Spending a weekend in Odessa? Here's the curated hour-by-hour itinerary from The Odessa: Friday evening arrival through Sunday afternoon departure, with the can't-miss attractions, top-rated restaurants, and local tips for first-time visitors.
Settle in, get a feel for the city, light dinner + walk
Settle in. Odessa is best as a base for exploring Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin) Medical Center, Galleria, Rice Village.
Odessa is the heart of Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin)'s Asian-American community. Try one of the renowned Vietnamese, Chinese, or Korean restaurants on Odessa Blvd.
Quiet evening — walk Town Square or browse the Galleria mall.
Morning to evening — the big-day itinerary
Try Black Walnut Cafe in Odessa, or drive 5 min to Rice Village for breakfast options.
Hands-on natural science museum on 5 acres in Odessa. Family favorite.
Lunch in Medical Center area, then McGovern Medical School Museum tour or Health Museum.
15 min from Odessa. Hit the Museum of Fine Arts Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin), Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin) Museum of Natural Science, or Children's Museum.
Rice Village for foodie scene (Hugos, Local Foods); Montrose for trendier options. Odessa restaurants also excellent.
Relaxed pace before heading out
Brunch at Sushi Spot, Hopdoddy, or a Galleria-area place.
Shop the Galleria mall (380+ stores) or head to Memorial Park (1,500 acres in Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin)).
Lunch in Galleria or back in Odessa. Both Midland-Odessa (Permian Basin) airports ~30 min from Odessa.
Add a day trip: Galveston (60 min south) for beach; Brazos Bend State Park (45 min) for alligators + hiking; The Woodlands (40 min north) for upscale dining.. Or use the extra day for a slower revisit of your favorite spot from the weekend.
Get our weekly newsletter — local news, events, and what's worth your weekend.
Subscribe to The Odessa →Local guides, business directory, and how to reach our readers.
Recent reporting and curated coverage across every beat we cover.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran on Monday separately announced they will send delegations to Qatar this week, though Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the U.S. “at any level” after attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend challenged negotiations ...
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A 13-year-old driver and a 13-year-old passenger were taken into custody Sunday afternoon after a stolen vehicle pursuit ended in a crash on the South Loop 289 westbound access road.A Lubbock Police officer spotted the stolen vehicle near 40th Street and Avenue X just afte...
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A former preacher in New Deal has been arrested accused of sexually abusing a minor from 2019 to 2020, according to court documents.48-year-old Brian Townsend was arrested and booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center on June 26. He’s charged with one count of indece...
ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Last week, Venezuela had two catastrophic earthquakes, with the death toll there continuing to grow to more than 17 hundred with people still missing and trapped. Here in the Permian Basin, many churches, businesses, and community members are coming together to donate i...
ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) - As time marches forward, things change. This has been prevalent in downtown Odessa, especially with the addition of new shops, restaurants, and other new entertainment options. However, not everything changes with the times. Ye Old Bookworm has held its doors open stro...
Ramblin' Rita, a character created by former librarian Kayla Wardell, is performing in West Texas as part of the National Library Services' Summer Reading Program, sharing stories about wildlife and indigenous legends with kids.
SACRAMENTO, California (KMID/KPEJ) - The Athletics have called up the former Midland RockHound shortstop Joshua Kuroda-Grauer to the big leagues ahead of their three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kuroda-Grauer began the 2026 season in Midland, playing 33 games for the RockHounds be...
ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - The Odessa Regional Medical Center team gathered to honor Sharon Lipham, an auxiliary volunteer who served the hospital for nearly three decades.Lipham spent 28 years as an auxiliary volunteer with ORMC, serving in leadership roles as president three times and logging 5,000...
Freeman joins Southeastern Louisiana's Rick Fremin as an addition to the staff following the departures of Kristen Zaleski and Ehren Earleywin. Zaleski was named the head coach at Utah State, and Earleywine joined the staff at Tennessee.
BIG SPRING, Texas (KOSA) - Moss Creek Lake in Big Spring has closed indefinitely, with no timeline for when it will reopen, city officials said.The City of Big Spring announced the closure on June 26, citing a lack of resources necessary to operate and maintain the property. Officials said the la...
The Permian Basin is expected to have a hot and windy day with high temperatures in the upper 90s and a slight chance of isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.
ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Children in Odessa beat the heat over the weekend, at a barbeque event, where they played in cascading water of the fire department’s hose. Odessa Fire Rescue and Odessa Police hosted their final Police Athletic Leagues [PAL] youth program for the season, which serves t...
ECTOR COUNTY, Texas (KOSA) - Multiple law enforcement agencies were seen at a local business in connection with a traffic stop that resulted in an arrest, according to the Ector County Sheriff’s Office.The sheriff’s office said the Odessa Police Department collaborated with the Ector County Sheri...
ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - A suspect was arrested after a stolen vehicle incident in Odessa.According to the Odessa Police Department, officers determined the vehicle involved had been reported stolen.Arrest made near IH-20Witnesses reported seeing Odessa police officers with their weapons drawn duri...
K-9 Iro, a loyal partner of the Andrews Police Department, has passed away after 16 years of service, and the department is mourning his loss.
