What to See in Saint Louis, United States: Free Audio Guide

Looking for things to do in Saint Louis? Start with the Gateway Arch and the historic Mississippi riverfront, then explore downtown’s early skyscrapers, Forest Park’s museums, and neighborhoods filled with distinctive buildings and cultural landmarks. Neywo has a free audio guide for Saint Louis with 109 narrated places, so you can discover the city as you walk.

Saint Louis is a city shaped by the river, westward expansion, industry, migration, architecture, and music. Its history appears in monumental landmarks, preserved homes, civil-rights sites, botanical collections, theatres, and public spaces. It is part of Missouri, in the United States.

What to see in Saint Louis

Gateway Arch and the historic riverfront

The Gateway Arch is the unmistakable symbol of Saint Louis. Rising 630 feet, or 192 metres, above the west bank of the Mississippi River, it commemorates the westward expansion of the United States and is widely known as the Gateway to the West.

The stainless-steel structure has the form of a weighted catenary arch. It is the world’s tallest arch and Missouri’s tallest accessible structure. Although it looks solid from outside, the Arch is hollow, with a tram system running through each leg. Small compartments carry visitors to the observation area at the top, where sixteen windows on each side provide views over Saint Louis and its historic waterfront.

The Arch stands at the site where the city was founded in 1764 and forms the centrepiece of Gateway Arch National Park. Nearby landmarks include the Old Courthouse and the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France.

Downtown’s early skyscrapers

Saint Louis has an exceptional collection of historic office buildings. The Wainwright Building, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and built between 1890 and 1891, is one of the city’s most important early skyscrapers. Its ten-storey façade is divided into a base, a central shaft, and an attic, following the composition of a classical column. Terra-cotta decoration combines geometric patterns with stylised plant motifs.

The Security Building is another important survivor from the city’s late-nineteenth-century financial district. Built in 1892, it rises eleven storeys and is one of only eight surviving examples from approximately thirty tall office buildings constructed in Saint Louis during that period. Granite covers the lower two floors, while pink limestone and brick create a change in texture above.

The Frisco Building reflects the importance of railways to Missouri’s economic development. Built in 1903 and 1904 as the headquarters of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, it remained the company’s home for almost eighty years. Its architects, Eames and Young, used subtle ornament and a pier-and-spandrel system associated with developments in skyscraper design.

Other buildings to notice downtown include the A. D. Brown Building, Halsey-Packard Building, and Fashion Square Building. The Lennox Hotel, also known as the Marriott St. Louis Grand, is another historic downtown building.

Campbell House Museum

Campbell House Museum preserves the home and surroundings of Robert and Virginia Kyle Campbell. Its rooms, furnishings, and decorative details remain in remarkable condition, offering a vivid view of middle Victorian domestic life.

Inside, original Campbell family furnishings include ornate furniture, fine china, and period clothing. The grand dining room has a recreated painted ceiling, while the morning room features wallpaper patterns restored from photographs taken in 1885. The museum opened in 1943, became a City of St. Louis Landmark in 1946, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Scott Joplin House State Historic Site

The Scott Joplin House State Historic Site preserves the only known surviving residence associated with Scott Joplin. The ragtime composer lived in this modest home at 2658 Delmar Boulevard from 1901 to 1903.

Built around 1860, the house is a typical tenant rowhouse with two storeys, a T-shaped brick plan, and a gabled roof. Joplin is believed to have written “The Entertainer” while living there; the composition gained renewed recognition after appearing as theme music in the 1973 film The Sting.

The house was saved from destruction by the local African American community. It became the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to African American heritage and was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Shelley House

Shelley House is a duplex built in 1906 that became central to the Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer. In 1948, the decision established that state courts could not enforce racially restrictive housing covenants because doing so violated the Constitution.

The house is therefore an important place in the history of civil rights and housing segregation in the United States.

Stifel Theatre

Stifel Theatre is a historic performing arts venue that has also been known as the Municipal Opera House, Kiel Opera House, and Peabody Opera House. It opened in 1934 as part of the Municipal Auditorium and Opera House complex, founded in honour of former Saint Louis mayor Henry Kiel.

The theatre’s history includes a 1965 televised concert by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Junior, with Johnny Carson as emcee. The event raised money for Dismas House. In 1978, the Rolling Stones performed a sold-out concert there with a stripped-down stage setup.

Forest Park and the Saint Louis Art Museum

Forest Park brings together culture, architecture, and green space. Its major attractions include the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, the Jewel Box, the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, and the Saint Louis Science Center.

The Saint Louis Art Museum occupies a three-storey building constructed as the Palace of the Fine Arts for the 1904 World’s Fair, also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Architect Cass Gilbert drew inspiration from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. The museum’s collection includes more than thirty thousand artworks dating from antiquity to the present, from paintings and sculpture to pottery, furniture, and cultural objects. Admission is free.

Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden, also known as Shaw’s Garden, covers 31 hectares and was founded by botanist and philanthropist Henry Shaw. It is both a public garden and an important centre for botanical research.

Its herbarium holds more than 7.5 million specimens, making it the second-largest herbarium in North America according to the supplied information. The collection is identified by the code MO when its specimens are cited. A visit therefore offers more than landscaped gardens: it also introduces the work of preserving and studying plant specimens.

Magic Chef Mansion

The Magic Chef Mansion, also known as the Charles Stockstrom House, is a historic house and one of the notable places to find in Saint Louis. It adds a residential perspective to the city’s architectural heritage.

Explore Saint Louis with a self-guided audio tour

Neywo’s Saint Louis audio guide includes 7 walking tours, 1 bus route, and 1 bike route, with 109 narrated places in total. The walks range from 2.42 to 5.31 km and take 85 to 115 minutes:

• Gateway to the West: Arch, Courthouse and Downtown’s First Skyscraper — 3.5 km, 113 minutes, 10 stops
• From Union Station to City Hall: The Gateway Mall — 3.55 km, 111 minutes, 10 stops
• Grand Center: Fabulous Fox, Symphony and Tadao Ando — 2.42 km, 85 minutes, 10 stops
• Forest Park: World’s Fair Palaces, Free Museums and a Glass Jewel — 4.6 km, 110 minutes, 7 stops
• Skyscrapers and Stages: Downtown’s Gilded Age — 2.63 km, 103 minutes, 10 stops
• Compton Heights to the Botanical Garden: Mansions, Water Tower and Gardens — 5.31 km, 115 minutes, 5 stops
• Soulard and Brewery Row: Farmers Market, Beer and a Brewer’s Mansion — 4.98 km, 106 minutes, 6 stops

The MetroBus 41 Lee route covers 4.4 km in 19 minutes and has 5 narrated stops. The Forest Park Loop bike route covers 5 km in 25 minutes and has 6 stops.

Download Neywo and explore Saint Louis at your own pace. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages, making it an easy way to turn a visit into a self-guided walking tour of Saint Louis.