Cheapest cities from St Louis?

[CarolynG]

Hi everyone! My husband and I won 2 nights hotel stay in a promotion that have to be used by June 25. We live closest to St Louis. We don't have a lot of money to spend, so we have to keep the expenses as low as possible. I know we can get to Chicago for as low as $24 each way, but the stupid promotion doesn't guarantee you can go to your city - you have to give an alternate choice. The key attraction to Chicago, besides the Amtrak fare, is the massive public transportation system so we can do sightseeing and such without renting a car.

So what's another really cheap city from St Louis? My husband is a farmer so we have to go as late as possible (June 14 preferably) so I can't use the SmartFare thing which requires travel within a month.

Thanks!

 

[thully]

Kansas City is the one that obviously comes to mind. Other than that, I'm not sure - it might be helpful to look at the routes that go through STL (Missouri River Runner, Lincoln Service, and Texas Eagle) and see if you see any points of interest. If you wanted to go a bit farther, you could go overnight on the Texas Eagle to Dallas/Fort Worth, but that would be definitely more costly than CHI. There's plenty of small towns between STL and CHI/KCY as well, but not sure what of interest there is to see there...

In any case, I don't think any city relatively close is going to have any kind of public transit near what they have in CHI - while they have some transit in Kansas City, it's just a basic bus system. Dallas and Fort Worth may have more (there is some light rail in Dallas), but still nowhere near what you have in Chicago (and there's NO public transit in Arlington, which is where the Texas Rangers/Dallas Cowboys play - largest city in the US without public transit). To go somewhere else with really good public transit, you'd pretty much have to go all the way to the east coast...

 

[tubaia]

I would second Kansas City, at about $28 per person each way. While they don't have the public train system Chicago has, there are plenty of places to see near the station, depending on where your hotel is. Also, most big cities have good bus systems, and many hotels have shuttles that may either get you where you want to go, or at least get you close enough to walk.

In the same thought direction, Milwaukee could be another option for about $47 per person each way.

However, if it were me, I'd choose Chicago, unless you've "been there-done that" too many times. There is so much to see and do there, and pretty much everything is accessible with the trains, buses, trolleys, and walking.

 

[thully]

Yeah, Milwaukee would be another option - didn't really occur to me because it would require a train change in CHI. However, CHI-MKE is a really quick trip, and trains run frequently on that route. So if you had to do a closer/cheaper trip, I'd look at Kansas City or Milwaukee (or maybe Dallas/Fort Worth if you were willing to pay that much and ride overnight).

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I'd take a shot at Milwaukee as well. While I haven't been there in a while, it is a lot like Chicago but on a smaller scale. When I was growing up in Chicago, Milwaukee used to have Summerfest, but right off the hand, I'm not sure if that still goes on or when.

 

[dart330]

Hermann, MO is a great town to visit. Lots of B&Bs, two wineries, a brewery, & downtown are all walkable from the train station. They also recently started running a shuttle service around town. www.hermanntrolley.com

 

[guestshelzp]

I'd go to Springfield because there's always plenty to look at there and the amtrak station is right downtown.

 

[CarolynG]

Hermann, MO is a great town to visit. Lots of B&Bs, two wineries, a brewery, & downtown are all walkable from the train station. They also recently started running a shuttle service around town. www.hermanntrolley.com

We live about 20 minutes from Hermann. lol I think we found a solution, and we're dumb to have not thought of it immediately. We looked at all of the other IL hotels this promotion offers and one of them, Wood Dale, has public transportation almost right to it - it says you have to walk .2 miles. so that's our alternate city! DUH! Thanks for your input!

 

[thully]

Yeah, it looks like Wood Dale has a Metra train to downtown Chicago, though that is somewhat infrequent (particularly on weekends - I don't think it runs after 5pm or so). There may be some Pace buses, but those tend to have more limited weekend service as well. Just something to look out for...

 

[Ozark Southern]

I would second Kansas City, at about $28 per person each way. While they don't have the public train system Chicago has, there are plenty of places to see near the station, depending on where your hotel is. Also, most big cities have good bus systems, and many hotels have shuttles that may either get you where you want to go, or at least get you close enough to walk.

