The Best Weekend Trips from Kansas City: A River Port, a Mineral Spa, and a German Wine Village

The best weekend trips from Kansas City are Weston (40 minutes, an 1840s river port that stopped building and never got over it), Excelsior Springs (35 minutes, a mineral-water spa town with an Art Deco bathhouse), and Hermann (2 hours 45 minutes, a German wine village above the Missouri River). Two are close enough for a long day, and all three are built around something you can actually do in cold weather.

Weston: the river port that outgrew Kansas City

In the 1840s Weston was the second-busiest port on the Missouri River and the largest town in western Missouri. Then the river shifted, the railroad picked other towns, and Weston stopped building. What is left is one of the most intact antebellum commercial districts in the Midwest, brick storefronts climbing from the old landing to the hilltop.

Whiskey and wine kept it alive. McCormick Distilling has run here since 1856, the oldest continuously operating distillery west of the Mississippi, and it still gives tours. Pirtle Winery pours in an 1867 Baptist church a block off Main, and Green Dirt Farm west of town is one of the country's best-known sheep dairies.

The 48 hours. Saturday: distillery tour, Pirtle tasting, the Main Street storefronts, dinner at a cellar bar. Sunday: Weston Bend State Park for the river overlook and five miles of bluff trail, then Green Dirt Farm for cheese and lunch before the drive home.

Excelsior Springs: the mineral spa

Excelsior Springs was built on the strength of its springs, and its centerpiece is the Hall of Waters, a 1930s Art Deco municipal building with the world's longest mineral water bar in the basement, where each spring poured from its own tap. The Elms Hotel and Spa, three times rebuilt after fires, has hosted everyone from Harry Truman to Al Capone and still runs its mineral baths.

The 48 hours. Saturday: the Hall of Waters and downtown, an afternoon at the Elms spa, dinner in town. Sunday: Watkins Mill State Park, 20 minutes north, where a preserved 1860s woolen mill and its company town sit beside a quiet lake. Lunch at Wabash BBQ in the old railroad station in town.

Hermann: Missouri wine country

Hermann was founded in 1837 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia, whose members wanted a piece of the Rhine in the middle of Missouri. The river bluffs did the rest. Stone Hill Winery, started in 1847, was once the second-largest winery in the United States and still ages wine in a labyrinth of underground cellars cut into the hill.

The Katy Trail runs along the river bottom below town, the Hermann Trolley connects the wineries on weekends, and the Deutschheim State Historic Site preserves two German-American homes and a print shop. Oktoberfest in late September and October is the busiest stretch of the year.

The 48 hours. Saturday: Deutschheim, a Stone Hill cellar tour and tasting, dinner at Tin Mill or Vintage 1847. Sunday: bikes on the Katy Trail, then one more tasting before the drive back. Stay at the Inn at Hermannhof or a bluff cabin so you do not have to drive after the second tasting.

When to go

Weston: October for bluff color and the harvest weekends. Excelsior Springs: any time, since the spa and the bathhouse are indoors. Hermann: late September and October for Oktoberfest, or May for the vineyards at their greenest.

Which one should you pick?

The most history per mile walked: Weston. A winter weekend that does not depend on weather: Excelsior Springs. A full wine weekend: Hermann. Full itineraries are in the Kansas City escapes hub, with guides to Weston, Excelsior Springs, and Hermann.