Tulsa

While Oklahoma City is known for its award-winning events and amazing attractions, Tulsa is often considered a cultural oasis. The second largest city in Oklahoma, it has an air of sophistication and flair for the arts.

With the discovery of oil in the early 1900s, Tulsa transformed from a frontier town to a wealthy and thriving city. Elegant mansions and spectacular business headquarters built up, leaving a collection of Art Deco structures rivalled only by New York and Miami.

Tulsa is also one of the smallest cities in the country to support fulltime ballet and opera companies. The critically acclaimed Tulsa Ballet and the Tulsa Opera rank among the top ten regional opera companies in America.

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center is home to a number of performing arts organisations in addition to a touring Broadway series. The city's rich cultural life extends to the visual arts as well. The Philbrook Museum of Art offers a historic mansion and gardens, once the Italianate villa and estate of an oil baron.

Additionally, the Gilcrease Museum houses the largest collection of Western American art in the world. It's easy to imagine Tulsa's creative atmosphere being inspired by the natural beauty surrounding the city. Tulsa is nestled in northeast Oklahoma among rolling hills and forests, with the Arkansas River running through its centre.

Its 800-acre river parks system features picnic areas, playgrounds, and sports fields, as well as extensive trails for walkers, runners, and cyclers. The city is also something of a golf haven, with 19 public courses as well as multiple award-winning private courses.