Downtown St. Louis with kids – a budget-friendly city with much more than the Arch

A budget-friendly city with much more to do than just the Gateway Arch National Park, a trip to downtown St. Louis with kids can keep you busy for days. The cost effective nature of downtown St. Louis is a family travel trifecta: nice, but affordable accommodations ($110/night at the Courtyard Marriott); cheap transportation costs – your feet in most cases (or a short bus, train or Uber ride in others); and best of all, free entry to several activities. And, who knew that there were some hair-raising experiences there, too?

City Museum in Downtown St. Louis with Kids

I knew we were in for a treat when my awesome cousin (who works at the Kentucky Science Center and is an expert in fun stuff) said it was one of his favorite places on earth. However, that had to be tempered with the warning from one of my mom friends who pointed out, “I have a love/hate relationship with City Museum.” I agree. It is unlike any other museum or play area we have ever visited (and we’ve tried a lot of them – 50+ around the world), but the Nervous Nellie mom in me with a gigantic fear of losing one of my kids couldn’t be ignored. Still, I was determined to try to let go of my anxiousness in lieu of letting my kiddos have an incredible time at a really unique space. Employing the buddy system for kids, particularly ones under 8 is essential. The kids all get wrist bands that you can write your phone number on, just in case one of you gets lost.

So, what is the City Museum? It’s best described as a cool, old building with floors of tunnels hanging from the ceilings, mazes, nooks, and crannies where kids can climb, crawl and slide from floor to floor and all around. 

The bottom area is cave-like with dark caverns, stalactites and stalagmites and teeth of fossilized creatures. Be sure to duck and move slowly. A flashlight and/or glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces would be a great idea, so that you don’t bump your head and you can easily find your kiddos. We used phone flashlights.

The middle floors have a water theme with a “river,” huge aquarium and a huge whale that you can walk through to get to some tighter spaces. Beware: six foot, 200 lb. dads may or may not fit in all crevices.

Another level includes a 3-story slide to the bottom floor and a jungle theme with bridges and other enclosed spaces to explore. We liked this level best as you could see the kids a little better than other spots.

There’s also an outdoor area with more levels of climbing and sliding, including an old Cessna airplane perched at the top of some stairs.

There’s no age limit – some brave moms and dads, my husband included, followed after kids in tight spaces when nervous kids wouldn’t move or needed their hand to be held. There’s an area for kids 6 and under, too, which doesn’t have obstructed views, but they can still climb, slide and slither around.

The biggest draw is an epic 10-story slide that had a line too long for us to stand in, but the 3-story slide was a short wait for a quick trip through a colored tunnel – a much better way to go to the main floor than the stairs or elevator.

It’s one of those places that you almost have to see and experience to believe. I will say that my blood pressure was elevated for most of the 3 and a half hours that we were there, so a good place for getting your heart rate up, if you are a helicopter mom. The bright side: my boys LOVED it!

This must have been the trip to make mom’s nerves go into high gear… have you been up in the Gateway Arch?  More on that in a minute.

Union Station in Downtown St. Louis with kids

As the gateway to the West (and hence, the reason for the landmark Arch), St. Louis’ Union Station was once a hub train traffic taking people to Denver, and points beyond. They have rehabbed the immense train station to an entertainment center for all ages. We went with hungry stomachs (there are six restaurants), and a sense of adventure.

Did we transport ourselves to the London Eye? No, it’s the St. Louis Wheel, an enclosed ferris wheel that’s a smaller version of the London Eye. Get tickets early, or you might be waiting a while for a super cool view of the city. There’s also a merry-go-round, a mirror maze, and a ropes course that’s all the way up on the third level – not for the acrophobic, but plenty of kids braved the heights and obstacles.

One of the highlights of Union Station is the St. Louis Aquarium, which just opened on Christmas Day 2019. Tickets are at a premium because it is so new, so get them on-line well in advance. 

Our favorite parts were the really cool touch pools and interactive exhibits. Nate was able to feed a stingray – it took a minnow right out of his hand — and I had Doctor fish nibble on the extra skin on my hands (I was the only one in our family brave enough to do so!). While it is a lovely facility with six distinct galleries of sharks, brightly colored fish, sea turtles, jellyfish, seahorses and other ocean dwellers, they didn’t have signage on the tanks to identify species, where they’re found, etc. 

They had interactive pads where you could look up the sea creatures, but it took away from watching them in the tanks.The boys enjoyed playing a keycard game, where you’d score points for answering the correct answer on a touchpad. Even if they weren’t always interested in touching a starfish or mantaray, they loved the touch pools the most. We took a fairly leisurely pace and saw everything within an hour, so the ticket prices seemed a little steep ($21 for adults and $15 for kids). Still, it was really enjoyable and added to our fun at Union Station. Besides, anytime we can watch otters scampering and swimming, we’re happy.

