The Twin Cities has quietly become a real hotel town. Three Art Deco landmark towers turned into design hotels, a converted farm-equipment warehouse in the North Loop, a century-old grand hotel still running in St. Paul, and a Marriott Tribute property in a 1929 Art Deco tower. None of these are the airport Hampton.
A 124-room hotel in a former farm-equipment warehouse, restored with the original timber beams and brick visible. The rooftop pool and bar are among the best public views downtown, and the lobby restaurant Tullibee has earned its place on the metro’s short list of serious hotel restaurants.
In the 1929 Foshay Tower, the city’s first skyscraper and a registered National Historic Landmark. The W layered its design language onto the original Art Deco bones. The 27th-floor Prohibition bar has city views that justify the elevator wait alone.
In the 1930 Ivy Tower, originally a Christian Science temple. The building’s pyramid roof is a downtown skyline fixture. Inside, the design is calm and contemporary, the spa is one of the city’s best, and the location anchors you between the convention center and Loring Park.
An Italian Renaissance grand hotel that has been hosting visiting heads of state, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and four-star travelers since 1910. The lobby is a small civic museum. Rooms are traditionally elegant. The St. Paul Grill on the ground floor is a destination in itself.
A Marriott Tribute Portfolio hotel inside the 1929 Rand Tower, with the original Art Deco lobby restored to gleaming. The rooftop pool overlooks downtown. The location is steps from First Avenue and walkable to most of the music venues, theaters, and restaurants on this site.
In the historic Milwaukee Road train depot from 1899. The lobby is the original train shed, with massive vaulted ceilings and the train tracks still embedded in the floor. Rooms are contemporary, but the public spaces transport you. The waterpark wing keeps it kid-friendly without dominating the design.
A small art-forward hotel one block off Hennepin, with a contemporary art collection rotating throughout the public spaces. The rooms are minimal in the European register, the location puts you in the middle of the theater district, and the bar consistently ranks among the better hotel bars downtown.
A Hilton Curio Collection property inside the IDS Center, the Philip Johnson tower that defines the downtown skyline. Skyway access to most of downtown, a quiet contemporary design, and one of the more reliable downtown business-traveler rooms.
On the shore of Lake Minnetonka, in downtown Wayzata. A 92-room boutique with rooms overlooking the lake, a seasonal patio that competes with anything in the metro, and an easy walk to Wayzata’s shops and restaurants. Worth the drive in summer.
A contemporary Loews property tucked into a quieter corner of downtown, with rooms that consistently feel newer and more designed than the rate suggests. The lobby Cosmos restaurant is unexpectedly serious. The pool is a draw.
A 214-room Westin inside the former Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank, a 1942 modernist landmark. The original limestone, terrazzo, and bank-vault details are still throughout the public spaces. The location splits the difference between the convention center and Nicollet Mall.
One of the newer downtown design hotels, in the former Powers Department Store building. The rooftop bar is one of the better summer drinks-with-a-view spots downtown, and the rooms feel like they were built for a city that finally caught up to its own design ambitions.