This was our first trip to Branson. We wanted to see some shows and find out why this is one of the most popular tourist cities in the US. We found friendly people, reasonable prices, and a medium-si
This was our first trip to Branson. We wanted to see some shows and find out why this is one of the most popular tourist cities in the US. We found friendly people, reasonable prices, and a medium-sized town atmosphere. Population is stated to be 6,000, dwarfed by tourist numbers 9 months/year. I call it the "wholesome Las Vegas", it offers much family entertainment, no gambling or nude shows here. We found lots of help and opinions in planning our trip at tripadvisor.com. We were sure glad to have come here in the low season: no traffic, uncrowded shows, cheap motels, great weather...
TRAVEL We came from Atlanta (12 hour drive) and left to Denver (14 hour drive). Branson is very accessible by good highways, and there are two airports within 40 minutes' drive. Our low season visit meant little traffic within Branson; tripadvisor commenters recommended that one can reduce high season traffic stress by avoiding "The Strip" and using the color belt roads: Red Blue & Yellow.
LODGING The town is chock full of reasonably priced 2 story typical motels, along with a metro area of choices including apartments, houses, cabins, RV parks, state park camping, and time share resorts (yes, you can take a tour and receive free show tickets in exchange for "90 minutes" of your vacation time). With our dog along, we had no trouble finding pet friendly motels, and all motels seem to have WiFi & incl breakfast. Big benefit of the off season: we stayed 3 nights at the Docker's Inn, an excellent deal on Orbitz for this motel $37+/night, for rooms renovated 1 year ago, WiFi unfortunately was on the blink, includes basic breakfast (plus hot waffles!). We paid $10/night extra for a small fridge and microwave in the room. AARP and veteran's discounts are widely advertised.
SHOWS There are said to be 100 shows in town, at 50 theaters, sadly not all had opened for the season by late March. We eagerly anticipated seeing these reasonably priced offerings; tickets only cost $30-35/person/show! No Ticketmaster!
Dozens of local agencies vie, fee free, to help you with your Branson trip: hotel booking, show tickets, time share tours... Show ticket discounts ($2-$3) are available in local free publications. We watched three shows in two days: Six (6 actual brothers perform a Bobby McFerrin type show, creating all their singing and musical accompaniment using only their voices), Jeerk (first opened in Branson in mid-March, stars 5 young Swedish men creating a rhythm show akin to "Stomp") and our clear favorite, the very professionally done Shanghai Circus featuring Chinese Acrobats.
Shows were held in theaters with a capacity of perhaps 900, though no show had more than 150 in attendance. Another benefit of the off season and our wonderful agent Patty at http://www.bransontourismcenter.com: we enjoyed seats in the first and second rows!
FOOD We do not eat meat, and so we tend to eat out once/day, and bring from home my wife's excellent cooking (frozen) for lunch or dinner each day. We enjoyed lunch at Luigi's Pizza near the Branson Tourism Center. We had a "highlight" experience eating lunch at the nearby College of the Ozarks Keeter Center. This is a school where students pay for their education by working 15 hours/week. A wonderful meal, and a character building experience for these young people that we'd like to support!
CROWD We chose well to come in early season for the good weather and an uncrowded town. The tourists were mostly retirees, with some spring break younger families. Make no mistake, this is middle America, and it's 99% white.
OTHER ACTIVITIES That are widely advertised, but we did not partake in, include shopping (natch), fishing, indoor and outdoor waterparks, an amusement park named Silver Dollar City, and houseboating on Table Rock Lake,
