You Can Crawl Through a Full Cavern at this Museum in St. Louis, MO

Did you know City Museum in St. Louis, MO is a place where families can crawl through a cavern, climb a treehouse, swing on a rope, and ride a Ferris wheel? City Museum is completely packed with amazing things for kids and families to do. Kidding Around Owner, Bethany, was in St. Louis with her family and they visited City Museum. She’s sharing their experience and everything they loved about the museum. We’re pretty sure you’ll want to plan your own trip to St. Louis after seeing what they got to do.

At a driveable 10 hours from Greenville, St. Louis, Missouri is definitely a city to put on your family vacation bucket list. While it might seem like the Arch and its history is the most obvious reason to visit St. Louis, we discovered it’s also home to City Museum, a place so brilliantly unique and fun that your kids will beg you to return just to play again. Billed as a “city within a city”, City Museum offers play and exploration like no other place.

What is City Museum?

Two artists, Bob and Gail Cassily, purchased an old shoe warehouse in St. Louis in the 1990s with the goal of creating it into a “city within a city”.  This city has grown and developed over the past decades to include multiple floors and outdoor spaces open for exploration. The spaces include numerous tunnel systems, slides, and recycled city items such as planes, vehicles, and even items such as a giant pipe organ that still plays and a bank vault.

Some of our Favorite Spots in City Museum

City Museum is massive with four explorable floors, a cave system (yes, you read that right), an outdoor city, and a rooftop. We aren’t even sure if we saw everything on our visit, but these were our favorite spots during our visit.

Caves and Shoe Shafts

The basement area of City Museum features a complete cave system, including small shafts that you can crawl (belly wiggle) through. It’s just like a cave, so don’t expect lights in the tunnels, and expect it to feel a little tight if you’re an adult. Needless to say, kids find this cave system delightful. We even saw kids hiding in little dark caves so that they could scare unsuspecting adults.

MonstroCity

This outdoor city featured tunnels and climbing structures as well as several iconic structures, including castle towers, a couple of real planes in the air, trams (mostly for exhausted adults to rest in), and slides. As an adult, I was able to follow my kids around, but that did involve climbing into quite a few very small structures and even crawling to get through tunnels. There are some heights in this area, but they are easy to avoid if your child prefers to stay closer to the ground.

Skateless Park

Think parkour at its finest, this area of City Museum has ramps, rope swings, and more for kids that want to jump and run. 

Treehouse

This giant indoor treehouse contains tunnels, an overhead exploration area, slides, and climbing areas.

Pinball Arcade

Find a collection of antique pinball and arcade machines that all still take a quarter. One thing that surprised me was that all of the games seemed to be in working order.

10-Story Slide

I did not personally go down the 10-story slide, but my kids did. Word of mouth is that you should wear slippery pants if you want to enjoy the slides to their fullest. The 10-story slide is the longest slide, but there are also shorter slides and fast slides throughout the museum.

Rooftop

To access the roof, you have to buy an additional ticket. It’s an $8 add-on to the price of general admission. The roof features a couple of fun slides, a real bus, and a working Ferris wheel. It was fairly hot on the roof, and the line for the Ferris wheel was long, but I’m glad we got tickets because it was a special experience to see the city from that view.

There is also:

• A massive bug collection
• An art collection
• An aquarium
• Toddler Town
• A Circus
• A mirror hall
• A puking pig installation
• A new Labyrinth (added 2026)
• An Antique Children’s Carousel (added 2026)
• And much more

Tips for Visiting City Museum

We only visited once, but we did learn a couple of things from our first visit.

• City Museum suggests writing your phone number on your kids. The museum is very large and there are a lot of places for children to quickly end up out of view.
• The outdoor areas can be very warm. Bring water or plan on purchasing water while you’re there.
• This is not the museum to assume that you can just sit on a bench and watch your kids. It’s a large area, and if you want to have any idea where your kids are, you probably should plan on spending a good bit of your day crawling and climbing around like a kid. Of course, the older your kids are, the easier it is to just let them go have fun. I would not recommend this museum to parents of children young enough to completely wander off unless you are nimble enough to keep up or know that your kid will be okay sticking to the areas within sight.
• Due to the tunnels, etc. I would also recommend keeping your personal possessions light. This is not a great space to even have a backpack if you want to have fun. I had a light cross-over purse that held my phone and wallet. That was perfect.
• You’ll want to wear closed-toed shoes and clothes to climb in. My child with pants on was hot. But I do think if the weather was a bit cooler, pants would protect a kid’s legs much better than shorts. Pants would also work on the slides better.
• Bring quarters for the arcade games.
• Purchase your tickets ahead of time online to get 10% off. You can buy the rooftop tickets, which are $8, at the gate. If weather cancels your turn on the roof, you won’t get a refund, so earlier times would be best in the summer to avoid afternoon thunderstorms.
• Parking is $15 per vehicle at the Serpent Lot (16th & Delmar, right outside the building). Members receive $5 off with a valid Member Pass.
• After our visit, we ate at Medina Grill near the museum. I highly recommend it. It was a great place to eat!

Ticket Prices:

• Single-day tickets start at $20 per person
• Group tickets (groups of 15-99 people) start at $14.50 per person
• Children under two play free

City Museum
750 North 16th Street
St. Louis, MO. 63103
314.231.2489

Frequently Asked Questions About City Museum St. Louis

How much does City Museum cost?

General admission starts at $20 per person if you buy online, saving over 10% off the ticket window price. Children two and under are always free. Rooftop access is an additional $8 add-on per person. See current pricing at citymuseum.org.

How much is parking at City Museum?

City Museum’s on-site Serpent Lot (at 16th & Delmar, right outside the entrance) is $15 per vehicle. Members receive $5 off with a valid Member Pass (except Sundays).

Is rooftop access included with admission?

No. Rooftop access is an $8 add-on purchased separately (or at the gate). Gold Member Pass holders receive it free. The rooftop features giant slides, a real Ferris wheel, a bus, and sweeping views of St. Louis. It’s open nearly year-round, weather permitting.

How far is City Museum from Greenville, SC?

City Museum is approximately 10 hours by car from Greenville. It’s a long, but very doable, family road trip, especially if you break it up with an overnight stop.

What age is City Museum best for?

City Museum has something for all ages, but kids who love climbing, crawling, and exploring thrive here. Toddlers can enjoy Toddler Town, while older kids and teens can tackle the cave tunnels, MonstroCity, and the 10-story slide. Parents should plan to be active alongside younger children. This is not a sit-and-watch kind of visit!