Things to do in Stillwater
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Stillwater
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Football season is the main event, with Homecoming week in October the peak of the year and hotels booked months ahead.
Spring brings the best gardens and Calf Fry, but also peak tornado and severe thunderstorm season, with May the wettest month.
Hot, humid and quiet, with cheap rooms, lake days and the Boomer Blast fireworks over Boomer Lake on 4 July.
Cold, calm and cheapest outside December graduation, with basketball and wrestling carrying the sporting calendar.
October is the best single month overall, with Homecoming, football and mild weather.
What's on
- America's Greatest Homecoming Usually a week in October
A week of OSU events crowned by Walkaround on Friday night and the Sea of Orange Parade, drawing 70,000 plus visitors.
- Calf Fry Usually late April or early May
Three nights of Red Dirt and country music at the Tumbleweed, the biggest music weekend of the year.
- Arts & Heritage Festival April
The city's spring arts festival in Couch Park.
- Boomer Blast 4 July
The city's Independence Day fireworks celebration over Boomer Lake.
Best things to do in Stillwater
Oklahoma State University
A handsome red brick land grant campus centred on Old Central, the Edmon Low Library fountain lawn and Theta Pond.
Boone Pickens Stadium
A Cowboys home game on the oldest field in the Big 12, with the crowd close enough to feel on top of the play.
National Wrestling Hall of Fame
America's shrine to amateur wrestling, with Olympic gold medallist portraits and the world's largest wrestling collection.
The Botanic Garden at Oklahoma State University
A free 100 acre garden west of campus, built around the Oklahoma Gardening studio gardens, quiet even on weekends.
Stillwater History Museum at the Sheerar
A free downtown museum of the 1889 Land Run, tribal history, oil and the growth of the university, with a kids touch area.
OSU Museum of Art
A free university art museum in the downtown Postal Plaza building, with rotating shows and family days.
McKnight Center for the Performing Arts
A superb campus performing arts centre whose seasons bring touring orchestras and headline artists to Stillwater.
Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Arena
The home room of Red Dirt music and the Calf Fry festival, a big unpretentious dance hall with live country music.
Where to stay in Stillwater
Oklahoma State University campus
games, graduations and first visits
Sleep inside the Student Union at the Atherton and walk to the stadium, the library lawn and the Strip.
Hall of Fame Avenue and Husband Street
walkable all round base
Chains east of campus and by downtown that let you walk to campus and reach Main Street eating in minutes.
West 6th Avenue
budget and road trips
The value cluster by the highway, cheapest mainstream rooms in town, with every trip a short drive.
Think twice about
- West 6th Avenue motel row as a walkable base
Not unsafe, but entirely car based, with highway style roads between you and campus, downtown and dinner.
- The Strip immediate blocks on football weekends
Not unsafe, but Washington Street bars run until 2am and light sleepers in rentals facing the Strip will hear all of it.
Best restaurants in Stillwater
Eskimo Joe's
The 1975 college institution under the Joe Dome, famous for sweet peppered bacon cheese fries and its T-shirts.
The Ranchers Club
Stillwater's special occasion steakhouse inside the Atherton, built on Oklahoma beef and celebration service.
The Monarch
Downtown's date night room, New American cooking and craft cocktails in a Victorian inspired space, four nights a week.
Tokyo Pot
Oklahoma's first shabu shabu restaurant, where you cook thin sliced meats in broth at the table, calm and booked ahead.
Hideaway Pizza
The original Hideaway by campus, specialty pizzas and famous fried mushrooms in a warren of memorabilia filled rooms.
Da Vinci's Italian Restaurant
The town's graduation Italian, family recipes and handmade pizzas, famous for handling very large parties well.
Freddie Paul's Steakhouse
The family run east side steakhouse with huge portions, lobster mac and a wrestling wall of fame.
Mexico Joe's
The big Tex Mex sibling of Eskimo Joe's, famous for its salsas and white queso, and built for groups.
Best bars in Stillwater
Iron Monk Brewing Company
Stillwater's first craft brewery, a dog friendly downtown taproom with 20 plus own beers, flights and Saturday tours.
