Things to Do in Alton, IL: Bike In From St. Louis, Fish on Your Missouri License
Revised November 5, 2026
What are the best parks in Alton, Illinois?
Start with Gordon F. Moore Park: 704 acres, a 13-acre fishing lake stocked by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and a rose garden with 1,600-plus bushes and a carillon. Riverview and Haskell parks host the Alton Municipal Band in summer, Rock Spring Park becomes Christmas Wonderland in winter, and Russell Commons Park is where the MCT Confluence Trail begins.
Keep reading ↓Your Missouri fishing license works on the Illinois bank at Alton. Keep it in your wallet, clip in at the Illinois end of the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, and feel the wind come straight up off the river as the water opens wide below you.
Most St. Louisans have never heard either half of that sentence. The Missouri Department of Conservation’s reciprocal chart lists the Mississippi with Illinois and says properly licensed Missouri anglers may fish from the bank of either state, as long as they follow the rules of the state they’re standing in. And Madison County Transit lists a 3-mile extension from its Confluence Trail to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge that connects with the Riverfront Trail in St. Louis. So you can pedal to Alton from the St. Louis riverfront and cast a line off the Illinois bank without buying a thing at the counter. That’s the line to text the friend who says there’s nothing over there.
Then stay for the evening. A trumpet tunes up in the Riverview Park gazebo, folding chairs scrape on the grass, a cooler lid thunks shut, and some kid is already marching in circles before the first note. On summer Thursdays the full Alton Municipal Band plays that gazebo at 7:30 p.m., and on Sundays it moves to Haskell Park, near the Lucy Playhouse, at 7. The City of Alton puts the band past 130 consecutive seasons of summer concerts. Most guides to Alton never get to the gazebo. They send you to the bluffs, and you drive home having seen the town through a windshield.
Alton is one of the small towns around St. Louis where the locals keep a very different list from the one online. This guide follows theirs: the parks, the water, the lights, the trail and the square where Lincoln stood.
What are the best parks in Alton, Illinois?
Start with Gordon F. Moore Park: 704 acres, a 13-acre fishing lake stocked by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and a rose garden with 1,600-plus bushes and a carillon. Riverview and Haskell parks host the Alton Municipal Band in summer, Rock Spring Park becomes Christmas Wonderland in winter, and Russell Commons Park is where the MCT Confluence Trail begins.
Each park does a different job. Pick by season, not by star rating.
Gordon F. Moore Park sits at 4550 College Ave., and the city says there is no charge to visit. Most people only see the ball fields from the road. Keep going. The rose garden has roughly an acre of ground and over 150 varieties, and it blooms from late May or early June until the first hard freeze of fall. Walk in on a warm evening and the air is heavy and sweet before you even see a bush. The carillon there normally plays every half hour, and the carillon guild gives a concert every Sunday at 5 p.m. from Memorial Day through the end of September. Bring a chair and let the bells roll over the roses.
The fishing lake sits right beside the Oriental Garden and its waterfall pond, which is the trick for a mixed group: the people who fish get the bank, and everybody else gets the sound of falling water and a slow loop of the garden. The park is open daylight to dusk.
Riverview Park and Haskell Park are the band parks, and they are the reason to come on a summer weeknight. Rock Spring Park is quiet for most of the year, just trees and a winding road, then lights up for the holidays, which gets its own section below. Russell Commons Park is where the Confluence Trail starts: lock the car, check your tires, and the levee is right there.
When you leave, the Clark Bridge carries you back over the water. If you want the story behind that span and the others you drove across, our guide to bridges in St. Louis tells it.
Your Missouri fishing license already covers the big river
The cold comes off the Mississippi first, before the sun clears the trees, and the rocks along the bank are slick under your boots. That’s where most St. Louis anglers stop and wonder whether they need to buy an Illinois license. For the river itself, the Missouri Department of Conservation says properly licensed Missouri anglers may fish the Mississippi’s flowing waters and from the bank of either state.
Read the fine print once, though, because it has teeth. MDC says you must abide by the regulations of the state where you are fishing, and by the most restrictive of the two states’ rules when you fish the other state’s waters. The deal covers the river, not the lakes. The stocked lake in Gordon F. Moore Park is not the Mississippi, so the river deal does not reach it. The Missouri Department of Conservation’s reciprocal fishing page spells it out, and it’s worth a fresh read before each season.
Before you cast: carry your Missouri license, read the MDC chart the night before, and look up the Illinois limits for what you plan to keep. If an Illinois rule is unclear, MDC lists the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at 217-782-6302. Ask before you keep the fish, not after.
Want to see the river do its heavy lifting? Our guide to Melvin Price Locks and Dam covers the lock and the museum beside it. Curious what else has swum up this stretch? Our story of sharks in the Mississippi sorts the real ones from the hoaxes. And if you would rather stay on the Missouri side, the fishing lakes the next county over make an easy swap.
The trail that runs from Alton to St. Louis
Gravel pops under the tires, the levee rises on one side, and the river slides past on the other, wide and brown and in no hurry. The MCT Confluence Trail runs 20.5 miles from Russell Commons Park in Alton to the McKinley Bridge along the Mississippi River, on a mix of asphalt, oil-and-chip and rock.
Points of interest along the way include the National Great Rivers Museum and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Where to start: Madison County Transit lists parking at Russell Commons Park and the National Great Rivers Museum in Alton, and at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge on the Illinois side, so you can begin at either end. Pick the bridge if you want to ride north into Alton, Russell Commons if you want to ride south toward St. Louis. MCT’s trail connections include that 3-mile extension to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, plus a McKinley Bridge bike lane that reaches the southern edge of the Riverfront Trail. In winter, MCT says, the trail may bring a sighting of an American bald eagle.
