Ride the tram to the top of The Gateway Arch (at Memorial Drive and Market Street) for an extraordinary view of St. Louis and the Mississippi River.
Spend some time inside the Catholic Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (4431 Lindell Blvd.). You'll discover impressive religious imagery created with more than 41 million individual pieces of glass, marble and stone.
Visit the Missouri History Museum (5700 Lindell Blvd.), Saint Louis Art Museum (One Fine Arts Dr.), Saint Louis Science Center (5050 Oakland Ave.) or Saint Louis Zoo (1 Government Dr.). These AAA GEM attractions are all in Forest Park (5595 Grand Dr.), which is nestled in the center of the city. The 1904 World's Fair—immortalized in the 1944 film “Meet Me in St. Louis”—was held on the park grounds.
Go to City Museum (750 N. 16th St.) without any preconceived ideas, except to be wowed. Some of the exhibits are even on the roof. Just be sure to allot plenty of time for this crazy, one-of-a-kind adventure since you'll have to find your way around the mazelike structure, built by artisans using recycled and found materials, without a map.
Explore Laclede's Landing (710 N. 2nd St.) to get a feel for old St. Louis. This nine-block historic district, complete with cobblestone streets, marks St. Louis founder Pierre Laclede's original settlement. You'll marvel at the wonderfully preserved mid-19th- to early 20th-century warehouses that now feature bars, nightclubs, restaurants and offices.
Canvass The Hill, the city's Little Italy. The district is bounded by Manchester, Columbia and Hampton avenues and South Kingshighway Boulevard. Pick up some imported products to take home with you as you peruse the meat markets, bakeries and specialty markets. Be sure to schedule your visit around a meal; there are a variety of Italian restaurants worth patronizing.
Tour the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (at 12th and Lynch streets) and see the famous Clydesdales. The company's origins date to the mid-19th century, so this is definitely a St. Louis institution.
Check out the St. Louis Walk of Fame along Delmar Boulevard, in the Delmar Loop neighborhood. It's entertaining as well as educational, with brass stars and biographical bronze plaques embedded in the pavement paying tribute to St. Louis area notables both past and present.
Join in some local team spirit at the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum (601 Clark Ave.) at the Ballpark Village near Busch Stadium (700 Clark Ave.). If you're there during the season, be sure to catch a game and see the team. Even if you don't love baseball, the village is a huge entertainment complex with food, drinks and fun.
Relive the city's celebrated musical past with a trip to the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site (2658 Delmar Blvd.). The ragtime composer and his wife, Belle, had a second-floor flat in this beautiful brick structure, which is simply furnished to reflect their early years. A player piano belts out tunes from the ragtime era.
Attend a performance by one of America's oldest symphony orchestras, the St. Louis Symphony. Powell Hall (718 N. Grand Blvd.), the former 1925 St. Louis Theatre, has been the symphony's home since 1968.