Lake of the Ozarks

Our dad purchased some land on the lake this past year, so our family headed out for some boating and fishing twice this season with people of all ages. Below is our review:
The Good:
— Many miles of water
— Pretty scenery
— Some more quiet areas
— Safer during the week /​off-​peak times
— Epic for jet skiing
The Bad:
— Seemingly no boating rules or etiquette
— Lots of alcohol
— Can potentially be very unsafe
— Water quality poor
— Very busy considering the size of the lake
The Ugly:
— Be very alert to the potential dangers
— Take a map with you
— Services like food /​fuel may be closed
— Significant wakes
— Very large boats that intentionally come too close even with flags up that someone is in the water
Having grown up in Vegas, our family literally grew up on the lake, and has many experienced boaters. The size, wind, and sheer number of boats on Lake Mead can create significant waves, so we understand how to balance load, traverse wake, and handle the unexpected on the water and as a result, have never felt unsafe taking the kids out on a boat or pulling a skier /​tube… Until our experience on LOTO. If you are new to boating or have a smaller vessel or deck boat, please take some time to understand why this lake (during peak times) may not be the best choice. At the very least, take the time for a boater safety course — asking specific questions on how to handle the boat in very large wake /​swells.
Why write a review that sounds like a Public Service Announcement? Because I’ve never seen a place where very large boats purposefully create wake and endanger people before — even in areas outside of the main channel. I believe that individuals with families need to be cognizant of this on the front side so they can plan accordingly.
I’m not going to say the lake isn’t fun, or reasonably picturesque, but in all of our searching, we didn’t see very many quiet areas where you could get away from the fray.

The Lake of the Ozarks is a great destination for family and friends to get together and enjoy the occasional nice weather we have in Missouri. It’s much nicer if you have a boat, or an affinity for water, but even land dwellers can find something to do o somewhere to eat.
The lake itself if quite beautiful and the history behind the damming and power generation is a fun story. You also get to see a major power generating dam in action.
We generally stay at the Lodge of the Four Seasons or somewhere close by. The food is delicious and the people are generally very friendly. It’s not a bad destination for a week of family fun.

The Lake of the Ozarks was a very fun time. The lakes are very spacious so you can really have an adventure boating on them. Take a look a look at the map of them to see for yourself, we spent two hours and didn’t come close to seeing all of it. Makes for not so boring scenery.
The food was great around town, better than I expected.
It wasn’t too touristy, has an easy going environment.
Driving around to each part isn’t bad at all, all drives are pretty smooth.
I would love to go back and explore some more areas, had a real fun time for my first time here.

Best vacation for the price! Super fun! I love tubing and boating now! This is a must-​come-​back vacation!

I do have to say the lake is beautiful! This lake is huge and it seems like you can do anything your heart desires. Parasailing, kayaking, boating, jetski-​ing, anything that has to do with water you can do here.
The trails seem to be fantastic from a viewers perspective. This is a downright great place to come to for a wilderness and water lovers viewpoint.
Alot of places around may have one experience a great day, but nowadays with the economy the area seems to be a bit run down.
The people in the area are the nicest i have come into contact with in any area in a long time!

I’ve been going to the lake every summer for 27 years. There is something for everyone! I highly recommend
for more detailed information in regard to the lake. It is the go to source (and no I’m not affiliated, but I find it informative to send to visitors who have never been there) when you’re not familiar with the lake and the numerous restaurants, attractions, etc.

Lake of the Ozarks: I used to love this lake. But during the summer it’s turned into a zoo in certain parts and no I’m not talking about the notorious Party Cove. (Which is worth a look if you’re into that sort of thing). Our last experience at the lake was thankfully in a 50 ft Cigarette boat which helped to smooth out the chop from all the boat traffic. That traffic made the lake into a form of «wake hell» that made me feel like I was riding a jackhammer. And our boat was built for this sort of thing, I felt sorry for everyone else in the smaller boats trying to deal with the conditions. Add in over aggressive Missouri Water Patrol officers who want to ticket everything they can and were incredulous that you can be on a boat and not have alcohol of any kind on board and you have a bad experience in the making. Add in Budweiser fueled packs of boaters who have no regard for the basic rules of right of way and you spend more time watching out for drunken idiots than you do enjoying the main part of the lake.
If you get away from the dam or the Grand Glaize area and go deeper into the arms of the lake you can still have a good time here. But on the main part of the lake this is boater hell especially on holiday weekends. Consider yourself warned.

