St Louis City Guide

Saint Louis is the second largest city in the Midwestern US state of Missouri. Saint Louis, which is located near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, is the main urban center of the Greater St Louis metropolitan area.

The Greater St Louis Area is an important educational and corporate center in the US, which hosts prominent educational institutions like the St Louis University and the Washington University in St Louis as well as whole gamut of private and public sector corporations like Enterprise-Rent-A–Car , Scottrade, Edward Jones, Anheuser-Busch, Inc, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Purina and many more.

St Louis is also often called ‘North America’s Best Sports City’ for it is home to successful sporting outfits like the St Louis Cardinals (Major League Baseball team based at Busch Stadium), St Louis Blues(hockey team based at the Scottrade Center) and St Louis Rams(American Football team based at the Edward Jones Dome).

Saint Louis is a city that is made up of charming and diverse neighborhoods. Vacations to this city are therefore never dull or boring since there is so much to explore here.

The downtown area of Saint Louis, which contains attractions like the Gateway Arch, the new City Garden and the sports stadiums, is the business hub of the city that has a huge concentration of business and luxury hotels; though it also offers a decent amount of discount hotels and various budget accommodation options. This is where you might want to stay during your vacations to Saint Louis if you are after luxury.

However this area gets quite desolate at night and if you would rather be close to eateries, nightclubs and bars then you are better off choosing a hotel located in a Saint Louis neighborhood that offers many nightlife options as well.

Forest Park, which is located six miles west of downtown, is another favored accommodation choice in Saint Louis. Forest Park was the site of 1904 World’s Fair and it encompasses a wonderful 1,293-acre park along with several cultural attractions like the Saint Louis Zoo, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Saint Louis Science Center, and the Missouri History Museum. Also, located within the Forest Park neighborhood are many hotels, restaurants and nightspots.

Yet, another popular accommodation choice for visitors is the Saint Louis neighborhood of Clayton, which lies west of Forest Park and hosts several luxury hotels and a wealth of fine dining outlets that keep the neighborhood buzzing until the early hours of the morning.

A similar upscale enclave of Saint Louis that is yet another favored accommodation choice is the Central West End, which lies east of Forest Park. This neighborhood hosts several stately mansions and quaint cobbled stone streets that lead to luxe hotels, trendy boutiques, cafes, restaurants and nightclubs.

If you would rather stay at a hip, boutique hotel rather than a luxury or budget hotel property, then the Saint Louis neighborhood of Delmar Loop should figure in your choice of where to stay in Saint Louis during vacations for it hosts some of the trendiest boutique hotels in Saint Louis along with many bars, restaurants, boutiques and galleries.

This tall imposing structure is the most prominent landmark in Saint Louis. This arch symbolizes the historic role the city played as it served as a major gateway to the west for explorers and pioneers during the Westward Expansion during 1807 to 1912.

This commemorative arch, which is the tallest manmade monument in the US, was designed by Architect Eero Saarinen and was inaugurated in 1967. The Gateway Arch continues to be a focal point in Saint Louis until this day for it is from this arch that the four main interstate highways that traverse Saint Louis radiate outwards. The Gateway Arch is equipped with an observation gallery at its summit and it also hosts the museum of Westward Expansion at its base.

Saint Louis is a major center for Roman Catholicism in the USA and the Romanesque Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which is located in the city’s Central West End neighborhood, is its most prominent symbol. This gorgeous and imposing structure was constructed and adorned with 42 million pieces of colored glass arranged in the form of Byzantine mosaics for over 75 years. The place should be considered as a must-do attraction for all visitors on vacations to Saint Louis, who appreciate art and architecture. The Cathedral offers free daily guided tours for visitors.

The Magic House, which is located in the suburb of Kirkwood, has long been regarded as one of the best museums for children in the US. The museum extends over 50,000 square feet and offers a whole host of interactive attractions and displays that are housed in its more than fifty galleries. The Magic House museum and its attractions like the Electrostatic Generator, the Shadow Wall, the Bubble Room and more should be included as a must-do attraction if you are visiting Saint Louis with your kids.

The famous Saint Louis Art Museum is housed in beautiful beaux-arts style building in the city’s Forest Park district. This building was originally constructed for the 1904 World’s Fair that was held in Saint Louis. It was designed by the architect Cass Gilbert and today it hosts 30,000 works of artists from all corners of the globe, which display all styles, genres and time periods.

The Anheuser-Busch Brewery was founded in Saint Louis in 1852 and is a landmark institution of the city. The brewery offers various guided tours of its facilities including its brew house. These guided tours should be considered a must-do on the itinerary of any beer loving visitor to Saint Louis for they usually also include free beer tastings at the factory’s hospitality center..

