St. Louis is a remarkable city, full of strange and beautiful secrets. Old stories die hard in this red-brick town on the Mississippi River; the triumphs and follies of the past are visible everywhere. This is where Lewis and Clark began their journey, and it’s where Charles Lindbergh first took flight. In Forest Park — one of the largest urban green spaces in the nation — the pavilion from the 1904 World’s Fair still stands.

There’s the incredible soaring majesty of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch, and the otherworldly beauty of the Cathedral Basilica. On the city’s south side sits the eerie home of the Lemp brewing family, who took their own lives after being pushed into insolvency by the Anheuser-Busch empire. There’s the saloon on the river where Stagger Lee shot Billy Lyons, inspiring dozens of stories and songs. The clubs and bars are filled with living blues legends — and with the memories of those who have come before. Just across the river, in East St. Louis, a young man named Miles Davis revolutionized jazz.

Visitors will discover dozens of unique neighborhoods, from Grand South Grand, where you can find a halal meat market and a raucous Italian-restaurant-slash-rock-club within one city block, to the Central West End, where charming bistros and haute-couture boutiques occupy some of St. Louis’s most architecturally stunning buildings, to Soulard, where you can stop in real-deal Irish pubs and dance-all-night clubs, all in the impressively looming shadow of the Anheuser-Busch brewery complex.

And because St. Louis is not widely heralded by glossy travel magazines and guidebooks, to discover the real St. Louis is to discover what feels like your very own secret.

Dive into St. Louis’ Best…

• Sights
• Restaurants
• Nightlife
• Arts & Leisure
• Shops
• Hotels
• Excursions