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I wouldn’t stay in the immediate vicinity of the stadiums. Not much going on around there except on game day. I would possibly stay out in the area around I-70, MO 291 and Little Blue Parkway in Independence. Tons of dining options and several newer hotels.
If you have time, the zoo is good. Stay away from Troost, The Paseo and Prospect areas. Most of downtown is not safe after dark.
1. This last sentence is absolutely not true. Both the Crossroads and downtown are safe enough at night. I wouldn't be roaming around at 2 AM east of Oak in the downtown area but the downtown area is generally safe (especially from Grand west). I go downtown/crossroads at night quite often and never have any issues.
I would basically try to stay west of US 71 in the north part of KC around downtown and west of Troost from UMKC south. Some of the areas in southeast KC (Ruskin/Hickman Mills) are not the greatest and the area around Arrowhead can be a little dicey. Not terrible but not great.
2. The hotels by the stadiums are not great. Further in east in Independence, they are OK but the area is suburban and not the best suburban in KC. Stay downtown or in the Crossroads if you can or on the Plaza. The drive to Arrowhead from any of these places is pretty short. Johnson County has some nice hotels too. A little further from the stadium but it's a quick jaunt down I435.
3. Depends on where you stay. Go early.
4. A trip to the Liberty Memorial and WW1 Museum a must. Great views of KC. It's close to downtown so if you stay there, it's an easy ride to the end of the street car line (although it's quite a walk up the hill to the memorial so you may want to drive). Other nice things to do and see in KC, depends what you are into. The Plaza is nice, so is the nearby Nelson-Atkins museum and a visit to the Boulevard beer brewery is always great.
5. Some great BBQ in KC as you probably already know. I always recommend Jack Stack in the Crossroads because it's such a nice setting but waits can get long there. Q39 also very good. KC's a great food and brewery town with so many restaurant and breweries just south of downtown in the Crossroads.
You don't need to avoid the city east of Troost completely, at least not during the day.
Arthur Bryant's original location (1727 Brooklyn Avenue) may no longer offer the best Q in town, but it's still good, and it's one of the two OG legends of KC Q, the other being Gates (six locations throughout the area; flagship at Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard/Swope Parkway and The Paseo, near corporate HQ and a few blocks east of the Nelson-Atkins). Both claim descent from Henry Perry, the father of Kansas City Q. New Yorker (and former Life) writer (and, like me, forever Kansas Citian living elsewhere) Calvin Trillin called Bryant's "the single best restaurant in the world" (original in all caps).
While you're over that way, you might want to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum, on 18th Street just west of Vine.
Burnt ends are a KC specialty; I suspect my brother, who still lives there, is right when he says that because demand for them is so high, many Q joints pass off plain old cubes of brisket as burnt ends (I suspect Jack Stack may do this). You won't find better than the ones served by LC's Bar-B-Q, at Blue Parkway and Sni-a-Bar Road on the far east side.
A newcomer to the Q scene I'd recommend is ºF325 in North Kansas City.
Agreed on the World War I Memorial, and while in the area, you might want to take a look around the restored Union Station as well. The city's science museum is located in it, and it has a decent restaurant, Harvey's (after Fred Harvey, restaurateur to the Santa Fe Railway) inside.
If you're going to stay in Independence, however, a trip to the Harry S Truman Library and Museum is a must. You will learn a lot about the life and tenure in office of Missouri's only President there, including a replica of the Oval Office when he occupied it, complete with the famous desk sign that read "The Buck Stops Here". Harry and Bess are both buried in its courtyard. The home he lived in at 319 North Delaware Street nearby is also open to tour.
You don't need to avoid the city east of Troost completely, at least not during the day.
Arthur Bryant's original location (1727 Brooklyn Avenue) may no longer offer the best Q in town, but it's still good, and it's one of the two OG legends of KC Q, the other being Gates (six locations throughout the area; flagship at Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard/Swope Parkway and The Paseo, near corporate HQ and a few blocks east of the Nelson-Atkins). Both claim descent from Henry Perry, the father of Kansas City Q. New Yorker (and former Life) writer (and, like me, forever Kansas Citian living elsewhere) Calvin Trillin called Bryant's "the single best restaurant in the world" (original in all caps).
I was remiss in not mentioning Bryant's for BBQ. Solid and historical. There is also a new brewery in the 18th and Vine district that one can check out before or after Bryants (https://vinestbrewing.com/).
Don't stay near the stadiums. You may want to arrive an hour or two early for the tailgating party-atmosphere in the Arrowhead parking lots beforehand.
Are you bringing children? If so, I would stay near the "Country Club Plaza" a 1920s, planned outdoor-shopping district (47th and Wornall area) or Crown Center. There is a great park near the Plaza "Loose Park" plus lots of restaurants in that area. Highly recommended is Andre's Confiserie Suisse around 50th and Main south of the Plaza. Also, the restaurant at the 1900 building is wonderful. Cafe Trio near the Marriott is fun. And the chain restaurants are reliable, in the Plaza shopping area itself. Crown Center is also a must-do for kids. This is Hallmark headquarters, and they have a whole mall built around their operations (24th and Grand). Kaleidoscope is their kids' activity offering, also on-premises. Hotels -- the Raphael or the Intercontinental or the Marriott on the Plaza. The Westin at Crown Center.