There MUST be a kazillion reviews of the Lake elsewhere under a slightly different name because it is AWESOME, and there are only 8 reviews!!!
Anyhow. Like I may have mentioned, it is AMAZING!
Really, truly, a gem in mid America.
~ 2 hour drive from KC, straight into a National Park. Funny enough, «party cove» is in a restricted building area, so you sit (lay out, ski, party) on the lake, while being surrounded by lush, dense forest. Absolutely stunning.
Warm water, cool fun, random lakeside bars (though all seem to have a Jimmy Buffet theme to them, so you can’t go wrong). We were incredibly lucky to be visiting friends that own a home on the lake, and if you are lucky as well, it makes for a perfect weekend. BBQ on the deck, take the boat out for some wake boarding, then chill on the dock with a marg and friends, and you could call this a happy home.
As a SoCal girl, I was a bit apprehensive of the impending humidity and bugs the size of homes (KC homes too, not just our little city condos), but I was pleasantly surprised, as the weather, though hot, was completely bearable, and the bugs behaved themselves the weekend we were there (storms and all). Horse flies tried to make up for it, but even the locals said they were unseasonable ridiculous this summer.
Now, as long as these friends don’t hate us by next summer, we’ll be back!!!

As long as you can keep a bit of perspective then you’re all good. We’re not up in the Riviera this is for sure but the Ozarks are just fine for some good family fun.
We had a dozen kids in tow and nearly as many adults and had a fantastic time doing all manner of water sport and Summer fun. Jet skiing, boating, wake-​boarding, swimming, ‘coving’, grilling, chilling, a bit of swilling, you name it, we did it.
Now I hear a lot of ppl on about the party scene but we didn’t go that route, we kept it clean and it was all good nonetheless.
The Ozark chain of lakes is fairly massive at about 100 miles end to end but we probably only hit maybe 5 – 10 miles of it. The weather we had for the week was nothing short of spectacular and just added to the whole experience.
We were near Osage Beach which is s pretty cool little town that has pretty much everything you would expect in any suburban town of Chicago. We only ventured in once in the week we stayed there so that speaks to the fun we all had at the beach house, the lake, pool, etc et al.

I never heard of «the lake» before I started dating my boyfriend almost 5 years ago — my «the lake» was Lake Michigan — haha. Since then, I’ve been to the lake a few times a year with him and his family, who have a condo on Osage Beach.
I LOVE THE LAKE!!!
It definitely has a party atmosphere — at least for our crowd — I am one of the ones that doesn’t mind sitting in the disgusting water on a 90 degree day — just as long as the liquor and beer keeps flowing! I also enjoy all the bars and places to go around the lake and that you can «park» your boat in a slip and walk right in — maybe I’m so fascinated because I’ve never experienced it before? Either way, I’m counting down the days until it’s warm enough to go back to the lake! And even more exciting, it’s just a mere 3 hours from us now, as opposed to our 8ish hour drive from Chicago! See ya there this summer, I’ll buy the first round of Pain In the Asses!

I should get frequent flier miles for this place. I love it. When I think summer, I think Lake Ozark. The strip is an awesome little place for tattoos, salt water taffy, take old time photos, see all the «cool cars and bikes», hit the batting cages. 4^th of July is the best to go hands down. I love watching the boat races too. Party Cove is a blast. (You can only hit here by boat. (Don’t go here if you don’t like topless drunk women and watch out for the Water Patrol they pass out BUIs like candy to a baby.) You can Mini Golf (awesome places), Go Kart and one of the best Outlet malls that I have ever been to. (Trust me I am a Shopaholic!) At night, check out Pecker’s Dueling Pianos its a blast!

