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Old 07-27-2013, 08:08 PM
 
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Hello,

My husband and I are visiting the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for a few days at the end of August and I wanted to get some advice.

1. Do we need to rent a car? We'll be renting one for a few days later in the trip as we'll be driving up to Duluth but I'm wondering if it's necessary for us to rent one while we'll be in the Twin Cities. What's the public transportation like? Are there cool/"can't miss" places that we wouldn't be able to get to without a car?

2. Any suggestions regarding where we should stay? Are hotels less expensive in St. Paul?

3. Any recommendations about neighborhoods, parks, sights, museums, etc. that we should check out? We'll only be in town for a few days. It can be fun to do touristy stuff but we both like going off the beaten path a bit.

A few things about us...my husband and I are in our late 30's/early 40's. We like to walk, check out different neighborhoods and "people watch." We also really enjoy history and parks. We've traveled quite a bit and live in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area so we're used to being in large cities.

Thanks-any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
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Old 07-28-2013, 05:16 AM
 
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I would rent a car if you are only going to be here a short time. Transportation is ok, no where near as good as you have in DC and you will spend a lot of time waiting and finding public transportation if you want to do off the beaten path type things. Traffic here is minimal compared to DC so driving isn't an issue.

"Must do things" vary but most people like to hit the Mall of America, Walker Art Museum, Spoon/Cherry Sculpture, maybe go into downtown to see a show at the Guthrie. Driving or walking around the lakes is popular because it's a unique feature for a big city to have, or the entire state for that matter. Fort Snelling is a living history museum, best seen on weekends, that isn't far from the airport/Mall of America area.

Summit Ave. in St. Paul is a popular place to visit to see the houses.

I personally like to get out to many of the smaller towns around Minneapolis and St. Paul but you might not have time for that.

Hotels are less expensive in the suburbs than in Minneapolis or St. Paul proper. If you do rent a car I would suggest staying in Eagan, if not, get a hotel along the light rail line, maybe in Bloomington near the Mall of America if you want to save some money. Otherwise, there are hotels in Minneapolis that aren't that expensive, not like you find in the DC area. You should be able to find a nice hotel in Eagan or Bloomington for $100/night or less.
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Old 07-28-2013, 02:05 PM
 
Location: MN
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I would only suggest staying downtown Mpls or St Paul or both. You can people watch, walk everywhere and get by without a car because the light rail runs from the airport to downtown Mpls. You can rent bicycles all over town too. Take a cab or bike to Uptown and walk/ride around Lake Calhoun, Isles and hangout on a patio in Uptown and people watch! You could take the light rail from downtown Mpls to Minnehaha falls park, its a pretty cool urban waterfall with walking/biking paths going all over and upstream for miles and around all the lakes connected to Minnehaha creek. If you do rent a car, a trip to Stillwater is worth it, it's the states oldest town with a popular downtown area.
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Old 07-28-2013, 02:19 PM
 
Location: Salinas, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wamer27 View Post
I would only suggest staying downtown Mpls or St Paul or both. You can people watch, walk everywhere and get by without a car because the light rail runs from the airport to downtown Mpls. You can rent bicycles all over town too. Take a cab or bike to Uptown and walk/ride around Lake Calhoun, Isles and hangout on a patio in Uptown and people watch! You could take the light rail from downtown Mpls to Minnehaha falls park, its a pretty cool urban waterfall with walking/biking paths going all over and upstream for miles and around all the lakes connected to Minnehaha creek. If you do rent a car, a trip to Stillwater is worth it, it's the states oldest town with a popular downtown area.
I would also agree that the Uptown area and especially Lakes Calhoun, Isles and Harriett would be fun. If you run out of time for that, you could always take a walk/bike ride around the smaller lake/large pond (by MN lake standards anyways!) in Loring Park at the west edge of downtown which would be easy walking or bicycling distance from a downtown Minneapolis hotel.

Another good walk would be across the river on the Stone Arch bridge which has no motor vehicle traffic. That will take you to the St. Anthony Main area with cobblestone sidewalks and a large brick building with some good places to eat and drink while taking in a skyline view.
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Old 07-28-2013, 03:06 PM
 
Location: Salinas, CA
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Stillwater may be a good choice as the last place to see on your Twin Cities trip before heading north to Duluth. From Stillwater, you can then take scenic route 95 north along the St. Croix River and then it will be easy to reconnect to route 35 north to Duluth. Once in Duluth, popular attractions are the Canal Park area, Park Point beach, the Glensheen Mansion and the beautiful Split Rock Lighthouse about 25 miles north of the city.
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Old 07-28-2013, 05:35 PM
 
Location: Columbus OH
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1. Transit in the Twin Cities pales relative to DC and even Baltimore, but the bus system is pretty decent and could take youmost places you'd want to go. The single LRT line links MOA, the airport, Minnehaha Park and downtown Minneapolis. Another option is The Nice Ride, which now covers much of Mpls and St.Paul proper, offering a biking option through one of the most bike friendly cities in the country.
https://www.niceridemn.org/

2. Where to stay depends on if you decide to rent a car. If you opt to rent a car, centrally located suburban areas would include Bloomington, Eagan or St. Louis Park (i-394). But if you can find a decent deal downtown, that might be nice too.