Heading the other way, upriver toward the bluffs, is a different trip entirely. If you’d rather do it by car, our guide to the Great River Road from Alton to Grafton has the stops, and the things to do in Grafton pick up where the road ends.
Where can you see drive-through Christmas lights in Alton, IL?
Headlights off, windows down a crack, the car crawling at walking pace while the trees around you blaze. That’s Christmas Wonderland in Rock Spring Park. The Alton area tourism bureau describes it as a display of 4 million-plus lights that opens the day after Thanksgiving and runs through late December.
The best part is who builds it. The display is put together over several months by the “Grandpa Gang,” a group of retirees and volunteers. Getting in is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per vehicle, cash only, and donations go toward local charities and organizations. Bring cash. It’s the one thing families forget. Have a box of old strings in the basement? You can donate lights to the Grandpa Gang by calling 618-463-1070.
One display rarely satisfies a lights family. Alton’s Madison County neighbor runs its own season, so see what Edwardsville does in December, and our guide to drive-through Christmas lights around St. Louis covers the Missouri side.
How to spend one Alton day from St. Louis
Here’s a day that uses everything above and wastes none of it. It works best on a summer Thursday or Sunday, when the band is playing.
Morning, on the water. Get to the river early, when the light is flat and gray and the only sound is the current against the rocks. Check the reciprocal rules on the MDC page the night before, put your Missouri license in your pocket, and fish from the bank. If someone in the car wants the easier bank, take them to the stocked lake in Gordon F. Moore Park instead, and buy the Illinois license that water needs.
Midday, on the trail. Leave the car at Russell Commons Park and ride south on the Confluence Trail. You do not have to do all 20.5 miles. Ride out until your legs say turn around, and ride back with the river on your other shoulder. The wind is usually different coming home, so save a little.
Late afternoon, in the roses. Drive up College Avenue to the rose garden. On a Sunday from Memorial Day through September, the carillon concert starts at 5 p.m. Sit on the grass, close your eyes, and let the bells and the roses do the work.
Evening, at the gazebo. Eat downtown, then carry a chair to the band. Thursday means Riverview Park at 7:30. Sunday means Haskell Park at 7. Either way, the music carries across the grass as the heat finally breaks, and the drive home over the Clark Bridge comes with the river going dark below you.
Winter version: swap the roses and the band for Christmas Wonderland after dark, with cash on the dash and the heater on low.
Making a whole day of the river? Drive the Great River Road next
Stand where Lincoln and Douglas argued
Downtown, two bronze men face off at Lincoln-Douglas Square, and you can walk right up and put a hand on the bronze. The National Park Service lists the seventh and last Lincoln-Douglas debate in Alton, on October 15, 1858. An Illinois State Historical Society marker says a crowd estimated at between five and ten thousand people gathered in front of the old City Hall to hear the two candidates. The bronze statues were commissioned by the Alton-Godfrey Rotary Club.
Planning a band night, a lights run or a ride up the levee? Line up dinner first with St Louis Near Me Directory’s where to eat in Alton guide, and keep the Alton city guide handy for addresses and phone numbers.
If you run the bait shop, the bike rental, the diner or the gift shop in Alton, the people coming off that trail and out of those parks are hungry and ready to spend. Put your Alton business in front of those customers while they are still deciding where to go next.
Just upriver, there is eagle watching in Godfrey for the cold months.
Frequently asked questions
Where to fish in Alton, IL?
Two places. The 13-acre lake in Gordon F. Moore Park is stocked by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and needs an Illinois license. The Mississippi itself is the other, and a properly licensed Missouri angler may fish its flowing waters and from the bank of either state under the reciprocal agreement, following the stricter of the two states’ rules.
What river runs through Alton, Illinois?
The Mississippi. Alton sits on its Illinois bank, and the MCT Confluence Trail follows the river south from Russell Commons Park toward the McKinley Bridge.
Is Alton, IL worth visiting?
Yes, if you plan by season. Summer has band concerts in the park gazebo and carillon concerts in the rose garden, the river trail runs all year, and winter brings Christmas Wonderland’s 4 million-plus lights in Rock Spring Park.
What is Alton, Illinois famous for?
History and the river. Alton hosted the seventh and final Lincoln-Douglas debate on October 15, 1858, and bronze statues of both men stand at Lincoln-Douglas Square downtown. It also sits on the Mississippi, with a riverside trail that links toward St. Louis.
Did Abraham Lincoln live in Alton, Illinois?
No. The only home Lincoln ever owned is in Springfield, now the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. Alton is where he debated Stephen Douglas for the last time, in front of the old City Hall.
What are some fun activities for kids in Alton?
Walk the Oriental Garden and its waterfall pond in Gordon F. Moore Park, fish the stocked lake, ride a flat stretch of the Confluence Trail, or catch a summer band concert in Riverview or Haskell Park. In winter, the drive through Christmas Wonderland is the big one.
What are some fun activities to do in Alton?
Fish the Mississippi from the bank, ride the Confluence Trail south along the levee, hear the carillon in the rose garden on a summer Sunday, or bring a chair to a band concert in Riverview or Haskell Park. In winter, drive through Christmas Wonderland in Rock Spring Park.
Is there anything to do in Alton?
Plenty, once you skip the windshield tour. Bike in from St. Louis on connected trail, fish the river on your Missouri license, listen to the band in a park gazebo, smell the rose garden in June, or drive through millions of lights hung by retirees.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.