How to Experience Bentonville, Arkansas, on a Budget

Cycling down the path, I coast by a 50-foot white honeycomb sculpture that looks like a space pod dropped in the woods. Around the corner, giant cartoonish polka-dot flowers line the trail. A few minutes later, I pass a towering fiberglass deer staring down at me from the edge of a forest.

It feels like a visit to Alice’s wonderland, and in a sense it is. We can thank Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, for bringing this unexpected art to Bentonville, Arkansas. In 2011, Walton opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, featuring works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Dale Chihuly and many others. She even had a Frank Lloyd Wright home that was threatened with destruction relocated piece by piece from New Jersey. And the free museum just expanded by 50 percent, opening a 114,000-square-foot addition in early June. 

Many of Bentonville’s other attractions are also no- or low-cost. And while you can find pricey dining and hotels, there are plenty of budget options, too.

And making Walmart’s hometown extra special is the region’s hundreds of miles of biking trails, thanks to the influence of other Walton family members. The rolling trails parallel streets and cut through forests. They follow creeks into ravines and climb rocky bluffs, common in this corner of the Ozarks.

Rolling by art

I knew I wanted to see Bentonville on two wheels, cycling past the city’s 225-plus outdoor sculptures and murals. Bike and e-bike rentals average about $90 per day, probably the priciest splurge for visitors. But cycling’s optional—walkers are welcome on most trails.

My visit began on the Razorback Greenway, then headed over to the free Coler Mountain Bike Preserve. The path led across two steel bridges that also happened to be immersive sound installations, emitting ethereal tones that sound like whale songs.

I wrapped up my 12-mile bike loop at The Momentary, a free contemporary art space that’s a satellite to Crystal Bridges and hosts traveling exhibitions. Tonight it was offering a $25 art and cocktail class, which introduced me to the wonders of using egg whites in drinks, followed by a tour of a new show of National Geographic photography.

Afterward, it was just a block walk to Yeyo’s El Alma de Mexico, run by multiple James Beard Award-nominated chef Rafael Rios. A $24 street taco sampler includes eight different offerings from chorizo to chicken to vegetarian al pastor, which I washed down with an $8 mini cocktail. The vodka martini with mandarin and marigold tasted like a citrusy smile.

On another night, I opted for Oven & Tap. Run by a chef who trained at the famous Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, it offers pastas and farm fresh pizzas baked in a wood-burning oven. Shareable pies run about $20.

Founding father

It’s impossible to visit Bentonville without encountering the legacy of Walmart. A free museum based in the original Bentonville store details how Sam Walton turned his five-and-dime into a nearly trillion-dollar company. It had recently reopened after remodeling, and I found it nostalgic and fascinating, showing vintage ads alongside displays tracking the company’s astronomical growth. Guests exit through an ice cream store offering hand-scooped cups starting at 50 cents.

I took a lunch detour to France at Crepes Paulette, which specializes in Brittany’s famed buckwheat crepes. After pondering a lengthy menu of savory and sweet offerings, I ordered the K-U-A-F, named for the local public radio station. It’s filled with chicken, spinach, egg, tomatoes and basil pesto—a $12 handful of yum.

Fueled up, it was time for the city’s highlight: the free Crystal Bridges Museum. Designed by Israeli-Canadian-American architect Moshe Safdie, it was an immediate hit after opening in 2011 and now attracts 785,000 visitors a year. I wandered the bright galleries for several hours, admiring work by art legends like Mark Rothko and Norman Rockwell, alongside new favorites like Native American painter Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.

Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection includes about 4,000 pieces. While the art is world class, the atmosphere is hardly solemn. Galleries hum with families, and on weekdays with schoolchildren.

Alice Walton acquired most of the art in the past 25 years, specifically to fill the museum, and she continues to add more. I listened to a free audio guide in which she shared some of her favorite pieces. It felt like a personal tour from the museum’s founder, helping me see the art in an entirely different way.

I could have lingered for hours, but I had a sunset appointment at Skyspace: The Way of Color by James Turrell. Tucked into the woods on the Crystal Bridges campus, this native stone structure has an opening in the roof that frames the sky as a living canvas. At sunrise and sunset, a programmed LED lightshow bathes the interior in shifting colors so that when the ceiling glows purple, the eye is tricked into seeing the sky as vivid green.

I don’t know when I last stared at the heavens for so long. The effect was mesmerizing, almost like meditation. Once again, Bentonville had surprised me, effortlessly linking art and nature, taking something familiar and showing me something entirely new.