Thanks to everyone who has helped me decide on some restaurants so far. One other question I had was about where to go for a good brewpub? and a place for listening to some good music? Also, we are unsure if we will need a rental car? We are thinking about renting a car for just one day to go out to Forest Park and the brewery tour. I am thinking that most everything else will be within walking distance, but since we have never been there, not sure about all the distances of things? We are staying at the Drury Inn downtown by Busch Stadium. The main things we are thinking of doing are Forest Park, Brewery tour, Cathedral Basilica, the Arch, Laclede's Landing and of course a couple of Cardinal games. Do you think most of that stuff is within walking distance? Also, in comparison with our hotel is it far to go to these restaurants-- Pappy's Smokehouse and Trattoria Marcella? thank you for any information you can give

yes, you will need a car for going to Forest Park and the Brewery, also Trattoria Marcella, I'm not sure about Pappys. A few other suggestions-be sure to put Ted Drewes on your list for frozen custard and I would also recommend Tonys for a really special dinner choice,also, another good place for dinner either before or after a Cardinal game is the Clark Street Grill at the Westin Hotel, across the street from the stadium, they have a cesar salad that is to die for.

Thank you for the info. How is the transportation system there? Should we just rent a car for the one day or should we take some other transportation? is it hard to drive in the downtown area?

Transportation is great on the MetroLink (see their website). Don't think it would get you to the brewery or Ted Drewe's, but does go to Forest Park and the other sites you mention. The Arch, Laclede's Landing and the stadium are all within walking distance of each other. Regarding places to eat, I wouldn't miss one of the restaurants on "The Hill." There are so many to choose from--and we like most of them. They also have some good deli's and bakeries. You could spend a couple of hours walking around The Hill. Also, the Botanical Gardens are beautiful. The City Museum is a fun place if you have children with you. St. Louis is such a neat city (I grew up there), you won't lack finding things to do! Have fun.

The thing to get at Ted Drewes is a "concrete," which is soft serve ice cream with various goodies swirled in. A must.

Unless things have changed, The Hill and the Botanical Garden are not anywhere near a MetroLink stop either, so a car would be needed for these as well.

Yes, we have public transportation, but it's not great.
(I grew up in NYC so really do understand about using public transport.)

You could use Metrolink to get from downtown to Forest Park, though the Metrolink lets you out closest to the MO History Museum. It would be quite a hike to also try to do the Art Museum, Zoo or the Science Center without having a car. There is a good pdf map of the park on this site:
http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/

You could also take Metrolink to the Central West End stop and walk to the Cathedral Basilica, but that's a bit of a walk too.

http://www.metrostlouis.org/
There is a "plan your trip" link on that site. I think if you enter start and end locations and see how long and how much walking you will have to do, you will elect to rent a car.

No good public transport to Trattoria Marcella, Ted Drewes, Brewery, Pappy's...
You can certainly walk from downtown to Laclede's Landing.

And once again, I would really recommend Trattoria Marcella over any Italian restaurant actually on "The Hill".

There are some new brewpubs in town, but haven't checked them out yet. An old standbye is Schlaflys Tap Room, 2100 Locust Street, near downtown. They have another location, Schlafly Bottleworks, in Maplewood. Schlaflys has some decent brews.

If you plan it right, you can probably use Metrolink one day and rent a car for another...though you will be doing some walking to get to some places from Metrolink. There used to be a Zipcar service downtown, but not sure if that's still up and running. If you go to Forest Park, The Boathouse is a lovely place to get lunch or a drink or go for a paddle boat ride.

I agree with Schlaflys for a brew pub choice. It has won several awards for their beer - they also have live music.

Soulard is very close to where you are staying and there are several bars and live music venues there. You can walk by and look in the windows or look in the court yards to see if a band is there! I would not reccomend walking at night though.
The boathouse at Forest Park also has live music on the weekends. It is a great place for a drink or lunch/dinner while at the park!

Forgot to answer your music question.
I agree with Schlafly's as a brew pub choice. I much prefer the Tap Room to the Bottle Works.
http://www.schlafly.com/

Also very near downtown and worth checking out their music schedule:

http://www.bbsjazzbluessoups.com/

http://www.broadwayoysterbar.com/

You could walk to both, people park near there for the baseball games, but I might suggest a quick cab ride back to the hotel rather than walking. Depends on your comfort level with fairly deserted streets. Put the # for St. Louis County Cab/Yellow Cab in your phone just in case you need it.
314-993-TAXI (8294)or
314-991-5300

The Boathouse is fun, but you would really need a car to comfortably get there.

http://www.boathouseforestpark.com/

I looked on the Zipcar website as I was curious, but no Zipcars in the entire state of MO....

Thank you all for so many great tips! Trying to get the most out of a few days so it is nice to have ideas of how to get around Thanks again.

Also, I am kind of worried about the comment on not walking around at night. I was kind of looking forward to walking to places around our hotel for dinner or drinks/music, etc....
Are the streets around where we are staying that deserted at night? Thanks for any info.

IF you are staying near the Ballpark - you should be fine to walk around there. Just be cautious as you would in any city.

I just would not reccomend walking to the Soulard area.

Liz5959, My mistake. It's not Zipcar, it's WeCar, and I'm told it's still operating in the city.

As of Memorial Day, there is again a Forest Park Shuttle operating from the Forest Park DeBaliviere MetroLink station, stopping at all the free attractions in Forest Park. It will come around every 15 minutes...here is the schedule and route map, under the #3 Forest Park Shuttle: http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroBus/MapsRoutes.asp. All of the museums, zoo, science center...are free. There is also bike rentals and Segway tours available.

If you go carless, the #10 Gravois-Lindell starts near 14th and Spruce and goes right in front of Pappy's. You will need to get there early!

If you are going to the Soulard area, probably good to take a cab if later at night, but many of the bars operate shuttles to Cardinals games. Another great option is to pay attention to all the great events happening in the City...free concerts at the Arch (Live at the Levee), City Museum (after June 28 will have a Downtown Trolley Bus operated by Metro that runs past your hotel and the City Museum), all kinds of events. This weekend I don't even know what to do, because there is a Beer Heritage Fest in Forest Park, Central West End Taste and Art Fair, Open Streets where you can bike without auto traffic through some of the most historic streets in downtown/Midtown, Tour de Grove bike races, plus all the free concerts.

So much to do. Don't be afraid to explore. I have lived carfree in STL for four years and have never run into a problem. Welcome to our city!

I found this link which maybe very helpful for things to do this summer in St Louis!

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ent...D?OpenDocument