Gateway Arch National Park

Gateway Arch was made a National Park in early 2018 along with Indiana Dunes National Park. It was previously the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial as the arch has always been viewed as a gateway to western expansion driven by Thomas Jefferson. Should it be a National Park? Absolutely not. But it is – and it does offer a much different experience than you are going to get at other parks. There are not going to be trails to hike here as you are right in the middle of St. Louis. You do have some things to do besides riding up to the top of the Arch as you can check out the Old Courthouse, watch a movie on how the Arch was built, and also cruise down the Mississippi River on a river cruise.

When to Go

Anytime of year works for this park, but the winter gets really cold here and likely would not be the best experience. The river cruise only runs March to November, but everything else is open all year. It also can get super hot here during the summer – so Spring or Fall might be your best bet for the most enjoyable experience.

How to Get Here

Given the park is in the middle of St. Louis – flying to St. Louis is going to be your best bet here. It is also a very reasonable drive from a number of places given how central St. Louis is in the US if you would rather not fly.

Trip Length

You need less than a day at this park. Even the Gateway Arch’s own sample itinerary has you completing all of the various things to do in 3 hours or less. There are plenty of other things to do in the St. Louis area if you want to stay a couple days though.

Where to Stay

Given you are in a major city – you have all options available to you from chain hotels to boutique hotels to Airbnbs, to camping options around the area. No matter what your budget is – you should be able to find something here.

What to Do

There really is no ambiguity here on what there is to do. However, you should try to pre-plan it out by purchasing tickets online ahead of time. There are tickets just to take the tram up to the Arch, but you might as well check out some of the other activities as well, so we would recommend purchasing one of the combo ticket options.

The toughest part of your day is going to be finding parking within a reasonable walking distance as the lots tend to fill up and those that don’t are super expensive. Once you accomplish this task – you are going to walk towards the Arch and there will be many signs directing you to the entrance line which is going to take you underground below the Arch where you can visit the museum and watch the move describing how the park was built (this is park of the combination tickets mentioned above). Please remember to give yourself plenty of time before your scheduled Arch entrance time because this is treated like an airport. You are likely going to spend a while in line to get through TSA like security before you are allowed in. Once you are ready to go up the tram, you will get in line and will be given an introduction to the Arch by one of the employees. You will then board the tram which is not very luxurious as you are going to have to duck to get into the super crammed space and you likely will be sharing your car with 2-3 other people as you head up 63 stories to the top. Once at the top – it is all worth it as you have amazing views of downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi River.

Once you are done at the Arch which will probably take around an hour of your time – you can walk over to the Old Courthouse which is the other main attraction at this park. It was built in 1839 and is perhaps best known for the infamous Dred Scott case where he sued for the freedom of himself and his wife – but was denied as he was not considered a citizen as a slave.  There are tons of exhibits and videos throughout the various rooms and halls of the building, so you can end up spending a decent amount of time here if you wanted. There is also a certain spot in the main rotunda where you can speak and it will echo around the room for everyone to hear which is pretty cool.

Once you are done at the Old Courthouse – make a quick walk over to the Old Cathedral as you can get a great shot of the building with the Arch in the background. After this – you can choose to go explore the rest of St. Louis or you could head down to the river and take a Mississippi River cruise if you scheduled one in advance as part of your combination tickets. This will take you onto the river for about an hour with great views of the Arch and the St. Louis skyline. They also offer two hour dinner cruises which offer great sunset views as well.