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If you’re ready to get back out and explore this summer, consider exploring closer to home. There are easy ways to adhere to social distancing when you stay close to home. This guide will help you travel to St Louis while navigating the new norms of the pandemic. This guide is best suited for someone who would be able to visit St Louis as a day trip. It is full of places to visit outdoors, places to eat curbside, or things to see that will keep you six feet from others.
This guide is written for visitors arriving in St Louis by car. Having a car in St Louis right now will allow you to better keep distance from others and allows you to reach some places further outside of town than I would typically suggest in my St Louis travel guides.
Why Travel to St Louis for a Day Trip?
Taking a day trip to St Louis, especially during when social distancing practices are in place, prevents you from spending long periods of time indoors and minimizes your chances to be around other people.
St Louis is the perfect spot for a Midwest road trip. There is so much to see and do (and eat!) here, even when you have to keep your distance from others.
St Louis as a whole has taken a very proactive approach to social distancing measures, and many residents wear masks when going out. There has been a focus here on adapting to COVID-19 instead of resisting the changes it has caused. This has made it really easy to enjoy some of the best parts of St Louis while still remaining safe.
Places to Eat Curbside in St Louis
CurbsideSTL is a constantly-updated list full of places that are offering curbside and carry-out services in St Louis. I highly recommend checking out their website and placing orders before visiting any restaurants in St Louis. There are a lot of places on their list. If you need a good place to start, here is my menu for a perfect curbside eating tour of St Louis.
Breakfast – Half & Half
St Louis is the King of brunch destinations. And while it is hard to pick just one favorite brunch spot in St Louis, Half & Half is an easy choice for a breakfast that everyone is sure to love. They are well balanced in their selections of savory & sweet options. Their weekly specials menu is full of unique selection of in-season flavors. And, they’re available for curbside pick up!
Donuts – Mini Donut Co
When you pick a favorite donut place in St Louis, you are ultimately picking a side. The question of favorite donut shop is a hotly debated topic around here. Freshness, uniqueness, timelessness, and proximity are all taken into consideration when donuts are debated. So just know that everyone is going to have their own suggestion for the best donut shop. But when it comes to donuts, is there really a wrong answer?
I love grabbing a bite-sized donut at Mini Donut Co. The best part about grading a donut here is that you can try LOTS of different flavors! If you’re looking for some unique donuts that are more than just a bite, you could check out carry-out at Vincent Van Doughnut or Strange Donuts. If you’re more of a traditionalist when it comes to donuts, check out Pharoah’s Donuts.
Coffee – Coma Coffee
Coma Coffee was very quick to adapt to the curbside game. They were among the first to release their lattes in to-go form as half-gallon enjoy-from-home drinks! When you visit Coma coffee, you can walk away with a single-serve latte for right now, and a “family-sized” latte for later. I won’t tell if you’re serving a family of one. Each half-gallon latte provides six servings of latte.
Lunch – Seoul Taco
Seoul Taco combines two favorite food concepts into one delicious meal. Seoul Taco is where Korean BBQ meets street tacos. Grab a burrito, and be sure to add on a side of their sweet potato fries for the most satisfying lunch. No matter what you order, just be sure to get something with their signature Seoul Sauce. You won’t regret it.
Seoul Taco is also offering a few grocery items in their curbside service. Do yourself a favor and add a tub of Seoul Sauce to your order to enjoy from home. I am not kidding when I say I proudly put Seoul Sauce on everything.
Dinner – Salt & Smoke
Like donuts, Barbecue in St Louis is another hotly debated topic. Every St Louisan has their favorite. I personally love Salt & Smoke because of it’s veggie friendly options (and also because they’ve got a nice selection of bourbon at their restaurants…)
With more and more of St Louis’s staple restaurants offering curbside, you really can’t go wrong with wherever you pick for dinner. I recommend checking out CurbsideSTL‘s website and browsing by the type of food you’re looking for for a more personalized experience.
Dessert – Clementine’s Creamery
Two words: Boozy. Ice-Cream. (Is combining Ice Cream into one word cheating? Oh well.) Clementine’s Creamery offers the best ice cream in St Louis. They pride themselves on making small-batch, hand-crafted, all-natural-ingredient ice cream. And if that’s not enough to make you drool, they also feature alcohol infused ice creams for the grown-ups.
That’s not all, folks. Clementine’s also offers a selection of dairy-free ice creams. And their dairy-free ice creams are just as good as their traditional ice cream. You definitely want to check this one out! Give them a call for curbside pick-up, or head inside for a carry-out pint or a cone to-go. If you don’t have time to visit Clementine’s before you have to roll out of town, don’t worry, they can mail ice cream to you!
Curbside Cocktails – Juniper
Curbside cocktails? Whaaaaaaat! That’s right! There are many St Louis restaurants that are now able to offer to-go cocktails! (don’t drink and drive; don’t drink these in your car; and don’t drink them in places where open containers are not allowed, etc. etc.)
What started out as one restaurant’s legislative-loophole that allowed them to serve to-go margarita kits, Curbside Cocktails have blossomed into their own post-quarantine industry in St Louis. Juniper offered some of the best cocktails in St Louis before the pandemic struck, and they continue to offer the best to-go cocktails today. Pick up one or several of their signature cocktails and enjoy them from the comfort of your own home.
Things to do in St Louis
Visit Jefferson Barracks County Park
There are plenty of parks to visit in St Louis, but many of them are filled to the brim with people right now who just want to get some sunlight. The parks I typically suggest visiting are swarming with people. Forest Park and Tower Grove Park are both beautiful places to visit and are much closer to the city if you feel you can safely avoid the crowds.
However, if you’re looking for a park that is a bit further out and slightly less-traveled, check out Jefferson Barracks. Any history buffs will recognize Jefferson Barracks as the place where Ulysses S. Grant was stationed when he was just starting out in the military. Jefferson Barracks has long since left it’s military days behind and is now a beautiful, county owned park.
There are plenty of hiking trails in Jefferson Barracks. They also offer a disc golf course, museum, and a mobile walking tour of the buildings at the park. If you’re interested in learning more about the history of this area, I highly recommend checking out their mobile tour.
Take a Safari Tour of Lone Elk Park
It might sound weird, but St Louis has their very own drive-through safari that is owned by the County Parks and operates on a donations-only visiting model.
When most people think Safari, they think of elephants, tigers, and antelope, and this isn’t quite that. Instead, this drive through safari experience is full of animals that are local to the St Louis region. As the name implies, there are plenty of elk that roam this park. But there is also a portion of the park that is completely dedicated to bison. You’ll also see plenty of turkey, ducks, and deer in the park.
On a hot summer day in St Louis, it’s very easy to spot the wildlife because most of them are laying down in the shade right on the side of the road. Please keep in mind that pets are not allowed inside the park (even if you keep them in your car!) But this is a beautiful park for humans to explore.
If you want to get out of your car, there are several hiking trails here. They also offer catch-and-release fishing with reservations.
Finding More Places to Visit in St Louis
Writing about travel to St Louis is a passion of mine. St Louis is my city and I would love to encourage everyone to come visit it. Please check out my other posts about travel to St Louis, but please keep in mind that all of these were written when social distancing guidelines were not in place.
Guide to the National Parks of St Louis
Completely Free Things for Adults to do in St Louis
The Best 48 Hours in St Louis
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