car necessary for two days in st louis?
 

We are staying in st louis on sept. 26 and 27 and have the following itinerary: Monday- Anhueser Busch brewery tour, the arch and surrounding area, lacledes landing. Tuesaday- union station, forest park, cardinals game. We are staying at the Drury Inn right behind the arch. I know the metro can take us from the airport to the hotel and can also get us to union station and forest park. I was just wondering whether the brewery was within a reasonable walking distance and if you can do most of forest park without a car. We are trying to avoid the cost of rental, gas, and parking if at all possible.
Would also love suggestions for lunch near the brewery and a moderate to fine dining experience downtown.
Thank in advance...

I don't know about the brewery being within walkind distance...but we stayed downtown while at a cardinal game 2 weeks ago and although we had a car we chose to take a cab to Eleven - Eleven for dinner. Just a short cab ride away ($12.00 for 4). We love to eat out and do so often. 11-11 Mississippi was just great! Great fun and the food was wonderful. It was a special ocassion so we ordered 2 desserts. So glad we did. We usually eat at Tony's, Mike Shannon's or somewhere on The Hill but I was really glad that we tried 11-11. I think you will love it.
Have fun.

Except for the brewery, the rest is easily down without a car. I've gotten out on the Forest Park stop from the light rail and walked to the Historical Society Museum across the bridge from the exit. Then I've walked up the hill to the art museum, down to the zoo and on over to the science center. After that I walked along the Barnes-Jewish (or is that Jewish-Barnes) hospital complex to the Central West End for dinner at Chez Leon. By the way this took an entire day. Just a couple of hours at each stop adds up quickly.

The A-B brewery is 2 miles south of the the city proper. It would be a cool walk through the Soulard district. Well after you got past the interstate. Lots of gentrification and little local corner bars. Then (I'm trying to recall I've only driven and it's been a couple of years) it would be a little industrial the last 1/2 mile or so to the brewery. Buses do go nearby. You can check out the buses on the web site:

www.metrostlouis.org

I don't do much fine dining in downtown St Louis. Dierdorf and Harts at the Gateway One Center, but it's a chop house. Mostly I'll only have an appetizer there. If I want nice food I take the rail to the Central West End and walk north. Chez Leon, Balaban and Eau at the Chase Park Plaza are all in the area. So is Moxy's for hip/trendy cuisine.

1jan1 I've not been to 11-11 Miss. I'll have to check it out when I'm in town the first weekend of October.

You can get a car pretty cheaply through Priceline or with the AAA discount + AAA coupon. You should drive to Anhauser Busch and I would recommend heading over to Ted Drewes for their famous frozen custard. Parking in Forest Park is free (unless you park in the lot right next to the zoo.)

It's not absolutely neccessary but I would recommend it. Especially since the rates should not be too expensive. Plus parking is not a hassle like it is in a city like chicago.

If you want to cut costs and only have the car for one day there is an Enterprise about a 2 block walk from your hotel. (There used to be a Budget close by but they closed.)

Downtown dining: Red Moon and An American Place are nice. I've had two good dinners at Lucas Park Grille but they just changed chefs. Mosaic and Kitchen K are also good mid-range downtown.

1111 Mississippi is about 5 minutes away in the Lafayette Square neighborhood: very good. As is Squwires.

Sidney Street Cafe and Yemanja Brasil are in the dicey but up and coming Benton Park neighborhood.

Indytravels suggestions for the Central West End are all good.

For lunch there are plenty of good places in Soulard by the brewery. The best is Frasiers Brown Bag: they started doing lunches earlier this year. McGurks Pub and 1860 Hardshell Cafe also have good lucnhes in Soulard.