St. Louis?
 

We're thinking about taking the kids ( ages 5 & 9) to St. Louis for a long weekend and was looking for things to do in the downtown area (in addition to the Arch)? I ask about downtown because we are planning on taking the train and are hoping to get by without a rental car. I understand that Six Flags is not near downtown and was also looking to see if anyone knew of any hotels that might have a shuttle?

First, do a search on the forum with the words "St. Louis." You'll find a ton of great information.

St. Louis is not a city like Chicago or NY where you can get by without a car. Six Flags is easily an hour from downtown and I would seriously doubt if even the best hotels would provide a shuttle there. The public transportation, while getting better since the advent of the MetroLink, leaves much to be desired.

You will also need to check to nation's terror alert status if you plan on going up in the arch. If it's orange, the elevators to the top are shut down. However, Jefferson Expansion Memorial Park, the riverfront, and the museum underneath the arch are fascinating and fun.

Downtown, you'll find (in addition to the arch) Union Station (which has a really neat fudge shop with a great interactive show each hour), Laclede's Landing (restaurants and a wax museum). And if you can, definitely take in a baseball game! 90% of St. Louis' population lives in the 119 municipalities that make up St. Louis County. St. Louis City (which is not part of St. Louis County) is not a place with tons of activities for kids, especially after dark.

Where you'll really want to go is Forest Park; the nation's largest city park, next to Central Park. There, you'll find the Science Center and Planetarium, Zoo, Art Museum and History Museum. There's also a 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, jogging/walking/bike trails, a rollerblading rink (ice skating in the winter), picnic areas w/grills, paddle boats and the Muny. The Muny is an outdoor theater that, in the summertime, shows different plays each week. I think "Fiddler on the Roof" starts next week. And most things are too far apart in Forest Park to walk between, except for the Zoo, Art Museum and Muny. Check out Forest Park's web site for more information. All of the museums and the Zoo are FREE.

You may also want to find out what's playing at the Fox or at Savvis Center, both of which are in the downtown area.

You'll find more than enough to do for your family in St. Louis and its suburbs, but you really will need a rental car. Enterprise has been running weekend specials here lately for $9.95 a day on the weekends.

By the way, if you plan on visiting Hurricane Harbor at Six Flags, you'd better get there at least 15 minutes before it opens and plan on HH for the first part of your day, or you won't get in at all. One day last summer, we tried to hit Hurricane Harbor at 11AM and they were full for the DAY.

Have fun!

Kasmir, thanks for all the great advice. However, your suggestions bring up two final questions.
1. How far is Forrest Park/Zoo from downtown / Arch area?
2. If we go early and get into Hurricane Harbor, can we leave our stuff and go on some rides and then come back or or will we be potentially locked out (assuming it reaches capacity)? Ideally we would like to go back and forth between HH and rides in the park.

You could minimize your car rental to one day for Six Flags if you wanted. Most of the downtown hotels are close to MetroLink stops: the Hyatt at Union Station, the Sheraton at the Civic Center, the Westin & Marriott at the Stadium stop, Adam's Mark and Radisson at 8th & Pine, the Wyndham Mayfair & Renaissance at Convention Center, and the Embassy Suites at Arch-LaCledes landing.

Forest Park is great fun but since they dumped the 'Shuttle Bug' service through the park it makes it very far to walk from the Metro Forest Park stop to anything other than the Historical Society Museum. They do have some bus connections but I haven't really looked into it.

Kasmir has an excellent list of things to do. I'll add the St Louis City Museum to it. www.citymuseum.org It does cost unlike Forest Park museums, but it has the coolest looking tree-house maze/contraption thing on the outside of it. It'd be perfect for kids the age you have. The inside has a lot of interesting things too including another play area filled with slides and a fish pool, a glass blowing area, shoe lace making machines, etc.