If no children, then stay downtown or "Crossroads" area -- this is basically the area between Crown Center and the Missouri River to the North. I recommend the 21c Hotel Savoy or the Hotel Kansas City downtown and the Crossroads Hotel near Union Station. There is a gratis streetcar that runs from Union Station (which is connected by overhead passageway to the Westin Crown Center btw) to the River Market. A guidebook will tell you what to see downtown.
I concur with others about the WW1 Museum at Liberty Memorial. Also there are several beautiful boulevards to enjoy in KC -- Ward Parkway being first among these. The Thomas Hart Benton site in the Roanoke area is great; For architecture there are several nice "city beautiful" churches plus neighborhoods scattered about, in particular Mission Hills, Kansas and Brookside, on the Missouri side. The Truman Library as mentioned upthread is not far from the stadiums in Independence, Missouri. KCK has some interesting older areas, as do some of the more distant suburbs -- but this may not be the trip for those excursions.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum is a must see (Plaza area); the National Toy and Miniature Museum is also great (south Plaza/ Brookside). The Linda Hall Library is superb, and the new-ish Plaza branch of the KC Public Library has good programming.
You will generally remain within a large quadrangle from The Paseo on the East to Mission Road (just over the Kansas border) on the West, and from the River to 71st Street (aka Gregory Road). There is nothing particularly dangerous within those boundaries. The stadiums are several miles east, but other than that activity, you will not need to leave the central parts of the metro.
Last edited by westender; 11-07-2023 at 11:22 AM..
A note on westender's recommendation about the boulevards, which are the city's pride and joy:
Ward Parkway begins at the Country Club Plaza and runs west, then south, into the residential district J.C. Nichols* also developed, the Country Club District. This is the swankiest neighborhood in all Kansas City, and the swells spill over into neighboring Mission Hills, Kan. The road passes the private school I attended from grades 7 to 12, Pembroke Hill (Pwmbroke-Country Day when I went there).
Brookside, immediately to the Country Club District's east, is maybe the second-swankiest, and Brookside Boulevard, which runs up its eastern edge, parallels the right-of-way of what had been the last streetcar line in Kansas City until the Main Street line now operating was built. The Country Club car line ceased operations just about one year to the day before I was born, in October 1957. Most of it is now a bike/hike trail, but the section from 47th to 51st streets will become a streetcar line again, as the downtown streetcar is being extended south to the Plaza and the UMKC campus.
The Paseo is the city's first boulevard, and it was the only one that ran the entire length of the pre-World War II City of Kansas City. It begins in North Terrace (now Kessler, after George Kessler, the man who designed KC's park and boulevard system) Park and runs all the way to 79th Street, the old southern city limit. Drive it from end to end and you will see a pretty good cross-section of the city — all but its wealthiest parts —*and you will skirt the 18th and Vine "Jazz District," the city's old Black downtown, along the way. (The old Black YMCA still stands on The Paseo just south of 18th.) Better still, make your way to Gladstone Boulevard and Elmwood Avenue in Northeast KC and start your Paseo journey via Cliff Drive, the only scenic byway in the state of Missouri located in an urban area. The road runs west from that point to the start of The Paseo.
*Nichols was a visionary developer who created the city's most beautiful residential districts and the nation's first planned regional shopping center. He was also one of the founders of the Urban Land Institute, the pre-eminent organization of professionals interested in urban land use and development; its highest honor bestowed on an individual had been named for him. The reason his name no longer appears on that honor, the boulevard leading into the Plaza from the north and Westport, and the fountain at the Plaza's entrance is: He was also an ardent promoter of racially restrictive covenants that forbade sales of houses to Blacks, and in many cases Jews as well. These were the covenants that were ruled unenforceable by the Supreme Court in Shelley v. Kramer (1948).
It's not absolute and it's a pretty broad brush but generally east of Troost Avenue except if you are going to some kind of touristy/famous area or restaurant such as 18th and Vine which has the Negro League Baseball Museum. Just drive to where you came there to do and leave, wouldn't wander around too much. Kansas City, KS inside I-635 and I-70 too probably.
2. Are hotels around the stadium worth staying at?
No comment. I'm a local. But you don't HAVE to stay by the stadiums if you want to explore some of the city. Personally, I always thought it'd be interesting staying downtown or the hotels in Briarcliff Village due to their proximity to downtown. However, the US 169 bridge (right next to Briarcliff Village) that grants easy access to downtown directly is temporarily closed so it's not as desirable, but Route 9 is a good alternative.
3. What's the best way to get to the stadium on game day?
I think other posters will have better input
4. What should we see/visit on Nov 18/19 before the game?
Union Station. Local BBQ restaurants that are suggested by locals. Nelson-Atkins. Country Club Plaza. World War I museum/Liberty Memorial. If you are into the bar scene then Westport. River Market for sure since there's the farmers market during the weekend. Would ride the streetcar from River Market to Union Station and vice versa for easy and free transportation. If you have kids then Crown Center, the Zoo, and Science City which is in Union Station.
5. Any other good info?
Has Gates cleaned up their buildings? Last time I was in one, several years back it was nasty. But the food was good. If you are out in the burbs, avoid Zarda (fast food BBQ). And I am NOT wrong about downeown being unsafe. There are pockets of gangs all over.
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