Where to Stay in Minneapolis, Minnesota

What is Minneapolis known for?

Minneapolis is known as the largest city in Minnesota and one half of the Twin Cities, paired across the water with Saint Paul. The Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden pull in art crowds. The lakes and the Mississippi give Minneapolis its shape.

A chain of thirteen lakes lies inside the street grid, linked by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, while the Mississippi River splits the city on its run south. Mills once ground grain here. The name City of Lakes fits.

What are the main landmarks in Minneapolis?

Minneapolis fills the riverfront and the city grid with museums and old churches. The Minneapolis Institute of Art holds the largest collection, while the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden pair a gallery with open-air work. Mill City Museum tells the flour-milling story on the river.

Smaller halls add depth. The Weisman Art Museum sits on the university side, the American Swedish Institute fills a south-side mansion, and the Hennepin History Museum keeps the county's record.

What is the history of Minneapolis?

Minneapolis grew up around the falls of the Mississippi River, where waterpower turned the first mills. The settlement took its shape from 1850 onward, as sawmills and then flour mills crowded the riverbanks. Grain came in from the plains.

The mills ground it into flour and shipped it out by rail and water, and the milling trade made the young city on the river. Water built this place. Mill City Museum stands in the shell of one great mill.

Across the water, Saint Paul grew as the state capital, and the two settlements spread toward each other until they formed the Twin Cities. Minneapolis became the seat of Hennepin County and the largest city in Minnesota. Rail lines tied it to the plains.

Immigrants poured in. Swedes and other newcomers built churches and halls, among them the American Swedish Institute, and gave the north side and south side their character. The flour mills eventually fell quiet.

What the river had powered, the city outgrew, turning old mill districts into museums, lofts, and parkland along the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway.

Where is Minneapolis?

Minneapolis sits near the eastern border of Minnesota, on both banks of the Upper Mississippi River. The land is flat and threaded with water. An artesian aquifer lies below.

Lakes, creeks, and wetlands break up the street grid, and the Mississippi River runs through on its way south past Saint Paul. You are never far from a lake, creek, or the river here. Saint Paul adjoins it to the east, the two cities sharing one continuous urban sprawl.

What is the climate of Minneapolis?

Minneapolis has a sharp continental climate, shaped by its inland setting far from any sea. Winters run long and snowy, and the lakes and the Mississippi River freeze hard. Summers swing the other way.

They turn hot and humid, drawing crowds back out to the water and the parks along the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Between those two extremes, spring and autumn are brief.

How do you get to Minneapolis?

Minneapolis is easy to reach as one anchor of the Twin Cities. The international airport that serves the metro sits between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, handling flights from across the country and beyond. Highways fan out from the city.

Interstate routes and rail lines cross the region, tracing the Mississippi River corridor and tying Minneapolis to Saint Paul and the plains beyond. Most visitors arrive by air or road.