Things to do in Starkville
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Starkville
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall. April stacks baseball and festivals in the best weather, and October is football season at its most pleasant.
Spring peak for baseball and festivals, with the year's highest tornado risk.
Worst for heat and humidity, with highs routinely in the 90s Fahrenheit and a thin event calendar.
Football season and the town's high season for prices and sell outs, with a secondary severe weather season in autumn.
Cold, grey and quiet, with the cheapest rooms of the year and basketball as the sporting reason to come.
What's on
- Super Bulldog Weekend April
Spring homecoming weekend built around baseball at Dudy Noble Field, with softball and other home sports.
- Starkville Derby April, on Super Bulldog Weekend
A huge dachshund race in the Cotton District with vendors, music and a humane society benefit.
- Cotton District Arts Festival April
A full day of artists, musicians and food vendors in the Cotton District.
- Bulldog Bash September, sometimes early October
Mississippi's largest free outdoor concert, downtown and in the Cotton District, with a Maroon Market from the afternoon.
- Pumpkinpalooza October
The town's autumn and Halloween family festival downtown.
- Magnolia Film Festival February
The oldest film festival in Mississippi, the winter bright spot for film lovers.
Best things to do in Starkville
Davis Wade Stadium
SEC football with cowbells, the Junction tailgate outside and the Dawg Walk before kickoff.
Dudy Noble Field
Record breaking college baseball crowds and the Left Field Lounge grilling culture beyond the outfield fence.
Cotton District
The walkable historic district of bars, restaurants and murals between downtown and campus, best from late afternoon.
Drill Field
The historic central lawn of Mississippi State, the starting point for a free campus walk past landmark buildings.
Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library
A full presidential library and museum for Grant inside the university library, with a major Lincoln collection nearby.
MAFES Sales Store
The campus cheese store famous for its three pound Edam cannonball and Muscadine Ripple ice cream made on site.
Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum
A small county museum between campus and downtown that explains how a farming county built a research university.
Cullis and Gladys Wade Clock Museum
More than 400 American clocks, many working, inside the university Welcome Center at the depot.
Where to stay in Starkville
Cotton District and Downtown Main Street
first trip, walkable base
The only base that works on foot, with the Cotton District, Main Street dining and campus all walkable.
Mississippi State University and Highway 12 corridor
game weekends, families and predictability
The chain hotel strip beside campus, practical and parkable, a short drive from the Cotton District.
Columbus
game weekend overflow
The nearest real hotel stock when Starkville sells out, about 25 minutes east with its own dining and Riverwalk.
Think twice about
- Cotton District blocks on game and festival nights, for sleeping
College bar noise, Bulldog Bash crowds and late game nights. Walk in from a few blocks away instead of sleeping on top of it.
- Unvetted motels on the far Highway 12 and Dr Martin Luther King Jr Drive edges
Some outer highway stock is dated, isolated and car only, with sparse recent reviews. Book a named property with recent reviews or do not book it.
- Rural rentals around the refuge and past the university farms
No walkable village, restaurant or lighting on county roads at night. It isolates a first time visitor from the only walkable part of town.
Best restaurants in Starkville
Restaurant Tyler
Upscale Southern dining downtown with shrimp and grits, catfish egg rolls and an award winning wine list.
Harveys
A wood fired steakhouse serving Starkville for over 40 years, the town's special occasion institution.
Commodore Bob's Yacht Club
A Cotton District kitchen above its nautical theme, known for shrimp and grits and a boudin stuffed pork chop.
The Little Dooey
Starkville's famous barbecue institution since 1985, for pulled pork, brisket and fried catfish at checked tables.
Two Brothers Smoked Meats
Pecan smoked meats on a Cotton District porch, with smoked wings, pork belly tacos and pulled pork grilled cheese.
Bulldog Burger Company
Handcrafted burgers on fresh buns with a lively Cotton District patio, the group pleasing burger pick.
