Most cities give families one headline attraction. St. Louis gives you two kinds. First, the City Museum, which is genuinely unlike anywhere else on earth. Second, a rare wealth of free, world-class attractions, a free zoo, a free science center, a free art museum, all clustered in one enormous park. Plan the City Museum as your one big paid day, and fill the rest for almost nothing.
The headliner · Give it half a dayThe City Museum
Inside the City Museum’s tunnels and slides
Calling the City Museum a “museum” undersells it wildly. Housed in a 600,000-square-foot former shoe warehouse and built from salvaged architecture by artist Bob Cassilly, it's a climb-through, crawl-through, slide-through work of art: caves and tunnels, a ten-story slide, a three-story treehouse, a whale you climb inside, and the outdoor MonstroCity of repurposed planes and towers. Admission is about $20 a person (children under 3 free), the rooftop (with a Ferris wheel) is an extra weather-dependent fee, and parking runs $15 across the street. Plan four hours, minimum.
Field noteKnow before you go: it's an active place, so wear closed-toe shoes and long pants (the tunnels scrape). Some slides, including the ten-story one, have a 48-inch height requirement. Buy tickets ahead, write your phone number on your kid's wristband (there's a spot for it at the front desk), and pick a meeting spot, it's easy to get separated in the maze.
From our family · travelling with a one-year-oldWith a one-year-old, the City Museum is a mixed bag: much of it needs a climbing, crawling kid, not a baby. The saver is Toddler Town, a gentler area built for ages 6 and under, so one parent can take the baby there while the other chases an older sibling up the slides. Honestly, though, with a toddler our easiest St. Louis day is the free zoo, more on that next. The City Museum is a “come back when they're four” kind of place.
St. Louis’s superpower · FreeForest Park and the free attractions
Here's what makes St. Louis special for families on a budget: Forest Park, bigger than New York's Central Park, holds several free, world-class attractions. The Saint Louis Zoo is one of the only major zoos in the country with free admission (parking about $20, or free farther out), with a famous sea-lion show and a historic flight cage. The Science Center (free) has hands-on exhibits and a planetarium; the Art Museum (free) sits atop Art Hill; and the Missouri History Museum (free) has an award-winning kids' History Clubhouse. You could fill two days here without paying admission once.
City MuseumThe must-do
Ages4–12 best
Time4+ hours
NoteClosed-toe shoes
$$per person
Kids take awayA climb-through work of art, part playground, part imagination unleashed.
Saint Louis ZooBest free day
AgesAll
Size90 acres
Don’t missSea-lion show
Freeparking $20
Kids take awayA world-class zoo, penguins to elephants, that costs nothing to enter.
Gateway ArchThe icon
AgesAll
GroundsFree
TramBook ahead
Freetram extra
Kids take awayThe story of the westward pioneers, and a tram ride up a 630-foot arch.
Prices, hours and free-admission status checked Sep 2026. Free admission at the zoo, science center, art and history museums is a long-standing St. Louis tradition, but confirm before you go, and note some special exhibits charge extra.
The icon · Book aheadThe Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch and the Mississippi
The Gateway Arch, 630 feet of shining steel over the Mississippi, is a national park, and the grounds and museum below it are free. The museum tells the story of westward expansion with interactive exhibits kids can dig into. The one thing that costs extra is the tram to the top, a ride up inside the arch in a small enclosed pod to a panoramic view. It sells out daily, so book tram tickets well ahead. With little kids, the free museum and riverfront alone can be enough.
Getting around and where to base
St. Louis is a driving city, though the MetroLink light rail links the airport, downtown and Forest Park, handy for reaching the zoo, science center and art museum without parking. Most families base downtown near the Arch (close to the City Museum too) or in the Central West End (near Forest Park). Build a day around the City Museum, a day around Forest Park's free attractions, and the Arch into a downtown morning, and you've got a full, mostly-free St. Louis trip.
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