Believe it or not, Oklahoma was one of the besttt vacations we have taken in a while. The posh cabins, warm sunshine, crystal clear river, and winding hiking trails were just what these North Dakota Farmers needed.
I’m going to share a day-by-day itinerary of what we did on our 5 day getaway.
DAY 001
We landed at DFW around 11:30am. We chose to fly into DFW for three reasons: one being that our airline of choice (Delta) had a lot of flight times to choose from, second was that we were visiting friends near Dallas at the end of our trip, and lastly the NFR was in town so *obviously* we had to check that out. WE snagged a rental car, you’ll definitely want one for putsing around Broken Bow.
Here’s some other airports that are close to Broken Bow
82 miles: Texarkana, AR (TXK / KTXK) Texarkana Regional Airport
110 miles: Hot Springs, AR (HOT / KHOT) Memorial Field Airport
122 miles: Fort Smith, AR (FSM / KFSM) Fort Smith Regional Airport
131 miles: Longview, TX (GGG / KGGG) East Texas Regional Airport
After visiting the NFR Stockyards we made our way up north and got to our incredible cabin around 5:30 pm. The entire ‘luxury cabin’ scene is somewhat new to the Broken Bow area, so our cabin didn’t show up on Google Maps but the directions provided made it very easy to find – even in the dark!
Our first day in Broken Bow was pretty uneventful as we were absolutely blown away by our cabin.
We chose to rent from Sweetwater Cabins after reading a lot of positive reviews. The specific cabin we rented was called Just A Swing’N and it was absolutely perfect. This cabin is furnished with huge vaulted ceilings, THREE fireplaces, a full kitchen, a hot tub, fire pit, laundry, and so much more. This cabin was perfect because even though it was tucked amongst lots of other beautiful cabins you felt totally secluded and private on a big lot surrounded by trees. We were also only 3-10 minutes away from hiking, food, breweries, wineries, and other local activities!
If you Google ‘luxury cabins Broken Bow, OK’ it will come up with tonsssss of other cabin rental options that can accommodate all budgets and family sizes.
After arriving at our cabin and relaxing a bit we drove about 10 minutes to the nearest grocery store, Pruett’s, to stock up on some groceries. There is also a Walmart if you prefer to shop there. We ended up cooking most meals at our cabin thanks to the full kitchen and grill.
We also made a pit stop at The Liquor Station to snag some Bailey’s for our morning coffee and Truly Lemonades for the hot tub. The worker at the store was very friendly, but buyer beware there seems to be a bit of a tourist pricing markup.
DAY 002
Our second day was filled with LOTS of hiking!
First and foremost I highly, highly recommend downloading the AllTrials app on your phone to see everything that Beavers Bend State Park has to offer, view trail reviews, and to check the trail intensity.
After having breakfast and coffee at our cabin our first trail of the day was Spillway Trail. While the views were absolutely amazing, the trailhead was hard to find. So my advice is to pick a spot and just start hiking! You could easily spend a few hours here hiking both sides of the river Before or after your hike make sure to check out the Spillway Overlook at the top of the dam!
Our second trail was Friends Trail. This was a beautiful, moderate hike. You could hike this trail a few times and always find something different. It winds through the forest as well as skirting along the riverside.
We closed out the outdoor activities for the day by visiting Hochatown Petting Zoo which is a MUST VISIT. This is a rescue petting zoo which means their animals were either saved or surrendered. Every animal we encountered was well taken care of and friendly. Plus they had a HUGE variety of animals. I mean, I got to snuggle a baby skunk and it was so dang cute – you can’t get much better than that. It’s $10 per adult to get in and $5 for a huge bucket of feed to give the animals which we highly recommend doing.
That night we went to Mountain Fork Brewery for a flight of craft beer and supper. We liked this place so much we went back again the next night! Farmer Seth and I split the jalapeno cream cheese burger and fried pickles and it was glorious. Super friendly staff and a great atmosphere, so I definitely recommend giving this one a try.
After supper we made a pit stop at The Tasting Room for a few cocktails. The actual lounge was super cute and modern. It’s definitely a ‘local hangout spot’ so be prepared for that and a few weird looks when you walk in the door, but don’t let it turn you away. It’s worth a stop! The Moscow Mule was meh, but the chocolate martini and spiked hot chocolate was a sure win.
DAY 003
After sleeping in and making breakfast at the cabin we hit up our first trail of the day: Lakeview Lodge Trail Loop. Like the name says, this trail is a 3.5 mile easy/moderate loop. You get a good mix of mountain and lake views. Honestly, this trail was peaceful and beautiful and perfect. The trailhead is located in the parking lot of Lakeview Lodge.
Next we hit up Tree Trail which is a super easy but beautiful 1.2 miles loop hike located at the Visitors Center. They have historic plaques along the trail so make sure to read those – they were very interesting! This trail will most likely be heavily trafficked but people are easily able to spread out so you don’t feel too crammed.
We made a pit stop at Hochahut for an Oklahoma-famous corn dog. They had a super cute outdoor seating set up with lights, tons of tables, hammocks, and yard games. Although it is just a corn dog, it was surely a delicious one.
Before heading to the cabin to get ready for supper we decided on a game of mini golf at Old West Town. This was located right next to the petting zoo so you got glimpses of animals throughout the course. As the name implies, the mini golf course is western themed and has a variety of western reenactment senses throughout the park. Definitely a fun stop!
For supper we went back to Mountain Fork Brewery – we really did like that place! This time we got some pizza and it was very yummy!
DAY 004
This was our last full day in Broken Bow. It was raining most of the day just like the forecast had predicted, so we saved most of our food and drink adventures for this day.
We loved our cabin so much that we spent most of the morning making breakfast and drinking Bailey’s and coffee in the outdoor hot tub while watching Holiday Baking Championship LOL.
For lunch we got Tacohoma Tacos which is a cute little shack right off the main road that runs through Broken Bow and Hochatown. They only have outdoor seating. Since it was raining we took our food and went back to the cabin. We got tacos and tamales and they were both 10/10.
After lunch we went to Fish Tails Winery to do some free tasting and sip on a few glasses of wine while playing card games. The staff was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. And yes, they do ship wine. And yes, we did have some shipped back to ND 😉
Of course we needed something sweet after all that wine so we found Coffee Central and their huuuuge selection of incredible fudge!
Since our bellies were so full we went back to the cabin and lounged around and relaxed for most of the day, We almost never do that on vacation, surprisingly, so this part of the day was such a nice way to spend our last day in Oklahoma.
Once supper rolled around we drug ourselves out of our cozy cabin and had some wonderful mexican food at the highly rated Papa Poblanos. Don’t judge a book by its cover like I did…just go inside, order the fajitas, and thank me later.
DAY 005
We hit the road early in our rental car because we were going to meet some friends in Texas, so I don’t have anything too exciting to share about this day.
I hope you found this guide helpful and that it gets you excited for whatever future travel plans you have. Please feel free to reach out to me with any other questions or recommendations about our Broken Bow, OK trip and I will be happy to help.