The Pappajohn Sculpture Park anchors the western edge of downtown and is the single most surprising thing about Des Moines for first-time visitors. Across a few blocks of mowed lawn and gravel paths, you find Jaume Plensa's white-mesh figure Nomade, Keith Haring's irrepressible cartoon dancers, Mark di Suvero's red steel beams, and pieces by Louise Bourgeois, Yoshitomo Nara, Olafur Eliasson, and Anish Kapoor — a sculpture park whose roster would be respectable in any major city.
The park is free, open 24 hours, and entirely walkable in an hour. It connects directly to Western Gateway Park, where free outdoor concerts and the Saturday farmers' market overflow in summer, and Plensa's Nomade is among the most photographed objects in Iowa, especially when lit from within at night.