St. Louis on the cheap

ST. LOUIS — The French who founded this city in 1764 left instructions for having a good time. The Germans brought the beer, built the brick mansions and got things organized. Henry Shaw, inspired by the gardens of his native England, created a magnificent botanical garden. The Italians gave us The Hill neighborhood of tidy working-class homes and terrific restaurants, bakeries and specialty food shops.

Waves of immigrants who followed — and keep coming — have left their own cultural and epicurean footprints, most notably along South Grand Boulevard, where they transformed a dying urban neighborhood in the 1970s into a vibrant restaurant destination of Vietnamese, Persian, Afghan and Ethiopian cuisine.

The result is a city of bricks and beer, baseball and bowling, history and grand parks, with good eats and abundant cultural offerings. St. Louis is even listed as one of the "50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places" to travel and live.

The best part? Most of this can be savored on the tightest of travel budgets.

"People think we're a sleepy town with not much to do," city tourism spokeswoman Donna Andrews said. "When they get here, they rave about the destinations. So many of the cultural attractions are free and world-class. They can have a grand experience here without taking out a loan."

MUSEUM-ZOO TAX DISTRICT: Thanks to a tax approved in 1971 to support cultural attractions, visiting St. Louis' treasured Forest Park is free, including the zoo, art museum, science center and the Missouri History Museum. Depending on the season, Forest Park offers trails, boat rentals, bicycling, golf and tennis; hay rides; ice skating, tobogganing and cross-country skiing. For a buck, you can visit The Jewel Box, an Art Deco greenhouse.

(In late May and early June, there was a free, outdoor performance — every night except Tuesday — of "The Merry Wives of Windsor," the 2009 edition of the annual Shakespeare Festival in Forest Park.)

Hop over to the Muny Opera — the nation's oldest and largest outdoor musical theater — by 7 p.m. and get in line for some of the 1,500 free seats available at every summer performance (June 15-Aug. 9).

For more on Forest Park, go to stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark.