Gateway Arch National Park

Gateway Arch National Park covers about 90 acres of downtown St. Louis on the Mississippi: the 630-foot Arch, the free museum under it, the landscaped grounds and the Old Courthouse. It had 2,209,028 recreation visits in 2025, down 13.8% on 2024. The park tells the story of St. Louis' role in westward expansion, and of Dred and Harriet Scott, who sued for their freedom in the Old Courthouse.

The Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen, was completed on 28 October 1965, so this page was checked on its 61st anniversary. We read the figures below on 28 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, alerts and visitation statistics, the gatewayarch.com ticket site, Recreation.gov, Metro in St. Louis, St. Louis Lambert airport and NOAA's normals.

Why is the museum under the Arch free while the tram is not?

The Gateway Arch has no entrance fee, so the museum, the visitor centre, the grounds and the Old Courthouse cost nothing and need no ticket. The Park Service takes its fee inside the tickets instead. Of every tram or documentary ticket bought by a visitor aged 16 or over, $3 is the park's entrance fee.

An America the Beautiful pass holder therefore pays $3 less per ticket, for up to four tickets per pass. The park is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks that charge visitors from abroad a $100 surcharge. The $250 non-resident annual pass never pays for itself here: at the Arch it is worth $3 a ticket. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors covers the parks where it does.

There is no car fee, because there is no park car park: parking is in city garages and is not included. The pages we read do not say which payment methods the ticket desks take. Tickets are also sold by phone on (877) 982-1410.

How much is the Tram Ride to the Top, and when does it sell out?

The Tram Ride to the Top costs an adult aged 16 or over $15 to $19 on gatewayarch.com, the ticket site run by the park's partner, Bi-State Development. The price varies with the date of the visit. The Park Service prints it several ways, from "$19.00" to "Starting at $15" and "$13-19", so check the ticket site for your day.

The prices are as printed on gatewayarch.com on 28 October 2026; the cruise combos count adults as 16 to 59, with a senior price $2 lower. The Park Service lists infants aged 2 and under as free, while the ticket page shows no infant tier for the tram. Two adults pay $30 to $38 for the tram alone.

Tram tickets are for a timed departure, and the Park Service warns that "On busy days, we do sell out." Same-day tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. but are not guaranteed, and in summer they sell out early. Recreation.gov sells no Arch ticket; the Park Service and the operator both send buyers to gatewayarch.com.

What is the tram ride inside the Arch like?

The Gateway Arch tram climbs a structure 630 feet tall and 630 feet from leg to leg, in about four minutes up and three down. Each tram is a string of eight cars, and each car is 5 feet across with five seats. A tram carries 40 passengers, and the cars leave about every 10 minutes.

The whole tour takes 45 to 60 minutes, including a pre-boarding exhibit, a short film and a souvenir photo. Most of it is spent standing. Riders walk at least 96 steps in total, never more than 28 at once, and there is no seat or restroom at the top. Time on the observation deck is under 10 minutes.

The deck has 16 windows facing east over the Mississippi and Illinois, and 16 facing west over St. Louis. Each window is 7 by 27 inches. On a clear day the view reaches up to 30 miles, but the Park Service warns that dense fog on cool, damp mornings can leave zero visibility. The tram runs rain or shine and stops during tornado warnings.

A replica tram car by the ticket counter lets nervous riders try one first. Children under 10 may not ride without a companion. The tram has no room for wheelchairs, walkers, scooters or strollers.

When are the Gateway Arch museum, grounds and Old Courthouse open?

The Gateway Arch visitor centre and museum open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day in spring, autumn and winter. In summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, they stay open until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The grounds are open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. all year, and the Old Courthouse from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The last tram leaves one hour before closing, so 5 p.m. on the current 9-to-6 hours. The whole park closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. In the coming months that means Thursday 26 November 2026, Friday 25 December 2026 and Friday 1 January 2027.

The free museum has six galleries, from the founding of St. Louis in 1764 to the Arch's completion in 1965. The Park Service puts a visit at about an hour. The documentary, "Monument to the Dream", runs 28 minutes by the Park Service's count and 35 by the operator's.

On 28 October 2026 the park's alert feed held only one record, for closures on 3 and 4 July, whose dates had passed. No current closure was listed.

How does security at the west entrance on Fourth Street work?

The Gateway Arch has an airport-style security checkpoint that every visitor to the visitor centre must pass. Everyone enters by the west entrance, which faces Fourth Street and the Old Courthouse; the Arch's two legs are exit only. At busy times the ticket site says to expect a 15-minute wait.

Weapons are banned, including firearms, pepper spray, mace and electronic weapons, and the Park Service adds fixed-blade knives. The operator allows folding pocket knives with a blade under 4 inches. Food and drink may go through security, but open containers are not allowed on the carpeted museum floor or on the tram. Sealed water bottles may ride.

The pages disagree on how early to arrive. The ticket site says 15 minutes before the tram time, and a Park Service directions page from December 2023 says at least 30. Allow 15 to 30 minutes for the checkpoint.

