St. Louis travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in St. Louis, planned over three days
Best time to visit St. Louis
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
The two best months: mild weather, gardens and parks at their best, comfortable sightseeing.
Genuine cold, wind off the river and short days, mitigated almost entirely by timing for Mardi Gras.
St. Patrick's Day parades and early spring bulbs late in the month; weather is a coin flip.
Cardinals Opening Day, mild weather and the Garden in full spring bloom; the default first visit window with May.
PrideFest, Juneteenth, the Muny opens and the Japanese Garden at its lushest; heat and humidity build.
Fair Saint Louis fireworks under the Arch; start of peak heat, so plan outdoor things early and late.
Festival of Nations late in the month; otherwise the hardest weather month, all 90s heat and heavy air.
Balloon Race, Saint Louis Art Fair and the Japanese Festival over Labor Day; second peak season begins.
What's on
- Soulard Mardi Gras January 6 to Fat Tuesday; Grand Parade on the Saturday before
One of America's largest Mardi Gras celebrations, centred on Soulard. Dress for cold.
- St. Patrick's Day Parades March 17
Parades downtown and in Dogtown, the locals' pick.
- Cardinals Opening Day April
Treated as a civic holiday in a baseball first city.
- Shakespeare in the Park late May into June
Free performances by Shakespeare Festival St. Louis in Shakespeare Glen, Forest Park.
- PrideFest late June
PrideFest and the Grand Pride Parade downtown.
- Fair Saint Louis July 4th
Fireworks under the Arch, the year's biggest riverfront night.
- Festival of Nations late August
Free multicultural food and music festival in Tower Grove Park.
- Japanese Festival Labor Day weekend
Over Labor Day weekend at the Botanical Garden, among the largest Japanese festivals in the US.
- Great Forest Park Balloon Race mid-September
Friday night balloon glow and Saturday race, free, drawing up to around 150,000 spectators.
- Saint Louis Art Fair early September
Free art fair in downtown Clayton.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in St. Louis
City Museum
A salvaged factory turned into caves, tunnels, slides and climbing structures you crawl through for hours.
Gateway Arch
The 630 foot arch startles from below and the tram ride gives views up to 30 miles on a clear day.
Museum at the Gateway Arch
Free underground museum on westward expansion that is better than most visitors expect, so do it before the tram.
Old Courthouse
Site of the Dred Scott freedom suits, reopened in 2025 with new civil rights galleries across from the Arch.
Forest Park
One of America's great city parks, larger than Central Park, best taken as a full loose day rather than a stop.
Saint Louis Zoo
Ninety acres and more than 600 species with free general admission, repeatedly voted among America's best zoos.
Saint Louis Art Museum
Free Beaux-Arts palace with strong German Expressionist and post-war collections, quietest at Friday late opening.
Missouri Botanical Garden
One of America's oldest botanical gardens, with a rainforest dome and one of North America's largest Japanese gardens.
Where to stay in St. Louis
Central West End
best overall base, couples and food-led trips
Leafy walkable streets by Euclid Avenue dining, the Cathedral and Forest Park, with a MetroLink station.
Downtown / Arch-Ballpark
first timers, car-free trips and Cardinals weekends
Largest hotel concentration, with the Arch, Busch Stadium, Ballpark Village and City Museum all walkable.
Clayton
quiet luxury and business
Manicured, affluent and calm, with good restaurants and its own MetroLink station, 15 minutes west.
Soulard / Lafayette Square
character, Mardi Gras and bar-led weekends
Brick streets, the farmers market and the city's best bar density, mostly guesthouses and short term rentals.
Forest Park South / The Hill / Tower Grove
longer residential stays
The most local version of the city at the lowest prices, with the Garden and park as amenities; you need a car.
Think twice about
- North City, north of Delmar Boulevard
Few hotels and long stretches with nothing open at night, and the city's most serious violent crime is concentrated in parts of it. Visit Old North by day; don't book bargain listings up here.
- East St. Louis, Illinois
Long-standing crime problems and few visitor services. Cheap 'Arch view' listings across the river are a trap; cross only for Cahokia Mounds or golf.
- North of Washington Avenue, Downtown
Blocks north of Washington Avenue with no nighttime businesses are where downtown break-ins concentrate. Stay in the Arch and Ballpark core.
- The airport corridor
Not dangerous, just a characterless freeway strip a MetroLink ride from everything, with nothing walkable. Book only for an early flight.
Best restaurants in St. Louis
Vicia
Vegetable first, live fire, hyper seasonal cooking from Blue Hill veterans, the city's benchmark fine dining room.
Sado
Precise nigiri with a dry ageing programme for fish, the city's top sushi counter.
iNDO
Bognar's Southeast Asian room with bright, balanced flavours, pristine fish and serious cocktails.
