*Travel Tips>>>St. Louis Travel Tips

Moving to St. Louis?

Travel Info
Hey everyone. I could be moving to St. Louis in the next month or so for a job. What is there to do there and what are the best communities in the area. How is the economy?

Travel Tips

Economy pretty decent I travel alot and have seen gas prices at 3.60-4.50 per gallon here in the STL gas is at 2.79 per gallon pretty decent.

What to do. We have several attractions:

Arch Downtown STL
Forest Park
ST. Louis Zoo
We have several casinos
Six Flags
Home of Anhueser Busch and the Clydedales

It all really depends on what type of scene you are looking for.

Best Communities depends on where the job is located. In St. Louis City the more high profile living areas are the...

Central West End CWE for short offers a variety of nighlife entertainment and social events. Cost of living as far as apartments and condo's are some of the priciest in the area.
Just don't go to far north you'll end up on the cities north and west sides. No need to give mant details Trust me you'll know when you've traveled past your comfort zone.

Soulard..... Two words Mardi Gras!! Nice homes Bars on just about every corner Soulard Market walking distance. great neighborhood I was born and raised there.

Tower Grove.... Walking distance from Tower Grove Park and Grand SoHO district great corner coffee shops, shopping and fun.

Lafayette Square... Beautiful Victorian style homes nice quiet area but minutes away from a local housing project. Never heard anything bad about too much crime coming from that area to the Lafayette Square area. Overall wonderful neighborhood minutes away from Lafayette Park also close to Downtown Stadium and Union Station.

Good Luck and welcome if you end up here.

Overall wonderful place to live
Others

Gas prices, I just filled up this morning for 2.79. We have three major sports teams. We have two non-affiliated minor leauge baseball teams. We have(had) and indoor soccer team. Several comedy clubs and night clubs. We have a world class zoo, I do beleive ranked #2 in United States. Forest park area offers quite a bit of family activities.

The better communities to live will be in your counties or in metroeast area. In St. Louis county, stay closer to the 270 loop. In metro east most communities are good. The one I recommend avoiding: Granite City, East St. Louis, Cahokia, Pontoon Beach, Washington Park. Venice, and Brooklyn. Again, you for metroeast you want to get on the outside of the 255 loop. O'fallon has the highest rated school district in Illinois outside of Chicago ( or at least it was a few years ago).
You may want to consider living close to where you will be working (unless downtown) because rush hours can be brutal if your not going opposite the traffic. After commuting over 30 miles for 5 years, for the past 18 years I haven't commuted more than 8 miles and don't have to take a highway. Economy: my brother-in-law was looking at a job in Chicago and found that it is 20% higher than St. Louis. St. Louis is a layed-back area but can be pretty conservative at times and is usually the last to get "the latest trends" - maybe because we are in the middle of country and far from New York or LA. I have lived here all my life and love it. We have outdoor theater in the summer "The Muny" and indoor at the Fox. St. Louis Symphony is great at "Powell Hall". Very much a sports town. We get indoor concerts downtown at Savvia Center and outdoor concerts in the county during the summer. I think you will like it. People are pretty friendly, especially in the county.
St. Louis is a great town with plenty of cheap or free fun things to do? Try explorestlouis.com or even the local news channel website for links to things in St. Louis ksdk.com. The economy is good especially for the city. As far as places to live, it really dpends on your lifestyle and how much you want to spend and commute. City areas that are nice are LaFayette Square and the Central West End. BOth are unique with low crime rates and plenty to do. County living I would reccomend South or West St. Louis COunty, once again nicer areas with lots to do, but commuting would be a little rough esp. if you are working downtown, but lots of people do it everyday. If you want to live out of the county for cheaper living try northern Jefferson COunty or parts of Franklin county, you will have a slight commute, but Jefferson CO. is right on the STL Co. line and many areas are nice and offer cheaper living than STL esp. if you are buying property taxes are cheaper. Contact a real estate agent for help on an area or the local Chamber of COmmerce. If you like Italian def. go out to eat on "The HIll" in STL. THere are plenty of great resturants. For fun try six flags in Eureka, the zoo, the science center, city musem, the arch, one of the boats, the infamous landing for drinking and comedy, try a dinner theater in the county, a brewery tour, grants farm off of Gravios, the muny, the fox, take in a baseball football or hockey game, try a concert outdoors at Verizon Wireless amp., formerly Riverport, UNion station for fudge making and a great seafood resturant or the hard rock cafe, etc! Enojy STL- I love it here! The people are friendly for the most part so don't be afraid to ask!
personal experience
St. Louis is really close to many suburbs. almost any place accross the river is so close.O'Fallon, Bellville East and West are really good schools. and the Zoo is great.
St. Louis is relatively small compared to other "big cities." You can usually drive to any part within about 30 minutes, as long as it's not rush hour. I have relatives in Chicago and Atlanta, and it takes hours to go anywhere in those cities.

I have lived in St. Louis most of my life, and I like it. There may not be quite as many things going on as some bigger cities, but there are plenty of things to do, and it's not as crowded. Somehow, you can have the feel of a small town and a big city at the same time.