Zannotti's Wine Bar
Downtown's grown up wine bar with flights, shareable plates, a patio and a back room groups rent for reunions.
Copper Penny
The Strip distilled, a western themed college bar famous for the 32 ounce Limey limeade, open until 2am.
Outdoor things to do in Stillwater
Karsten Creek Golf Club
OSU's elite Fazio course around Lake Louise, now membership only, so admire it as scenery unless a member invites you.
Lakeside Memorial Golf Course
The city municipal course from 1947, long and honest at 6,700 yards, and the round visiting golfers actually play.
The Links at Stillwater
A shorter, friendlier public 18, the casual second round or the Sunday morning round before driving home.
Boomer Lake Park
The town's front porch, a 251 acre lake ringed by a paved 3.3 mile loop trail, disc golf, piers and a splash pad.
Lake Carl Blackwell
The bigger, wilder university lake west of town, with swim beaches, boating, kayaking and RV and tent camping.
Couch Park
The locals park of big oaks, with a pool, disc golf, ball fields and the shaded southern Kameoka Trail section.
Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum
A 1910 Wild West showman's mansion, museum and drive through bison pasture, the best half day trip from Stillwater.
Best hotels in Stillwater
The Atherton Hotel at OSU
Stillwater's only luxury stay, a Georgian hotel inside the Student Union, a short walk from the stadium.
Best Western Plus Cimarron Hotel & Suites
The downtown adjacent workhorse with spacious suites and free breakfast, close to Main Street eating.
Hampton Inn & Suites Stillwater
The highest volume chain stay in town, renovated, reliable and on the stadium side of campus.
Home2 Suites by Hilton Stillwater
Extended stay suites with kitchenettes and a pool, the quiet pick for three nights or more with kids.
Residence Inn Stillwater
Apartment style suites with full kitchens, the base for relocation visits, work trips and graduation grandparents.
La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Stillwater-University Area
The budget pick with a deep review base, a pool and hot tub and the lowest mainstream price in town.
Is Stillwater expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $140 a person |
| Splurge | $300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Boone Pickens Stadium: weeks ahead
- McKnight Center for the Performing Arts: a few days ahead
- Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Arena: weeks ahead
- Lakeside Memorial Golf Course: a few days ahead
- The Atherton Hotel at OSU: weeks ahead
- The Ranchers Club: weeks ahead
- The Monarch: a few days ahead
- Tokyo Pot: a few days ahead
- Homecoming and big home games sell hotels out months ahead at multiples of normal rates, often with minimum stays.
- Graduation weekends in May and December fill every room and every reservable restaurant table in town.
- Eskimo Joe's never takes reservations, while Tokyo Pot and The Monarch are small, reservation driven and closed several nights a week.
- Calf Fry tickets and rooms for that weekend should be booked weeks ahead.
Is Stillwater safe?
- There is no Stillwater neighbourhood visitors should avoid basing in for safety, and the real base risks are noise and car dependence.
- Stillwater is in Tornado Alley, so know your hotel shelter area and keep weather alerts on, above all in spring.
- Summer heat is the other hazard, so start lake and golf days early with water and shade.
- On Strip nights until 2am, walk with the crowd on Washington Street and lock cars at trailheads.
Stillwater travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Judging Eskimo Joe's as a fine meal instead of an institution, then resenting the game day queue.
- Trusting old guides that promise a public Karsten Creek tee time, since the course went membership only in 2023.
- Arriving on a home Saturday without a hotel, a parking plan or a restaurant plan.
- Spending meals on Perkins Road chains instead of Hideaway, Tokyo Pot, Granny's or Da Vinci's.
Getting around Stillwater: public transport and more
- Campus, the Strip, Eskimo Joe's and the Hall of Fame Avenue hotels form a walkable cluster of about a mile.
- Downtown is about a mile south of campus, and the lakes, golf and Botanic Garden are short drives.
- On game days park once and walk, since campus parking is paid, planned and fills early.
- Most visitors fly into Oklahoma City or Tulsa and drive, and a car is close to mandatory outside the campus triangle.
Who Stillwater suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Stillwater your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store