Exploring St. Louis: Top 10 Accessible Tourist Attractions

Gateway to the West. St Louis, MO.

Whether you are a local looking to rediscover your hometown or are visiting the city for the first time, St. Louis always has so much to offer. Our city is not only rich in history and culture, but also in exciting, inclusive opportunities to have fun. The city’s accessible tourist attractions are an important part of the fabric of St. Louis, making sure that all visitors are able to experience the vibrancy and fun it has to offer. To help you plan your next trip into the city, here are the top 10 accessible tourist attractions in St. Louis and the Greater St. Louis Area—

The Science Center

One of the most popular attractions in St. Louis, the Science Center is equipped with many accessibility features, including wide doorways, elevators, ramps, accessible bathrooms, and wheelchairs, motorized scooters, and strollers available to rent. The Center’s OMNIMAX theater also strives to be accessible to everyone, with accessible seating options, closed captioning devices available for films and videos, Descriptive Video Services, and a hearing loop assisted listening system. In addition, for those in need of them, the Center offers KultureCity Sensory Bags to help guests of all ages with overstimulation.

Saint Louis Art Museum

The Saint Louis Art Museum is a world-renowned center for art and culture that works hard to make sure everyone can access everything it has to offer, making it one of the most accessible tourist attractions in St. Louis. In addition to being equipped with ramps, elevators, accessible restrooms, and complementary wheelchairs, the Museum also offers large print labels and magnifying devices for individuals with visual impairment, as well as audio guides, American Sign Language interpretation available with inquiry, and transcripts of exhibition videos and guides. Service animals are also welcome in the Museum.

Saint Louis Zoo

The Saint Louis Zoo is a fun-filled activity that prioritizes accessibility for all. To start with, the Zoo’s outdoor and indoor paths are wheelchair accessible, and there are scooters, wheelchairs, and strollers available for rent at any time during your visit. The Zoo offers assisted listening devices, American Sign Language interpretation, and audio descriptive services for events like sea lion shows, as well as Equal Access Passes for individuals needing accommodations throughout the park. The Zoo also offers KultureCity sensory services to help guests dealing with overstimulation.

Gateway Arch

Often called “the Gateway to the West,” the Gateway Arch is St. Louis’s most recognizable monument. While the top of the Arch itself is not wheelchair or mobility aid accessible, the Museum under the Arch absolutely is. The Museum features a simulation experience for those who cannot access the top of the Arch with screens and audio that closely mimic the actual top. The Museum exhibits
offer a number of accessibility features, including tactile exhibits, Braille labels, and assistive listening devices to ensure that visitors of all abilities are able to enjoy the rich history the Museum has to offer. Wheelchairs in a number of sizes are also available to check out. In addition, all media in the Museum’s theater is closed captioned, and audio description and assistive listening devices are available upon request.

Accessible tourist attractions in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Missouri History Museum

If you are looking for a fun and educational way to discover the city, the Missouri History Museum is the place for you. All three levels of the Museum are wheelchair accessible, as well as feature accessible restrooms on each floor. Manual wheelchairs are available to check out at both of the building’s entrances. For individuals with visual impairment, the Museum offers audio description for the interior of the building, as well as points of interest and way-finding that can be found on their website. Knowing that some places in the Museum can be overwhelming for some visitors, it proudly offers a sensory-friendly area on the lower level where visitors can recuperate and make use of the Museum’s complementary sensory kits.

Forest Park

St. Louis is proud to boast one of the country’s largest urban parks. Many of the attractions already mentioned, like the Saint Louis Art Museum and Saint Louis Zoo, can be found within Forest Park, but the park itself has so much to offer each visitor. If you are a lover of the outdoors, Forest Park is the place to check out. Its paths are wide and paved, accessible to wheelchair users and individuals with other mobility aids alike. The park hosts a number of accessible events throughout the year, like Shakespeare in the Park, the Forest Park Balloon Glow, and so much more.

National Blues Museum

St. Louis is a city of music, and if you are a musician or a music lover yourself, the National Blues Museum is definitely an accessible tourist attraction for you. This unique museum is wheelchair accessible, with many interactive exhibits for people of all abilities. It also features accessible restrooms, parking, and designated sensory-friendly hours.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre

Heralded as one of the most beautiful theaters in the country, the Fabulous Fox Theatre is both a gorgeous place to visit and an incredible place to experience entertainment. The Fox is dedicated to making their space and performances accessible for all guests, no matter their abilities or concerns. They offer accessible seating, communication aids, and a variety of accommodations for whatever you may need to enjoy your visit. For deaf or hard of hearing individuals, the Fox partners with Relay Missouri to provide audio-related services, as well as provides American Sign Language interpretation at a number of scheduled performances. The Fox also partners with Lighthouse for the Blind, offering audio description services for individuals with visual impairment. Click the link above for a full list and schedule of the Fox’s accessible performances and features!

Missouri Botanical Gardens 

The Missouri Botanical Gardens are an absolute haven for the nature lover, and definitely deserved to be mentioned as one of St. Louis’s top accessible tourist attractions. The Gardens are expansive, providing a unique and personalized experience for each visitor. The paths throughout the Gardens are wheelchair accessible, as well as accommodating to motorized scooters and other mobility aids, many of which are available to rent if needed. If you are in need of personal accessibility help, the Garden’s hospitality line is just a call away. As for the indoor attractions, all of them (except for the historic Tower Grove House) are equipped with elevators, ramps, accessible restrooms, and a number of accessible garden displays. The Zimmerman Sensory Garden, for example, features raised beds with multi-sensory plants perfect for touching and smelling. This Garden, as well as many others, have Braille, large-print, and raised letter signage for individuals with visual impairment. The Botanical Gardens as a whole offer a number of low-sensory areas to help individuals dealing with overstimulation.

Missouri Botanical Gardens
Missouri Botanical Gardens offer accessible tourist attractions.

Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House

One of the most unique attractions in the Greater St. Louis area is the beautiful Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House. This indoor butterfly conservatory is fully wheelchair accessible, complete with elevators, wheelchairs available for accessible restrooms, and a number of benches for rest stops while you explore. Service animals are also welcome here! Come and enjoy this low-stress, calming environment.

No matter your interests, whether you prefer an indoor experience or an outdoor adventure, a history lesson or a day off, or any other kind of fun, St. Louis has an accessible tourist attraction for you. To see more about the accessibility of each attraction, check out the links attached to each heading. Delta Center is proud to be able to help you find the independence and joy you deserve, and a huge part of that is connecting you with the resources you need to live your best life. We offer boundless information on everything from local accessibility to disability-specific communities to adaptive technologies and so much more. No matter what you need, we have something that can help you. To find more helpful information like this post, take a look at our digital resources page here.