1 Perfect One Day in St Louis Itinerary

Greetings Internet Stranger and welcome to our one day in St Louis itinerary featuring Delmar Loop! It is not often that I direct you to spend most of your day perusing one street. And if I do, I’m sure you would trust that this one street would be pretty ding dang special, like the Champs-Elysees, or Main Street in Disney World.

But though the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, Missouri might not be as famous as those other streets, it is still worth a visit in its own right. And it’s the perfect place to start a one day in St Louis itinerary.

According to the Delmar Loop’s website, the American Planning Association calls it one of the 10 great streets in America. I don’t know what the American Planning Association is, but any street that knows how to put together its own website is pretty special in my eyes. Spend a one day in St Louis itinerary with me in the Delmar Loop, and I’m sure you’ll agree!

One Day in St Louis Itinerary

Where to Stay?

St Louis is an incredibly spread-out city, so no matter where you stay for your One Day in St Louis Itinerary, you’ll need a car or a rideshare to get around to places like the Delmar Loop. But it’s still nice to stay in Downtown St Louis where you will be within walking distance of the famous Gateway Arch.

I really enjoyed my stay at the Missouri Athletic Club. It had a charming old-school vibe, comfortable rooms, and a friendly staff. Plus staying at an athletic club made me feel like Phileas Fogg from Around the World in 80 Days, which is very appropriate considering he helped inspire my blog.

Breakfast is not included, but there’s free coffee in the room. And considering how many food stops we are taking in on this One Day in St Louis Itinerary, you won’t want breakfast anyway.

Click here if you want a great deal at this hotel. And if you’d rather explore other convenient and affordable hotels in St Louis, click here. This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay during your one day in St Louis itinerary. With plenty of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

One Day in St Louis Itinerary

Morning: Delmar Loop Food Tour

I was pretty impressed to hear that the Delmar Loop had its own food tour. I’ve been on plenty of food tours, but they were all confined to one neighborhood or even one city. I’d never heard of a food tour being restricted to one street before.

But Savor St. Louis Food Tours proved to me that there’s more than enough restaurants in the Delmar Loop to support an entire three hour food tour. Join me for…

approximately top 5: delmar loop foods

1) Salt + Smoke

Kansas City, Missouri is famous for its barbecue. But perhaps there’s a reason St. Louis has never been as known for its smoked meats. When we stopped at Delmar Loop BBQ joint Salt + Smoke, we learned one of those reasons.

It’s hard to maintain a barbecue in a crowded city environment. Apparently neighbors complain of smoke or some such nonsense. (This is also why it’s really hard to find good ‘cue in my hometown, New York City.)

The most popular barbecue style in St. Louis is apparently the spare rib, which is definitely a treat all can get behind. I like how you have to eat spare ribs with your bare hands, like a caveman. Salt + Smoke is a classy joint, which means they don’t slather the ribs with sauce. That way you can taste the freshly smoked meat.

We even got to go outside and see the meat smokers that so annoyed some of the neighbors. If I owned a barbecue and my neighbors complained, I’d just give them free barbecue! And if they didn’t like barbecue, I’d just murder them and hide their body in the smoker. Problem solved!

2) Seoul Taco

Our next stop was the favorite of almost everyone in the group. I liked it so much, I even came back here for dinner. Seoul Taco, like all good things, started as a food truck. As you can probably guess from the name, it specializes in Korean tacos.

We got to choose from a few specialties, but I selected the bulgogi steak taco with spicy Seoul sauce and kimchi fried rice. Bulgogi is sometimes called Korean barbecue, so I enjoyed snacking on this right after nomming the St. Louis ribs. Smoked meats are delicious any way you slice them!

3) Fitz’s Root Beer

The “bonus” stop on the food tour was a drink at local soda producer, Fitz’s Root Beer. Fitz’s has been making root beer in the Delmar Loop off and on since the 1940s. My great-grandparents actually lived near Delmar Loop after they immigrated from Romania.