I saw Jack Nicholson here once. He was fueling up on the lake, hotties a-​swarmin’ all around him. You know, the wholesome lolita type. Ahem.
Back to ‘the Lake’, as we call it in Missour-​ah. I’m not ashamed to admit I passed some time in the Party Cove. About a mile long, the cove fills up with some 3,000 boats built to float on adventures made of hedonism. But, think Chingy, not Jay-​Z. Cook’s bubbly, not Cristal. And there are no personal umbrella holders a la Diddy, save for the hazed frat boy providing the service to his venerable brethren. After all, we’re talking low-​brow, not Saint-​Tropez.
I’ve been pushed off boats by badass girls called ‘hoss’, for no reason except that their boyfriend looked at me. I’ve also left with friends, drove the 3 hours back to St. Louis, and then returned the same night with a brave new group because somehow, I thought I’d miss something.
But I’m forever scarred, forever changed. My last time there, a 4^th of July weekend in college, a cretin of a man waved the sign ‘free mustache ride’ at us. Still cringing. Doh!

I might get in big trouble for this review (kicked out of the family, even!), but… I hate Lake of the Ozarks!
I know, I know, it IS like, the première vacation spot in Missouri and when there aren’t large natural bodies of water available, a big ol’ man-​made lake could seem pretty alluring, but I really do not like it.
At. All.
I will wholeheartedly admit that I am insanely biased having grown up on the shores of glorious Lake Michigan and I know comparisons are odious, but still. Whaddya mean, I have to jump off a long pier or take a boat ride before I can get in the water (that happens to be a disconcerting brown all the time)? Where are the sand beaches? Why are there approximately 97 billion boats, jet skis and Sea Doos taking up every single open space in the lake? Why do I have such a headache when I visit there? Oh yeah, it’s because of all the damn diesel fumes. YUCK! How is it safe that tons of people take out their boats, get hammered in some cove, flash the other passersby and then head home still three sheets to the wind? Yeah, it’s not. And I’m not so naïve to think that stuff like that doesn’t happen on Lake Michigan, but honestly, it seems that the entire point of Lake of the Ozarks is to get drunk on a boat, cruise past Party Cove to see some tits and get high off fumes from a bazillion motorized water vehicles. Don’t people know there’s an environmental crisis going on right now?
I have to give a star simply because Lake of the Ozarks exists – it serves a lot of folks who don’t have the luxury of a natural lake and those who don’t know what they’re missing. I have to give the second star because of all the happiness it brings my husband and his family who’ve vacationed there every year since time began, it seems. I, however, will continue to make up excuses so I don’t have to go anymore. It just pisses me off too much and there’s nothing worse than being the only pissed, sober person at Lake of the Friggin’ Ozarks.

Bagnell Dam is where it all started. Union Electric created a beautiful lake in the Ozark hills by building the dam along the Osage River 70 years ago. Lake of the Ozarks is one of Missouri’s favorite vacation spots. Approx three hours from St. Louis, the lake has 92 miles of main channel, thousands of quiet coves and 1375 miles of shoreline.
The surrounding communities offer an extensive calendar of events in addition to a diverse selection of amusement centers, churches, fine dining, nightly entertainment, retail and outlet shopping, sports centers, golf courses, etc. Vacationers can choose to stay at a variety of environments including camping, luxurious hotels, resorts and condominiums.
By day, people are either golfing, fishing, boating, hitting Party Cove, Toad Cove, water sporting on the lake or they are shopping (outlet stores), playing games (the Strip) or eating at many of the lakeside eateries. At night, there is no shortage of lakeside eateries and drinkeries to keep you occupied.
I just spent an inexpensive weekend at the Lake and while there is limited ethnic food choices available, you are sure to ave a good meal and a great time! Be careful about weekday visits. Businesses are slow and have a tendency to close at will.