Kansas City

Kansas City, spanning the Missouri-Kansas border, is one of America's great barbecue cities — a place where the style (slow-smoked over hickory and cherry wood, with a sweet-and-spicy tomato-based sauce) is distinct from Texas, Memphis and Carolina traditions and fiercely defended. It is also a city of excellent jazz heritage, beautiful Beaux-Arts architecture and one of the largest concentrations of fountains of any city outside Rome. The Country Club Plaza, a Spanish-inspired shopping and dining district built in the 1920s, is genuinely beautiful and excellent in the evening. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is one of America's finest mid-size art museums — its sculpture garden (the shuttlecocks on the lawn are by Claes Oldenburg), Asian art collection and American art rooms are exceptional, all free. The National WWI Museum and Memorial, the only official American museum dedicated to World War I, is one of the country's finest history museums. Kansas City barbecue institutions — Joe's Kansas City (in a gas station), Q39, Arthur Bryant's and Gates Bar-B-Q — are worth planning a day around. The Crossroads Arts District, a revitalized warehouse neighbourhood around 18th and Vine, is the city's most vibrant creative area. The Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (both in the historic 18th and Vine district) are culturally essential. Kansas City is very affordable. The Power and Light entertainment district offers lively nightlife.