The Twin Cities has more park acres per capita than almost any major American city. The Chain of Lakes inside Minneapolis. The Mississippi River through the heart of both downtowns. A 51-mile loop of bike paths called the Grand Rounds. Two states’ worth of hiking and paddling within an hour of downtown. This is the section for what to do once you have eaten and shopped your way through the rest of the site.
Four interconnected lakes inside the city of Minneapolis, ringed by paved paths, public beaches, and the kind of small-town green-space access that makes other American cities jealous. Walk, run, or bike the loops. A summer afternoon on Lake Harriet is one of the great unposed Minneapolis experiences.
A 5.5-mile former railroad cut converted to a dedicated bike-and-pedestrian path running across South Minneapolis from the Mississippi to the Chain of Lakes. Lit at night, plowed in winter, fully separated from car traffic. The closest the metro gets to a real urban bike highway.
A 51-mile loop of paved trails, parkways, and lakefront paths circling the city of Minneapolis, designed in 1883 by the same firm that planned New York’s Central Park. One of America’s great public-park engineering accomplishments. Pick any segment and ride it.
The 1883 Great Northern stone bridge across the Mississippi at Saint Anthony Falls is the central pedestrian artery of the riverfront. Walk it from the West River Parkway across to Saint Anthony Main and you have done one of the city’s essential public-space loops.
Seasonal rental concessions at Lake Harriet, Bde Maka Ska, and Como Park renting paddle boats, kayaks, paddleboards, and bikes by the hour. The simplest way for a visitor to get on the water in the metro. Memorial Day through early October.
A 53-foot urban waterfall in a 193-acre regional park along the Mississippi gorge. Free, walkable, with the Sea Salt Eatery pavilion for lobster rolls in summer. The waterfall freezes in spectacular ice formations in February if you want to see something genuinely strange.
The largest park in Minneapolis, with a beach on Wirth Lake, a wildflower garden, mountain bike trails, cross-country ski tracks in winter, and the J.D. Rivers’ children’s garden. Quietly the best big-park experience in the city.
A 384-acre St. Paul park with a free zoo, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, an 18-hole public golf course, a swimming lake, and a Japanese garden. The kind of multi-purpose city park that almost does not exist in America anymore.
A 35-minute drive east of St. Paul, Stillwater is a 19th-century lumber town on the St. Croix River with a walkable downtown, antique shops, two boutique hotels with river views, and one of the best small-town day trips out of the metro. Worth a Saturday.
An hour northeast of the metro, where the St. Croix narrows between basalt cliffs into one of the most dramatic landscapes in the state. Hiking, paddling, and the historic Taylors Falls boat tours. The fall color is one of the great drives in the Midwest.
The Twin Cities bike-share system, now operated by Lyft. Stations across both cities. Day passes are the simplest way for a visitor without a bike to get around the lakes, the river, and the Greenway. App-based unlock, drop at any station.
A 14,000-acre lake just west of Minneapolis with a network of public beaches, marinas, and the kind of summer-day infrastructure that explains why people in the metro are loyal to summer. Wayzata and Excelsior are the two best entry points if you do not have your own boat.
A small but unforgettable park designed by Tom Oslund in 2007, with a spiral mound rising from the riverbank between the Guthrie Theater and the Mississippi. Walk to the top for one of the best free skyline views in the city. The mound has become a small Minneapolis pilgrimage in its own right.
A lifeguarded public swimming beach on the south end of Bde Maka Ska, with sand, picnic tables, paddleboard rentals, and a steady summer crowd. The most accessible city-lake swim in Minneapolis.
A swimming beach on Lake Harriet paired with the historic 1986 bandshell that runs free concerts almost every summer night. Bring a blanket, swim, eat ice cream, listen to the show. As Minneapolis-summer as it gets.
A 30-minute drive east of the metro, the St. Croix is one of the most paddleable rivers in the upper Midwest, with multiple outfitters running canoe, kayak, and tubing rentals. Swimming holes downstream of Taylors Falls are summer Minnesota at its best.