3. Areas to check out:

A. Downtown Mpls:
i. Riverfront with Stone Arch Bridge, St Anthony Falls, Guthrie Theater's
Endless Bridge observation area(great view of riverfront and you don't even need a ticket to a play), Historic Main Street (on east side of river, across from dwtn). East Hennepin area has a several interesting restaurants (nyes polonaise, kramarczks, pizza nea).
ii. Core: IDS Crystal Court, Nicollet Mall (especially thursdays for farmers market), Foshay Tower w top floor observation deck & museum (it's design was inspired by Washington Monument, now cool art deco W hotel), Skyway system during a weekday, First Avenue club (if you like any of Mpls's musical heritage: Prince filmed Purple Rain here), Hennepin Ave Theater District, Target Field (nice to see even if there isn't a game, if you're a baseball fan).
B. Uptown Mpls & Lakes District: Try to walk or bike around one or two lakes: Calhoun & Harriet are the most popular, although Lake of the Isles has beautiful homes around it). Lake Harriet has the Rose Garden, the bandshell and an old fashioned streetcar that will take you to Lake Calhoun. Uptown has lots of restaurants, bars and shops, focused at hennepin & Lake, but extending west to the lakes, east to Lyndale (another cool area to see is Lyn-Lake) or north toward downtown.
C. Other interesting neighborhoods: Kingfield, between Nicollet & Lyndale primarily between 38th & 48th streets, nice homes from the 1910s& 1920s, w. interesting indie restaurants on Nicollet or intersperced throughout neighborhood (46th & grand, 38th & Grand).
Eat Street: a large collection of diverse ethnic restaurants along Nicollet between 24th & 28th Streets. This is located just west of Mpls Institute of Arts, which has a very comprehensive collection of art.
Dinkytown: Just a small student oriented business district, but offers places to eat or drink if you happen to walk the campus of the uof m, which has a nice mall ala university ofVirginia.
Linden Hills: cute neighborhood just west of Lake Harriet w village like commercial district at 43rd & Upton. Get ice cream at Sebastian Joes. There's a quirky museum on the SW shore of Lake Calhoun, The Bakken, which has displays on electricity, Frankenstein, and herb gardens Bakken Museum
Grand Rounds: the best way to see Mpls is to bike (or drive) the parkways that extend from the lakes district to Minnehaha Parkway to Minnehaha Park (w. the famous waterfall, at least famous in the upper midwest and in the 19th century when Longfellow wrote a poem about the falls) to the mississippi River parkway to downtown. Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway Home Page.
C. St. Paul: Downtown has Rice Park, an elegant urban square ringed with several beautiful buildings, Lowertown, focused on Mears Park and including apts in converted warehouse buildings and a great farmers mkt. Grand Avenue and Summit Avenue are also well worth seeing for the old mansions on summit and retail on grand.
The State Fair is also going on during the 10 days prior to Labor Day. The Mn State Fair is one of the best in the country and is well worth a day or half day visit. It's located in Falcon Heights in NW section of St. Paul.
D. Other areas: Stillwater, a historic & beautiful little city w a nice downtown, along the St. croix
Lake Minnetonka: you can enjoy it by driving along the bays, biking the trail (the St bonifacious trail which starts in wayzata), or riding the historic Minnehaha trolley boat The Museum of Lake Minnetonka - Home of Steamboat Minnehaha

Anyway, enjoy your visit!
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Old 07-28-2013, 07:25 PM
 
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Thanks for all of the suggestions-I appreciate it! I'm really looking forward to our trip.
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Old 08-01-2013, 11:55 AM
 
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End of August? By all means, visit the State Fair!
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Old 08-01-2013, 04:02 PM
 
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Default State Fair

I'd love to visit the State fair during my upcoming visit but have a foot that is bad from a botched surgery. I can walk a couple of blocks but after that it becomes much more painful. I can and will bring my folding bike but I guess you cannot use a bike on the fair ground due to the people walking.

Do they happen to have any shuttle that circles around the area or other means to help those that have to limit their steps?
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Old 08-01-2013, 04:19 PM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,135,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jben View Post
I'd love to visit the State fair during my upcoming visit but have a foot that is bad from a botched surgery. I can walk a couple of blocks but after that it becomes much more painful. I can and will bring my folding bike but I guess you cannot use a bike on the fair ground due to the people walking.

Do they happen to have any shuttle that circles around the area or other means to help those that have to limit their steps?
I'm pretty sure you can rent a motorized chair at the fair.

http://www.mnstatefair.org/general_i...ssibility.html
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