OT:St Louis for couples

[LizinSTL]

Thank you for all your suggestions! They're great! I went online and checked out the Drury's near the Chesterfield Mall and it looks wonderful. I may just have to change our reservations. I know we will definitely stop at a mall and get our dds a present and we will probably catch a movie as well so this seems like a good area to stay. We love The Cheesecake Factory too! Does this mall have a Disney Store? Grant's Farm and the Botanical Gardens sound fun too! Is it hard to get around St Louis? Thanks again!

Normally, I'd say no, especially on the weekends it's pretty easy to get around but one of our major highways is closed for a long stretch right now so things are a bit odd. It's highway 40/ i-64. There's info on http://www.thenewi64.org/GetTrafficUpdates.do The only thing it would minimally impact would be a visit to the Botanical Gardens from Chesterfield but the alternate route is a breeze 40 to 270 to 44 east to Kingshighway.


There is a Disney store at the Chesterfield Mall. If you hit the movies before noon at the AMC theater there on Fri, Sat and Sun, you only pay $4 pp admission!

Grants Farm is great for kids and adults. Adults get 2 free adult beverages each. But if I were visiting w/o kids, I'd do the brewery tour instead. 2 free adult beverages there too. Save the Grants Farm tour for a visit w/ the kiddos. JMO.

 

[SarahKate]

I would be happy to check dates and coupon codes for you if you'd like (unless you may have already found some). We usually schedule our trips around when we can get a great rate. The Drury Chesterfield is truly great - it is beautiful and hard to imagine that you're staying there for under $100 a nite. It is a little ways on the west edge of town, but it's definitely not difficult to get to and there's a TON of shopping in Chesterfield besides the big mall.

As for getting around, I concur w/ the information about 40/64. The actual stretch that's blocked is relatively small, but if you're going that way, it can be a little tricky. But just Google some St. Louis metro maps (and I can send you links if you'd like) and have them printed out.

St. Louis is truly easy to navigate, because of all the interstates! I would definitely just start printing out places you want to go, directions, etc. in advance. We do this everytime, but we are also big planners!

If there's anything else you're looking for, just holler. You have lots of residents - unfortunately, I'm not one of them but I can definitely tell you a lot from the "tourist" perspective and we are always looking for new non-touristy things to do.

I think you guys are going to have a FUN time!

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

I'd second the vote for Drury Chesterfield over one of the airport hotels! The airport hotels are OK -- but like with any metro area, their noisy and overpriced compared to other locations.

Chesterfield Mall is a good mall too. The Cheesecake Factory there is good and there is a PF Changs nearby if you like good asian food.

As to the 64/40 shut down, it's not bad. You can take 64/40 (sorry, those of us in St. Louis call it 40 -- it's really "Interstate 64" but most of us in town know it as highway 40 -- before it became an interstate) and then go south to I-44 and east into the City. On weekends, it's not bad and even during the week (after 8:30 and either before 4 or after 6) it's not bad either.

Generally speaking, hotels outside the City in the suburbs are cheaper than downtown (particularly the nicer downtown hotels i.e., Adams Mark, Hilton at hte Ballpark, etc.).

Here's a link to some money saving coupons in St. Louis: http://www.familyattractionscard.com/MO/STL/StlAttractionOffers.html

Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Karen

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

I'd second the vote for Drury Chesterfield over one of the airport hotels! The airport hotels are OK -- but like with any metro area, their noisy and overpriced compared to other locations.

Chesterfield Mall is a good mall too. The Cheesecake Factory there is good and there is a PF Changs nearby if you like good asian food.

As to the 64/40 shut down, it's not bad. You can take 64/40 (sorry, those of us in St. Louis call it 40 -- it's really "Interstate 64" but most of us in town know it as highway 40 -- before it became an interstate) and then go south to I-44 and east into the City. On weekends, it's not bad and even during the week (after 8:30 and either before 4 or after 6) it's not bad either.

Generally speaking, hotels outside the City in the suburbs are cheaper than downtown (particularly the nicer downtown hotels i.e., Adams Mark, Hilton at hte Ballpark, etc.).