Nixta
Modern Mexican cooking from Ben Poremba's group, now in the Delmar Maker District near the Loop.
Louie
Beloved Italian leaning room with wood fired pizzas and pastas, where locals take out of town guests.
Wright's Tavern
Classic steakhouse done perfectly in Clayton, with textbook Caesars, impeccable fries and old school service.
Casa Don Alfonso
Southern Italian fine dining from the Sorrento coast Alfonso family, inside the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton.
Acero
Neighbourhood Italian in Maplewood known for its egg yolk pasta, at mid range prices.
Outdoor things to do in St. Louis
Gateway National Golf Links
The best public round near the city, a wind exposed links course with skyline and Arch views.
Norman K. Probstein Golf Course at Forest Park
Twenty seven holes in the middle of Forest Park at great value prices, friendly for mixed ability groups.
Missouri Bluffs Golf Club
Tom Fazio course draped over wooded Missouri River bluffs, the prettiest and splurge public round near the city.
The Highlands Golf & Tennis
Nine scenic holes plus tennis and a lighted range in Forest Park, for an hour of golf rather than a full round.
Katy Trail
America's longest rail trail runs from St. Charles along the Missouri River, flat and ideal for casual riders.
Boathouse at Forest Park
Paddle boats, kayaks and bike rental from the Boathouse make the active version of a Forest Park day.
Castlewood State Park
The locals' park for river bluff hiking and technical mountain bike trails on the Meramec River.
Mississippi Riverfront Trail
Flat paved riverfront riding from the Arch grounds past bridges and floodwall murals.
Best hotels in St. Louis
Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis
The flagship luxury stay, with Arch facing rooms, a rooftop pool terrace, a serious spa and Cinder House.
The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis
Four-star polish in Clayton, the calmest luxury base in the metro, with a club lounge and cigar lounge.
Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta
Restored 1920s landmark overlooking Forest Park, with a resort scale pool deck, cinema and big suites.
Live! by Loews
Modern, social hotel directly at Ballpark Village, steps from Busch Stadium for a game weekend.
Hotel Saint Louis
Design led stay in a restored Louis Sullivan era bank building on Washington Avenue, with a rooftop bar.
Moonrise Hotel
Boutique space themed landmark on the Delmar Loop, pet friendly with a rooftop bar, by The Pageant venue.
Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis at the Arch
The value legend, with Arch view rooms plus free hot breakfast and a free evening reception in the rate.
Pear Tree Inn Near Union Station
The genuine cheap tier done properly, with free breakfast and evening snacks by Union Station.
Is St. Louis expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $100 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $180 a person |
| Splurge | $420 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Gateway Arch: a few days ahead
- Busch Stadium: a few days ahead
- The Muny: a few days ahead
- Hermann: months ahead
- Vicia: weeks ahead
- Sado: weeks ahead
- Sidney Street Cafe: weeks ahead
- Arch tram tickets online, days ahead for weekends; weekend slots sell out.
- Vicia and Sado: book when you book your flights.
- Cardinals tickets for marquee series, above all the Cubs, and for Opening Day.
- The Muny free seats are same night and need an early queue; reserved seats book ahead.
- Botanical Garden during the Japanese Festival uses timed entry and draws crowds.
- Mardi Gras and Hermann Oktoberfest lodging books months ahead.
Is St. Louis safe?
- Violent crime is concentrated in parts of North City and in East St. Louis, away from the visitor corridors. For Crown Candy or Cahokia Mounds, drive or rideshare in by day.
- The visitor corridors are busy and well used and fine with ordinary city awareness, including walking to dinner and games.
- Do not leave anything visible in a parked car anywhere; vehicle break-ins are the most common visitor crime.
- Downtown empties late on non-event nights, so rideshare door to door rather than walking deserted blocks.
- Never swim in the Mississippi here; current, debris and pollution make it dangerous.
- Visible homelessness is present downtown and around some transit stops at a level comparable to other large US cores.
St. Louis travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Laclede's Landing trades on its Arch location but is the thinnest dining strip in the core; Washington Avenue and Soulard are better.
- The Aquarium and Wheel at Union Station are priced for tourists next to the free Zoo and Arch; do them with children, skip on an adults trip.
- Imo's as a best restaurant pick: it is a rite, not a recommendation.
- The Arch tram on a foggy day buys a view of cloud; the museum and grounds stay worthwhile.
Getting around St. Louis: public transport and more
- A car makes St. Louis much easier; sights form three corridors miles apart and parking is plentiful and cheap.
- MetroLink Red and Blue lines link the airport, downtown, CWE and Forest Park, Clayton and the Delmar Loop; the airport ride downtown takes about 35 to 40 minutes.
- MetroLink serves Soulard, the Hill and the Botanical Garden poorly, so use bus or rideshare for those, and it thins late at night.
Who St. Louis suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make St. Louis your trip
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