We lived in AZ in the late 80's, boated Havasu and Mohave for 4 years. Loved the Desert but unless you want to beach and picnic, there is really very few places to visit. If you are wanting to run, you get to run in circles.

We started going to LOTO about 10 years ago, first was just a visit, with in 4 months of that visit, we bought a condo, started coming numerous weekends a year,(we lived in Wisconsin and it was a 8 hour commute) then 4 years ago, moved full time to LOTO. There is a reason. First and formost, it is the Performance boat capitol of America, There is no place I have ever visited that had a more dense population of performance boats, Period! (it's not if you see a bunch during a Poker Run? it is like that EVERY weekend!)

Next is the on water places to boat to. There are HUNDREDS, restaurants, Bars, Resorts, Coves, etc...

If you want to just get in the boat and run.... There is 80+ miles at wide open throttle if you want, but with the weekend water, that is actually unrealistic, depending on where you run, the traffic can make some very interesting wave action, If you like rough ocean water, we have it, if you want choppy speed water, we have it, if you get in the upper numbers and want glass water, we have it.... You wont get board running here.

And finally, the people; It is a resort area, people come here to have fun and they do.... I am not saying there isn't drama, but... That can be entertaining to watch!

The only problem w/LOTO is it can be way to addictive!

The only problem with LOTO is it's in misery. I mean Missouri.

The Lake of the Ozarks has appeal in winter, as well. Winters here are extraordinarily quiet, traffic is minimal, and bird-watching (especially eagles) is the best of the year.

On warm winter days, I've gone out kayaking and had the entire lake to myself. If we have an unusually cold winter like this past one, we get to enjoy some beautiful scenery of the lake as it freezes over. There's always something new to see.

There are downsides to living here, of course, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It's a wonderful place.

There is nothing to like about LOTO. Nobody wants to come here and drive up the property values and then complain about noise and such (Californians take special note as you are way too smart for that) Havasu is SO MUCH BETTER!
Nothing to see here, moving on.....:D:D :drink:

So what is the best city at LOTO to be in? Lake location, things to do, road/airport access etc?

I don't live there but Osage beach was pretty sweet and I have been looking at vaca condos there.

Bring that 50 footer. You can set the throttles to run 80 MPH on Saturday afternoon and run over 90 miles if you want. Any other time you can run basically as fast as you want without much problem. Make a week out of it. You will be surprised how much fuel you can burn.

all the POOTANG!!!!!

Can't make it this year, but next I am going to take 3 weeks and drag the boat to Florida for a Bahama trip then on my home stop for 4 days for LOTO shootout.

1mm to about the 33mm is the main area of the lake where the majority of the busiest restaurants are. Not to say other parts of the lake are not busy, just less...

The East side of the lake (Lake Ozark, Osage Beach to Camdenton) is the "business side", ie: "Conventional" stores, Outlet shopping mall (one of he largest in the country) hotels, shops, etc. West side is more of a resort orientated side. Side note: These are general statements, because there are so many places to go and see, there is easily a mixture on both sides.

There are 3 airports that can easily handle Airplanes/Jets in Osage Beach (2) and Camdenton, but are still primarily private/corporate aircraft. There is no local Airlines. Commercial Airlines, there is Columbia, Springfield, but the larger easier places are St Louis and Kansas City. Oh, if you are flying Rotor or Float,don't worry, many homes have helipads and well..... It is a lake for the floats.

As far as things outside of boating, just google Lake of the Ozarks and spend the next 6+ hours reading