Visit St. Louis
 

I would love to visit St. Louis, but I have read that it is the most dangerous city in America. I would stay in the downtown area do sight seeing and be in hotel before dark. Is this reputation an exaggeration? Thanks

hopefully the locals can respond to your inquiry, but my husband grew up in stl. and we used to go their twice a year for many years. we never had any problems. east st louis (across the river) is a high crime area, but there would be no reason for you to go their unless you where visiting someone.

Statistics is a very dangerous thing. It can easily be manipulated to give wrong impressions.

Yes, the <b>City of St. Louis</b> is one of the more &quot;dangerous&quot; in the country. I don't know about 2006 numbers, but for 2005, the City of St. Louis has 131 homicide for its 350,000 residents. That rate was the 3rd highest in the country for that year for cities over 250K.

<b>But</b>, the metropolitan of St. Louis has close to 3 million residents. The City itself is only a small part of it. The cities in the suburb or mid-towns should have lower crime rate, while E. St. Louis, IL across the river may have higher.

That is different from cities like New York. For 2005, New York City has 539 homicide for its 8 million residents. That homicide rate is much much lower than St. Louis. But almost half of the metropolitan's population (18million) actually lives inside New York City, which includes much more safer and middle-class or upper-class areas than say the City of St. Louis.

Now, I don't know about the actual crime rate for tourists in the downtown area, but I doubt it's that much different than say Chicago, Kansas City or Dallas.

Don't let the media hype blinds you with those labels.

I think that came out the same day we won the World Series last year where thousands of fans poured into the streets.

I think the stats were manipulated - Many areas that at one time were dangerous and HUGE areas for local as well as tourists, such as:

Forest Park - this is where the St Louis Zoo, art museum, history museum, Boat House, bike paths, outdoor theatre and much nore are located - About 15 years ago the park was not kept up and crime inside the park was big - not si any more - It is awesome and I highy reccomend spending at least a day here to enjoy!

Wahsington Ave - At one time a thriving area for industry - Lots of Hat makers, shoes, apparell- then it became very run down, Hookers, erc..
Now - it is thrivng again with trendy restaurants, chic lofts, art galleries, etc.... - Check it out!!

You could stay midtown and come to your Hotel well after dark and be OK -

Have fun!!

Please forgive all the typos - I cannot find my glasses and I usually don't edit.

If you have any specific questions, please write back!

I've lived in St. Louis and have vacationed there several times with my family. We all love St. Louis - the City has so much to offer and I wouldn't worry about the crime stats. you wouldn't have to worry about it in the places you would be. Most recently we stayed downtown by Union Station and never felt unsafe. Ofcourse, like in any larger city you have to use common sense.

rkkwan has it exactly correct. &quot;St. Louis&quot; statistics involve only a very small part of the metropolitan area.

From the book: Eric Sandweiss. St. Louis: The Evolution of the American Urban Landscape.

&quot;St. Louis's boundaries were set in 1876, ostensibly so the city would not have to spend money building an infrastructure in surrounding St. Louis County. The county grew and rejected a consolidation plan in 1949. This was a grievous blow for municipal St. Louis, constricted to a congested 62 square mile area. From 1950 to 2000, the city fell in population from 856,796 to 348,189, representing a loss of 508,607 in fifty years. In 2000, 51 percent of St. Louisans were African Americans. Many others were working class whites. Using 1997 model-based estimates, 25.7 percent of the people in St. Louis lived below the poverty level, compared to 12.2 percent for the country as a whole. Over 1 million people lived in St. Louis County, and municipal St. Louis was the central city of a metropolitan area of 2.6 million.&quot;

Please visit St. Louis, you will be safe at all of the attractions you may want to visit. Please come back and ask some more questions, we'll be happy to do our best to answer them.

And when I started planning my St Louis visit, nobody warned me about high crime there???? Shame on you, Fodorites!

How does St Louis compare to the sweet and inviting San Francisco Tenderloin?

:p

My daughter lives in St. Charles ( west of St. Louis) and we go into St. Louis all the time. There is so much to do and it's easy to get around with her car. I've even gone on my own to the Zoo, Arch and Union Station. Took my mother to midnight mass one Christmas at the St. Louis Catherdral( which is very interesting and has wonderful mosaics). Every place is dangerous if you go to the &quot;wrong&quot; area. Use common caution and you should be fine.

Faina - when will you be in STL?

October 14-23. Oct 14 sun - oct 19 fri w/elderhostel, then driving around: ste genevieve, hannibal...

I can't find the old thread, that darn search!

We visited St. Louis last year, stayed downtown, took public transportation (trains), walked at night and even ended up riding the city buses a couple of times. I never felt unsafe and had a great time. It's a neat place.

Hello:
I grew up in St. Louis and still go to
visit family living in the suburbs. I
do, however, enjoy staying in the Central West End area at the Chase Park
Plaza. I love Forest Park, mostly the
Zoo and &quot;The Hill&quot; for great restaurants. When downtown, you will
enjoy going to the top of the Arch and
River Boat gambling. Enjoy..

I live in the city proper (Soulard area) and I never feel unsafe. My husband and I walk to the baseball stadium from our home. We've even walked to the hockey arena, and my husband walked to the football stadium once (I personally thought he was crazy).

We walk just about anywhere in the neighborhood, and I've never felt threatened. Of course, there are alot of panhandlers, but they never cause any trouble.

I'm almost not sure I want to post this...But honesty is the best, right? One weekend when I was in Chicago for a bachelorette party, my husband went out with a few friends. He got overly drunk, and ended up walking to a bar that is, honestly, too far to walk to at night. He got lost on the way back to the house and got jumped. He wasn't in our neighborhood, but he was still downtown. The men got his wallet fairly easily and didn't cause him much harm. So that was a relief. He hasn't walked to that bar since.

But, that incident aside, it has not changed how we act or where we walk to. And it does not make me feel any less safe. I honestly believe if he hadn't been so drunk, he wouldn't have walked into that situation.

Anybody knows, if I take the underground (metro?) from the aiport to Union Station - are there escalators? or I'll have to push my suitcase down the stairs :) Will it be more convenient to take a shuttle?

Metrolink is not underground and is very new, so there will be plenty of non-stair access.

=D&gt; thank you Mike

About a 1/2 mile is underground - the part near my house!! :) I took it for the second time last week to the stadium for the Cardinal baseball game - it was great!!

The station near my house - Forsyth - did not have an elevator or escalator - go figure!

Faina - we need to talk soon about your visit!!!

[email protected]

Anne, I will wave passing your house ;)

A little late but I felt I had to answer this. I live in a St Louis suburb and go into the city anytime; I have never really felt unsafe. Of course don't roam around late at night like any city. There is a lot to do in ST Louis but a car is best since things like the Arch, Old cathedral and Brewery Tour are all downtown while the fabulous zoo and science center are in Forest Park by the Botanical gardens (go to the Hill, the Italian area for lunch, Zia's is a good choice.) Grant;s farm is pretty far out but great. have fun