Forest Park is located in the center of St. Louis on 1,326 acres (5,370,000 sq. m) of land, and the park is so huge, that it can be somewhat hard to comprehend its dimensions, when viewing and describing the vast parklands. Forest Park is stunning.
The park opened to public in 1876, and it hosted several important events, including the 1904 Summer Olympics. Nowadays there are many attractions in the park: St. Louis Zoo, History Museum, Art Museum, Boathouse (restaurant and boat rentals), The World's Fair Pavilion, Visitor and Education Center, to name a few.
The park grounds are well maintained, the information on various sites, directions and services is clearly displayed, multiple hiking and biking trails are popular with visitors, and pets are very welcome to enjoy the park. Tennis courts, golf course, handball and volleyball courts are available for visitors activities.
The World's Fair Pavilion (opened in 1910) on the Government Hill of the park offers some spectacular views of the lakes, prairies and wetlands.
Many cultural events are hosted by the park -- the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, various music festivals, the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, flower shows, outdoor concerts. About 13 million people visit this grand park every year.
We spent about an hour in this fantastic park, walked around, explored the grounds, talked to some local visitors, who all love this park -- we, too enjoyed our visit to the beautiful Forest Park very much!