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Historic riverboat cruises are back on the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis, with the Riverboats at the Gateway Arch launching their 2025 season and a revitalized waterfront café helping to turn the city’s storied riverfront into a destination once again.
A New Season on a Historic Stretch of the Mississippi
The Riverboats at the Gateway Arch opened their 2025 cruising season on March 6, restoring daily St. Louis Riverfront Cruises along the downtown stretch of the Mississippi River and bringing renewed life to a waterfront that has seen waves of reinvention over two centuries.
Operating from the cobblestone levee beneath the south leg of the Gateway Arch, the paddlewheel-style vessels offer what remains the only regularly scheduled cruise experience from the heart of downtown St. Louis. One hour sightseeing trips trace the working riverfront, spotlighting the sweeping skyline and the landmark Eads Bridge while narrating how this bend in the Mississippi helped shape American commerce and migration.
The restart of the season also signals a broader shift in how the riverfront is being used. After decades in which flood control projects and highway construction walled the city off from its river, recent investments in Gateway Arch National Park and adjacent public spaces are slowly stitching the river back into St. Louis’s everyday life, with the cruise operation positioned as a key draw.
Themed Voyages Bring Hidden Riverfront Stories to Light
Beyond standard sightseeing trips, the 2025 schedule leans heavily into themed cruises designed to unearth lesser known stories of the Mississippi and the surrounding neighborhoods. Evening Skyline Dinner Cruises pair live music and a chef-driven menu with commentary that highlights the evolution of the riverfront from fur trading outpost to industrial hub and nightlife strip.
Specialty sailings, including history focused excursions developed in partnership with local cultural institutions, aim to connect passengers with chapters of St. Louis history that are often overshadowed by the Gateway Arch itself. Narratives range from Indigenous trade networks and the early French colonial period to the rise and fall of legendary entertainment boats and floating restaurants that once lined the levee.
Music themed voyages, such as blues and DJ driven party nights, nod to the city’s role in shaping American popular music and to vanished venues that once crowded nearby Laclede’s Landing. For many passengers, these cruises serve as both a moving classroom and a nostalgic look back at a riverfront that older residents remember as a dense strip of clubs, diners, and dance halls.
Paddlewheel Café Reimagines Waterfront Dining
Complementing the return of riverboat operations is the Paddlewheel Café, billed as St. Louis’s only true riverfront dining destination. Located directly on the riverboat dock, the open air café is set to reopen for the season on April 4, serving made to order burgers, sandwiches, salads, and shareable snacks to both ticketed cruise guests and walk up visitors.
The café offers a rare chance to linger at the water’s edge in downtown St. Louis, with views that stretch from the Arch grounds to the industrial river channel. A dockside bar pours draft beer, cocktails, and soft drinks, while shaded seating areas give day trippers and office workers a place to eat within sight and sound of passing towboats and barges.
Seasonal programming at the café, including Thursday evening happy hours slated to return in May, is part of a broader push to keep the riverfront active beyond traditional sightseeing hours. By anchoring food, drink, and casual gathering space directly to the dock, operators are betting that more locals will begin to see the levee as a place to meet friends, not just a departure point for out of town visitors.
Gateway to a Wider Revival of River Tourism
The renewed emphasis on downtown cruises arrives as national interest in Mississippi River travel continues to climb. Regional and long haul cruise operators have expanded itineraries that include St. Louis as a port of call or turnaround city, positioning the Gateway Arch riverboats as a natural starting point for visitors curious about the river but not yet ready for a multi day voyage.
Local tourism officials say that short riverfront cruises, paired with the café and the adjacent museum at Gateway Arch National Park, help tell a more complete story of how the city’s past and future are tied to the waterway. They argue that a visible, everyday river presence is essential if St. Louis is to compete with other river cities that have spent heavily on waterfront promenades and recreation.
The combination of themed sailings, historic storytelling, and simple pleasures like a cold drink at the water’s edge may also answer a long running local question about why more is not made of the downtown riverfront. With boats back in the water, lights on at the café, and a slate of cruises aimed at both residents and tourists, St. Louis is wagering that the Mississippi can once again feel like the city’s front porch rather than its back door.