Which MN city is worth visiting: Mankato or St. Cloud?

[Citykid3785]

Mankato! Nuff' said

[likethetool]

I would choose Mankato hands down. There's nothing much to see or do in St Cloud and the drive is fairly boring. I would definitely never make a special trip here.

[Feklar]

The Mankato area has very nice scenery, with the big deep wooded Minnesota River valley as well as several other valleys joining into it. I went to college there, and while it was no Boulder, CO there really was a very good abundance of nice hiking trails in the area. And the drive down, on US 169, is quite scenic. Nearby New Ulm is also in the valley and is a very charming old German town with a brewery and a large statue of the ancient Germanic hero Hermann.

It does kind of lack the sort of cultural activity that one expects from college towns. I mean, there's a quirky hippie cafe and a few other places like it, but most of the college-related activity is large blonde people getting drunk. Lots of people just go up to the Twin Cities for the weekend.

Minneopa state park, with Minneopa Falls, is a nice place to check out; there's also a smaller falls called Minnemishenoma.(?).

If you want to you can follow the "Minnesota valley scenic byway" NW from Mankato to New Ulm, Redwood Falls (dont miss Ramsey Falls park), Granite Falls, with consistently nice-to-awesome scenery, state and local parks, charming very old houses, and some interesting historical spots along the way, then loop back to the Twin Cities. Some of it is gravel, but a nice pleasant trip. If you pick one state park along the way, Upper Sioux Agency is probably the most scenic.