Rink recommendations needed - St. Louis, Naples, St. Augustine

[RoaringSkates]

I'll be doing a bit of travelling over the next two months. I may have some time during each trip when I can skate if I can find a convenient skating rink. So I ask for your recommendations for ice rinks in or near:

- St. Louis, MO, where I'll be end Sept/start Oct, probably staying near the convention center if there is one, at some sort of Marriott. I'll have no car, so the rink would have to be in-town.

- Naples, FL, where I'll be in mid-Oct. I'll have no car. I'm staying on the beach at the LaPlaya.

- St. Augustine, FL, where I'll be in mid-Sept. I'll have a car for this trip, so anywhere nearish is fine.

Are there rinks? If there are, are they any good?

Thanks!

[Michigansk8er]

The closest rink to Naples is Teco.........it's right off of I-75 between Naples and Ft. Meyers. It's probably not going to be all that convenient to get to from La Playa, if you don't have a car. Enjoy your trip though!!!!! I LOVE the Naples area.

[Lurking Skater]

If you're staying in downtown St. Louis (sounds like you are) and can't get out to the suburbs, you're not going to have much luck in finding a rink, at least that time of year. There are a lot of good rinks here, but they're all in the metro area, not the actual city.

[RoaringSkates]

Thanks. How about the Brentwood Ice Arena? How far is that from the downtown area? Is it nice?

Are there subways or busses, or is taxi how you get around without your own car?

[Lurking Skater]

I would say that the Brentwood Arena is about 10 miles or so outside of downtown. With the usual traffic that always seems to be there, it should take about 15 minutes to get there.

As far as the arena goes, I guess it would depend on what you cinsider nice. It's not fancy. It's actaully part of the recreation complex, so the ice arena is rather small. There's one ice surface and a small area, with benches and a couple of vending machines. The actual ice is nice. They close the arena every year for a month and completely redo the ice surface, from the sand up. I can't remember ever skating on bad ice there. That's where St. Louis Skating Club's (my club) based at.

There aren't subways in St. Louis, but there is the MetroLink, which runs from the airport all the way to Scott AFB in Illinois. It stops at the main attractions and is a good way to get around, especially for sightseeing. There's also busses and taxis that you can use.

I hope this helped!

[Mel On Ice]

I will echo what Lurking said, if you are looking for something in the immediate downtown StL area, you are out of luck. Even the rink in Forest Park is not easy to get to from where you are, and that won't be open until the end of November at the earliest. I don't even think there's a rink you can get to from the Metrolink.

Brentwood is the closest; then Webster Groves, Creve Couer. If you're hoping to stick close to downtown, don't be tempted to find Kirkwood, Chesterfield Valley, the Mills, North County or St. Peters (although we'd love to have you!)

[Sylvia]

Hey I used to take the MetroLink and/or Bi-State bus or Galleria shuttle to the Brentwood rink all the time when I lived in the Central West End of St. Louis! :) I just did a quick check on the Bi-State web site and can't seem to find the bus routes I used to ride to Brentwood, hmmmmm. I'll post again if I find the info.