Hotel at a Glance: Stone Castle Hotel & Conference Center

Located about 1 mile from Branson’s main strip on Highway 76, this welcoming hotel offers a relaxing and fun home base while enjoying the city’s many attractions, shops, and restaurants. The hotel takes its name seriously, featuring real stone turrets that look plucked straight from the pages of a fairytale picture book, as well as a scenic gazebo area with a pond and drawbridge. Despite these fun medieval flourishes outside, guests will find nothing but modern comforts waiting for them inside, including pillow top mattresses, free WiFi, and 24-hour coffee at the front desk.

• Catch a world-class show: All options come with two or four tickets to the Jim Stafford Theater, which can be used to see Jim Stafford, Taylor Reed: “The Magic of Taylor Reed”, Buck Trent, or the Rock & Roll Revival. Tickets must be picked up at Dickens Craft Mall, located at 3630 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO
• Energize for the day with a free hot breakfast that includes scrambled eggs, biscuits with sausage gravy, and pancakes
• Cool off after a long day in one of the two indoor pools and hot tubs
• An onsite arcade room keeps kiddos entertained with video games, pinball, and air hockey
• Book a massage or mani-pedi at the hotel’s partnering spa, Body Works Day Spa & Salon, which is a short walk away. It was voted a top spa in 2015 by TripAdvisor.

Branson, Missouri: Family-Friendly Theaters and Concert Halls in the Ozarks

If you take a drive through the Ozarks in Missouri, it might seem like an unlikely place to find glittering lights and stage shows—for the most part, it’s a rolling plateau of wooded hills, snaking rivers, and limestone bluffs. But follow down Route 76 and you’ll find Branson, which looks like a miniature, more family-friendly version of Las Vegas.

Dozens of stages and music halls line Branson’s main strip, some of which are owned by stars such as Dolly Parton. On any given night you can watch anything from country music performances to circus acrobatics to magic shows.

If you’re traveling with kids, Silver Dollar City is a safe bet; it’s located about 5 miles west of the strip. The popular theme park is built around Marvel Cave and modeled after an 18th-century frontier town. Here you can hop on a mine-car roller coaster, take a tour by lantern through limestone caverns, or watch as blacksmiths hand-forge mailboxes for the mayor’s private collection.

If you want to duck away from the lights, it’s worth it to explore the surrounding countryside. Within about 30 miles, there are two large lakes—Table Rock and Taneycomo. Each is stocked with trout and has boats available for rent. Or head to Ruth and Paul Henning Conservation Area, where you can bike or hike along Roark Creek and through dense oak forests. Paul Henning, who was inspired to create the Beverly Hillbillies after a Boy Scout trip to the Ozarks, donated the 1,534-acre reserve.

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