We show that finitely presented groups which admit $k$-planar Cayley graphs contain finite-index subgroups with planar Cayley graphs. More generally, we answer a question of Georgakopoulos and Papasoglu in the special case of coarsely simply connected graphs: a $k$-planar, coarsely simply connected, connected, locally finite, quasi-transitive graph is quasi-isometric to a planar graph.