Cliff Drive
Cliff Drive is a State Scenic Byway in Missouri. Within Missouri it covers roughly 4 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Cliff Drive with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Cliff Drive is a 4.27-mile Missouri State Scenic Byway through George E. Kessler Park in historic Northeast Kansas City, the only Missouri scenic byway located entirely within an urban core. Officially designated on June 2, 2000, the road runs from The Paseo and Independence Avenue through Indian Mound to Gladstone Boulevard at Belmont Boulevard, following limestone bluffs above the Missouri River Valley that remain surprisingly wild for a route this close to downtown. Landscape architect George E. Kessler designed and built the drive between 1893 and 1915 as part of Kansas City's pioneering city-parks system, a design legacy studied internationally as an early model of American urban planning. Today Cliff Drive is closed to motor vehicles every day of the week, leaving the wide paved surface to walkers, runners, cyclists, and scooters winding beneath the bluffs. It's a rare example of a scenic byway that's more useful on foot or bike than behind a wheel.
- 4.27 miles, George E. Kessler Park, Kansas City
- designated State Scenic Byway, June 2000
- limestone bluffs above the Missouri River Valley
- designed by George E. Kessler, 1893-1915
- closed to motor vehicles daily
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Cliff Drive
No campgrounds are listed close to Cliff Drive yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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