Traveling to St. Louis

St. Louis is probably one of the easiest ballparks you can visit. Being in the middle of the country has its perks, with nonstop flights from 28 of the 29 MLB cities (sorry, Cincinnati). If you’re one of our midwestern neighbors, driving is easy, with relatively little traffic congestion. The Amtrak train is even an option for certain cities (primarily Chicago).

Flying to St. Louis

St. Louis has one primary airport: St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). It has two terminals and a strong Southwest Airlines presence, which will likely be your best bet for finding nonstop flights. Southwest has nonstop service to 56 cities, as compared to 13 with American, seven with Frontier, and five each with Delta and United. The airport is about 15 miles northwest of the stadium, with little of note nearby. Thus, we recommend staying downtown, unless you have an early morning flight that would make staying near the airport more convenient for you.

Also, because we’re pretty much in the center of the country, getting into and out of St. Louis on the same day as you’re catching a game is very doable if you can find a direct flight. If you can land by 4pm, you can very likely be in your seat for a 7pm game, and if you can take off after 6:45pm, you can probably catch that 1:15 day game as well.

Getting from the Airport to Downtown

The MetroLink light rail has a red line station at each airport terminal that goes straight to Busch Stadium with no transfers required (35-40 min, 14 stops). It departs every 20 minutes from about 5 AM to 1 AM. The station in Terminal 1 is the end of the line, so there’s no confusion about which direction to travel – “Shiloh-Scott” on the way to the stadium and “Lambert Airport Terminal #1” on the way back. The fare is $2.50 each way and can be purchased at the station or ahead of time on the fantastic Transit app which you may already have on your phone. A one-day pass is available for $5.00, and may be useful if you’re going to do any sightseeing either downtown or just outside of downtown (like at the zoo).

If you want a faster, more convenient and direct way to get downtown, Uber or Lyft is the way to go. Unless there’s surge pricing, it’s generally $35-40. Taxis are available for about $50, so if your rideshare app shows a higher price than that, head for the taxi stand instead.

We don’t think a rental car is necessary since there’s easy transportation downtown, and virtually anywhere you would want to visit on a weekend in St. Louis is a cheap 5-10 minute rideshare away. Forest Park and its world-class (and free!) Saint Louis Zoo is only ten minutes west of the stadium, and pretty much marks the outer edge of where you’re likely to want to visit. So unless you just hate using rideshare services, or are planning on a roadtrip beyond the downtown St. Louis area, a car is not necessary to get the most out of St. Louis. Save the money, and save the hassle – forget the rental car.

Driving to St. Louis

St. Louis traffic is such that you can actually drive into town at 5pm and still be at the ballpark ahead of a 7pm game. The main downside to driving in St. Louis is that parking at most downtown hotels is about $40/night. If you want a decent hotel downtown with free parking, your only option is the Pear Tree Inn – more on that in the Lodging section.

Taking the train to St. Louis

Amtrak’s downtown St. Louis station is less than a mile from the stadium, so it’s doable as a short rideshare, a medium walk, or a quick Metrolink ride to most hotels. Chicago and Kansas City are the main cities in which taking the train makes sense. KC has one train a day that is schedule-friendly, and Chicago usually has two, and the price can be as low as $25. 

TSI TIP: Because the KC-STL and CHI-STL train tracks are owned by Union Pacific, Amtrak has to share the rails with freight trains, so a 5-hour schedule can sometimes turn into an 8+ hour reality. If you choose to take a train, you may want to book an earlier train than you might have otherwise considered, just to be safe. For CHI-STL, there’s usually an early morning one (~7 am), and a later one (~10am) which should both get you to St. Louis in time for a 7pm game. We suggest taking the earlier one if you can, or even coming in the day before if the train is your method of travel. Check out Amtrak’s website for the full details.

Other midwest cities such as Memphis and Milwaukee are doable by train, but often make more sense to drive or fly due to fewer daily routes and longer durations. For example, Memphis is 6h 40m but arrives very late (3:20 AM), and Milwaukee is about 7h 30m and goes through Chicago. But if you have extra time, it could be a fun new way to get to downtown St. Louis and not have to worry about parking.

Bottom Line

Getting to St. Louis is pretty simple: one airport and then an easy rideshare or MetroLink ride to downtown, or arrive downtown by train or car. Easy peasy. Now let’s figure out where you should stay.