Here's a link to some money saving coupons in St. Louis: http://www.familyattractionscard.com/MO/STL/StlAttractionOffers.html

Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Karen

Thanks for the link to the coupons! We did decide to stay in Drury Chesterfield. It was a bit more expensive than the airport hotel but we think it will be so worth it. I noticed one of the coupons was for $10 off the Drury so I think I will take that with us and see if they will apply it to our room.

 

[GothTink]

As far as romance, you can head the the art museum in Forest Park and then dine at the Boathouse or, even better, have a romantic picnic in the park.

 

[NotUrsula]

Chiming in again, though I may be too late. Drury has JUST opened a brand new location at Hampton Avenue @ I-44; there are coupons available for it because it is brand new (as in a week or two new.) Bartolino's restaurant has relocated to the lobby.
http://www.druryhotels.com/coupons/nowopenforestpark.cfm

This location absolutely cannot be beaten for sightseeing. It is right on the boundary of the Hill, within 2 miles of Forest Park, within 10 minutes of downtown and the Soulard area, and an easy shot west on I-44 and I-270 to west county WITHOUT dealing with the mess that is the Hwy 40 western corridor. It is also within 4 miles of Ted Drewes.

I live near this area, and I can tell you that it is MILES better than Chesterfield for a tourist, especially with Hwy. 40 largely out of commission.
From Chesterfield you are going to spend a major chunk of every trip to the tourist spots sitting in I-270 traffic. In Chesterfield you are 45 minutes minimum away from everything except the Faust Park Butterfly House, the Mormon Temple, and the World's Largest Strip Mall (aka Chesterfield Commons.)

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Very true about the new Drury. Sorry, I'd forgotten about it! Bartolino's is owned by the Saracino family and they are wonderful people. My dad loves anything they make with veal -- me, I love their flash fried spinach (with balsalmic vinegar drizzled over the top) and their linguine with shrimp, sundried tomatoes and pine nuts!

Glad you got the coupons.

 

[SarahKate]

Seriously, 45 minutes? I really have to disagree about the 45 minutes out of the way from Chesterfield. We do a lot of the normal sightseeing things when we're there and MAX that it takes us to get someplace from Chesterfield is 20 minutes. Seriously, we would NOT be staying out of the way if it was going to be 45 minutes - that would totally defeat the purpose for us driving two hours there from Springfield! We can get from Chesterfield to the far east side of of St. Louis in 20-25 minutes (on our way home).

And yes, we've stayed there while the construction is going on. Just avoid the rush hour times, and it will be just fine.

It's also not like you're going to go to the hotel, go someplace, go to the hotel, go someplace else. Chances are, you're going to be out and about for the majority of the day.

With that being said, it certainly wouldn't hurt to check out the new Drury - I'm sure it's beautiful. For the original poster, just decide if whether or not you want to be out in the 'burbs (close to lots of shopping/restaurants/some sightseeing but not a ton), or more in the city (close to a lot of sightseeing, not necessarily w/i walking distance)

 

[SarahKate]

To NotUrsula, I'm sorry if I sounded snotty at all. I just re-read my last post about Chesterfield and realized I wasn't entirely polite!! Sorry about that. I normally read through my posts before I submit them to make sure there's nothing to be misinterpreted but I didn't do that this time for some reason.

Or maybe I'm just jealous. There are so many great places there.

 

[LizinSTL]

Seriously, 45 minutes? I really have to disagree about the 45 minutes out of the way from Chesterfield. We do a lot of the normal sightseeing things when we're there and MAX that it takes us to get someplace from Chesterfield is 20 minutes. Seriously, we would NOT be staying out of the way if it was going to be 45 minutes - that would totally defeat the purpose for us driving two hours there from Springfield! We can get from Chesterfield to the far east side of of St. Louis in 20-25 minutes (on our way home).

And yes, we've stayed there while the construction is going on. Just avoid the rush hour times, and it will be just fine.

It's also not like you're going to go to the hotel, go someplace, go to the hotel, go someplace else. Chances are, you're going to be out and about for the majority of the day.

