Three days built around the Gateway Arch, two caves and a Route 66 stop, all within a day’s drive of St. Louis.
Road times come from OpenStreetMap routing and include no live traffic, closures or ferry waits. Time on site, Essential or Optional and arrival times are our own planning estimates from a 9:00 a.m. start at the first stop of each day; each stop’s hours and prices are as printed on the page we link, read October 30, 2026, and may have changed.
| # | Stop | Arrive (estimate) | Time and role (estimate) | Road from previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gateway Arch National Park Entrance is $3 for ages 16 and up when you buy tram or movie tickets; the museum, store and Old Courthouse need no ticket (NPS). More | 9:00 a.m. | 3 h 00 min (Essential) | Start of day |
| 2 | Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Entrance and Main House guided tours are free (NPS). More | 12:22 p.m. | 1 h 30 min (Essential) | 22 min, 13.0 mi |
| # | Stop | Arrive (estimate) | Time and role (estimate) | Road from previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Route 66 State Park Grounds open 7 a.m. to half an hour after sunset daily; the visitor center is in a 1935 roadhouse. More | 9:00 a.m. | 1 h 00 min (Essential) | Start of day |
| 4 | Meramec Caverns Open daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. per the operator; the page says 60 degrees year-round. More | 10:48 a.m. | 1 h 30 min (Essential) | 48 min, 38.7 mi |
| # | Stop | Arrive (estimate) | Time and role (estimate) | Road from previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Onondaga Cave State Park The 2026 tour runs daily April 1 to October 31, last tour 3:30 p.m., 57 degrees; pets are not allowed in the cave. On summer weekends the lantern tour of Cathedral Cave adds about 2 hours. More | 9:00 a.m. | 1 h 30 min (Essential) | Start of day |
Map of This Trip
5 of 5 stops are pinned, numbered in plan order and coloured by day. Pins come from the park’s or operator’s page or an OpenStreetMap point; they are not verified entrances or parking areas.
If It Rains or a Stop Is Closed
Rain does not change the caves (57 to 60 degrees inside). The Arch museum and the Old Courthouse are inside the park.
Onondaga Cave tours end October 31 in 2026, so from November swap Day 3 for the Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park (no entrance fee; free house tours limited to 15, same-day reservation at the welcome center, per NPS); the Arch and Grant sites are open year-round, closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
What We Could Not Verify
- Time on site, Essential or Optional, and arrival times: these are our planning estimates, not figures from the operators.
- Opening hours against our arrival times: where a stop’s hours are not in our data we did not check the plan against them.
- Road times with traffic, construction or ferry waits: the routing has none.
- Exact entrances and parking: pins are approximate.
- Prices and hours that a page did not print are marked as not listed; call ahead.
More Missouri Guides
Questions People Ask
How long is the drive on this trip?
About 1 h 10 min of driving between stops across 3 days, by OpenStreetMap routing with no live traffic.
Can I do this trip with a dog?
Rules differ by stop: pets are not allowed in Onondaga Cave, and the National Park Service keeps dogs on a 6-foot leash on land at the Riverways. Check each stop’s page.
Sources
Checked October 30, 2026 by It’s Missouri. Cite this page: It’s Missouri (https://itsmissouri.com/visit/long-weekend-st-louis-meramec/), checked October 30, 2026. Free to quote with a link.