Campgrounds in or around St. Louis MO

I have to disagree on the Casino Queen being "nice". It may be convenient, but I have never been made to feel more unwelcome and I would rather park in a Walmart lot for free.

We were traveling with children and wanted to see the Arch. This looked like a good place to stay with amenities like pool, playground, full hookup, etc.

It is literally a parking lot with oval spots of gravel that have each site's hookups. One side of the park has small trees planted in these gravel spots and I'm sure it will be shady in about 20 years. The dog area is along the fence but you have to walk across the large blacktop parking area to get to it. Not good on paws on a warm day. Look up the areal view on google maps.

The train and metro noise was loud, but not really an issue for sleeping because we had windows closed and air on.

When we checked in we tried to use the confirmation number from making the reservation online and the lady basically said we didn't do that on their website because they aren't set up to take online reservations. She was really rude about it. Moments later, she received a call from the hotel with our name and reservation info. She never apologized for her rudeness.

This attitude continued through the whole check in process (card didn't go through even though it worked online and throughout the rest of the trip. She wouldn't retry it, so now we are waiting to see if there are two charges.)

There was a sign saying "We appreciate families, but children aren't allowed on the shuttle or in the pool at the hotel." I spoke with another person in the RV MiniMart and she said that had changed in April. She seemed nice but wasn't typically working in the RV part of the complex and wanted to know where the sign was located. It is right outside of their shower rooms and is a 2" x 3" sign on a stand. She apologized and said the kids could go to the pool and that the sign would be removed. It was still there the next day. I feel bad for people who just follow the rules without questioning a sign like this.

Son-in-law took our granddaughter and our daughter to the pool while DH and I had dinner at the casino (good, but very slow service - almost 2 hours to have dinner.) and they were almost turned away because his name wasn't on their records even though he had the access key. We weren't asked the names of the people staying with us at check-in, but that certainly could have avoided this.

The pool was tiny and the kids were fussed at by staff for playing too loud and jumping in. They were doing normal kid things at the pool getting some exercise after a day on the road. Nothing obnoxious and not diving or running. I get that there are rules, but they really don't seem set up to welcome RV kids and families. If they don't want families as customers, they should say this is an adult only park.

All in all, very disappointing for $53. The park was almost empty, so no problems with barking dogs. That is my only positive. Of course, a Walmart lot at night would give me the same experience.

We won't stay there again. We also stayed at the St. Louis Historic Route 66 KOA near 6 Flags. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. I **DO** recommend that park.

cuivere river is steep but we love the campground we usually go there at least twice a year. so you have my vote

Wow! I guess we entered Babler the wrong way. We had no steep narrow roads. We're from Missouri and have been to many state parks. We've also lived in Michigan and not all roads are flat and straight.

2gypsies, the roads into many of Missouri's state park campgrounds ARE steep as compared to Michigan's flat roads. Thinking of Babler, Bennet Springs, Cuivre River, and Sam Baker as examples.

I know there are sites for big rvs with electric but they were all taken and we had to take the only site left. The road leading up to the campground from the office area is steep and narrow. Sometimes you have to stay in an area that you could not plan in advance. We were lucky to get a site and that was due to the kindness of the camp office attendants.

Regarding Babler...we didn't encounter any narrow steep roads to get to the park???? If you look at the web site online and look at the campground map, the site #13-36 are for big RVs and all have electric. We easily got our 40' motorhome in the sites.

Don't try for any of the others unless you have an RV under 28'.

Also, on the web site, look at the photo gallery. They show the big sites.

Edmund Babler State Park CampSite List

Edmund Babler State Park Main Site

We stayed at Babler it is a beautiful park. The roads are winding and hilly. It is a climb on a narrow road into the campground. It is best to call for a reservation especially if you have a long rv total length with tow vehicle. Some roads the turn around is too small for a long rig. We took the only site available and it was very difficult almost impossible to get into since we could not do the turn around. Also good to know is that all sites do not have electric. Still it is a beautiful park with friendly helpful park staff in a beautiful area. It is located behind the airport so if you are there for an air show it is a convenient place to stay.

Was there this year and stayed at the Casino Queen RV park and recommend it. Casino Queen shuttle on call to the RV park takes you to the Metro Link Station and the first stop on the Metro Link is the stop for the Arch. We took it the second day to Forest Park and picked up a Forest Park trolley from there to the St. Louis Art Museum. If you are wanting to see the Arch and all that Forest Park has to offer can not believe that there is another place that makes it as convenient as the Casino Queen.

We used Cahokia RV Parque across the river in Cahokia, IL back in '09. It was o.k.; I think there are better choices in the area. We were there only for two nights and it was handy to downtown St. Louis.

Major renovation of the Arch grounds. The Arch is open but the visit now will not be as enjoyable as at another time. Babler State Park is an excellent suggestion. I think fall of 2015 is the when the work is to be completed.