St. Louis was definitely on the must-see list for a while. Driving into the city, visitors can glimpse the impressive Gateway Arch from quite a distance, beckoning for guests to come closer and check it out.

Standing at 630 feet wide and 630 feet tall, this is the largest arch in the world and the tallest monument in the U.S. Besides being a modern marvel built in the early 1960s, the Gateway Arch is simply a cool American icon. Celebrating westward expansion and revitalizing the city’s riverfront years ago, it remains a well-visited monument by a diverse population of fascinated travelers.

Anyone can visit the outside and enjoy snapping photos of the shiny façade as the sun moves across the sky. However, those interested in going up inside the arch will need to buy advanced tickets (in most cases), and access the entrance which is underground.

There is lots to see inside the visitor center. A museum, a virtual reality experience, a café and food court, and a fantastic gift shop, are all accessible underground.

For ticket holders who wish to travel inside the beast, you will have to follow signs to the right after entering, go through security, and line up according to the car number you are assigned. Then, mini doors open, and you take one of five seats available per car. With glass doors, we could see the inner mechanics of the structure pass by as we were lifted almost to the top of the arch. Once the car doors open, visitors exit and climb a few stairs to the very center where they spend about 15 minutes enjoying the amazing views from the windows at the top. From this vantage point, guests can see the circular-looking entrance on the ground in front of the structure, the old courthouse directly in front of that, and the ball field just off to the left.

Hotels in the area can be pricy, but I stayed at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark and was so glad for that choice. Everything was within walking distance, there was a great restaurant on the ground floor, a Starbucks right by the entrance, and a rooftop lounge where you have impressive views of the arch when it’s lit up about 30 minutes after sunset each evening.

For anyone interested in spending time near the water, there are also tickets for a boat tour you can purchase to get a water view of the area, or you can book a short helicopter tour to get a birds-eye view of the landscape.

I was fortunate to have amazing weather during this trip so the pictures of the arch did the structure justice. This is one of our great monuments, vastly different from any other, and I’m so happy I could stand at its base and peak and feel small inside this large country.