How to visit Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas in a Day

Why visit Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas in one day? Well, folks like me (and maybe you) are what I like to call geography nerds, and crossing state lines is fun! So, when we visited Branson, Missouri a few years back, we made sure to cross a few state lines as well. Whenever I’m in a new state, I look for those places where crossing into another state is fun and reasonably easy to do. Here’s how we did it in Missouri.

Visit Missouri and Illinois from St. Louis

We flew into St. Louis, which is a pretty cool place on its own. But it also just so happens to sit right across the Mississippi River from Illinois. It takes about 10 minutes or so to drive across a bridge over the Mississippi River into East St. Louis, IL, and find a fascinating spot to visit – Monk’s Mound.

Monk’s Mound in St. Louis, Illinois

Monk’s Mound is the largest mound at the Cahokia site, and in fact is the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas. Considered the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico, Cahokia includes many human-made mounds visible from the highway. Monk’s Mound is over 14 acres and 100 feet high.

The name comes from a group of Trappist Monks who lived on one of the nearby mounds. It was built in stages between 950 and 1200AD. There are signs and maps along the path that goes to the slope and up the stairs. Visitors should not climb up the sides of the mound. It’s a short but steep climb up the stairs to the top. On the day we visited, it was quite a bit windier up there, and we could easily see the skyline of St. Louis, including the Arch.

Unfortunately, Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center is closed for renovations as of this writing. But, once it reopens it will include museum exhibit galleries, an orientation show theater, a public programming auditorium, museum shop, a snack-food service, public restrooms, staff offices, and a courtyard for educational programs. Currently, the only restrooms are port-o-johns located in the parking lot beside Monk’s Mound.

Since the only thing to do was read the signs and climb the mound, we spent about a half hour in Illinois, and the rest of our day in St. Louis. Probably the two main attractions for us were the Arch, and City Museum.

The Gateway Arch in Missouri

The Gateway Arch can be seen from various areas in the city, and certainly quite well on the drive into Illinois. This iconic “Gateway to the West” is a national park, and includes a free museum. There are also tram rides you can take to the top for about $15-19 per person, typically with a short wait. You can see Illinois from the top. Parking in the area was limited due to a Cardinals game, but there are several nearby parking garages where you can park on non-game days for $15 with a little planning. 

City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri

Because we had been flying and wanted to be able to move our bodies a bit more, we opted to visit City Museum. City Museum in downtown St. Louis is about a mile from the arch. Created with all sorts of repurposed materials, the museum is pretty incredible. There are a few scam parking lots around, so you should be sure to park in the one in back of the museum that has the serpent wrapped around the fence, or the one directly across from it, for $15.

There are four levels to City Museum, and tickets are around $20/person. You can pay extra to access the roof top, where there is a giant praying mantis, a Ferris wheel, and a bus hanging over the edge. But there is a ton to do even without that extra level.

There is an aquarium, and airplane, and many indoor jungle gyms. I would even consider it an art museum, because everywhere you turn is an interesting and intricate creation. Some of the climbing structures have super narrow passages and it’s not always clear where they will emerge. Sometimes they even come out on a different floor. It’s a good idea to have a meeting place and ensure your children tell you before climbing anything new. The staff also requires everyone to wear a bracelet and writes your phone number. A great idea in case of separation.

The outside was the only part that sort of scared me. This was because my four year old got her leg stuck between the iron bars that made up one of the climbing structures. It was stuck pretty well, and we were very high up. But after a staff person helped unstick the leg, she settled down and we went on our merry way. She played in another part of the museum while her older siblings thoroughly enjoyed the crazy structures outside the building. I would highly recommend this museum for school age children, more so than toddlers or preschoolers. Though, to be fair, the youngest still had a blast despite the leg incident).

Visit Dogwood Canyon

After our day in St. Louis, we headed down to Branson, Missouri for the remainder of our vacation. This is about a 4 hour drive to the southwest. We got our geography nerd back on at Dogwood Canyon.

Dogwood Canyon is a privately owned natural area about 45 minutes southwest of Branson, MO. It has a small lodge/museum with some artifacts and information about native people and animals of the area. It also includes a restaurant where you can eat locally sourced food.

There is a babbling stream that runs through the canyon. There are also 11 waterfalls at various points falling from the top of the canyon. This creates a very picturesque setting in which to walk, bike, or take a tram ride. You do have to pay an entrance fee which is around $20/person. This gives you access to the trails and the tree house, built by the Tree House Masters.

Bike Into Arkansas

Another option is to take the tram ride, which costs $40/person. The ride takes you to a section of the canyon where there is wildlife including bison and elk. My recommendation is to rent bikes for $16. If you have little ones, they can ride along in one of the little wagons you can pull behind you. Bike the full 3.1 miles of beautiful trail, which will take you to Arkansas! And there’s your delightful, border crossing, geography nerd moment. Yes, a part of Dogwood Canyon is in Arkansas. It is the part with the wildlife. The only way to access the portion of the trail with the wildlife is on the tram ride. But, you can access the state line via hiking or biking.

So, if you’re actually trying to visit Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas all in one day, here is our recommendation. Fly into St. Louis early in the day and check out the Gateway Arch museum and the mounds. Then, drive straight to Dogwood Canyon and hike, bike, or tram your way into Arkansas. And that is how you too can achieve full geography nerd status – enjoy!

For more information on fun easy places to visit from the Mid-Atlantic area, check out this page.