Kansas City is not "most big cities." KC does NOT have a good bus system. Although from the map it appears they have most places covered, the maps can be misleading. Most routes have 30min frequencies at best, and more than a few, even of the "tourist routes," have hourly frequencies all day. Outside of the downtown core, the majority of routes have their last run around 6PM, and Sunday service is skeletal. Even as much as we like the train, the only time we have ever taken Amtrak to KC was during the gathering, when we were only planning to visit Union Station. Otherwise, we drive to KC every time.

 

[thully]

That's pretty bad - basically sounds exactly like the bus system here in Ann Arbor, though KC is 4 times as big! If its truly that bad, probably not the best option unless you plan on renting a car or taking cabs everywhere.

Anyway, if you have to give a second choice for city, I might look and see if any Chicago suburbs with decent public transportation are included. Wood Dale (which you mentioned) has Metra, but that's basically a once-every hour or two service (though it does run later on weekends, contrary to what I initially saw). If any Chicago suburb with L service (or even reasonably-frequent CTA bus service) is an option, that is probably your best choice. Otherwise, maybe look at some of the other options...

 

[CarolynG]

That's pretty bad - basically sounds exactly like the bus system here in Ann Arbor, though KC is 4 times as big! If its truly that bad, probably not the best option unless you plan on renting a car or taking cabs everywhere.

Anyway, if you have to give a second choice for city, I might look and see if any Chicago suburbs with decent public transportation are included. Wood Dale (which you mentioned) has Metra, but that's basically a once-every hour or two service (though it does run later on weekends, contrary to what I initially saw). If any Chicago suburb with L service (or even reasonably-frequent CTA bus service) is an option, that is probably your best choice. Otherwise, maybe look at some of the other options...

IF we are stuck with the "alternative" option we'd only need to get from there to Chicago in the morning then get back there in the evening. Sounds like a lot of you know chicago and suburbs fairly well - I've never been there - this Google map has markings for the other choices for hotels http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212081632784496503820.0004bf36aeb71c161a66b&msa=0

Galesburg, Lansing, Mattoon, Oak Brook, Schaumburg, Tinley Park, and Wood Dale. are any of the others a better choice in terms of getting back and forth?

THANK YOU!

 

[Shawn Ryu]

lol @ Schaumburg as a good place to visit,

 

[CarolynG]

lol @ Schaumburg as a good place to visit,

I don't know the first thing about it - just that it's on the list of free hotels in this promotion. lol

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

The TE is actually on of the cheaper LD trians, at least in a Sleeper. You could do this train if you had the time and money. Otherwise, I would do CHI.

I can input that Schaumburg appears to be the HQ of Motor Coach Industries, but that's all I know about it.

Edit: typo

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Schaumburg is a GREAT community and home to Woodfield Mall. Yet is still has the traditional "town square" complete with a Lou Malnati's Pizza. But it is very spread out and has fairly limited transit options once you get off the Metra.

 

[thully]

Mattoon and Galesburg are nowhere near Chicago (they're in the same state, but that's about it). The others are somewhat close, but may have limited transit (particularly depending on where you stay). Being near a Metra would be nice - they are somewhat infrequent, but would work if you plan to stay in the city pretty much all day. There is also the Pace bus system in the suburbs - I think most (if not all) of the Chicago suburbs you cited probably have a stop, but service can be spotty. Personally, I'd head over to Metra and Pace's web sites and look at the schedules for those cities...

Also, doing an LD trip on the Texas Eagle might be worth considering, if you were willing to commit the extra time and money. Going to Dallas/Fort Worth would be an overnight run in both directions, so despite being significantly farther than Chicago it wouldn't be too much of a time commitment since most of the travel occurs overnight

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Schaumburg is a GREAT community and home to Woodfield Mall. Yet is still has the traditional "town square" complete with a Lou Malnati's Pizza. But it is very spread out and has fairly limited transit options once you get off the Metra.

Its a decent place to live but honestly what is there to do at a suburban community?

 

[Donctor]

Schaumburg is a GREAT community and home to Woodfield Mall. Yet is still has the traditional "town square" complete with a Lou Malnati's Pizza. But it is very spread out and has fairly limited transit options once you get off the Metra.

Its a decent place to live but honestly what is there to do at a suburban community?

Visit relatives. That's about it.

 

[oldtimer]

Tinley Park is also a reasonable choice as it is on the Metra Rock Island Division here is the web page for that Division

http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/ri/schedule.html

I believe that most of the hotels in the area will have a shuttle to take you to the Metra Station. Downtown Tinley Park is very interesting in itself and there are some great places for everyday food!