My grandfather grew up in St. Louis and went to Washington University, which is also right near Delmar Loop. So as I sipped my root beer, I couldn’t help but wonder if my ancestors had done the same thing.

My personal family history aside, Fitz’s uses only natural ingredients in its root beer, like cane sugar. You can really taste the difference between this and the sodas that use chemical sweeteners. I wish we could go back to the days when no sodas were made with chemical ingredients. Like when ginger ale was made with real ginger and Coca-Cola was made with cocaine or something.

4) Pi Pizza (Not Pizza Pie)

Pi, the pizzeria for geeks, was our next stop on the food tour. The founder of Pi learned how to make cornmeal crust pizza in San Francisco. You can find Pi in both St. Louis and Washington DC. Apparently Pi was so popular with President Obama when he was in office that he used to order it in the White House.

On the Savor Saint Louis Food Tour, you’ll get to sample some of the chef’s creative specials. My favorite was the Eggplant Parm pizza. The roasted tomatoes were so sweet, it was like eating candy that’s actually good for your skin.

Just keep in mind that Pi does not serve St. Louis style pizza. That’s an entirely different concoction involving a mysterious creature named Provel cheese. We’ll be eating that tomorrow.

5) Dessert Time!

My favorite dessert in all the wide world is a cannoli. (Yes, for all those pedants out there, I know the proper singular in Italian is cannolo. No one in St. Louis calls it that; nobody cares.) So I was thrilled that our dessert stop would include a specialty cannoli. If that cannoli above looks a little unusual, that’s because it was a cookie and cream cannoli, an invention whose time has most definitely come!

Sadly, this store has since closed, but you can find an excellent replacement at some of the other bakeries on the Delmar Loop like Sugar Momma’s, which is run by a local baker. They specialize in cakes, but they have tasty individually sized treats on offer as well, like lemon cake and banana pudding.

One Day in St Louis Itinerary

Afternoon: St. Louis Zoo

Once you finish up your food tour, it should be around 1:30 in the afternoon. That will give us plenty of time to stroll over to the famous St. Louis Zoo.

Why is the St Louis Zoo famous? Well, first of all it’s located in verdant Forest Park. Second, it is home to a veritable tuxedo of adorable penguins.

What’s that you say? Not interested? Well, what if I told you that the zoo is completely free? Now I’ve got your attention? You should have listened to my recommendation from the start, Internet Stranger. Have I ever steered you wrong before? Just put yourself in my hands so I can fill your head with…

three fun facts: St Louis zoo

1) Mexican Beaded Lizard

The St. Louis Zoo has very entertaining signage for each animal. Whoever is responsible for writing them understands that most zoogoers are not there to do their dissertation on one of these animals. We want weird animal facts, and we want them now!

My favorite weird fact sign belonged to the Mexican Beaded Lizard. Apparently it keeps its venom in its lower jaw. That way, while the lizard is chewing on you, it is also slowly poisoning you to death. That is both disgusting and redundant.

Even stranger is the fact that the lizard’s venom…can be used in cures for diabetes. Wouldn’t that be really strange if you had diabetes and were attacked by this lizard? Would it simultaneously poison you to death and also cure your diabetes? Talk about a double-edged lizard bite!

2) Humboldt Penguins

The Humboldt Penguins are one of the most popular exhibits at the St. Louis Zoo. Who doesn’t like penguins? They’re like if Fred Astaire was a drunk bird! And the Wacky Animal Fact signs about Humboldt penguins are really on point.

Did you know that Humboldts like to sleep in nests made out of seabird dropping? I really wonder who was the first Humboldt penguin to realize that seabird droppings made a good nest. It must have been, like the Gwyneth Paltrow of Humboldt penguins.

Unfortunately, Humboldt penguins are becoming endangered in South America because the seabird droppings they nest in are disappearing. Apparently miners are scooping up all of that sweet seabird guano because it’s so valuable and leaving none for the Humboldt penguins to nest in.

