Where to stay in St Louis?

[RVcrazy]

The reviews are not encouraging... We want to spend a week seeing sites in and around St Louis, but are a bit skittish about the reputation. Any winners for a large fiver, pull through preferred? How about transit options? Thanks!

[sljohnson1938]

Have you checked out - St. Louis RV park -?
it is right down town. not far from the Arch. and Busch stadium.
We have stayed there two times. only negative is it is right down town and noisy.

last time we were there was in July and we did not have AC. so we only stayed one night.

[#3]

Sundermeier in st Charles. Very nice. Close to old town st Charles. Of course if you want to do downtown St. Louis stuff, you’re about 30 +,- out, but a lot safer. I’d stay away from Illinois. You can do the arch, AB brewery maybe 1 other place in 1 day if you get there about 9-10am. There are other sites, but the drive from st Charles to downtown stl isn’t bad.

[Two_Jayhawks]

RVcrazy wrote:
Maybe I should get your feedback on which attractions are most/least worthwhile? We plan to visit the Gateway arch complex, Grant National Historic Site, Missouri state History Museum & Art Museum, as well as the Missouri Botanical Gardens (Tower Grove House), & of course the Anhaueser brewery for a tour. In view of the reviews so far, HELP!!! Thanks...

The Botanical Gardens in St. Louis is world class. Even if you are not into that type of thing I would budget several hours as a minimum. Maybe the corpse flower will be blooming- that's a rare treat. Also, plan to visit the Hill & have a meal there.

[DrewE]

When I went a couple months ago, I stayed at Casino Queen. Yes, East St. Louis is a rough area, but the casino area (and RV park) has good security and is reasonably well kept. The transit station is right next to their gate.

There is the St Louis RV Park in the middle of the city, in what is said to be not the best neighborhood. I didn't wander by there specifically, but I would not be against staying there if the need arose. The Casino Queen park is a little nicer, with a few trees and such, and (at least when I was there) also had slightly better rates.

Things to see in St Louis...I would not miss out on the City Museum (the second time I had been there), which is utterly unique. It does involve a good bit of climbing around and some or a lot of crawling to really make it particualrly worthwhile.

The Zoo is excellent. The science and art museums are also said to be pretty good (and also free admission). If you're interested in trains, the National Museum of Transportation is definitely worth stopping at; they have a very large collection of railroad cars and engines, as well as a rather smaller but significant collection of cars and trucks (including some quite rare vehicles, such as a Chrysler turbine car). The Cathedral Basilica is stunning (inside), one of the largest mosaic installations anywhere. You could see about catching a game by the Blues and/or Cardinals, too. I don't know how easy or inexpensive Blues tickets are, but I was pleasantly surprised that I could get a nosebleed seat behind home plate for $30 about 45 minutes before game time, and had a good if slightly distant view.

[hotpepperkid]

I guess it all depends on how close you want to be to down town St Louis. To be within 10 or less to down town you have Casino Queen and the one we always stay at Cahokia RV Pk in Cahokia IL

[ependydad]

DutchmenSport wrote:
If you are looking for attractions, you might consider The City Museum. You can spend a couple days in there all by itself. It's been about 5 years since we've been there, and it was an awesome adventure then.

My family really enjoyed it there. I was stuck back at the rig working.

Here’s a quick glimpse of a tiny part of it:

https://youtu.be/IGpQLfePJxw

[Bumpyroad]

Dick_B wrote:
We always stay at Sundermeier in St. Charles. Don't know about transit to sights in St. Louis. Take your bikes and ride the Katy trail just outside the CG.
St. Charles is a neat little town with lots of good eating places.

x2
bumpy

[DFord]

The St Louis Zoo is world class and admission is free (parking is not, visit there before 9am). I'll include this link from "Explore St Louis" - #12 is my favorite! https://explorestlouis.com/25-things-to-do-in-st-louis/ While you're in St Louis, you'll need to try a couple of other treats - Toasted Ravioli and Gooey Butter Cake. Across the Interstate from the Brewery, there's a small shop called Gus' Pretzels (since 1920) - buy a bag of "Pretzel Endz"

https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-things-st-louis-missouri/2/

If I think up anymore, I'll add them later.

[DutchmenSport]

If you are looking for attractions, you might consider The City Museum. You can spend a couple days in there all by itself. It's been about 5 years since we've been there, and it was an awesome adventure then.

[RVcrazy]

Maybe I should get your feedback on which attractions are most/least worthwhile? We plan to visit the Gateway arch complex, Grant National Historic Site, Missouri state History Museum & Art Museum, as well as the Missouri Botanical Gardens (Tower Grove House), & of course the Anhaueser brewery for a tour. In view of the reviews so far, HELP!!! Thanks...

[DFord]

There are two campgrounds in Eureka on I-44. 25 minutes to the Arch from them - straight down I-44. The rates at both are in the $50 neighborhood. One is a KOA and the other is a Yogi Bear. Both cater to Six Flags right next door to them. There's a Good Sam park in Kahokia, IL (http://www.cahokiarvparque.com/?utm_source=GoodSam). BBQ restaurant right on the campground - Yum!

Be sure to visit the soon to be national park "Kahokia Mounds". It's a world heritage site and state park right now. Hundreds of years ago it was the largest city in North America - larger than London at that time. Very impressive!

[ependydad]

We've stayed in St. Louis twice now. First at Casino Queen. It's all paved spots with gravel between them. Nothing fancy, but we felt fine parked there for a few nights. We did take the casino shuttle over to the train stop and then took the train over to the Arch. Speaking of the train- the horns blow regularly.






The second time, we stayed at 370 Lakeside park. This was nice but further away from most things that we wanted to go explore. Cheaper than Casino Queen. Flooding was an issue for them this year, though.

[craftyfox]

East St. Louis IS the armpit of Illinois but the Casino Queen does have great security. We've stayed there numerous times and had no problems. The East St. Louis police department is next door to the casino..just don't go wandering around outside the Casino grounds at nite. We rode the trains all over St. Louis starting at the Casino terminal one afternoon and had a blast.

[DutchmenSport]

When our daughter lived in Kansas City, we liked traveling the distance in 2 days and we always planned an over night at the St. Louis NE / I-270 KOA. We've stayed there several times, but this was just for an overnight and next morning we'd be on our way again.

If you are planning on site seeing the St. Louis area, then most likely you won't be spending much time at the campground anyway. You'll be using your camper for a bedroom and on-the-go while you are there. If that's the case, this this KOA isn't bad at all. Granted, it's a typical KOA, pull through sites, commercial, and is similar to a parking lot with trees, but it's clean, safe, and well maintained. Full hook-ups and a reasonable driving distance from down-town St.Louis.

3157 West Chain of Rocks Road
Granite City, IL 62040

Link here.


There are also one state park in Illinois that is within a decent drive of downtown St. Louis:

Lewis and Clark State Memorial State Park.
CAMPING
The Lewis and Clark campground is a great place to spend a leisurely vacation in the outdoors. The 82 campsites, all with electrical hookups, lie along the lakeshore. Modern rest rooms and showers are available, as is a trailer dump station. Starting February 13, 2006 advance campsite reservations can be booked through the park reservation system. Half of the campsites are still available for self-registration on a first-come, first-serve basis.