I love finding free activities in towns that I visit so I was really excited to be in St. Louis last weekend and discover that their zoo had no entrance fee. Not only was it free, but it’s a fan favorite. It was just announced that is had been voted the second best U.S. zoo in the Readers’ Choice awards by USA Today (beating out the zoo I’m a member of, Brookfield Zoo in Chicago).

The zoo grounds were beautiful and the zoo was spread out so it didn’t seem very crowded for a Holiday weekend. The zoo boasts over 600 species so there was lots for us to see in our short afternoon there. We probably didn’t even see half of what the zoo had to offer.

Lucas noticed the train going around the zoo and just had to ride it. We sat in the back and the boys all got to help the Conductor. They loved saying “All Aboard!” into the loudspeaker.

And no trip to the zoo is complete without a stop to the snack area for an “Elephant’s Ear”!

We had a great time at the zoo. Can’t wait to go back!

Note: There is a fee to park but you can park a bit farther away and walk if you want it to be absolutely free :) Some attractions also cost money. We chose to do the train which was $5/person. There is an option to buy a decently priced package which includes the train and a number of other attractions. If we were there longer we would have probably chosen to buy the package.