Did everyone else know that seabird poop is so precious except for me? Do people go around with necklaces made of seabird feces? Am I missing out here? I hate missing out!

Fortunately for Humboldt penguin/seabird scat lovers everywhere, the St. Louis Zoo is helping Peruvians mine the seabird turds sustainably so that the Humboldt penguins can thrive, and Peruvians can make money. There’s a sentence I thought I would never type. Now excuse me, I need to go invest in seabird droppings.

3) Do you know the puffin man?

As cute as the Humboldt penguins are, my favorite animal in the St Louis Zoo is the mighty puffin. According to the St. Louis Zoo, they are known as the “clowns of the sea”. Then riddle me this, Zookeeper. If puffins are the clowns of the sea, why are they so adorable, when clowns are the most terrifying things on the earth?

For a case in point, look at my fine puffin friend. I think he looks like actor Paul Giamatti after he just woke up. It seemed to me that HR. Puffinstuf here wanted to come home with me and be my pet forever. Of course I really wanted to stuff this cutie into my pocket and just stroll out with him, but I think I’d get banned from the zoo for life if I did that.

One Day in St Louis Itinerary

Evening: Back to the Loop

Of course you’ll want to come back to the Delmar Loop after you zooed it up. The Loop is famous for its nightlife. I learned on the food tour early that day that the revitalization of the Delmar Loop is largely thanks to a man named Joe Edwards.

Edwards started a music club called Blueberry Hill on the Delmar Loop back in the 1970s. Blueberry Hill became a hotspot to hear live music in part thanks to a little someone named Chuck Berry.

That’s right, the Father of Rock & Roll is also a St. Louis native. He played many shows at Blueberry Hill until his death back in 2017. (You can see his statue decorated with gifts from loving fans at the bottom of this post.)

If you’re interested in learning about other famous St. Louisians, you can meet them in St. Louis if you stroll down the St. Louis Walk of Fame on Delmar Boulevard (also established by Joe Edwards).

24 Hour Treasure: Vincent Price

My favorite star belonged to notable weirdo and “voice of Ratigan”, Mr. Vincent Price. I realize that some of my younger readers might not be familiar with Mr. Price, so please go check out one of his performances so you can truly appreciate his creepy vocal intonations. I’ll wait.

If you’re lucky, Blueberry Hill will have a concert for you to check out, but otherwise, see a film at the wonderful arthouse theater The Tivoli. This theater dates back to the 1920s, but had closed and fallen into disrepair.

Like everything else on the Delmar Loop, including Blueberry Hill and the reanimated corpse of Vincent Price, this theater was restored and reopened by Joe Edwards. Whatever you choose, sit back and enjoy the show. You deserve to rest your feet after a long day of eating, walking, and puffin chasing.

One Day in St Louis Itinerary

What to Pack?

• A cell charger so you can keep your cell phone charged for the entire one day in St Louis itinerary.
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on.
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you how travel can take you on a journey of self-discovery.

One Day in St Louis Itinerary

How To Get There

Now, I wish I knew where you lived, Internet Stranger, because I could send you the finest St Louis blues. But sadly, I do not, and so I can’t tell you exactly how to get from your home to this one day in St Louis itinerary.

But I can tell you that you can use a lovely airplane to get from most cities to the St Louis airport, and I recommend Expedia for the best way to find the cheapest flight to St Louis at the best time of day. You’ll probably have to go through another city like Atlanta or Dallas, but it’s pretty easy.

You can even use Expedia to rent a car so you’ll be all set when you arrive at your destination. (I can’t drive, but if you can, this must be helpful.)

Just click here to start looking for the best possible deals on your flight, so you can head out to your one day in St Louis itinerary ASAP!

That’s a One Day in St Louis Itinerary!

What would you do with a One Day in St Louis Itinerary? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in St Louis right now? Is it a crime in Missouri to steal a puffin? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY have a One Day in St Louis Itinerary. If you have another One Day in St Louis Itinerary, try this itinerary!