Today we will be traveling to the top at Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri. This is Day 4 of Paul and Drew’s road trip from Washington to Florida. You can read more about our road trip at: Driving from Washington to Florida in 5 Days. We are driving through St. Louis from Kansas City, Missouri to Nashville, Tennessee. And we are not going to miss our chance making a stop at one of the newest national parks here. Follow our experience taking the tram to the top of this national icon.
Gateway Arch National Park became a national park in 2018 after a $380 million renovation. This park in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, became the state’s first official “national park”. However, it is unlike any of the other 62 “national parks” across the country. Previously this park was the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial since 1935 standing as a memorial to the country’s westward expansion. This St. Louis Arch has been a national symbol of the gateway to West. But today, it is much more than that. Though this small 91-acre park won’t offer natural landscapes and wildlife, it does provide spectacular views. To read more about this park, read about it here: Gateway Arch National Park (nps.gov).
Parking and Walking to Gateway Arch
Driving to Gateway Arch National Park is fairly easy. You can see the 630-foot monument well before you get there. However, we couldn’t find parking. Our directions take us to an old cathedral and its parking lot. However, this cathedral is still an active Catholic church, and you cannot park here while visiting the arch. We did not find any signs saying where to park, so we circled around a few blocks. The roads here are a little tricky as some are one-way. We saw a car park on the street in front of us who was instantly approached by a homeless person. So, we decide to park in a nearby parking garage instead. We pay to park for a few hours and park on the back side facing the arch. We then exit the parking garage down the stairs and exit on the street a couple blocks away.
We see the arch and walk towards it. Ironically we are also walking toward the old cathedral we went to earlier. We just follow the arch, and once we get to the cathedral, we find a walkway. The walkway opens up to a green space right in front of the arch. We try to take a selfie here, but we are so close now, we only get part of the arch. As we walk up the hill, we see the Old Courthouse behind us which also part of this park. And in front of us, we see the entrance to the visitor center.
Gateway Arch Visitor Center and Museum
The visitor center is noticeable as you get closer as it is built into the hill. When we walk to the entrance, you have to pay just to enter. The entrance fee is $3 per person, but we used our annual pass to get in free. We then had to go through an airport style security checkpoint as well as wear masks within the building. Once in the building, it is very large with multiple levels. We see a ticketing area and inquire about traveling to the top. Luckily it is not busy today, so we are able to get tickets, for 12:30, about 30 minutes from now. There are different ticket options, but we get just the Tram Ride to the Top at $15 each.
Once we get our tickets, we head down the stairs and see the museum. You have to walk through the new museum which is broken up into 6 sections and very informative. Each section has many colorful and informative displays and they even have one about “Building The Arch”. We look around for about 15 minutes before we move on and out of the museum. On the other side, it opens up and there is a café on the left, and a store on the right. We also see the sign for “To The Top” on the left where we need to be in about 10 minutes. With a few minutes to spare we walk through the store and get a passport stamp for Becky’s book. Though she is not with us, she will soon join us on our journey to the top.
Tram to the Top of Gateway Arch
It is 10 minutes before 12:30 and time for us to get in line to go to the top. Becky doesn’t want to miss out on a national park, so we FaceTime her on one of our phones. So, she is with us on our trip to the top. And promptly at 12:30 we get called to move forward into a room. Here a guide explains about the arch and the trams to the top. We are taking the north tram to the top, and will return on the south side. After almost 10 minutes, we are ready to board our tram.
Luckily because of Covid, they are spacing out parties. So, the two of us (with Becky on the phone) enter the tram. The tram looks like some futuristic little pod with 5 seats. Not sure how 5 adults could fit in one of these, so we’re glad it’s just the two of us. You can see the inner works of the arch through the window in the tram while you’re going up. When we stop, we get out and have to take some steps to the top.
The Top of the Arch
After we take the stairs to the top, we arrive. At the top is a room big enough for everyone with a lot of space. It feels like a curved hallway with windows all along each side. Signs show that we are at 630 feet up which makes this the largest monument in the United States. Becky is enjoying seeing it through our phone and it least feels like she’s with us.
There is plenty of space for everyone to look through different windows. A park attendant walks around throwing out facts and helping to point out landmarks. Looking out the front we get great views of St. Louis. We also can see the Old Courthouse which is now part of the park. Looking out another window we get another angle of the city and can see their baseball stadium. We also can see the entrance to the visitor center that looks almost hidden from above.
There are so many great views of St. Louis from the front. And from the back you see the Mississippi River and beyond. Across the Mississippi is Illinois but not much there. There is a riverboat parked out back that does tour cruises. After being up top for almost 10 minutes, we exit down the stairs on the south side to the tram. We say goodbye to Becky and continue to the main floor.
Store and Lunch
By the time we get down it is now about 1:00PM and we are hungry. But before we get something to eat we peruse their store. Their store is great with a wide selection of t-shirts, books and other trinkets. We get a t-shirt for Becky and a nice magnet for our fridge. Drew also gets a shirt and a magnet for himself. After spending plenty of time in the store, we head across to their café.
The Arch Café is across from the store and offers many options. Their options include St. Louis favorites, ribs and toasted ravioli. But they also have burgers, chicken tenders and kid’s meals. We each get a sandwich, a drink and some toasted ravioli to share. It is not as expensive as the movies but still a little pricey. Though the food wasn’t bad and was very convenient. After we grab lunch, we walk back through the museum to the exit. As we leave the visitor center, we take one last picture before heading back to the parking garage.
Summary
By the time we get back to our car, we have spent about 3 hours at this stop. Parking and walking to the arch, going through security and entering the visitor center took longer than expected. Once in we bought our tickets for the tram to the top and walked through the museum. We could have easily spent another hour in the museum if we had more time. But the highlight was taking the tram to the top of the arch. This was a great experience and not very expensive. Their store and café also provided plenty of options. Even though it is a man-made wonder and not a typical “national park”, it is worth the stop. Especially if you get to travel to the top at Gateway Arch National Park!