Bin 612
Scratch pizzas, burgers and famous cheese fries on a dog friendly patio in the heart of the Cotton District.
Dave's Dark Horse Tavern
Starkville's oldest pizzeria and a beloved dive, for deep pan pizza and nightly live music after a game.
Outdoor things to do in Starkville
Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge
A vast refuge of lakes, boardwalks and overlooks with eagles, wading birds and alligators, best early in the day.
Mississippi State University Golf Course
An affordable public university course with tree lined fairways and water in play on about half the holes.
Old Waverly Golf Club
Mississippi's top ranked championship course and a former US Women's Open host, open to members and guests only.
Mossy Oak Golf Club
Gil Hanse's minimalist links style course beside Old Waverly, ranked with it at the top of Mississippi golf.
Chadwick Lake
A scenic campus lake with a one mile walking and jogging track, best at dawn or dusk in summer.
MSU North Farm
About 750 acres of research farmland with gravel roads for walking and birding on the Mississippi Flyway.
Choctaw Lake Recreation Area
A national forest lake with four short trails through pine and hardwood forest, plus fishing and picnicking.
Columbus Riverwalk
A paved 4.4 mile trail along the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway, the easy day trip east to Columbus.
Best hotels in Starkville
Hotel Chester
The historic 1925 boutique hotel downtown, Starkville's most characterful stay within walking distance of everything.
Courtyard by Marriott Starkville MSU at The Mill Conference Center
The best full service hotel at the campus edge, inside the restored Mill development with covered parking.
Far Out Motel
A retro boutique motel downtown with small spotless rooms, kitchenettes and an outdoor lounge, walkable to campus.
Hampton Inn Starkville
The reliable chain hotel beside campus on Highway 12, fine on ordinary weekends and very expensive on game weekends.
Hyatt Place Columbus
The modern overflow hotel in Columbus for game weekends when Starkville sells out, about 25 minutes east.
La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Starkville at MSU
The best reviewed value stay in town, with breakfast, a pool and clean rooms at budget prices on ordinary nights.
Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Starkville
The straightforward cheap sleep in Starkville, with a pool and no pretensions, for non game weekends.
Is Starkville expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $150 a person |
| Splurge | $375 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Davis Wade Stadium: months ahead
- Dudy Noble Field: weeks ahead
- Cotton District: a few days ahead
- Mississippi State University Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Old Waverly Golf Club: months ahead
- Mossy Oak Golf Club: months ahead
- Hotel Chester: weeks ahead
- Courtyard by Marriott Starkville MSU at The Mill Conference Center: weeks ahead
- Book football weekend hotels months ahead, when the schedule is announced, and check the total with taxes before confirming.
- Book Super Bulldog Weekend, big baseball series, graduation and parents weekends early as well.
- Reserve Restaurant Tyler always, Commodore Bob's by phone a day ahead, and Harveys on event weekends.
Is Starkville safe?
- Spring is peak tornado season with a smaller autumn season, so keep weather alerts on and know your hotel shelter space.
- Summer heat and humidity are a medical risk for all day outdoor plans, so do the refuge and trails early.
- Leave nothing visible in parked cars on event nights, anywhere in town.
- At the refuge, admire alligators from boardwalks and overlooks and use insect spray before trails.
Starkville travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not expect game day Starkville on a random non event weekend, when the town is quiet and evenings end early.
- Do not build a trip around looking at stadiums on an empty weekday, because the experience is the event itself.
- Starkville eats well for its size but is about ten good picks deep, not a food only destination.
Getting around Starkville: public transport and more
- Base in the Cotton District or downtown to walk to campus, both stadiums and most restaurants, and keep a car for everything else.
- Park once on game days and walk the Junction and the game, then let traffic clear over dinner.
- Columbus and West Point are each about 25 minutes away, Noxubee refuge about 20 minutes, and Choctaw Lake about 35 to 40 minutes.
- Park on Main Street and walk the last blocks into the Cotton District instead of circling it for parking.
Who Starkville suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Starkville your trip
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