You can walk south from the Stadium Metro stop under the interstate. A row of red brick townhomes are there about 4 blocks away. The northern most one is the home of Eugene Field who wrote "Wynkin Blykin & Nod." You could take your kids there and buy them a copy of the book to read. The house is interesting even for kids, he collected toys and there are some antique ones in the house. Kids are so jaded by technology these days so I don't know if they'd like this or not. :-)

www.eugenefieldhouse.org

Pumpy,

Forest Park is probably 10 minutes west of downtown. It's very centrally located. Now you may find that the hotel that you're staying at does have a shuttle there. Then, you could plan your itinerary in the park according to proximity so that it was walkable.

About Hurricane Harbor: I wouldn't leave my stuff on a chaise and risk re-entering, if only to avoid gliding by the hundred or so people sweating in line to get in upon re-entering. Regardless, I'm not quite sure how that would work, since I've never tried it. However, if it were me, I would probably stay with the stuff while my family hit the rides; then I may feel more justified with their getting back in. But when it comes right down to it, you have paid for that privilege with your park admission.

indytravel had an excellent suggestion about the City Museum, but as I recall, it may be a bit pricey for a family of four. And it's, in my opinion, not in an area that you'd want to be doing extensive walking in for safety reasons. That particular part of the city, while becoming revitalized, is not quite there yet.

While I love the Eugene Field House, and it is walkable to from Busch Stadium, it would require from your children an appreciation of history and 19th century American culture. Ironically, even though there are many antique toys there, it may be more appropriate for older children.

Also, indytravel mentioned the MetroLink stations near several downtown hotels. Each of those hotels are pretty expensive. If you're planning on staying in a more 3-star type place, you'll find public transportation to be much less convenient. Even so, to my knowledge, there is only one MetroLink stop near Forest Park, and that is about one or two blocks from the History Museum. The History Museum would be quite a walk to some of the other most popular Forest Park sites.

Have a good time! And remember with all of this walking that St. Louis summers are HOT, HOT, HOT...

agree with others - you should rent a car, check with enterprise leasing, they are local and usually have good deals. one suggestion as a possible alternative or in addition to six flags/hurricane harbor is Raging Rivers Water Park in Grafton Illinois. about 50 minutes from downtown but the whole area around grafton is worth exploring. road between alton and grafton is called the great river road following bluffs and the mississippi river, very scenic. in Grafton there is a restaraunt called the fin inn that is surrounded by unbelievable aquariums, each booth has a glass wall where you can observe the exotic fish. Raging rivers is an incredible water park, very very clean, very safe, not too crowded and tons of fun for the kids. they also have a control system for the tubes so they never get stolen, huge wave pool, lazy river and lots of slides with 3 times as many lifeguards as hurricane harbor. i get nervous with my nine year old at hurricane harbor (and she swims competitively year round). very crowded and the older kids can get really rough in the wave pool so just keep your eyes open. check out the web site for raving rivers, you can print discounts.

Lots of good advice so far, including the caveat of having a car. St. Louis is getting started with a decent light rail, but it's still one line from the airport to downtown before heading into Illinois. It's a start though. In the meantime, a car is still the way to go.

St. Louis has a lot of activities, especially where kids are involved. Several listed by others are free and I think unique to St. Louis to add into the Amusement/Water Park plans. The Zoo and Science Center are among the top ranked in the US and can entertain kids for a long while.

Someplace even more unusual though is Grant's Farm. It's also free although it's not a public facility. Parking is $5. It requires advanced reseravtions to get in, but all you have to call ahead by a week or so. You can spend the better part of a day, taking the tram through what is essentially a park. In one area there is a zoo type area, with a petting zoo, bird and elepahnt shows and a German style 1913 beer/refreshment garden (Grant's Farm is owned by Anheuser Busch). The tram then takes you on through a roaming animal area with buffalo and antelope. You stop at Pres. Ulysses S Grant's cabin at one end of the property for a tour if you wish. The Clydesdale horses are house at the end of the line and you are allowed to walk through the stables for a look.

It's been a tradition in my family for kids to be taken to Grant's Farm every year. It isn't on the light rail line though. It's on Gravois Rd, within 10 miles of downtown.

They have a website.
http://www.grantsfarm.com/