ANDREWS, Texas (KOSA) - The Andrews Police Department is mourning the loss of one of its own, K9 Iro, after the police dog passed away.According to the Andrews Police Department, K9 Iro was born on Oct. 10, 2018, in the Netherlands and joined the department in 2020, where he was partnered with Cp...
ECTOR COUNTY, Texas (KOSA) - Mobile food vendors operating in Ector County are being urged to prepare for a major permitting change taking effect July 1.According to a notice from Ector County, Texas, the state is changing how mobile food vendors are permitted under a new statewide program create...
ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - The public is invited to attend the 29th annual Firecracker Fandango on July 4 in downtown Odessa.The event will feature live music, food, games, activities, and fireworks.Performers and scheduleZZ Nation is scheduled to perform at 6:30 p.m. on the CNB Stage. Caleb Young wi...
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Andy Burnham, likely the next U.K. prime minister, pledged Monday to give away a chunk of his power by handing greater autonomy to local leaders in a “circuit-breaker” for the sclerotic British state. The former mayor of Greater Manchester also said he would move part o...
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The flow of ships and oil through the Strait of Hormuz was starting to pick up. Then an Iranian drone hit a cargo ship trying to pass the strait through a route Iran doesn’t like. The U.S. responded with strikes of its own on Iranian military facilities, and more fightin...
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces struck a tent sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least three Palestinians, including an 8-year-old boy and his grandfather, medical officials said. Health authorities in the coastal enclave said the drone str...
PECOS COUNTY, Texas (KOSA) - The Pecos County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents about a phone scam in which callers claim to be deputies and say the recipient missed jury duty.The caller identifies themselves as “Deputy Wilson” and tells the recipient they must pay a fine or a warrant will be...
TERRELL COUNTY , Texas (KOSA) - Five immigrants were arrested in Terrell County on Sunday after being caught during a night operation, according to a Facebook post by Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland.Cleveland said a group of immigrants was apprehended on June 29, but their guide escaped.Night vision t...
BIG SPRING, Texas (KOSA) - Moss Creek Lake is closed to the public, and it won’t reopen anytime soon.The City of Big Spring shut down the lake on June 26, and the closure covers the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend.According to the release, officials said the lake and its surrounding facil...
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China imposed new export controls Monday on 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to the country’s “remilitarization,” as tensions with Tokyo continue to rise. Twenty Japanese entities, including multiple divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation, have been placed on a con...
The tournament's expansion from 32 to 48 teams created an extra knockout round in hopes of giving countries moments like this. With 15 matches left in the round, Texas plays host to three of them, so a Lone Star State stadium could be the site of an historic victory.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A Rio Grande Valley nun who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while on her way to Sunday Mass has been released, according to U.S. Representatives Monica De La Cruz and Henry Cuellar. In an update from U.S. Rep. Monica de la Cruz (R...
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia plans to double potential fines for social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, who fail to prevent Australian children from holding accounts as critics argue the world-first ban on under-16s was failing. Communications Minister Anika Wells on M...
Khadijah Farrakhan, longtime wife of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, died Saturday, the Nation of Islam has announced. She was 90. “Mother Khadijah” worked alongside her provocative and charismatic husband for decades, helping lead their religious and sociopolitical movement, which espous...
BERLIN (AP) — France saw around 1,000 additional deaths last week at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, the country's public health agency said Sunday, as the head of the World Health Organization warned that Europe is now the fastest-warming continent and needs to do more to protect it...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — All 14 people on board were killed in Saudi Arabia when a helicopter belonging to the world's largest oil company crashed on Sunday morning, according to the Saudi Ministry of Energy. The accident occurred around 6 a.m. in Ras Tanura, and everyone killed was a S...
BEAVER, Utah (AP) — Blistering heat and strong winds Sunday stoked wildfires across the West after three firefighters were killed a day earlier in Colorado while battling a blaze along the state's border with Utah. The National Weather Service said wildfire conditions “remain critical” across the...
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least four Palestinians, including a 13-year-old girl, local health officials said. The first strike targeted a group of people in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, killing two and wounding another, according to...
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The offices of a major news organization in Uganda were shut down on the orders of the military chief, who warned Sunday that all media “will follow the rules" while asserting his authority as the East African country's de facto ruler. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the eldest s...
The round of 32 at the World Cup is set, with the knockout stage getting underway Sunday as Canada plays South Africa in Southern California. The U.S. will face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California, while third co-host Mexico returns to its capital city to take on Ecuador on...
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Tensions flared Saturday as desperation grew in Venezuela's state of La Guaira as rescuers and civilians searched for earthquake survivors and the death toll rose sharply to 1,430. Families reported at least 68,900 people missing Saturday, three days after the one-two ...
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) - After spending a week in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the 2026 USA Special Olympics, the Midland native, Ashton Crocker, returns to Midland with the Gold Medal. Yesterday, Team Texas basketball won the Gold Medal, adding on to the 32 gold medals Team Texas accomplished...
TERRELL COUNTY, Texas (KOSA) - A man has been arrested in Terrell County for evading arrest and reckless driving, according to the Terrell County Sheriff’s Office. According to officials, a deputy encountered a man east of Sanderson after observing a traffic violation and initiated a traffic stop...
Free weekly digest. Local news that actually matters — no spam, no clickbait, easy unsubscribe.
By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. We never sell your data.