19 Best and Fun Things to Do in Tuscaloosa AL (Alabama)

Things to Do in Tuscaloosa AL Tuscaloosa, located in western Alabama, is a friendly and welcoming city with a variety of things to see and do for the entire family. So, what are the things to do in tuscaloosa alabama? History buffs can learn about the city’s history at the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, while art lovers can visit the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art to see some spectacular works of art by renowned American artists.

Families can go for a walk or have a picnic at Lake Lurleen State Park or Snow Hinton Park, both of which have playgrounds for children. Call the attractions and restaurants ahead of time to confirm current hours of operation.

19 Best Things to Do in Tuscaloosa AL Today

1. Tulsa Museum of Art

The Tuscaloosa Museum of Art features works by both unknown and well-known artists, including Edward Hicks, George Luks, Albert Bierstadt, and John Singer Sargent. The museum houses approximately 1,000 works of fine and decorative arts that were collected by Jack Warner over several decades and later donated to the museum to promote a better understanding of the arts.

The collection, considered one of the most important private collections of American art, includes works by Andrew Wyeth, Edward Potthast, James A.M. Whistler, Jamie Wyeth, Basil Ede, Charles Lannieur, and Duncan Phyfe. The Tuscaloosa Museum of Art is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Tuscaloosa county, AL 35404, 1400 Jack Warner Pkwy NE, Phone: 205-562-5280

2. Alabama Belle

The Bama Belle is a popular tourist attraction in Tuscaloosa. The Bama Belle, a beautifully restored and maintained riverboat, is docked at Medeiros Point on the Black Warrior River and offers sightseeing tours as well as private rentals for special occasions. The riverboat was originally named Captain Ann and was used in Nashville’s Opryland before being relocated to Destin, Florida, and renamed the Emerald Queen.

The boat was renamed the Bama Belle in 2001 and has since operated sightseeing tours from the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk. The ship has a restaurant and a full-service bar, as well as a variety of tours ranging from day trips to dinner cruises and private rentals for special occasions.

Tuscaloosa county, AL 35401, 1 Greensboro Ave, Phone: 205-275-0560

3.Children’s Interactive Museum (CHOM)

Tuscaloosa’s Children’s Hands-On Museum provides an interactive and immersive environment that encourages children to explore, discover, and learn through play. The museum has a variety of hands-on exhibits and displays that encourage children to learn by touching, feeling, listening, and smelling. The museum, which spans three floors, features over 25 presentations for children of all ages, including a replica of a Choctaw village and a working farmers market, as well as an arts studio, a Japanese house, and a space station.

The museum also provides educational and community-based programs, as well as catering for special occasions such as birthday parties and other celebrations. The Children’s Hands-On Museum is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Lake Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 2213 University Blvd, 205-349-4235

4. Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Druid City Brewing Company

Druid City Brewing Company, located on 15th Street in Lake Tuscaloosa, produces six full-time brews and offers brewery tours and tastings. The brewery was founded in 2012 with only two beers on tap and has since expanded to offer six popular beers, including Druid City Pale Ale, Druid City Wheat, Riverside Saison, Lamplighter IPA, Tuscaloosa Stout, and Downtown North Porter.

The Druid City Taproom is open for tastings and tours seven days a week and features a cozy ambiance, a lovely outdoor patio area with cornhole setups, an impressive vinyl selection, and friendly, welcoming staff who are on hand to answer any questions about the brewery’s brews.

Phone: 205-342-0051, 607 14th St, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

5.Edelweiss German Cafe & Bakery

The Edelweiss German Coffee Shop & Bakery is an authentic German café in downtown Tuscaloosa’s Temerson Square. The cozy café-style coffee shop serves traditional German bakery fare like German bread, pretzels, pastries, cakes, and other European specialties, as well as a large selection of breakfast and lunch dishes and coffees and drinks.

The café has a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that draws both locals and visitors to come and enjoy the delicious food while experiencing a taste of Germany in the heart of Tuscaloosa capitol park. The Edelweiss German Coffee Shop & Bakery is open seven days a week for early breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 2324 4th St, 205-343-6545

6.Gorges House Museum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The Gorgas House Museum, built in 1829, is the oldest structure on the University of Alabama campus and houses original furnishings, a collection of 19th century artifacts, and other objects and memorabilia. The Paul w bryant museum, named after the Gorgas family, who lived there from 1879 to 1953, began as a campus hotel and student dining hall.