With that being said, it certainly wouldn't hurt to check out the new Drury - I'm sure it's beautiful. For the original poster, just decide if whether or not you want to be out in the 'burbs (close to lots of shopping/restaurants/some sightseeing but not a ton), or more in the city (close to a lot of sightseeing, not necessarily w/i walking distance)

You sound like a "local"!!!! No matter where you live in St. Louis, you'll hear people say "Oh it's only about 20 minutes to there, or 20 minutes to here." Realistically speaking, Chesterfield is about 10 minutes from the 40-270 interchange, that doesn't account for getting to the highway from your hotel necessarily. {If highway 40/i-64 wasn't shutdown at 270 (eastbound), Chesterfield wouldn't be so "out of it" at this point. } Add that 10 minutes to the 20-30 minutes it would take from that interchange to get into the city for the tourist attractions- the downtown stuff- the Botanical Gardens (parking lot to parking lot it is about 40-45 minutes if you honor the speed limit)- the brewery- Grants Farm- the airport- etc.

I'll give you an example, we live about 5 miles from 270 in South County. It can take us 8 minutes or 20 minutes to get there, depending on traffic. Other than that, yeah, we can get to the downtown exit in 15 minutes, to Chesterfield in 20 (just to the highway exit), to the airport in 20-25 (again, the exit), etc. But if you ask half the people that live around here, they'd swear we lived 20 minutes from anywhere! Even though it can take us 20 minutes to get to just the highway sometimes!!!

 

[lntsmom]

As a former resident of the "awful, horrible" East side of St. Louis I am laughing at the poster of this! Really, have you ever been to a city that didn't have it's bad spots? And to judge the beautiful suburb of Kirkwood that has so much to offer (did you try the Magic House?) by two mentally ill people who happened to be from the same town really isn't fair. St. Louis is a beautiful area and has lots to offer. Sorry you had such a bad time, please don't go back.
!

That is exactly my point...unless work would require me to go back, I wouldn't.

There are some good things in St. Louis, and yes, we stayed in Kirkwood because of Magic House, but weighing the pros and cons of the city, I can honestly say I will never plan to go there again. The only reason we went the two times we did is because my younger son was a major Wiggles fan and it was the closest venue to where we lived.

I think it's disingenious to dismiss St. Louis' problems as being limited to the east side. The city has a higher crime rate than New York. It usually comes in 4th or 5th in the nation.

That said, I lived in Kansas City for almost 20 years and the answer to the question, "Why did you leave" is that the crime there has made the city unlivable. There are suburbs, pockets, of safety, but all-in-all, it isn't a safe place to live.

There are still places that offer relative safety, and I chose to move to one of them.

Perhaps your years of choosing to live in a violent environment have impacted your point-of-view. Visitors to St. Louis need to know that it isn't a cheery midwestern city- it is a violent town and tourists need to be aware of that and plan accordingly.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Good, don't come back. We wouldn't welcome you here anyway! Your points are just laughable. Violence occurs everywhere, in big and small towns, in public spaces and behind closed doors. I hope that you and your NIMBY attitude are happy living in a State of Denial! That's the only place where violence would never be!

Sorry everyone...this just rubbed me wrong!

 

[LizinSTL]

That is exactly my point...unless work would require me to go back, I wouldn't.

There are some good things in St. Louis, and yes, we stayed in Kirkwood because of Magic House, but weighing the pros and cons of the city, I can honestly say I will never plan to go there again. The only reason we went the two times we did is because my younger son was a major Wiggles fan and it was the closest venue to where we lived.

I think it's disingenious to dismiss St. Louis' problems as being limited to the east side. The city has a higher crime rate than New York. It usually comes in 4th or 5th in the nation.

That said, I lived in Kansas City for almost 20 years and the answer to the question, "Why did you leave" is that the crime there has made the city unlivable. There are suburbs, pockets, of safety, but all-in-all, it isn't a safe place to live.

There are still places that offer relative safety, and I chose to move to one of them.

Perhaps your years of choosing to live in a violent environment have impacted your point-of-view. Visitors to St. Louis need to know that it isn't a cheery midwestern city- it is a violent town and tourists need to be aware of that and plan accordingly.

