Near St. Louis?

[Dmmetler]

I'm trying to find a house to rent for a long weekend, close enough to St Louis to drive in, but ideally in a good place to do nature stuff as well, for two families (to let our teens have one nice social experience together before they both leave for separate colleges, since things have been so limited for the last year+, first due to COVID and then due to the I-40 bridge, which turned about a 2 1/2 hour drive into a 4-5 hour one). We're coming from the South, so would prefer something that is a closer drive vs a farther away one. 

 

I can find lots of houses for St. Louis proper, but I know from experience in other cities that being able to search suburbs gives more accurate results. 

[Teresa in MO]

If you are looking for a suburb that is within a 30-45 minute drive to downtown St. Louis, I would look at St. Charles county (St. Charles, O'Fallon, Wentzville) or the suburbs of Fenton, Pacific.  Both areas have alot of nature experiences, especially the Fenton, Pacific area.

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, Dmmetler said:

nature stuff

Had you figured out what nature stuff? We stayed at this hotel https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shepherd+Mountain+Inn+%26+Suites/@37.6348576,-90.6846841,13z/data=!4m9!1m2!2m1!1shotels+near+Pilot+Knob,+MO!3m5!1s0x87d9caf51bf8c291:0x82d78d78c26b92bf!5m2!4m1!1i2!15sChpob3RlbHMgbmVhciBQaWxvdCBLbm9iLCBNT5IBBWhvdGVs  and found it adequate. It's situated near multiple interesting "nature things" and would work if you took two rooms. Proximity to the nature things might win out over space. It's sort of a big place and you might find yourself driving a lot if you don't situate near what you want to do. 

We've only been to MO once, but we liked it. If you get out in the country area, there are lots of armadillos. We had never seen them, even missed them in TX. 

[SquirrellyMama]

Don't forget to look in IL. Cahokia Mounds is a fun nature/history thing to do. Fairview Heights, O'Fallon, Belleville are all a quick drive to St Louis.

[scholastica]

Also look in Ballwin, Manchester, Creve Coeur, Chesterfield in St Louis County. You would be within 30 minutes or less to most of what you'd want to do, and there's nature nearby. Creve Coeur Lake park(county park), Shaw Nature Reserve, plus state parks and conservation areas are close by, too. 

[MrsMommy]

3 minutes ago, scholastica said:

Also look in Ballwin, Manchester, Creve Coeur, Chesterfield in St Louis County. You would be within 30 minutes or less to most of what you'd want to do, and there's nature nearby. Creve Coeur Lake park(county park), Shaw Nature Reserve, plus state parks and conservation areas are close by, too. 

We love walking the trail around Creve Coeur Lake! 

Laumeier Sculpture Park is good for nature and art. And depending on when you're planning on visiting, there's a really cool large-scale origami exhibition at the Missouri Botanical Garden.