whether in the parks, on Turkey Mountain or on a walking tour downtown, and let the weather decide how long an outing should be.

Getting to Tulsa and your study setting

Tulsa International Airport (TUL) is the arrival point shown in this guide. Visit Tulsa says it is about a 10-minute drive from downtown and lists service by Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and United. The tourism site says Tulsa is ranked among the most drivable U.S. cities, where you can typically reach almost any part in 15 to 20 minutes. Aero BRT buses run along the Peoria corridor every 15 to 20 minutes from designated stops, electric scooters are common around town, and downtown’s Art Deco architecture and murals make it a place to walk.

The map shows straight-line distances from Shift’s designated center. These are orientation distances, not driving distances or travel-time estimates. Check your exact address against the conference’s check-in area before booking.