Sioux City Travel and Things to Do Guide

Sioux City, Iowa’s fourth-largest city, has a population of only 85,617; however, it has an influence across its tri-state area (known as Siouxland) of more than 149,940. Sioux City lies in the west of Iowa, on the state borders with Nebraska and South Dakota along the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers, respectively. Meeting venues in Sioux City benefit convention and tourism infrastructure. This is Lewis & Clark Trail country, as groups will discover: Dominating its skyline is the Sergeant Floyd Memorial, an obelisk that commemorates the only member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (which stopped here in 1804) to pass away.

Sioux Gateway Airport (SUX), also known as Colonel Bud Day Field (named after a war hero and POW who was born in the city), is 10 miles south of Sioux City. Connect to hundreds of domestic and international destinations with daily flights to Denver and Chicago on SkyWest Airlines.

Convention venues include the Sioux City Convention Center, with attached Marriott Courtyard. It hosts 10 meeting rooms and 32,134 square feet of exhibit space, with banquet space for 1,380 persons. The Tyson Events Center contains the 10,000-seat Gateway Arena and is the largest function space in the city, with private suites and the ability to section off parts of the arena.

Meeting venues in Sioux City include the 161-room Stoney Creek Inn-Sioux City, which contains the 6,500-square-foot Rivers' Bend Conference Center; the 148-room Warrior Hotel, a Marriott Autograph Collection property, with 7-meeeting rooms and a 4,000-square-foot ballroom with a 5,000-square-foot connected terrace; the 91-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Dakota Dunes, with a 6,806-square-foot Event Center and a 384-square-foot Conference Room; the 91-room Hampton Inn & Suites with 1,260-square-feet of meeting space; and the 92-room Staybridge Suites with 680-square-feet of meeting space.


Other special event choices include the Orpheum Theatre, an ornate space built in 1927 and boasting on-stage space for dinners and group options for shows; Sioux City Art Center, which is free and has operated continuously since 1938, with groups able to use several classrooms, the 131-seat Frederick & Alice Stark Lecture Hall, the Gardner Conference Room for 48 persons, and the T.S. Martin Atrium for up to 500 persons; and Grandview Park, which also dates to the late 1930s and has a band shell, seating and a rose garden with more than 300 varieties.

Good group restaurant choices include CRAVE American Kitchen & Sushi Bar , which is on the river and has a contemporary hangout feel featuring an eclectic mix of American fare & sushi and banquet space for up to 400 persons; Italian-fare Minerva’s, part of a chain albeit the first in that chain, with banquet space for 60 persons, and 4 Brothers Grill & Bar, where you will feel like family that also has private space for 60 persons.