Is this person for real???!!!! A violent environment? Really?! LOL

St. Louis IS a cheery midwestern city. It's a great place to live and a great place to visit! It's certainly NOT a violent town. The CITY of St. Louis has great safe neighborhoods and economically distressed, high crime neighborhoods. The COUNTY of St. Louis also has great safe neighborhoods and some economically distressed, higher crime neighborhoods/communities. In a metro area of over 2.8 million people, you are going to see some crime, obviously. As a previous poster explained, the "crime rates" that are mentioned in the quoted post are a bit off.... The "city" of St. Louis has a higher crime rate per capita because it has a lower population yet a higher proportion of the crime for the metro area. If you dilute the crime rate by combining the crime rates of the city and county w/ the population of the metro area, our community is not even in the top 20, I don't think. Just in case anyone lurking believed the nonsense that the quoted message was spewing!

 

[merekc]

I'm from the "violent" city of Kansas City. Wanted to also chime in that I feel safe in both Kansas City and St. Louis. Both are wonderful cities that have a lot to offer visitors. As in any city, you need to be aware of what is going on around you.

I grew up in a suburb of Kansas City that doesn't have the best reputation. It is an older and poorer area and does get a lot of bad media. If someone considers buying a gun in this area, it makes the news. Yet I know other "better/nicer" areas of the city where the crimes get pushed under the carpet. So much of perception of cities and areas are based on the biased media. It is so funny to watch a news story play out of the different news stations. Two stations will present a completely different version of the same story.

Growing up, I brought a friend home from a different suburb of Kansas City. As we neared my house (in the "bad" suburb), I could hear the amazement in her voice over how nice my neighborhood was. We discussed it and she really was expecting something like a gang-ridden South Central LA based on her perception of my area. (With apologies to residents of South Central for using my perception of their area for my example. )

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Yep, my point is that unless you live on an isolated island in the middle of nowhere where no one can ever get to you...by yourself I'll add (since crime can occur within the home as well)...you have the potential for violence and crime around you.

For those of you coming to St. Louis, welcome and I hope you enjoy your stay. We are a welcoming midwestern city where most folks are pretty nice. If you have any questions about how to get around, let one of us from St. Louis know and we'll be happy to share our thoughts with you. We will also (politely) suggest areas of town to avoid or to exercise a bit more caution in.

Sorry that this thread is becoming a discussion of crime and violence. I'm happy to get back on topic and discuss the fun things to do here and yummy treats that are not to be missed.

 

[NotUrsula]

Seriously, 45 minutes? I really have to disagree about the 45 minutes out of the way from Chesterfield. We do a lot of the normal sightseeing things when we're there and MAX that it takes us to get someplace from Chesterfield is 20 minutes. Seriously, we would NOT be staying out of the way if it was going to be 45 minutes - that would totally defeat the purpose for us driving two hours there from Springfield! We can get from Chesterfield to the far east side of of St. Louis in 20-25 minutes (on our way home).

I meant since the Hwy 40 closure. Don't forget that 40 is closed between I-170 and I-270, which means that you either have to go around to either I-44 or I-70 (which is where the airport is, and is MoDot's recommended detour), or you have to take a surface road, such as Manchester, Clayton, or Ladue. MUCH slower. (Not as horribly crowded as it was feared it would be, but having to go 35 mph with stoplights instead of 60 mph on the interstate makes a big difference.)

Really. I live within 3 miles of the zoo (on the good side of the construction), and getting to Chesterfield Valley takes me a full 45 minutes doing 65 wherever I can.

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Hi!
OP here! Just wanted to thank everyone again for their good suggestions! My dh and I are leaving tomorrow and we can't wait. Our stimulous check came today just in time!! I will let everyone know how we enjoyed your city and what we did when we get back. Thanks again!!

 

[ajh88]

Hope you have a great weekend - I've been wondering when your trip was! The weather is supposed to be GREAT this weekend too (as opposed to all the RAIN we've had lately!).

 

[ZuZugal]

Have a wonderful time and be sure to report back to us when you return. Unlike the last few weeks it looks like we're in for some good weather without rain this weekend. Sounds like perfect vacation weather to me!

 

[SarahKate]

Have a great time! We just went this PAST weekend and the weather was horrible......sounds like you'll have great weather for your trip. Give us a big report when you return.