St. Louis walking tour & city guide

The Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch, completed in 1965, rises 192 meters above the riverfront. Small tram capsules carry visitors up inside its legs to a viewing area at the top. Beneath it, the museum tells the story of westward expansion. The Old Courthouse nearby is where the Dred Scott case on slavery began.

Forest Park

Forest Park, larger than New York's Central Park, hosted the 1904 World's Fair. Today it holds the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri History Museum and the Saint Louis Science Center, all free to enter. Nearby, the Missouri Botanical Garden has a famous Japanese garden and a geodesic dome greenhouse.

A classic downtown walk

Start at the Gateway Arch and walk through the arch grounds and over the park that now covers the highway, to the Old Courthouse. Continue west along Market Street through the Gateway Mall, a chain of green spaces, to Citygarden, a sculpture park with fountains.

Finish at Union Station, a grand 1894 train station now home to an aquarium and a giant Ferris wheel. The walk is about 3 kilometers. The City Museum, a wild playground built from salvaged materials, is a short walk north.

Visiting tips

Spring and autumn are best; summers are hot and humid. The Delmar Loop and the Central West End are lively neighborhoods near Forest Park. St. Louis is also a baseball city, and a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium is a local tradition.