You may want to add some days before or after the convention. The special hotel rate is good from Tuesday 5/10 thru Thursday 5/19. In no particular order, here are some things you may want to do in Saint Louis. This is in no means a complete list.
Click the logos to visit each site
Tram Ride to the Top:
Getting there is part of the adventure.
Gaze at over 43,000 tons of concrete and steel making an iconic, elegant arc 63 stories high into the Midwest sky. Shaped by the inspired design of Finnish-America architect Eero Saarinen, the Gateway Arch celebrates the westward expansion of the United States and the pioneers who made it possible. Since its completion in 1965, the monument has taken millions of visitors on the trip to the top to enjoy stunning views stretching up to 30 miles to the east and west.
Begin your tour with our new, interactive pre-boarding exhibits featuring 60s era animation and Gateway Arch trivia. Then, be transported 630 feet to the top of America’s tallest monument.
Each tram tour has an anticipated duration of 45-60 minutes. For the best experience, purchase your Tram Ride to the Top tickets before you visit. Start planning your Gateway Arch adventure now.
The Saint Louis Art Museum collects, presents, interprets, and conserves works of art of the highest quality across time and cultures; educates, inspires discovery, and elevates the human spirit; preserves a legacy of artistic achievement for the people of St. Louis and the world; and engages, includes, and represents the full diversity of the St. Louis community supporting it.
History
The Saint Louis Art Museum was founded in 1879, at the close of a decade that saw the establishment of art museums in great cities across the eastern half of the United States. This Museum’s comprehensive collections bear witness to the inspirational and educational goals to which its founder aspired and the moral and democratic imperatives he embraced. What began as a collection of assorted plaster casts, electrotype reproductions, and other examples of good design in various media rapidly gave way to a great and varied collection of original works of art spanning five millennia and six continents. Today the quality and breadth of the Museum’s collection secure for it a place among the very best institutions of its kind.
There’s no charge to visit the St. Louis Art Museum, you may have to pay for parking & some exhibits, but the Art Museum is “Dedicated to Art and Free to ALL”. It is set in “stone”.
The Saint Louis Botanical Garden was founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation’s oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark.
The Garden is a center for botanical research and science education, as well as an oasis in the city of St. Louis. The Garden offers 79 acres of beautiful horticultural display, including a 14-acre Japanese strolling garden, historic architecture, and one of the world’s largest collections of rare and endangered flora.
For over 158 years, the Garden has been an oasis in the city, a place of beauty and family fun—and also a center for education, science, and conservation.
The Katy Trail State Park is the longest developed rail-trail in the country. Katy Trail State Park attracts people of all ages and interests. Whether you are a bicyclist, walker, equestrian, nature lover or history buff, the trail offers opportunities for recreation, a place to enjoy nature and an avenue to discover the past.
The park, built on the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy), is 240 miles long and runs between Clinton and Machens with 26 trailheads and four fully restored railroad depots along the way. The section of trail between Cooper County and St. Charles County has been designated as an official segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Katy Trail is also part of the American Discovery Trail, has been designated as a Millennium Legacy Trail and was added to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame in 2008.
A side note… the Katy Trail runs adjacent to the Foundry Art Center where the BKS curated kaleidoscope exhibit will be held.
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis works to enrich lives and inspire curiosity, creativity, and learning through experiences with contemporary art. Our mission is to create meaningful engagement with the most relevant and innovative art being made today. We are a welcome space, free to all.
There’s no charge to visit the Zoo, you may have to pay for parking & some exhibits, but the bulk of the zoo is free.
By creating a place where everyone can discover together, the Saint Louis Science Center is forging the future of our region. We’re putting St. Louis at the center of science, and science at the center of a more connected world.
The Science Center is one of the only free nonprofit science museums in the country, and serves more than one million people each year, making it one of the largest science centers in the U.S. and abroad. Our campus features more than 700 interactive experiences in ten galleries, as well as our indoor-outdoor GROW agricultural pavilion and gallery, our famous McDonnell Planetarium, and a four-story OMNIMAX® Theater.
There is no charge to enter the Science Center, you may have to pay for parking, some exhibits &if you want to view whats playing at the OMNIMAX® Theater, but the bulk of the Science Center is free.
Explore the unexpected. City Museum is a hundred-year-old warehouse in downtown St. Louis in which artists have repurposed the pieces of old cities to build miles of tunnels, slides, climbers, bridges, and castles. There are secret passages and grand galleries. Playgrounds and ball pits. A circus and a train. A rooftop school bus and a Ferris wheel.
Tickets range from $16-$22 + Tax.
Union Station used to be a fish out of St. Louis’s water—we’re here to reestablish its sea legs.
Being at the heart of Union Station’s revival, we’ve proudly developed the cure to St. Louis’s landlocked blues: a 120,000-square-foot aquarium, packed to the gills with over 13,000 animals across 44 exhibits. Guests at our new St. Louis Aquarium can explore aquatic life from sea to shining sea, without venturing out of the 63103 ZIP code.
We’re reel-y excited to embark on this journey with you. Plan your visit to the St. Louis Aquarium and discover our amazing galleries and interactive exhibits, including our 250,000-gallon shark habitat.
ESTABLISHED IN 2002, founders Jim McKelvey and Doug Auer opened the doors to Third Degree Glass Factory as the only publicly accessible glass art studio & education center in St. Louis. Doing much of the work themselves with assistance from aspiring glass artists, they transformed a dilapidated 1930’s car dealership and service station into a state-of-the-art glass facility with over 8,000 sq. ft. of usable space.
There is no charge to enter and tour Third Degree Glass Factory. Other glass experiences are available.
The spirit of innovation and a commitment to quality are both at the heart of Anheuser-Busch’s history. They continue to be the defining characteristics of our company and people. What was once a local St. Louis brewery is now a global icon of excellence, and while the size of our fermentation tanks has grown over the years, we still honor the age-old tradition of brewing our beer one batch at a time.
Explore their campus, visit the Clydesdales, and even taste beer straight from the finishing cellars. You haven’t experienced St. Louis until you’ve experienced our Tours.