Any suggestions on places to visit and family friendly restaurants that are also friendly on the wallet? We will be there friday through sunday and are staying in Chesterfield. Any place we should not miss on this long weekend? Thank you.

Chesterfield is not close to the hub of of things to do in St. louis, but it is a stright shot down the HWY and easy to navigate.
How old are the kids?
The St. Louis zoo is Fabulous. It world famous and had wonderful exhibits and it is free. It is located in Forest Park - which has a remarkable art museum , alos free, there is a boat house in Forest park where there is a fun restaurnat and you can rent paddle boats and go out in thel lake and canals of the park. There is giant ferris whell set up in commeration of the 100 year annivrsary of Worlds Fair.
The baseball cardinals - don't know if they are intown though.
What kind of food do you like?

Chesterfield has an area where there are a lot of Family frendly places to eat - on airport road.
Six Flags over Mid America - may be 20 min away.
In Chesterfield there is the Butterfly house,very interesting.
The St. Louis Science Center - near Forest Park - always is great for all ages. There is an omnimax there and a planetarium as well.
If you like Italian food there is a place called the Hill in S. St. Louis that offers dozens of authentic family owned italian restaurants.
If you are more specific I can give you more ideas/suggestions.
Thanks

I live in KC so I'm not up on the local restaurant scene. However, here's a few desinations to see:
1. Arch
2. Zoo
3. Grants Farm
4. Six Flags

Pumpy had great suggestion I overlooked.
Grant's Farm is Great!! It is free and run by the Anheuser Busch Co. You do need to call for reservations though.

Of course, the arch is fun too. Lots of plaeces to eat on the river front as well. There is a fumn museum uner the arch too.
Have fun...
PS sorry for all my typos..

Thank you so much. My kids are 6 and 10. We have heard so many mixed reviews about visiting the zoo but I think we will do it. We enjoy italian and seafood, love bbq anything. We just are needing to be careful of spending which is why I had asked. Thank you so much. This is a great place.

If you want an inexpensive day, go to Grant's Farm! My family loves it!
Its free including samples of beer!
They have a train to ride around the Busch property where you will see buffalo, deer, exotic birds. Then you will be dropped at the carriage house where you can look at old fashioned buggys. There is also a petting zoo where you can feed the goats baby bottles of milk. Its a fun, relaxing day and totally free!

You may want to go to a good web site -
stltoday.com

You can find various types of restautants in different price ranges in different areas of town through the site.
I can offer no advice on inexpensive seafood places.

PS It is surprising to know you have heard mixed reviews on the zoo. It is such a gem in this city.

Thanks again. I have never been to St Louis and was very excited to go to the zoo, it was the main reason for our weekend trip. And then we were talking to people around town, friends and co workers who said that was the last place we should visit.
I have decided that we will decide on our own, go and see what we think. I imagine that it could just be these people.
I will go and check out that website, thanks so much.

The best thing about the zoo is that it's free, so you can go for an hour, and if you don't like it you can leave and not worry that you've wasted money.

Forest Park is fabulous, but it's huge so you have to drive around it, or wait for the Shuttle Bug, which is a bit unreliable, I have heard.

The Science Center, Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum (great Lewis & Clark exhibit right now-costs money though), Art Hill, the Muny, Boathouse, and the ferris wheel are all in the Park.

The Hill is pretty close to the Park
(Kingshighway south to Right on Shaw). There are lots of good places to eat there. Rigazzi's is fun for kids, pretty basic spaghetti house fare. Amighetti's has famous sandwiches and good gelato.

Don't bother with bbq in St. Louis - it's not our thing.

The Butterfly House and Carousel in Faust Park are nice things to do in Chesterfield. All the major food chains are out there, too.

But the best recommendation I can give you, with or without kids, is to go to the City Museum. With kids aged 6 and 10, the City Museum is a can't miss. It's downtown (you can hit the Arch the same day) on Washington Avenue at 16th street, I think. They have a free parking lot, but it costs about $8 per person to get in. Trust me, it will be the best money you've ever spent. I've never met anyone who went there and wasn't totally blown away by how cool it is.

Good, reasonably priced restaurants downtown are the Tap Room (a microbrewery, but good for kids too), or you could go to the food court at Union Station, or Landry's or Hard Rock Cafe outside Union Station - if you like that kinda thing.

You can check out City Museum's website at www.citymuseum.org

Just noticed your first post. St. Louis gets a bad rap for safety. It's a pretty safe city, really. I live in the city, but many people, who live in places like Chesterfield, are scared to come to the city, which is just ridiculous.

During the day you'll be fine. Since you have two kids, I doubt you'll be wandering around the city late at night anyway. If you are for some reason, follow these simple rules: never go north of Delmar, stay in populated areas, walk with a purpose. The Landing can be dicey sometimes, as well as the Arch grounds, but only after dark, and the only thing likely to happen is your car might get broken into.

The Hill is very safe, as is Grant's Farm, and Forest Park (but I wouldn't go walking along the forested paths at night). The area around City Museum is dicey at night, although thousands of people visit the clubs there nightly without incident! Just be sure to park in the lot if you're going to stay there until 1am.

Let me know if you'd like directions or any other info.

Oh! Go to Ted Drewes! Yummy frozen custard.

The Old Spaghetti Factory recently opened in Chesterfield Valley. THe valLey is located on 40 just west of Chesterfield. Ther are tons of family friendly restaurants there. There are many chain restaurants inthe area as well. Bahama Breeze (located in the parking lot if the mall), Chili's, KC Masterpiece, Macaroni Grill - all loated on the grounds of the mall off of Clarkson. There is also a PF Changs.

I do not know the age of your kids, but for the younger ones, The Magic House is really fun and maybe Grants Farm. You may need reservations at Grants Farm this time of year, but it is free.

One additional place you might consider is the Botanical Gardens. We went there years ago and thought they were wonderful.
Have a great trip!

Wow!!! thank you so much. I did call Grants Farm and they did say they no longer do the reservations thing, just come as you please during regular hours.. thank you so very much for all the suggestions. You have all helped me so much to make this long weekend special. I appreciate it.