The Best Four Day St. Louis Itinerary (+ VLOG)

Happy THURSDAY! My makeup days are ALL messed up today because I had to shift my filming schedule around while Amanda was here – so don’t worry – I will have another beauty post up on Friday to make up for it. Instead of my typical beauty tutorial Thursday – I am sharing with you our full-to-the-brim weekend with the BEST four day St. Louis Itinerary. We are talking what activities you NEED to do, the best restaurants you DO NOT want to miss, which streets in downtown STL are hits (+ which ones you can gloss over). I love when Amanda comes in to visit me because I get to be a tourist in my own city! I always feel like I get into such a routine that I forget to try new places to eat, or new activities to partake in with my hubby. Having visitors that you want to show around definitely helps get your butt into planning mode so you can impress the heck out of them. ANYWAYS: if you are planning on visiting this beautiful city anytime soon – here was our FOUR DAY St. Louis Itinerary. Be sure to watch our full vlog, too – it’s full of funny extras and gives you an inside look into some of these locations. Let’s do this.

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The Best Four Day St. Louis Itinerary (+ VLOG)

DAY ONE:

Pool time! The thing is – around this time of year, the temps range between 90 and 100 degrees so it’s only natural that we wanted to be able to cool off from the crazy heat and take a dip in the pool. We happened to be staying at my apartment, of course, so we opted to hang in my clubhouse pool BUT there are lots of other options if you don’t have that easy access. If you are in a hotel – chances are they’ve got a pool, but if not: check out some fabulous public pools in the STL area here and here, and don’t forget that the Six Flags of St. Louis also has a WATER PARK!

Fashion + Flowers Outdoor Market on Locust Street. This was so cute. There are tons of things like this going on all the time in St. Louis during the summer – whether it’s street fairs, outdoor markets, farmers markets, clothing boutique shows, etc. I happened to just stumble across this one on Facebook – but a little google search will pull up whatever is going on when you decide to visit! It’s really important to take advantage of the local atmosphere STL has to offer while you’re here – and usually markets like this have local food and music, too!

Dinner at Hi-Point Drive In. This is personally one of my VERY favorite restaurants. Located right in Forest Park, it’s super close to most things around the city. I honestly think they have the best burgers in the city and if I’m craving something greasy and delicious – this is definitely where I go. This iconic STL stop has been part of the St. Louis scene since 1980 so it’s a classic. They have new specials daily, but anything on their regular menu is a total win. Some other amazing local burger options are: Fitz’s Root Beer, Annie Gunn’s, and Carl’s Drive In.  

DAY TWO:

Morning at the STL ZOO! So. A few things. This zoo is one of the top zoo’s in the country with incredible veterinarians, zoo keepers and animal handlers. It’s also one of St. Louis’s BEST FREE ATTRACTIONS. It’s a huge location, so you definitely either need a full day or two days to see everything. We only got to about 1/2 of what the zoo has to offer. Some tips: you can avoid the $15 parking by parking near the North entrance on the street! It’s free to do so, and will save you hassle trying to get out of a crowded parking lot as well. In addition – be sure to bring some extra cash so you can do the little activities throughout the park. Most notable – the STINGRAYS! For $4, you can go in and pet the super friendly stingrays and watch the new babies swim around the tank, and for another extra $1, you can actually feed them. It’s a total blast.

Lunch at Vicia’s. This was my first time at Vicia’s. It’s totally a hipsters paradise. The atmosphere is very farm-to-table (which they boast) and they have a very beautiful and unique menu. They get local kumbucha from a local shop down the street, work with several farmers in the area to ensure their food is totally fresh and make everything from scratch. Their basil grapefruit soda is to DIE for – so be sure to grab that when you pop in. Their menu is always changing based on available produce so just be aware that what you ordered last time may not be there next time you go in! If you love a surprise menu – this is definitely the place for you. My favorite dish of the afternoon was their Tartine (marinated cucumbers, Swiss chard, whipped ricotta, toasted porridge bread). My mouth is actually watering thinking about it.

Some more pool time (we can’t stop won’t stop). See above for my pool recommendations!

Dinner at El Rancho Nuevo! This is one of my favorite local Mexican restaurants besides Mission Taco, It’s locally owned by a really awesome family and their food never disappoints. They actually did just open up a second location in St. Charles – but it’s owned by the same family. I personally recommend their queso dip for sure, and their chicken quesadillas or bean burrito topped with queso, sour cream and guacamole. My husband’s favorite meal is their carne asada tacos, in case that’s up your alley!