It is one of only four current buildings on campus that survived a fire set by Union troops in 1865 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the Gorgas House Museum is open for self-guided or docent-led guided tours.

810 Capstone Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487; phone: 205-348-5906.

7.Tours of Haunted Tuscaloosa

A Haunted Tuscaloosa Tour is a unique and terrifying way to experience Tuscaloosa’s haunted locations. Tours begin and end at the historic Drish House, dubbed “Alabama’s Most Haunted House,” and continue to several nearby locations with spine-chilling tales of Tuscaloosa’s dark past at hurricane creek park.

Tours are conducted in a 35-seat vintage trolley bus-style coach by knowledgeable local guides who share their passion for the city’s haunted history with guests over the course of 1.5 hours. The tour visits 16 locations, three of which require walking, so wear comfortable shoes.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2300 17th Street

8. Mansion of Jemison-Van de Graaff

The Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, also known as the Jemison-Van de Graaf-Burchfield House, is an architecturally significant historic house in Tuscaloosa amphitheater. The 26-room Italianate mansion was designed by famous architect John Stewart for Robert Jemison, Jr., a local businessman and politician.

The estate was a private residence until 1955, when it was converted into a library, then publishing house offices, and finally a historic house museum, and it is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion is open year round from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday at hotel capstone.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 1305 Greensboro Ave, Phone: 205-758-2906

9. Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Lake Lurleen State Park

Lake Lurleen State Park, located 9 miles northwest of Tuscaloosa and Northport, is a 1,625-acre state park and scenic retreat that offers a variety of outdoor and recreational activities. Lake Lurleen State Park is a popular recreation area with a modern campground, picnic areas with barbecue grills, pavilions and play areas for children, an activity building, fishing piers, a beach for sunbathing and swimming, boat rentals and launch areas, and RV storage areas at lake nicol.

The park has more than 23 miles of multi-use trails ranging in difficulty from easy to moderate, which can be enjoyed by both hikers and mountain bikers. There is also a nature center with several exhibits and displays of local fauna and flora, a public beach for swimming and sunbathing, and paddleboats for use on the lake west alabama.

Phone: 205-339-1558, 13226 Lake Lurleen Rd, Coker, AL 35452.

10. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Mercedes-Benz Factory Tour

The Mercedes-Benz Factory in Vance, Alabama, offers factory tours, allowing visitors to firsthand experience the rich history of one of the world’s most renowned automakers. A modern visitors center guides visitors through the history of the German automaker, which has been producing automobiles in Vance, Alabama, for more than 20 years, telling the story through a variety of fascinating exhibits, displays, and images, as well as models of classic cars at alabama crimson tide.

The center also features a gift shop that sells a variety of Mercedes-Benz merchandise, clothing, and other car-related items and gifts, as well as several authentic Mercedes-Benz race cars and concept cars as well as the classics. The Mercedes-Benz Factory Visitor Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and tours can be arranged at bama theatre.

Phone: 205-507-2252, 11 Mercedes Drive, Vance, AL 35490

11.Moundville Archeological Park, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The Moundville Archaeological Site, also known as Moundville Archaeological Park, is a Mississippian culture site located on the Black Warrior River in Hale County, near Tuscaloosa. It dates from the 11th to the 16th centuries at rama jama. The site, which was once the ceremonial and political center of a regionally organized Mississippian culture, spans 185 acres and is composed of 29 platform mounds arranged around a rectangular plaza.

The Moundville Archaeological Site is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the second-largest site in the United States of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in Illinois.

Moundville, AL 35474, 634 Mound State Parkway, Phone: 205-371-2234

12. House of Murphy-Collins (Murphy African-American Museum)

The Murphy-Collins House, also known as the Murphy African-American Museum, is a two-story craftsman bungalow from the 1920s that was once home to Mr. Will J. Murphy, escape Tuscaloosa’s first licensed black mortician. Mr. Murphy built the cottage himself using materials salvaged from the old state capitol building, which burned down a few blocks away in 1923, and it has since become a symbol of the lifestyle of affluent black African Americans in the early 1900s.

The beautifully maintained home now houses the Murphy African-American Museum, which is open for guided tours Wednesday through Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 2601 Paul W Bryant Drive, Phone: 205-758-2861

13. Hinton Park in the Snow

Snow Hinton Park is a community-friendly green space with rentable picnic pavilions, a network of walking and mountain biking trails, and a massive jungle gym for older kids, the pyramid-like Spacenet with its 38-foot tube slide. Other park amenities include lighted athletic fields, picnic tables and grills, modern restrooms and drinking water facilities, electricity, and pavilions that can be rented for special events at National Park.