Gateway Arch National Park in Downtown St. Louis with Kids

The iconic Gateway Arch is a modern architectural marvel, and it still boggles my mind to think about how it was constructed and how it still stands so strongly, firmly and proudly on the edge of the Mississippi River at 630 feet in the air (and makes my nervous stomach turn over). I am terrified of heights. In most cases, I conquer that fear in order to do something really cool and special – Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Pearl Tower in Shanghai  — and prove to my kids that sometimes it is worth doing something uncomfortable as long as it is safe. Having the boys say, “Do you think it would withstand a tornado or earthquake?” did not help.

The grounds make for great photo opps, and to my surprise, you can actually go up and touch the bases – and get lost in the wonder of how that landmark is constructed. A beautiful visitor’s center ushers you to a new museum which traces the history of St. Louis and its roots as a trading center, the steamboat era and its tie to the Mississippi River, and the U.S. expansion westward. While it provides an excellent overview, it did not hold my kids’ attention very well. And as usual, my poor history buff husband rushed through it, and I took the boys to the gift shop.

On to getting up into the actual Arch…our main objective. I had already purchased tram tickets to the top of the Arch on-line before my awesome cousin (same one who loves City Museum) warned me about going to the top in a small pod that clicks and clacks. Marry the acrophobia with a little claustrophobia and my armpits start sweating something awful.

The boys felt like they were entering a space capsule and were giddy, but the tram is no joke for those fearful of tight spaces. The door to the tram pod is about 4 and a half feet tall and maybe 20 inches wide and you sit five to a pod that might be 3 feet by 3 feet. It takes about four minutes to get to the top using a system of devices that isn’t used in any other structure in the world – a network of escalator, elevator and ferris wheel — and the same system they’ve used since it opened in 1963. While I appreciate the great engineering feat, it still made me nervous.

The actual viewing area at the top of the Arch isn’t huge, and you can actually feel the curve of the arch on the floor. There are some small windows where you can see across the Mississippi River to Illinois out one side and to the West on the other. There are a couple of informative placards with some history of the Arch. I was good with a few quick minutes, selfies and then I was ready to head back to Earth, especially after learning that the Arch sways 18 inches back and forth – again for safety and engineering purposes. Luckily, I have not passed my neurosis on  to my kids.

Did you know that the Dred Scott case was tried in St. Louis? You can visit  St. Louis’ Old Courthouse which is part of the Gateway Arch National Park area. The original courtroom is no longer there, but you can find an exhibit about the case near the area where the trial took place. I had no idea it was there until we passed it on our way walking to the Arch – major bonus!

Within a few blocks of the Arch, is the Citygarden Sculpture Park and Serra Sculpture Park with some fun and unique sculptures. It’s a nice way to take a coffee break, eat a picnic, or just enjoy a stroll downtown. It makes for plenty of fun photo opps, too.

Did you say FREE in Downtown St. Louis with kids?  

The Science Center of St. Louis, the St. Louis Zoo, the Magic House – Children’s Museum of St. Louis and Grant’s Farm are all free attractions. With drizzly weather and a STEM-loving kid, we opted to head indoors to the Science Center, and had a blast! It’s not located downtown, but was only a 10-minute Uber ride away, in the Forest Park area.

You know you’re in for a treat when you see the incredible Rube Goldberg machine that takes up the entire lobby of the Center. There are tons of interactive science, technology, engineering and math exhibits – feel an earthquake, dig for dinosaur bones. It is an engineering-oriented, creative kids’ paradise. One favorite area was the Structures area. Playing off the theme of “how to build an arch”, there are tons of other structures that you can create – bridges, water systems, earthquake-proof buildings and more – kids and adults alike will like trying their hand at some engineering feats. The other section where we spent the most time was in the Makerspace where the boys created their own sails and then raced their boats with puffs of air, made parachutes and more – a great place to channel their inner engineers and use their imaginations. 

Have a budding astronaut in your family? There is also an area dedicated to space exploration. Try to land your craft on the moon – it is harder than you think! Mission to Mars has an exhibit that is a simulated ship on its way to the Red Planet. Flight simulators and virtual reality rides are also available for those with stomachs of steel. My poor husband looked a little green after one of the rides, but I stayed safely on the ground. The boys loved it.

The Center also has an IMAX theatre and features other special exhibits that you pay a fee to enter, but honestly, we were kept busy by the free sections for hours.

And one more stop – check out Pieces: St. Louis Board Game Bar and Cafe. The restaurant has nearly 1,000 board games that you can play while you’re eating your meal. We loved playing Trivial Pursuit Junior (kids v. adults) and checking out some cool, new games. The food is good, too.

Traveling to Downtown St. Louis with kids is a great way to spend a few days or a week – whether you love history, STEM-activities, seeing animals from land or sea, or just exploring some place new. The city is family friendly with plenty to do (including tons of free activities), affordable accomodations, food, and transportation – and great for making memories. My kids turned their heads around in the car to say goodbye to the Arch and to see how long they could still see it after driving over the Mississippi. It was at least 5 minutes of “I still see it”s, but we all had smiles on our faces.