Get Thee to Totality: St. Louis

On April 8, 2024, the moon’s shadow will completely cover the sun for around three and a half minutes. The last total solar eclipse to travel across the United States was in 2017, and it won’t happen again for another 20 years. To celebrate, Atlas Obscura is throwing an out-of-this-world eclipse festival featuring four days of music, science, art, and wonder. The path of totality is quite narrow, and our festival site near Hot Springs National Park offers a chance to see the eclipse in its full glory.

To join us, you’ll need to do two things: get yourself a ticket, and get yourself to Arkansas. There are few things we love more than a good road trip, so we’ve put together a series of guides for getting to Hot Springs while exploring some fascinating places along the way.

Making your way to Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic Festival from St. Louis? The 400-mile drive will take about six and a half hours. Along the way, you can visit the Budweiser Clydesdales, see a billion-gallon lake in an underground cavern, and pay your respects at the lonely grave of a man and his horse.