Traveling to St. Louis with Kids

St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the biggest metropolitan zones in the region and is by far the state’s most significant area. Founded in 1764, it has become a very popular tourist destination throughout the region, particularly for family-friendly fun. There are many kids' activities in the city to make family travel to this region an unforgettable experience. 

Read on for some family travel tips that make flying with children or visiting St. Louis a breeze. These simple travel tips include some fun locations you just have to see, as well as general advice about getting in and out of the city. Here’s what you need to know!

A Little Bit About St. Louis History

St. Louis was once the center of the Native American Mississippian culture, with a sprawling cultural center from 900 to 1500 AD. Its prime location on the Mississippi River made it a considerable trading post during this time, and after Europeans took over the region, they founded the city officially in 1764. Today, it remains a major economic center in the area. 

It’s primarily known for medicine research, biotechnology, beer production, airline manufacturing, and healthcare. With multiple major sports teams (including football, baseball, and hockey) plenty of concert halls, and lots of indoor and outdoor kids activities, St. Louis should keep you and your family entertained for days. Planning a family-friendly trip here will include many rewarding, engaging, and unforgettable experiences.

Flying Into St. Louis Lambert International Airport 

If you plan on flying with children into St. Louis, it’s essential to know a little bit about St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). Located about 14 miles northwest of the city, it handles about 15.9 million travelers a year and has 259 peak daily departures to domestic and international locations. It’s also known as Lambert Field or Lambert by the locals.. 

The airport also features The Lambert Art & Culture Program, with fun for the whole family. This exhibit contains multiple local, national, and international artists and is a great place to take your children if they’re bored during your trip. Flying with children is rarely easy, especially if you experience a big layover. Keep them entertained with these and other family travel tips.

Family-Friendly Kids Activities That Make St. Louis Great for Family Travel

The Parking Spot has researched family-friendly kids activities in St. Louis that will make your family trip unforgettable. Each section not only describes each location in detail but also provides family travel tips, such as how to handle flying with children, that will make your vacation far more enjoyable. By keeping these travel tips in mind, you can get to St. Louis, plan your adventure, and have a stress-free vacation with your kids.

Iconic St. Louis Attractions for Family-Friendly Fun!

There are some can’t-miss destinations in the city with kids activities that should fit perfectly into your family travel plan. They’re the kind of spots you travel halfway across the country to experience and never forget. Flying with children to this city is more than worth it to see these beautiful and unforgettable sites.

Gateway Arch

Missouri’s Gateway Arch is the world’s tallest arch, standing at an astounding 630 feet. Designed in 1947 and built between 1963 and 1965, it is a memorial to the people who inspired America’s western expansion to make it the beautiful country it is today. 

Kids will love standing at its base and staring up at the top to admire its sheer scope and beauty. Furthermore, they’ll get a kick out of riding the tram to its peak to see heart-stopping views before checking out the base museum and buying a little souvenir or two during their visit.

They will also enjoy the “Monument to the Dream” movie, a 35-minute documentary about the Arch’s construction. You can even book a helicopter tour to get an up-close-and-personal view.  Finish off the excursion with a trip to one of the many restaurants or shops near the Arch.

St. Louis Zoo

If you’re looking for a fun but budget-friendly activity, the St. Louis Zoo is a great option. It’s absolutely free, meaning you and your kids can walk through the front door and experience one of the most popular and acclaimed zoos in the nation. 

St. Louis Zoo focuses on diverse animals, including mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates from around the world.  In particular, the penguin exhibit is a great time because these funny critters are almost always swimming around their cage at top speed for your entertainment.

Many kids at St. Louis Zoo find themselves staring at the extensive cat exhibit (Big Cat Country) and marveling at the beautiful and deadly felines inside. There are three large, open yards with a 27-foot waterfall that gives these predators plenty of space to roam and play. 

Science Center

If you have kids who love science, the St. Louis Science Center is a great destination. Most websites offering travel tips for this area highlight this facility because of its sprawling size, fantastic activities, and unique educational experience that kids and adults will love. 

Designed to make science approachable and engaging for children, the Science Center includes a massive planetarium that hosts multiple shows yearly, including “The Little Star That Could." This popular event uses kid-friendly fun to entertain and delight viewers. 

Even better, there are dozens of exhibits and attractions with hands-on experiences, including the chance to build bridges, check out flight simulators, learn more about shows like Doctor Who, and walk alongside dinosaurs that roamed St. Louis millions of years ago.

Outdoor Fun With Family Travel Tips You Can Trust

Like most parents, you probably don’t want your children spending all their time indoors when visiting St. Louis. Thankfully, there are plenty of sprawling and beautiful parks, museums, and many family-fun activities for all ages.

Forest Park

There’s some part in all of us that loves being outside, breathing fresh air, and spending time in cozy wilderness areas. Thankfully, St. Louis’ Forest Park provides 1,300 acres of landscapes, forests, ecosystems, lakes, streams, and nature reserves for you to enjoy. 

Once here, you'll find multiple playgrounds where your little ones can burn off some energy, picnic areas where you can prepare a nice meal and a boat house with engaging watercraft.

The park is also close to destinations like the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, the Science Center, and the Muny. But if you want to see as much of the park as possible, book a Forest Park Explorer bus ticket for a day of adventure.

City Museum

St. Louis’ City Museum offers both indoor and outdoor exploration and is designed as a playground for children and adults to explore. Over multiple acres, you’ll check out dinosaur habitats, spin on tops, shrink down to the size of an ant, climb towers, and explore castles.

There’s nothing quite like the City Museum, particularly how it blends art, architecture, and interactive play areas. Each area has a different style and creates a coherent feel that makes it fantastic for kids and adults alike. 

