Students at most St. Louis universities on the Illinois side of the river know how much of a struggle it is to find something fun to do in the Metro East, and the idea of heading over to the city to try and have a good time seems so daunting and expensive because of all the touristy things to do. But the reality is, St. Louis is a city full of cheap/free ways to kill a Friday night or Saturday afternoon and the best part is they’re all awesome. So here’s a quick list of ways to see St. Louis on the tight budget of a college student.
1. Ride the Metro Anywhere
A one-way ticket for the MetroLink rail system is only $2.50. You can get anywhere in the city and back to your starting point for just $5. Students can get a semester pass for $175 and it’s good from August-December or January-May. This isn’t really much of a discount ($175 without the pass gets you 35 round trip rides–riding twice a week will last you a whole semester), but it does offer you the opportunity to pay for your tickets upfront, plus it can save you time at the station (sometimes the ticket machines have trouble taking cards).
2. Explore Delmar
The Delmar Loop is a street in St. Louis’s University City neighborhood full of shops, restaurants, concert venues, and more. It’s perfect for wandering around on a clear afternoon when you have no clear plans for something to do. There’s Fitz’s restaurant (where they home-make their own root beer and it is amazing), Mission Taco Joint–a specialty taco restaurant with interestingly unique menu options (try the Carne Asada Fries!), Vintage Vinyl record store where the place is literally stuffed with records decades old (and also where a lot of artists who visit St. Louis for shows will do album signings!), Avalon Exchange thrift store only accepts clothes of certain brands/conditions and sells high-quality items for ridiculously cheap, Blueprint Coffee, which sells their own brews and beans ground on-site, the Pageant, a concert venue/nightclub (attend responsibly, kids), and a ton more.
3. See the new Polar Bear Exhibit at St. Louis’s FREE Zoo!
That’s right–the zoo has 100% free entry! You can literally walk right through the gate and spend a day with all the awesome animals. The St. Louis Zoo is right in the middle of Forest Park, so the zoo itself is set up quite like a city park as well–lots of trees, not a ton of sun when it’s hot, and many indoor exhibits, too. It’s open year-round and includes a ton of incredible exhibits for hundreds of species of animals, including Asian Elephants, King Penguins and Puffins (which you can almost touch! But don’t! Guests must keep their hands to themselves here), a brand-new Polar Bear exhibit, Hippos (which are just two inches of glass away from landing right on top of you), gorillas that come up to the glass just to hang out with you, and hundreds more!
4. Eat a $2.00 Cheeseburger at the Eat-Rite Diner
This little burger joint sits on the corner of 7th and Chouteau. It only has about 10 seats, and when it’s busy, it’s crazy, but most of the time, you’re only joined by another guest or two, and the people behind the counter are always great for conversation. It’s open 24 hours and it’s always dirt cheap. But the quality of the food is anything but dirty.
5. Spend the Afternoon Climbing Indoor Rock Walls at Climb So Ill
Ever tried indoor rock climbing? If you haven’t, you can now! For right around $25, you get equipment and all-day climbing at this awesome revamped warehouse in South City. The historic building that Climb So Ill (Climb Southern Illinois) owns is beautiful–restored on the exterior to its original architectural state and completely re-purposed on the interior to house dozens of climbing wall routes. Don’t have a friend who’s belay-certified? No worries! Climb So Ill has plenty of auto-belays for anyone to climb, regardless of their experience level. This is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon any time of year!
6. Spend the Whole Day in Forest Park and spend $0.00
Forest Park is located between Downtown and the Central West End neighborhoods of St. Louis. It’s massive 1,371 acre footprint contains tons of free things to enjoy. There’s the zoo, the SLAM (St. Louis Art Museum), the Missouri History Museum, the Muny (this one’s not free), and the St. Louis Science Center. The Jewel Box (in the photo to the left) is probably the most visually stunning attraction in the park, and although admission is $1 (when there’s not a wedding going on), if you can make it on Monday or Tuesday from 9:00AM to noon, admission is free. On top of all the man-made attractions within the park, there are tons of awesome natural wonders to admire as well. The park contains over 45,000 trees and dozens of trails (paved, gravel, and dirt) to run/bike/hike on.
7. Experience the St. Louis Coffee Culture
Coffee fan? Perfect. Not so much? Not a problem! The St. Louis coffee shops city-wide offer a ton of opportunities for coffee lovers and haters alike. Companies like Sump and Rise give coffee drinkers the opportunity to drink some seriously well-crafted brews, while other shops like The Mud House and Kayak’s offer unique yet calming atmospheres that are perfect for studying or just chilling out, regardless of the degree to which you love/hate espresso.
8. Explore a Prohibition-Era Moonshine Cave
The MetroLink can’t get you to this one, so if you don’t have a car, you’ll need to ride with a friend, but this park is one for the books. Not only is there a massive cave that was once used as a bar during Prohibition, but there are also numerous hiking trails, limestone bluffs, and biking trails to spend the day on. There are also a few rumors that certain areas of the park are haunted, so it’s especially fun to visit around Halloween.
9. Marvel at the Mile-Long Flood Wall
South of downtown, there’s a massive, mile-long wall that runs along the Mississippi River. It was built to keep rising flood waters from washing into the city and acts to this day as a levee to keep the city dry. On the land side, however, is an artistic wonder, the likes of which are not seen in most other places. From the very point where the wall begins for at least a mile, maybe more, is graffiti. Everywhere. From the ground to the top, the whole wall is covered in breathtaking art. Once a year at Paint Louis, artists from all over the city come together to repaint the wall, so the images you see are constantly changing. And it’s totally free. It’s a tad tricky to get there, but if you just follow Chouteau street towards the river from the Eat Rite diner, you’ll eventually hit a gravel road (S. Wharf Street) that sits at the foot of the wall. Turn right, drive on, and enjoy.
10. See the Bald Eagles in Alton
Have a friend with a car? After you spend some time at Cliff Cave, you can head north of the Metro East in Illinois to see the ridiculous amount of Bald Eagles in Alton. During the winter (late December to mid-February), the eagles come out in full force, and Alton meets them with equal fervor. There are guided eagle tours, events all around the city, and a ton of other ways to see the magnificent national birds as they hang out near the Mississippi River.
11. See St. Charles at Christmastime
This northwest suburb of St. Louis is located right on the Missouri River, and is stuffed full of history. The historic Main Street neighborhood of St. Charles is most alive at Christmas, where from the week after Thanksgiving until the day itself, Christmas characters roam the streets with collectors’ cards so that kids and adults alike can have some fun trying to snag all their cards and meet every single one. The best part? All of them are in character 100% of the time and they make the place feel like Christmas in 1900. Less capitalistic, more charming. Warmer, even if it’s only 10 degrees outside.
12. Cheer From the Nosebleeds
St. Louis is a sports town. There’s no other way about it. But sometimes sports tickets can have hefty pricetags, and can discourage college students from attending. But websites like StubHub have opportunities that a lot of other sites don’t, and from this site it’s possible to get St. Louis Blues hockey tickets for as little as $11. Of course, they’re probably close enough to touch the ceiling, but honestly, who likes to sit on the boards at hockey games anyway? Up top you can actually see the puck!
13. Take Your Friends for a Round or 2 in One of the World’s Largest Laser Tag Arenas
For just $22 you can get 3 games of laser tag in one of the world’s largest (if not the largest) laser tag arenas in the world, on the Illinois side of the river in Belleville. With a medieval theme, the arena at the Edge is enormous and is separated into four distinct areas. Each of these areas has a ton of places to hide, and the circumnavigating the whole thing just once may take you the whole game. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday night with your friends!
Ty Hirsch 