City Information

Kansas City, 250 miles due west of St Louis, straddles the state line between Kansas and Missouri. Virtually all its main points of interest are on the Missouri side, where the fountains, boulevards, and Art Deco and Mediterranean-style buildings, and the encouraging revitalization of downtown, are unusual and welcome features in a Midwestern city. Kansas City, Kansas, on the other hand, is a sprawl of suburbs.

Kansas City was a convenient staging post for 1830s wagon trains heading west. Its consequent prosperity and rough and tumble "sin city" image was brought to an abrupt end by the Civil War. However, its fortunes revived in the 1870s, when the railroads brought the boom in meat packing that was responsible for the development of the huge stockyards, which finally closed down in 1992.

Thanks to political boss Tom Pendergast, an outrageous figure with whom the city had a love-hate relationship, its many jazz clubs continued to sell alcohol during Prohibition. As in Chicago and New Orleans, speakeasies, brothels and gambling dens went hand in hand with superlative jazz and, to a lesser extent, blues spawning the careers of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and, in the Fifties, Charlie Parker. KC's resurgent jazz scene, fine restaurants, professional football and baseball teams, and theme parks help make it a popular short-break destination for the people of the western heartland.

Kansas City is doing a good job of reinvigorating its downtown, and wandering past the restored lofts and small businesses of the Garment District, between Sixth and Ninth streets, makes a nice walk to City Hall, 414 E 12th St, a fine Art Deco building with an observation deck on its thirtieth floor (Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.15pm; free). Also downtown is the redeveloped historic district known variously as River Market or City Market, on the banks of the Missouri. As well as colorful shops, cafés and a lively farmers' market at Fifth and Walnut streets, there's a good museum in the complex - The Treasure of the Steamboat Arabia - which tells the story behind the 1988 salvaging of a side-wheeler that sank on its way to Council Bluffs in 1856. Perfectly preserved artifacts - china, guns, gold and Kentucky bourbon to name a few - afford unexpected and intriguing insights into frontier life (Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-5pm; $7.50).

The sprawling concrete Crown Center, on Grand Avenue and Pershing Road, owned by Hallmark Cards, calls itself "a city within a city," and houses apartments, shops, restaurants, offices, hotels, cinemas and an ice rink. Interesting displays in its splendidly awful Hallmark Visitors Center (Mon-Wed & Sat 10am-6pm, Thurs-Fri 10am-9pm, Sun noon-5pm; free) trace styles of greetings cards alongside political and cultural changes; designs from the 1940s, for example, featured stars and stripes, and Uncle Sam. There are also demonstrations of dying and engraving techniques. The nearby Union Station is a Kansas City landmark: huge, beautifully renovated and home to Science City (daily 10am-6pm; $12.50), an incredible arena of futuristic games, movies and exhibits.

The 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District, south of I-70 as it sweeps east-west, was the hub of the city's 1930s jazz scene. Formerly an unsafe area of empty lots and boarded-up shops, a huge revitalization project in the 1980s culminated with the opening of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, 1616 E 18th St (Tues-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun noon-6pm; $6). This enthralling collection of photographs, interactive exhibits and game equipment traces the turbulent history of black baseball in America, which was segregated from the white major leagues for the first half of the twentieth century. In 1920, Kansas City hosted the key meeting that founded the Negro National League - an institution that paved the way for the likes of Jackie Robinson to enter the major leagues. In the same complex is the American Jazz Museum (Tues-Thurs 9am-6pm, Fri-Sat 9am-9pm, Sun noon-6pm; $6), which tells the history of jazz through interactive exhibits; profiling some of its greatest performers, including Kansas City native Charlie Parker and others who cut their teeth in the smoky halls of 18th and Vine. The Blue Room functions as a working jazz bar, with Monday night jam sessions bringing many stars out of the woodwork.

Westport, an attractive district of good restaurants, cafés and trendy shops between 39th and 45th streets, was the original jumping-off point for the Santa Fe Trail. Stop off for a drink at the city's oldest building, Kelly's Westport Inn , 500 Westport St, a shabby but friendly redbrick bar. Five miles south of downtown, beginning at 47th and Main streets, the elegant Country Club Plaza dates from the early 1920s. Tree-shaded and upmarket (with branches of Eddie Bauer and Saks), its tiling, mosaics, fountains and orange trees evoke the streets of Spain, and a replica Sevillan tower completes the effect.

Highlights at the extensive Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, a few blocks east at 4525 Oak St (Tues-Thurs 10am-4pm, Fri 10am-9pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $5, free on Sat), include superb Oriental exhibits, with figurines from Tang and Egyptian tombs, plus canvases by Titian, Caravaggio ( St John the Baptist ) and Monet, and twelve Henry Moore sculptures in a landscaped setting. The pretty Toy and Miniatures Museum, further south at 5235 Oak St (Wed-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm; $4), houses an offbeat collection of antique toys, games and puppets.

When the Midwestern humidity gets too much, head for the tropically themed water world Oceans of Fun , or the adjoining Worlds of Fun, with its 140-plus rides, out at exit 54 of I-435 (late May-early Sept daily, hours vary; $22.95 for Oceans, $33.50 for Worlds).