The Missouri Botanical Gardens were founded in 1859 by a local philanthropist Henry Shaw. These verdant gardens extend over 79 acres and are the oldest Botanical gardens in the country that host a wide array of attractions like the Children’s Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Kresko Family Victorian Garden and the Climatron and the Linnean House conservatories. The garden is a favored destination for festivals, music and cultural events and parties. The Missouri Botanical Gardens also conduct several workshops throughout the year for enthusiastic gardeners.

If you are visiting Saint Louis with your children in tow, then the Saint Louis zoo located in the Forest Park neighborhood of the city should be considered as a top attraction in your to-do list. This zoo is considered to be one of the top zoos in the country and is a free public access zoo that hosts 18000 animals that belong to over 700 species. The Saint Louis zoo is also renowned for its many conservation programs.

The location of Saint Louis in the Midwest of the US gives it a weather pattern that is characterized by hot, muggy summers during which temperatures record average highs of around 89°F(32°C) and chilly, snowy winters which usually experience temperatures in the low 20s.

Accordingly, the peak tourist season for Saint Louis seems to be during the months of June to September when the weather is warm and the city hosts several festivals and events like the Fair St. Louis over the July 4th holiday, the Circus Flora (June), the Great Forest Park Balloon Race (September) and the St. Louis Art Fair (September) all which coincide with baseball season which features the Saint Louis Cardinals in action.

Saint Louis is well served by three airports and therefore reaching the city is an easy task. Unless you want to ride the way to the city, you may want to explore the cheap air tickets Fare Buzz has for Saint Louis. With cheap airline deals, you would not only save time but money as well.

Saint Louis has four main interstate highways passing through it and this makes renting a car in Saint Louis well worth it as the city is not only easy to get to, it is also laid out in an efficient grid system, which is extremely easy to navigate.

Parking in the downtown and other parts of the city is quite plentiful and cheap. We at Fare Buzz offer a wide variety of affordable car rentals for Saint Louis, which can be booked either through our online reservation platform or on the telephone with the aid of our customer services department. Both booking methods are at your disposal seven days a week.

Saint Louis also has a public transit system, which is made up of the Metrobus and MetroLink subway system. Both these modes of public transport are used extensively by tourists who need to commute between the downtown and Forest Park attractions of the city.

The MetroLink operates two lines within Saint Louis. Both these lines start off from the vicinity of the Gateway Arch and serve the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport along with the southwest suburbs of the city.

In addition to the train and the bus, Saint Louis is also served by a fleet of taxis that are operated by various cab companies, which are regulated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Taxi Commission.

Saint Louis offers a world of shopping opportunities though most of its shopping options are centered on its big malls like the St Louis Galleria, which is located 15 minutes west of downtown. The St Louis Galleria has well known department stores Dillard’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom as its anchor tenants along with a whole host of other stores that represent well known brands like J.Crew, Ann Taylor, Aldo, Anthropologie, Johnston and Murphy and many more.

A similar shopping experience can be had at the Plaza Frontenac, which is located 30 minutes west of downtown and offers stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany, Coach and others.

For boutique and hipster shopping, your best bets during vacations in Saint Louis are the Central West End and Delmar Loop neighborhoods; though if you enjoy browsing and shopping for antiques then the Cherokee Antique Row which a six-block stretch of stores that sell antiques and other knick-knacks should be considered a definite must-do on your list.

The Saint Louis dining scene is very vibrant and features innovative chefs who aim to cater to varied tastes and preferences as well as diverse price points. Budget restaurants, mid-range eateries and exclusive and expensive restaurants, St. Louis is equipped with them all.

Some of the best Saint Louis restaurants according to recent surveys include establishments like Niche, Annie Gunn’s , Cielo, Harvest, Stone Soup Cottage and more reasonably priced eateries like Trattoria Marcella, Franco, Five Bistro, Mai Lee, Farmhaus and Pappy’s Smokehouse.

The Nightlife scene in Saint Louis is extremely animated and energetic and features casinos, blues and live music bars, brew pubs, dance clubs, cocktail lounges, wine and dive bars and much more. Moreover the city’s nightlife scene is not concentrated in any one district but it is spread out all over the city neighborhoods like Soulard, Delmar Loop, Laclede’s Landing and the Loft district in downtown and the Central West End.

Some of the popular nightlife haunts in St Louis include the Lumiere Place Casino, the 33 Wine Shop and Tasting Bar, the Schlafly Tap Room( microbrewery and bar), Atomic Cowboy, America’s Pub and Club Buca( all dance clubs). Most nightspots in Saint Louis down their shutters at 1 am but a few places rock on until 3am and beyond.