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Minnesota Travel Guide

Minnesota — Where to Go

Top Things to See

Walker Art Center
Tour the Walker Art Center (www.walkerart.org) and enjoy contemporary art exhibitions, concerts and lectures. The center also features an impressive Outdoor Sculpture Garden, the largest of its kind in the USA. It is open year round.

Minnehaha Falls
Visit Minnehaha Falls, made famous in Longfellow's poem, TheSong of Hiawatha.

Landmark Center
View the Landmark Center (www.landmarkcenter.org), which houses the Minnesota Museum of American Art (www.mmaa.org), once the Federal Court House. Its distinguished history includes the trials of several famous 1930s gangsters such as John Dillinger and ‘Machine Gun' Kelly. Take the Gangster Tour to visit well known haunts.

St Louis County Heritage & Arts Center
Tour the St Louis County Heritage & Arts Center, known locally as The Depot (www.duluthdepot.org). This former Union Railroad Depot houses exhibits by four different museums, and is home to five performing arts organizations.

Split Rock Lighthouse State Park
Visit the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park (www.mnhs.org/places/sites/srl). It preserves one of the most scenic lighthouses in the USA, built after 29 ships carrying iron ore on Lake Superior were shipwrecked in a single storm in 1905.

Mississippi River Visitor Center
Stop by the Mississippi River Visitor Center a collaboration between the National Park Service and the Science Museum. The Great River Road that runs south from the Twin Cities to the Iowa border offers magnificent views of the river and the many bird species, including the American Bald Eagle that migrate along this route.

Top Things to Do

Shop at theMall of America
The Mall of America (www.mallofamerica.com) is the largest entertainment and retail complex in the USA. Attractions at the Mall include Camp Snoopy (the largest indoor theme park in the USA), the LEGO Imagination Center and Underwater Adventures, a 5.4-million-liter (1.2-million-gallon) walk-through aquarium.

Play atSpirit Mountain
Play at Spirit Mountain (www.spiritmt.com), a year-round holiday and outdoor recreation center close to Duluth.

Take a road trip down North Shore Drive
Travel the spectacular North Shore Drive (www.lakesuperiordrive.com) (US Highway 61) following the north shore of Lake Superior for 240km (150 miles) from Duluth to the Canadian border. It was designated an ‘All American Road' for its unique, scenic beauty.

Stay in one of Mississippi's resorts
Stay at one of the major resort areas such as the towns of Bemidji, Brainerd, Detroit Lakes, Grand Rapids and the Lake Mille Lacs area.

Take in a Broadway show
The Twin Cities offer more theaters than any other US metropolitan area outside New York City, with more than 100 theater companies. Broadway shows and theatrical events are performed at the restored Historic Orpheum Theater, Historic State Theater and the Historic Pantages Theater in the Hennepin Theater District (www.hennepintheaterdistrict.org) in downtown Minneapolis.

Explore the Superior Natural forest
Canoe in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (www.bwca.cc) in the Superior Natural Forest.

Winter sports
Enjoy winter sports offered in abundance due to the state's strategic northern location. Skiing, ice-skating, sledding, ice fishing, dog sledding and snowmobiling are all available.

Minnesota Attraction Guides