There is never a shortage of things to do in St. Charles, Illinois. From community events, outstanding dining options, excellent shopping, and so much more, it can be a lot to take in at times. To make discovering everything this town has to offer easier, we created the Travel St. Charles App - your resource to finding all things St. Charles. If you haven't already, downloading it is a must, and we're here to show you just how to make the most of this fantastic app.
Download and Create an Account
First things first: download the app and create an account. The Travel St. Charles app is FREE, and can be downloaded on Apple or Android products. Once you have the app loaded on your device, it's time to create an account. Creating an account is very important because it allows you to favorite activities, restaurants, shopping and more, so that you can create your very own St. Charles itinerary (we will touch on this later). Creating an account also allows you to save your progress when taking part in one of our Challenges or self-guided Tours. We recommend allowing the app to access your location, to allow notifications, and to sign up with your personal email so that you can stay up-to-date with the most current and accurate information.
Find Things to Do
Now that you have the app downloaded on your device and you've created an account, it's time to learn about all the different features. Starting off with the "To Do" tab, where you'll see all the places in St. Charles where you can take part in activity and their exact locations of where they are at. To make it even easier to find what you're looking for, there are filters that you can use that will narrow down the listings based on your interests. Whether you're looking for places involving arts and culture, parks and recreation, or salons and spas, there is certainly something for everyone to take part in and experience.
Explore Dining Options
Now that you've got some activities done under your belt, it's time to fuel up! If you need to satisfy your appetite, head to the "Eat/Drink" tab in the app menu. This tab will show all the delicious restaurants, bars, and breweries that St. Charles has to offer and where you can find them on a map. Just like on the "To Do" tab, you can find filters based on different cuisines. You can also find filters that will narrow down which places offer outdoor dining, or which spots just offer drinks. Trust us, with over 120 restaurants in St. Charles, these filters will definitely come in handy.
Discover Events
There is always an abundance of events taking place here in St. Charles, IL. Instead of spending hours scavenging the internet trying to find fun things to attend, just head to the "Events" tab on the app. Here, you'll find tons of happenings going on in St. Charles, and where they are taking place. Upcoming live music, exciting community events, and other events that businesses are hosting are just some examples of listings that you can expect to see.
Stay in St. Charles
Planning on coming to St. Charles from out of town? If this is the case, you'll need to book a room at one of the 11 lodging options in this city. The "Stay/Plan" tab lists all the spots you can rest-up at, including the historic Hotel Baker. You can also view each of the hotels on a map, so you can plan your stay close by to what you're looking to do.
Take a Tour
Not only can you find all the terrific restaurants and other things to do in St. Charles on this app, but you can also take a deep-dive into what makes St. Charles so unique by doing a self-guided Tour that are listed under the "Tours" tab. You'll find a handful to choose from, such as the "St. Charles Historic Walking Tour". This Tour will take you back in time as you explore sites throughout the town that are filled with history, by giving you directions to each stop and audio that will teach you about each location. Want to visit businesses that offer unique products created right here in St. Charles? You can take the "Made in St. Charles Tour", that will take you to all the establishments that have received our "Made in St. Charles" award, along with audio and video providing information of each of the places listed.
Participate in a Challenge
Another interactive element of the Travel St. Charles app are the Challenges, which you can find listed underneath the "Challenges" tab. This is where you'll find our popular "Brew Tour Challenge", along with other Challenges that we frequently have taking place. What makes this feature even more exciting is that a lot of our Challenges give you a chance to win prizes upon completion! For example, if you complete the "Brew Tour Challenge", you will receive an exclusive Brew Tour t-shirt! Keep in mind that if you are using an Apple product, and have Apple Private Relay enabled on your phone, we will not be able to contact you to confirm once you've completed a Challenge. Be sure to check this tab frequently and to follow us on social media to hear about any new Challenges that are happening.
Locate Spots to Park
A newer feature that was added to the Travel St. Charles app is the "Parking" tab. This tab will show you the locations of all of the public parking lots in downtown St. Charles. This is an extremely useful resource to familiarize yourself with if you're going to be spending some time downtown. Using this will allow you to spend more time doing fun activities, and less time trying to find a spot to park your vehicle.
Make Your Own Itinerary
As mentioned before, you can even make your very own St. Charles itinerary! To do this, simply click on the "Add" box that you can find when you select any listing. Doing this will save that listing that you can then view in the "My Plan" tab. This way, you can keep track of all the things you've been meaning to do in St. Charles all in one place. After you've added a handful of places to shop, spots to dine at, and activities to try, your personalized itinerary will be good-to-go! Ready to begin? Click the "Start Plan" button to get directions, by walking or driving, to each of the stops that you added. You can rearrange the order of the items selected for your itinerary to find the very best route to take.
Get More Help
If you ever find that you need a refresher on some of the features of the Travel St. Charles App, you can click on the "Tutorial" tab to find more information on the best ways to take advantage of this resource.
The luck of the Irish is coming to St. Charles! On March 11th at 2pm, head to downtown St. Charles for the St. Patrick's Parade on Main Street. There will also be an Opening Ceremony on the 1st Street Plaza at 11am, a Photo Opportunity Station, an Interactive Scavenger Hunt on the Travel St. Charles app, and sales and specials business are having. Don't forget to wear your green!