205-562-3210, Tuscaloosa AL 35404

14. The Alabama Museum of Natural History 

The Alabama Museum of Natural History was established in 1931 and is the state’s oldest museum. The museum, located in Smith Hall on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, features a variety of fantastic exhibits depicting Alabama’s natural diversity from the Carboniferous Period to the Age of Dinosaurs to the last ice age.

The museum’s collections range from ethnology, history, and geology to mineralogy, paleontology, and zoology, and are displayed in exceptional exhibits such as the Grand Gallery Exhibition Hall’s giant replica of an Eocene whale. The museum also houses the skull of an American mastodon and the Hodges meteorite, which struck a woman as it fell to Earth in 1954.

Tuscaloosa AL 35487, 427 6th Ave, 205-348-7550

15. Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Cris Eddings with Chuck’s Fish and Five Bar, FIVE is a simple concept bar and restaurant in Tuscaloosa that is themed around menus with five uncomplicated, high-quality options for diners to choose from. The restaurant, which was founded by Charles Morgan and Cris Eddings, opened its first location in Tuscaloosa in 2011 and has since expanded to three other locations across the state.

Southern comfort foods like shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, and Gulf Coast platters with fried fish, shrimp, and oysters are featured on five-item brunch, lunch, and dinner menus. The numeric theme extends to the beer, wine, and cocktail menus, with carefully selected high-quality domestic and import beer and red and white wine selections for each menu.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 2324 6th St, 205-345-6089

16.The Paul W. Bryant Museum, Tuscaloosa, AL

The Paul W. Bryant Museum, located on the University of Alabama campus, focuses on the history of football in Alabama, with a special emphasis on legendary football coach Paul W. ‘Bear’ Bryant. The museum, which opened in 1988 to honor former coaches and players who helped Bryant set the intercollegiate coaching record for the most victories, includes extraordinary exhibits such as a Waterford Crystal houndstooth hat, a Daniel Moore painting celebrating Bryant’s life, and a research room with all of Alabama’s games on video, including victories, defeats, and funny and embarrassing moments. The Paul W. Bryant Museum is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., seven days a week, all year.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 300 Paul W Bryant Dr, 205-348-4668

17. Tuscaloosa Farmers Market, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The Tuscaloosa Farmers Market, located on the banks of the beautiful Black Warrior River, is a weekly market that offers a variety of farm-to-table produce and fare, such as fruit, vegetables, grass-fed beef and chickens, locally raised Berkshire pork, and farm-raised shrimp. Fine cheeses, homemade jams, preserves, and confits, farm-fresh eggs, jellies, freshly baked pastries, bread, and other baked goods, and handcrafted items and gifts are also available from market vendors. With 5,600 square feet of versatile event space, the downtown Tuscaloosa River Market can accommodate seated banquets for up to 400 guests, auditorium-style events for up to 800 guests, and open festival space for up to 3,000 guests at avenue pub.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 1900 Jack Warner Parkway, Phone: 205-248-5295

18. Tuscaloosa, AL: Downtown Pedal Tours

Downtown Pedal Tours provides a unique and enjoyable way to explore Tuscaloosa – on a 15-person bicycle! Year-round, the registered tour company offers customized pedal bike tours for groups of up to 14 people, including a guide who steers the bike in the right direction. Tours last about 2 hours and begin and end at Royal Fine Cleaners on University Boulevard, across the street from the Federal Courthouse. There are three stops along the way. On tour, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are permitted, but must be consumed in plastic containers, and music may be played if desired.

Northport, AL 35476, 521 30th Avenue, Phone: 205-535-4454

19. Tuscaloosa, AL’s Downtown Gallery

Downtown Gallery, located in the Downtown Plaza Shopping Center, is an art gallery that sells a variety of sports-related art, including the work of Daniel A. Moore, and also provides quality custom framing services. The gallery sells a wide range of Daniel Moore prints, Greg Gamble prints, hard-to-find works by contemporary and classical artists, bronze statues, coins, posters, and other sporting memorabilia, and it also provides premium framing services for artworks or prints purchased in-store or privately purchased elsewhere.

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 408 Queen City Ave, Phone: 205-752-6222

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