I have a quick, three-day business trip to St. Louis. Other than the Gateway Arch, what do you recommend for me to do in the evenings? No alcohol (yeah, I know Anheuser Busch is headquartered there).

To begin with welcome...

St. Louis has some great free attractions; 1) One of the best zoo's in the U.S., 2) St. Louis Science Center, 3) Art Museum. All these places are near/in Forest Park located roughly at Kingshighway and Interstate 64.

There are a ton of great Italian restaurants on "The Hill" as well as scattered throughout St. Louis.

Where are you staying?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: h2oys,

Pappy's Barbeque... I've thinking about that since my visit 2 years ago!

The Cardinals are home Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. Go watch some baseball (or whatever St. Louis is trying to play )

One of the best weekend trips We ever took! The Zoo is great (free), and the Arch was awesome!! We also went on the free tour of AnBusch, with two children. You don't have to drink anything, and it was a good time. The kids liked it as well....you get to see lots of neat stuff, including the Clydesdales!

We also have a science museum and art museum in Forest Park. Also the City Museum in downtown St. Louis is filled with all sorts of wierd and fun stuff. There are several casinos around if that's your thing.

Stay out of East St Louis

quote:

Originally posted by Gibb:
Pappy's Barbeque... I've thinking about that since my visit 2 years ago!

This.

The Arch grounds is being renovated now, the whole area is a cluster last I knew, but I doubt it will be busy during a weekday. If you are downtown at night, keep your head on a swivel and stay in busy areas. Catch a Cards game. Avoid the Metro Link, especially if there is a Cards game. Even if you aren't going with kids, the Zoo and History Museum are free and worth your time. I never went to the Art Museum, but probably should have. Science Center is geared more towards kids. Out west is Lone Elk Park, a free county park you can drive through. Also, check out Powder Valley Nature Center in Kirkwood. Its Missouri Department of Conservation, the visitor center is only open during business hours, but the trails are open later. World Bird Sanctuary is by Lone Elk Park and is also free, they have various injured birds of prey, not sure of their hours.

If you enjoy blues and/or jazz, there's usually some pretty good live music to be found at places like Broadway Oyster Bar and BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups (both on South Broadway just south of Busch Stadium as well as in the Soulard area a little further south.

The Arch was pretty cool, highest I have ever been above ground level. 640 feet. We were there in 2010.
Don't attempt to go up in the arch if you are claustrophobic. The cars seat five, and are quite small. They broke down twice on us. We were stuck in the car part way up for maybe 10 minutes, and stuck even longer than that at the top waiting to get down. There are stairs, closed to the public except for emergencies only. They did have a sample car on display to try out if needed.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Stay out of East St Louis

Got that right! Fortunately, there's a mile-wide river between the cities.

flashguy

Thanks for the replies, folks. Remember, I only have the evenings free, as this is a business trip and I'll be working at a client's office during the day...

Even if the Cards aren’t playing well Busch Stadium is tough to beat.

If you want to go into the Arch, you have to pass through a metal detector.

quote:

Originally posted by PD:
Even if the Cards aren’t playing well Busch Stadium is tough to beat.

If we want to go to a 'city' it's either Indy or STL. We are cards fans, so we usually go to STL 3-4 times per year.
You can usually get bleach seats for ~15$ for weekday games. Check StubHub.
If the Blues are at home, that would probably be better entertainment right now.

Ballpark village is fun to watch a game at (huge TV). Food is decent, but a bit pricey. If it's not busy it's a lot better. If there's a home game, stay away other than to grab a beer before you go into the stadium...

Brewery is neat, even if you don't partake in the free samples. Not sure how late tours run.

I think the arch closes at like 6, and as said before, they're doing a lot of work in the area. I'd avoid.

Wife & I like to eat breakfast at the Courtesy Diner near forest park (zoo). Steak & eggs is great. I wouldn't necessarily go out of your way to go there, but if you're nearby it's a good meal for not much money.
The Hill for some Italian food
The further you go west, the better the areas get, in general. To be honest, we avoid staying downtown as other than going to a cards game, there's not a ton to do.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Stay out of East St Louis

Got that right! Fortunately, there's a mile-wide river between the cities.

flashguy

And North STL. Also keep in mind it's not hard to get on the wrong freeway and end up in E STL.

If you stay South of the stadium, you're good to go. We also never cross the bridge into ESL. Other than that, I'm always headed there for the Cards games, so I'm useless to you.

Even if the Cards suck, it's usually a good time at the stadium.

Cparktd, you aren't kidding about the arch and being claustrophobic. I am a very large dude, and that is a small little elevator pod. My wife (who was then my girlfriend) took me and as we are standing in front of the door I seriously felt like we were looking at the door to the factory in Willy Wonka. I was asking what is that, and they said that's the elevator door ... I was thinking elevator for who, oompa loompas?

I am claustrophobic but it was like our third date so I was trying to be manly so I sucked it up and went in

This...

https://www.kreissteakhouse.com/

Melt in your mouth prime rib.

Enjoy.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

The St Louis murder rate is a bunch higher than Chicago but like Chicago it is mostly in certain neighborhoods. However people do get shot just driving down the highways.