For example, MonstroCity is an outdoor sculpture that uses flotsam and repurposed tech to create climbers, airplanes, castles, ball pits, bridges, and fire engines. There are two Sabreliner 40 aircraft fuselages for you to explore, as well as four-foot-story wrought-iron slinkies to see. There’s even a rocket ship that may inspire future space explorers.

Family-Friendly Dining in St. Louis That Your Kids Will Love

No travel tips article for St. Louis would be complete without family-friendly restaurants that your kids will love. Sure, trying to eat healthy during a family travel vacation is top of mind, but it is challenging to do with kids. Sometimes, you just need to treat the family after a fun day of exploring the city. Here are a few restaurants kids and adults enjoy.

Pappy’s Smokehouse 

Pappy’s Smokehouse is a legendary St. Louis barbecue restaurant that offers kid-friendly food and even kid-friendly activities for guests to enjoy. You can choose sides like delicious baked beans, sweet potato fries, and fried corn on the cob. Main dishes include savory pulled pork, turkey breast, smoked chicken, beef briskets, coleslaw, ribs, and many more meaty meals.

The Fountain on Locust

Take a step back in time to an era well before your time, let alone your children’s, at The Fountain on Locust. Designed to emulate a 1930s fountain shop, you and your kids can enjoy the fantastic floor-to-ceiling Art Deco murals, delicious soups, rich salads, and tasty sandwiches. There’s also ice cream so good that your children will want to fly back for more.

Blueberry Hill 

Music fans love Blueberry Hill thanks to its St. Louis jazz, soul, and rock memorabilia. However, kids will love the mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, grilled cheese, and pizza. Exploring the restaurant is half the fun, as you’ll see old-school Pez dispensers, amazing pinball machines, incredible artwork, and other unique sights that you just can’t see in most places today.

Hi-Pointe Drive-In 

The days of the drive-in restaurant have mostly passed, but Hi-Pointe Drive-In brings them back in a big way! Designed to look like an old-school drive-in burger joint, Hi-Pointe brings tasty burgers, turkey patties, vegan meat, patty melts, club sandwiches, chicken favorites, cheese tacos, fries, beans, salads, and sweet potato tots all under one roof for you and your kids to love.

Seasonal Activities That Make Flying With Children to St. Louis Fun

The Parking Spot knows that family travel tips and suggestions for St. Louis will vary heavily based on the season. Thankfully, our family-friendly kids activities include travel tips for summer and winter that take advantage of these unique seasons in exciting ways.

Summer Fun in St. Louis

Summer family travel in St. Louis should include at least one or two St. Louis Cardinals baseball games. There’s nothing in the city quite like noshing on a hot dog while watching the Cardinals hit a few homers. Like many cities, this area gets incredibly busy in the summer, but events like Pond-O-Rama, Heritage & Freedom Fest, and Let Them Eat Art are all worth checking out.

Winter Adventures In The City

Like many midwestern areas, St. Louis gets pretty cold in the winter. However, the Holiday Lights at the Missouri Botanical Garden bring some warmth and joy to the season. Make sure you pack warm clothes for your winter family travel as you go eagle watching, hit the kiddie slopes to ski, sled down one of the area’s many hills, and listen for wolf howls.

Tips for Traveling Families In St. Louis and Beyond

If you’re planning family travel to this city this year, it’s essential to keep a few travel tips in mind before coming. These family travel tips are designed to help you plan a family-friendly vacation with kids activities that you and your little ones will love. In this way, you can enjoy yourself, save money, and avoid complications. Just a few things to do include:

• Booking Ahead: No matter what season you plan on visiting St. Louis, it’s best to book ahead by at least a few months to find hotels, rent cars effectively, and get tickets to all your favorite destinations. It’s not impossible to do everything at the last minute, but booking ahead ensures you get tickets and keeps you out of the long ticket lines kids hate.
• Transportation Options: St. Louis Lambert International Airport makes getting in and out of the city relatively easy. Taxi options include Airport Taxi Council, Go Best Transportation, and Metro. Metro Transit and MetroBus are also available to get around the city without spending a lot of cash. Multiple car rental companies, like Alamo and Avis, are also available.
• Parking Tips: St. Louis has multiple parking garages and metered lots. Street parking is enforced from 8 AM to 7 PM on weekdays and 8 AM to 1 PM on Saturdays. Garages typically cost between $5-25, so it’s often best to park at your hotel and take public transportation. Kids love buses anyway, and you’ll save money. Uber is available but costly to do often.
• Accommodations for Families: Family accommodation in the city includes some genuinely lovely places like Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, Four Seasons, Hilton St. Louis, Red Lion Hotel, and The Cheshire. Primarily located downtown, they’re pricy but a nice choice if you want to have a great time. Smaller bed and breakfast locations are also an option to save cash.

Make Your St. Louis Family Travel A Real Adventure With The Parking Spot!

With the help of The Parking Spot, your St. Louis family travel planning can go smoothly and efficiently. Our family travel tips provide you with the help you need to have a family-friendly vacation filled with kids activities that’ll bring a smile to your face. Here are some more travel tips to keep in mind: make sure you book ahead with us at The Parking Spot and read our article on tips for flying with children. You’ll be glad you took the 15-30 minutes to do both!

Also, don’t forget to consider joining The Spot Club to earn points every time you travel with us. There’s nothing quite like pulling into our lot knowing that you’ll get high-quality parking service for free thanks to our reward program. Most importantly, have fun on any family trip you take! It can be stressful to travel with kids, especially when boredom strikes. Planning an action-filled trip with dozens of family-friendly kids activities will make sure they never forget their vacation.