18 Best Things To Do In Murray, Kentucky

Murray is the seat of Calloway County in far western Kentucky, a college town built around Murray State University and a historic downtown square. It suits a slow weekend on campus and around the square, or a day on Kentucky Lake, which is a 15-minute drive from town.

1. Downtown Murray and Court Square

Downtown Murray is four square blocks of shops around the county courthouse. You'll find independent shops here: Bolin Books on Main Street sells used and rare books, and Wits' End Records is on the same street, both listed in the bureau's shopping directory.

For lunch, the bureau's restaurant list includes Rudy's on the Square, open more than 80 years for home-style plates and daily specials, and Mugsy's Hideout on Main for Chicago-style pizza.

Downtown has also picked up a set of painted walls, including "Feels Like Home" and the "Kindness Matters" series, and the MKY Murals map shows where they are. The square's own calendar runs from Easter on the Square in spring to Main Street Merriment, which opens the Christmas season.

2. Downtown Farmers Market

The Downtown Farmers Market takes over the court square every Saturday from May through October, 7 a.m. to noon, with 60-plus vendors on an average Saturday and up to 80 from mid-June through July. If you're in town on a Saturday, build the morning around it. The bureau also lists a Holiday Farmers Market on the first weekend of December.

3. The Arboretum at Murray State

The Arboretum at Murray State is a public display garden on the university's Pullen Farm, with more than 13 acres planted in native trees, shrubs and student-kept beds, and it's open daily from dawn until dusk. A 0.8-mile track loops the grounds. Leashed dogs are allowed on it. Bikes aren't.

The Butterfly Garden sits beside the pond, with a butterfly-themed play area next to it. Come in the evening: the visitors bureau points to "the mountain," the hill whose two waterfalls feed the pond, as the place to watch the sun set over the water.

4. Wrather West Kentucky Museum

On campus at North 16th Street, the Wrather West Kentucky Museum covers the social, cultural and economic development of West Kentucky and the Jackson Purchase, the corner of the state west of the Tennessee River. Both the permanent and changing exhibits are free.

The catch is the schedule. It's open Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m., so a weekend-only visitor won't get in. Pair it with the art gallery below on a weekday afternoon.

5. Clara M. Eagle Gallery

Murray State's art gallery in the Fine Arts Building holds over 1,500 artworks and shows rotating exhibitions across three galleries with more than 8,200 square feet of space, all free and open to the public. It also hosts the Magic Silver Show, a biennial juried photomedia exhibition that began in the mid-1970s.

The Clara M. Eagle Gallery keeps weekday hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the semester, and closes between exhibitions and over university breaks, so look up what's showing before you drive over.

6. Murray State Racers Basketball

Murray State Racers men's basketball calls the CFSB Center on campus home, and the arena has been under an eight-figure renovation since March 2026. Before you plan a trip around a game, check the Racers' 2026-27 schedule for where and when home games are played.

7. Central Park

Central Park is the largest park in Murray and the one to head for with kids: it has the city pool, Owens Spray Park and a skate park. Disc golfers get a 27-hole course measuring 7,925 feet at par 84.

8. Playhouse in the Park

Playhouse in the Park is Murray's community theater, and it performs inside the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad freight depot, which was moved into the Murray-Calloway County Park in 1979. The company also runs the Box of Frogs Youth Theatre Group and a summer theater camp.

Current shows and dates are on the Playhouse calendar.

9. Murray Art Guild

The Murray Art Guild runs a community art center and the MAG Art Market, which sells work by local artists, at 500 N. 4th St., north of the square. The center is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Workshops run for adults and for kids, with dates and prices posted on the guild's site.

10. Miller Memorial Golf Course

Miller Memorial Golf Course on Pottertown Road is an 18-hole layout that plays to par 71 and measures 6,592 yards from the championship tees. Tee times are booked online.

11. Calloway County Barn Quilt Trail

The Calloway County Barn Quilt Trail is a driving route past more than 60 painted quilt squares on barns and buildings across the county. The map comes with the free visitor guide from the Murray Convention and Visitors Bureau at 206 S. 4th St.

12. Murray Peddlers Mall

Antiques, collectibles, furniture and secondhand finds fill the vendor booths at the Murray Peddlers Mall on South 12th Street. It's open every day, until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

13. Antique Shops in Hazel

Hazel, a small town about 8 miles south of Murray on the Tennessee line, is known regionally and statewide for its antique shops. The bureau's directory lists them along Hazel's Main Street, among them Hazel Antique Mall and Horse's Mouth Antique Mall.

14. Kentucky Lake

East of town, Kentucky Lake is joined to Lake Barkley by a canal. Anglers come for crappie (the visitors bureau notes the lake is called the "Crappie Capital" of the world) as well as bass, stripers and sauger. You'll need a Kentucky license, sold through Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Without your own boat, use the rental list on the bureau's lakes page: The Marina at Lynnhurst in Murray rents jet skis, fishing boats, kayaks and pontoons, and Kenlake State Resort Park in Hardin rents pontoons and jet skis and has a public boat ramp.

15. Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area

Land Between the Lakes is the 170,000-acre peninsula of forest, wetland and open land between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, run as a National Recreation Area. With one day, pick from these three:

• Elk & Bison Prairie: a 3.5-mile paved loop you drive in a closed vehicle through a 700-acre elk and bison enclosure. It's open sunrise to sunset every day for $5 per vehicle.
• The Homeplace: an 1850s working farm with interpreters in period clothing and rare and endangered livestock breeds. It's open daily April through October, Wednesday to Sunday in March and November, and closed December through February; admission is $7 for ages 16 and up and free for younger kids.
• Golden Pond Planetarium: roughly 40-minute shows on astronomy and earth science, plus laser shows, at the Golden Pond Visitor Center, open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $7 for ages 13 and up.

Trail and road closures are posted on the LBL alerts page.

16. Freedom Fest

Murray marks the Fourth of July with Freedom Fest: the FNB Bank Freedom Fest Parade comes down Main Street on the morning of July 4, and the fireworks can be watched from along US 641 North.

17. The Keg

Oysters, raw, fried or grilled, lead the menu at The Keg, a Cajun and seafood restaurant with a full bar on North 16th Street. Snow crab and crawfish follow, with ribeyes and blackened alligator for the rest of the table.

18. Los Portales

The visitors bureau singles out the margaritas at Los Portales, a sit-down Mexican restaurant on Lowes Drive off US 641 North.