DAY THREE:

I Love Juice Bar for breakfast. This was SO much fun. We stopped into this fabulous little juice place for breakfast on Tuesday and were so pleasantly surprised with how fresh and delicious they are. You walk in and actually see their fresh greens growing right their in the shop! I ordered their Sweet Greens juice (apple • kale • spinach • cucumber • parsley • lemon) and their sniffle stopper essential oil shot (ginger • lemon • cayenne • protective essential oil blend) because I totally have a cold right now! Amanda tested out their new summer special, “mo-mint in the sun” (apple juice, mint, mango, pineapple and dragonfruit), while my mama (our fab photographer for the trip) ordered the “summer beet” (apple juice, ginger, lemon, strawberry, and beet juice). We loved all our drinks and felt super healthy and energized afterwards!

City Museum – FAIL. Ok, I wanted to put this on the list because TOTALLY need to try this out next time you are in the city even though we didn’t quite make it. It’s described as “an eclectic mixture of children’s playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects.” You are encouraged to play, climb and touch everything in the museum. There is a seven story slide, a Ferris wheel, an old airplane and more. We made it into the lobby and then promptly turned around because unfortunately, we came on the exact day that some of the daycare and summer camps decided they were going to go and that meant a cesspool of small children had overrun the place. City Museum is best for adults either in the evening when they close it down from kids (any time after 8pm) OR go in the spring or fall when the weather is still nice, but all of the younger kids are in school.

MORE POOL TIME. #sorrynotsorry. See above for my pool recommendations!

Prasino – St. Charles for dinner. Ok, guys. Let’s talk about Prasino for a second. First of all – it’s located right in St. Charles (about 30 min outside of the city) and is an adorable town on it’s own. Second of all – they, too, have a farm-to-table atmosphere. It’s a very inviting location with an open floorplan and wooden tables. The staff is incredible and they treated us SO well. Our waiter, Marcus, was absolutely on top of things and made us feel like royalty during our dinner. We tried out a ton of the menu, including yummy drinks! My favorite drink was the grapefruit cooler (non-alcoholic, of course). I think I actually had three over the course of the night. I was especially a fan of their hummus starter and their cauliflower gratin. The hummus tasted SO fresh and paired really well with the naan and cold veggies. I had never had cauliflower gratin before but let me tell you – I’m a fan. I can’t remember exactly what is in it but it was creamy, cheesy and very delicious. 10/10 would recommend. For my main course, I had the filet (on a bed of red potato hash, kale, garlic clove, bleu cheese, and dijon creme). I can honestly say that I have never had steak melt in my mouth before that night. Holy cow. I ordered medium – but I would say it came out more medium rare in some spots so keep that in mind while ordering! That normally would have bothered me, but considering how soft and delicious it was, I didn’t even mind. I know so many other locals here who make it a point to bring guests to this restaurant when they come in town because of how amazing it is. You won’t be disappointed.

Red Herring Escape Room! Ok. SO. Amanda and I brought along my husband and his friend John (because the more the merrier) and went through this escape room. None of us had ever done one before – so it was a completely new experience for everyone. Basically, if you aren’t familiar, the premise is that you are locked in a room and have one hour to solve all of the clues and discover the passcode to get out of the room. We chose the “Ovalish Office” and were tasked with saving the president of the United States. It was SO much fun. We all worked together and managed to complete the room and solve the riddles with only THIRTY SECONDS LEFT ON THE CLOCK. Talk about stressful. I’m still riding the high of winning and now I need to go do all of the other escape rooms in the city. Some other options are: No Way Out Escape Room Adventure, Breakout Games, St. Louis Escape and Escape The Room St. Louis.

DAY FOUR:

Pool…pool…pool…who’s surprised, amiright? See above for my pool recommendations!

St. Louis Bread Co. for lunch. I won’t get too much into this – it’s the local version of Panera Bread so if you’re family with that – you’re totally good to go. My personal favorite meal is the You Pick Two: Turkey Avocado BLT + Summer Corn Chowder with an Agave Lemonade. 10/10.

Airport drop off at 5:00. Excuse me while I go cry because now it’s back to real life.

PIN THIS FOR LATER:

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I really hope you guys enjoyed this fun travel itinerary and have put a few new things on your planning list to do while you are in the this neck of the woods next. There are dozens of places to go and things to do here in the city and I honestly really love being close to such a hub of food and activity. 🙂

Have you done any of these activities or eaten at these restaurants before? What is your favorite thing to do while visiting STL? Let me know in the comments below!