We recently left St. Louis already talking about what we’d do the next time we visited. I guess that means it was a successful trip!
In less than two full days, we visited The Magic House, the St. Louis Zoo, and the Gateway Arch. We were fortunate to time everything perfectly, so I figured I might as well share a few tips on family fun in St. Louis.
Our first stop was The Magic House. The Magic House is the perfect spot for children to get their wiggles out after several hours in the car. Our children loved the three-story beanstalk as well as the Kids Construction Zone. They could have spent hours in the Childrens Village. The Super Kids Save the World exhibit was also a hit. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it was all wonderful!
Personally, I got a kick out of seeing my son behind the podium at the Star-Spangled Center. (If you have an older child learning about our three branches of government, this would be a perfect spot to make learning come alive.)
We could have easily spent several more hours at The Magic House. I highly recommend you allow yourself at least three hours to explore. (There is a cafe in the museum that sells reasonably priced and healthy food.)
We ended our first partial day in St. Louis with a trip to the Old Spaghetti Factory. We enjoyed it because it’s a restaurant we don't have in the Kansas City area.
The next morning, we visited the zoo. The St. Louis Zoo is free to everyone. Parking is $11, making this zoo a wonderful and affordable outing. However, we didn’t make it to the zoo until late morning and it was oh, so very hot! We saw the wonderful penguin exhibit, the bears, and a few giant tortoises. After a popsicle for each of my children, we left. This is the one detail we could have planned better especially since many of the exhibits that cost a few dollars per person are free between the hours of 8 and 9 in the morning. The zoo looked amazing and this will definitely be our first stop when we make a return visit to St. Louis. We’ll just be sure to visit in the spring or fall because zoos and extreme heat don’t mix for this family!
After some time resting and swimming at the hotel pool, we ended our only entire day in St. Louis with a trip to the Gateway Arch. In less than an hour we had gone up the arch and were walking back to the hotel. Our two year old hasn’t stopped talking about going up the arch. She loved it! Our children are ages 5, 4, and 2 and all of them did just fine riding in the small cars to the top.
It turns out that going to the famous monument later in the day was smart. The crowds were minimal and our wait to get to the top was very reasonable even for small children. The employees confirmed my suspicions that the best time to visit the Gateway Arch is later in the day.
And since no family trip is complete without a little bed jumping and late night movie watching, we ended our stay with pizza and a movie after plenty of jumping.
If you have just a bit of time to take a family vacation this summer, consider St. Louis. We surface. I’ve heard theCity Museum and Science Center are also wonderful. I’m guessing they’d be great for older kids.
We made our trip quite affordable by tracking down coupons on the internet. We ended up getting two free kids’ admissions to each The Magic House and the Gateway Arch.
For more information about a family trip to St. Louis read this at KCParent.com.
Where is your favorite family weekend destination? Do you have any more suggestions for a successful trip to St. Louis? Please leave your tips in the comments and enjoy the rest of summer vacation!