St. Louis Sites and Attractions

Note: the sites, attractions, and businesses mentioned here are not to be taken as an endorsement made by GSA or Saint Louis University. This is merely a crowd-sourced list of places of potential interest, particularly for those who may be new and/or unfamiliar with the St. Louis area. 

• Forest Park: St. Louis Zoo (free!) and other sites such as the Muny (free option), History and Art Museums, etc.

• Museums around SLU: SLUMA, Museum of Contemporary Religious Art

• Cathedral Basilica 

• Arch

• St. Louis Union Station

• Missouri Botanical Gardens 

• City Museum

• Science Center (“First Fridays” events)

• Bike trails

  • Grant’s Trail

  • Bluff View Mountain Bike Trail

  • Katy Trail

  • Chain of Rocks Bridge

  • Madison County Transit Trails

  • Penrose Park Velodrome

  • Castlewood State Park (also good for hikes)

• Parks

  • Tower Grove Park

  • Forest Park 

  • Demun Park 

  • Compton Hill Resevoir Park

  • Lafayette Square Park 

  • Benton Park 

• Tennis Courts (check out this website with resources)

  • Forest Park - highlands (free clay), or tennis center (fee, hard court)

  • Hudlin Park (near Wash U Med Campus) 

  • Tower Grove Park 

  • Shaw Park in University City 

  • Flynn Park

  • Compton Reservoir Park (hard courts) 

  • Franz Park (hard courts)

• Churches 

• Protestant:

  • The Journey

  • St Mark’s Lutheran Church

  • Central West End Church 

  • Trinity Episcopalian Church

• Catholic churches 

• St. Francis Xavier 

• Catholic Student Center of Wash U 

• Cathedral Basilica  

• St. Margaret of Scotland

• Our Lady of Lourdes

• Oratory of St.s Gregory and Augustine

• St. Frances De Sales Oratory 

• Epiphany of Our Lord (South City)

• Other faith resources

  • Interfaith Partnership of St. Louis

  • Campus ministry at SLU

    • Community faith sharing groups, organized by Campus Ministry at the beginning of each school year

• Farmer’s Markets

  • Soulard Farmer’s Market

  • Kirkwood Farmer’s Market

  • Tower Grove Farmer’s Market

  • Wash U Med School Farmers Market

  • Maplewood Farmer’s Market 

• Coffeeshops

  • Teatopia

  • Walkable from campus: 

    • Northwest coffee - community coffeeshop with smoothies and lots of outdoor seating and some nice trees (outdoor-only during covid), black-owned business 

  • Bikeable from campus: 

    • Kaldis: in Demun, the central west end (cwe has more seating, demun a better patio)

    • Cornflower Art Supply - CWE, closed during covid, solid food and drinks

    • Techartista - CWE, also a coworking space but you can just get coffee and hang out in the front coffeeshop part, usually quiet

    • Fiddlehead fern - Shaw, very good food, patio and lots of natural light

    • Shaw’s Coffee Ltd - the Hill, has cannolis and lots of plants inside

    • Rise Coffee - The Grove, good food, very lgbtqa friendly, patio with trees

    • Roadcrew - Tower Grove South, big windows, also a bike shop

    • The London Tea Room - Tower Grove South, excellent baked goods

  • A drive, but worthwhile: 

    • Blueprint Coffee - Delmar loop, fancy pourovers 

    • Meshuggah - Delmar loop, good sandwiches, a good bit of seating but can be popular with students

    • Stone spiral coffee - Maplewood, community coffee shop with big windows near a park

    • Oliver’s Coffee + Flower Bar - Maplewood, trendy black-owned business near a small park 

    • Living Room - Maplewood, coffeeshop/bakery with good sandwiches, patio-only for most of covid, lots of outdoor seating

    • The Annex - Webster Groves, amazing and reasonably-priced sandwiches

    • Catalyst coffee - Downtown, coffeeshop and gallery, some good afternoon sunshine 

    • Protagonist cafe - Soulard, also a bookseller, french-influenced, near the farmer’s market

    • Maypop - also sells plants, can sit in garden area

  • Others: High Low, Songbird, Hartford Coffee Co, A O+co, Crave Coffee, Kitchen House Coffee, 

• Restaurants

  • Midtown: 

    • Juniper - Midtown 

    • Scottish Arms - Midtown

    • Pi Pizzeria - CWE and Delmar loop

    • Mission Taco - CWE and Delmar loop

  • Central West End: 

    • Edera Italian Eatery 

    • Bar Italia

    • Salt + Smoke - CWE and Delmar loop 

    • Kingside Diner  

    • Yellowbelly 

    • Drunken Fish 

    • Medina

    • Boathouse in Forest Park 

  • Shaw: 

    • Sasha’s on Shaw

    • Olio - Shaw/Botanical Heights

    • La Patisserie Chouquette (pastries!) - Shaw

  • The Hill: 

    • Adrianna’s on the Hill 

    • Guido’s Tapas

  • Tower Grove/The Grove:

    • The Gramophone (sandwiches)  

    • Steve’s HotDogs - Tower Grove East 

  • South Grand: 

    • Rooster - South Grand

    • King & I Thai - South Grand

  • Delmar Loop: 

    • Winslow’s Table - Delmar Loop/Clayton

    • Corner 17 - Delmar Loop, amazing dumplings 

    • Seoul Taco - Delmar loop

  • Clayton/University City:

    • Louie’s Wine Dive - Clayton

    • Taco Buddha - Clayton/University City

    • Pastaria - Clayton 

    • U City Grill - University City

  • Benton Park-ish: 

    • Mac’s Local Eats - Benton Park

    • Blue’s City Deli - Mckinley Heights

    • Lona’s Lil Eats - Fox Park

  • Downtown: 

    • Planter’s House - Downtown West/Lafayette 

    • Polite Society - Lafayette Square

  • County:

    • Nathaniel Reid Bakery - Kirkwood (amazing baked goods) 

    • Katie’s Pizza and Pasta Osteria - Town and Country

    • Fozzie’s - Demun 

• Dessert: 

  • Ted Drewes

  • The Fountain on Locust

  • Clementine’s (ice cream)

  • Gelato del Riso 

  • Jeni’s ice cream - amazing waffle cones

  • Donuts

    • Strange Donuts

    • Donut Drive In

    • Old Town Donuts

    • Pharohs Bakery

    • John’s Donuts 

• Neighborhoods: 

  • The Hill (Italian neighborhood)

  • Central West End (neighborhood)

• Breweries

  • 4 Hands

  • Urban Chestnut

  • Earthbound

  • Rockwell

  • 2nd Shift

  • Anheuser-Busch 

  • Schlafly

• Bars 

  • The Scottish Arms (a few blocks from campus)

  • Dressel’s - CWE, closed for covid

  • Taste - CWE, amazing cocktails and food 

  • Brennan’s - CWE 

  • Up-Down - CWE 

  • Seamus McDaniels - Dogtown

  • Sasha’s on Shaw 

  • Tick Tock - Shaw

  • Amsterdam Tavern - Tower Grove South, good for watching soccer 

  • Venice Cafe - Soulard 

  • Square One - Lafayette square, lovely patio

• Arch Apparel 

• Golden Gems

• ZeeBee Market

• City Foundry

• Cherokee Street (neighborhood)

• The Loop (neighborhood)

• The Grove (neighborhood)

• STL Style House

• Civil Alchemy

• RF Home

• Urban Matter

• Maypop (coffee & plants)

• Bookstores

  • EyeSeeMe

  • The Novel Neighbor

  • Left Bank Books

  • Dunaway Books 

  • The Book House