With so much history and diversity tied into its culture, the St. Louis area offers entertaining attractions that cater to everyone, regardless of age or taste. Whether your interests lie in architecture, music, history, botany, food, or nightlife, you’re bound to find your niche in St. Louis. Listed below is a sampling of the world-class arts/cultural organizations, museums and other attractions available in St. Louis.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery: Tours of AB’s headquarters take visitors on a memorable journey through an important part of America’s brewing heritage. The brewery is also home to one of the three traveling Budweiser Clydesdales teams.

Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center is certain to become one of St. Louis’ new landmarks. The Center brings the performing arts to the University of Missouri-St. Louis and to audiences from the St. Louis area and across the Midwest. UM-St. Louis students have incredible opportunities to train and display their talents in a world class performance hall while serving as a cultural classroom for the community.

The Butterfly House is a glass enclosure with lush flowering tropical plants and more than 100 species of butterflies from around the world located in Faust Park in Chesterfield.

Cahokia Mounds State Park, a World Heritage Site, preserves the remains of the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico, within a 2,200–acre tract.

City Museum, recently named as one of the “Greatest Public Spaces in the World” by New York-based non-profit Project for Public Spaces, is a unique interactive museum filled with caves, an aquarium, funhouse, playground, an art studio for children, architectural salvage museum, and more.

The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is one of the leading voices in the world of contemporary art. The Contemporary is dedicated to exhibiting the visual arts and artists of our time and to producing nationally recognized education programs.

The Fox Theatre is a stunning 1929 Byzantine style theater that hosts popular performers and touring Broadway musicals. Fox Theatre is located in the eight-block, Grand Center national historic district.

Gateway Arch, on the banks of the Mississippi River, is a dramatic monument to Thomas Jefferson’s purchase of what is now much of the American west. The stainless steel structure soars 630 feet. Take a tram to the top or visit the Museum of Westward Expansion.

The Magic House – St. Louis Children’s Museum is the 3rd-most visited children’s museum in the nation.

Missouri Botanical Garden is a major cultural institution, an historic landmark and a world-renowned scientific research center. Its 79-acres include a formal English garden, a traditional Japanese garden, a Chinese garden, the Flower Trail garden; and the Climatron, the first geodesic-domed green house in North America.

Missouri History Museum houses a variety of exhibits and educational resources focusing on the history of the St. Louis region, the state of Missouri and the American West.

Old Courthouse, scene of the historic lawsuits by slave Dred Scott and suffragist Virginia Louisa Minor, features restored courtrooms, a beautifully-decorated dome, Dioramas and a film and gallery depicting the history of St. Louis.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is one of the country’s premiere opera companies and offers innovative performances sung in English.

Repertory Theater of St. Louis has a national reputation for producing live theater of uncompromising quality.

St. Louis Black Repertory Company is the largest African-American cultural performing arts organization in Missouri and third largest in the country. The Black Repertory Theater offers six productions each season.

St. Louis Forest Park is at the center of the urban area and encompasses over 1,300 acres, with over six miles of biking trails, 20 lakes and ponds, 30 athletic fields and two golf courses.

St. Louis Muny Opera is the country’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theater and presents Broadway musicals in enchanting surroundings.

St. Louis Science Center is the 5th most visited science center in the nation and the 8th most visited in the world. It serves as a bridge between scientist and layperson. 

St. Louis Union Station: This restored National Historic Landmark covering 11.5 acres, features a hotel, a unique marketplace of shops, assortments of fine restaurants and faces, live entertainment and a lake for paddle boating.

Saint Louis Art Museum ranks among the country’s top 10 museums in attendance, with an average of 42,000 visitors annually. There are 30,000 works in its collection.

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra has been nominated for Grammy Awards every year since 1977, with a total of six Grammies and more than 50 nominations. The symphony is internationally-acclaimed, and it has a “hot” young maestro, who is bringing a lot of new energy to the orchestra.

Saint Louis Zoo: One of only three free zoos in the nation and one of America’s top ten zoos, (according to Travel & Leisure Magazine) the Saint Louis Zoo is home to over 3,500 animals. It hosted nearly three million visitors in 2003. Featured exhibits include the River’s Edge, with elephants, hippos, and cheetahs, and the new $2 Million Penguin and Puffin Coast, which includes the only walk-through sub-Antarctic penguin exhibit in North America.

The Sheldon Concert Hall has been called the Carnegie Hall of St. Louis. Originally built as the home of the Ethical Society of St. Louis in 1912, it is known for its perfect acoustics. The Sheldon is a popular venue for musicians, as well as speakers and art exhibits in its expanded galleries.