What is inside the Old Courthouse since it reopened in 2025?

The Old Courthouse reopened on 3 May 2025 after a renovation from 2020 to 2025, and it is free with no ticket. The work cost $24.5 million and was the final part of the $380 million CityArchRiver project. It added an elevator, new heating and cooling, fire suppression and four new galleries.

The Old Courthouse held the first two trials of the Dred Scott case, in 1847 and 1850. The courtroom where the Scotts' cases were heard no longer exists: a new corridor divided it in 1855. Virginia Minor's case for a woman's right to vote also came to trial here in the 1870s. Today the building has four galleries and two restored courtrooms.

Park Service rangers lead tours of the building most days at 2:15 p.m., lasting 20 to 40 minutes, with no ticket needed. Groups of more than 10 should call (877) 982-1410. The Old Courthouse keeps 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and stands across Fourth Street from the Arch's entrance. Pets are not allowed inside.

When do the Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher riverboats sail?

The riverboats at the Gateway Arch run daily sightseeing cruises from March to November, so on 28 October 2026 the season had about a month left. In December only special holiday cruises sail. The operator, Riverboats at the Gateway Arch, runs two boats, the Tom Sawyer and the Becky Thatcher, from the dock on the cobblestone levee.

The one-hour St. Louis Riverfront Cruise costs an adult aged 16 to 59 $26, a senior aged 60 or over $24 and a child aged 3 to 15 $16. Infants ride free but need a ticket. The two-hour Skyline Dinner Cruise costs $64 for an adult, and dinner and specialty cruises need a reservation.

The operator publishes no fixed sailing times; its page says cruise times vary, so check the ticket site. Boats sail rain or shine. A cruise cancelled for river conditions or weather is not refunded in money, only rescheduled or turned into a one-year voucher.

The boats are accessible to wheelchairs on the first level only, and the cobblestone levee is uneven. Leashed dogs may join the one-hour cruise but not the dinner or specialty cruises. The operator puts the walk from the Arch exit to the boats at six minutes.

Can you take MetroLink from Lambert airport to the Gateway Arch this autumn?

MetroLink from St. Louis Lambert airport is disrupted until mid-December 2026. The Terminal 1 station has been closed since 12 October, and Metro set Monday 2 November for the Terminal 2 station. Riders now take a westbound Red Line train to North Hanley and a free Metro shuttle from its car park to Terminal 1, Exit 6 on the upper level, or Terminal 2, Exit 10 on the lower level.

Metro expects both stations back in mid-December, while its alert for the closures runs to 28 December. The Park Service's 28-minute train time from the airport dates from 2023 and does not hold while the stations are shut.

Downtown, the Red Line serves both the airport and the Arch. From 2 November to 23 December the Blue Line runs only between Shrewsbury and Forest Park-DeBaliviere, and changing to the Red Line adds 5 to 10 minutes. On 28 October itself Metro warned of 20- to 25-minute delays after overnight damage to the overhead wires.

A MetroLink ride costs $2.50 in cash, and a One-Day Pass for bus and rail $5. For the Arch, leave the train at 8th and Pine or Laclede's Landing and walk about ten minutes; the ticket site says eight from Laclede's Landing.

Where do you park for the Gateway Arch, and how far is the airport?

The Gateway Arch has no car park of its own, and the Park Service sends drivers to the Stadium East garage at 200 South Broadway. Bought online by 11:59 p.m. the day before, parking there costs $11 for the first five hours, then $6 for every 30 minutes beyond. Other park pages print $10. The garage has a 6 ft 8 in clearance and is seven minutes' walk from the entrance.

On Cardinals home-game days and other event days, drivers without a pre-bought ticket pay event rates. Drop-offs are on Fourth Street across from the Old Courthouse, between Market and Chestnut.

The distances are our own routing, without traffic. No official road distance from the airport exists, and our routing has read short elsewhere, so allow 25 to 30 minutes. Lambert has nine international nonstop routes, including Frankfurt on Lufthansa, London on British Airways and Toronto on Air Canada. The Arch is the main park on our Missouri page.

Which months crowd the Gateway Arch, and how hot does St. Louis get?

The Gateway Arch is busiest in July, which had 496,115 recreation visits in 2025, and quietest in January and February. The 2025 series dipped sharply in October: 76,905 visits, 58% fewer than in October 2024. The Park Service's national release for 2025 notes a 43-day partial government shutdown that year.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for St. Louis Lambert airport, about 13 miles north-west of the Arch. St. Louis averages 47 days a year at 90°F or more, 41.7 inches of precipitation and 16.6 inches of snow, and May is the wettest month. The tram, the observation deck and the museum are air-conditioned in summer and heated in winter.

St. Louis is on Central Time, one hour behind New York. Daylight saving time ended on Sunday 1 November 2026 at 2 a.m., the day before the date set for the Terminal 2 station to close.