What to do in Minneapolis?

Store your carry ons at the airport. Then go to downtown Minneapolis by light rail or taxi. It’s a beautiful city set on the Mississippi River. Lots of good places to eat. The Twins and Vikings stadiums are downtown. The Walker Art Museum is highly regarded. Lots to see and do.
And the University of Minnesota is nearby.

The Mall of America is close to the airport.

Hi Donna. What are the hours of your layover? What are your interests? Shopping? Outdoors / walks? Museums? Sporting events? ???

The museum where all the Viking Super Bowl trophies are on display. Won't take you any time at all.

Posted by Sam
Green Bay
05/08/23 09:52 PM
The museum where all the Viking Super Bowl trophies are on display. Won't take you any time at all.

Rule 2- Be unfailingly polite...... Sam is "pushing the envelope" :-)

I work as a volunteer at the information booths at the MInneapolis airport. There is NO storage for luggage at the airport. Lockers were removed years ago. The only way to “store” luggage would be to check your luggage onto your first flight (assuming your two flights are on one ticket). If the second flight is on a separate ticket, you can try to check your bags early - but not all airlines will allow this. Some will only accept luggage about three hours before your flight.

There are lockers at the Mall of America, but I don't know how large they are. The Mall can be reached from the airport on the light rail system (or by taxi or Uber). The Mall is a popular layover destination and has lots of stores, some good restaurants (try the Twin City Grill), movie theaters, an amusement park and more. But ultimately it is just an overgrown suburban mall.

You can also reach the MInneapolis downtown on the light rail (or taxi or Uber). From there you could walk down to the Mississippi River. There are walking paths along it. The Stone Arch Bridge is particularly popular for walking. There is an interesting museum about MInneapolis’ milling history (Mill City Museum) along the River. The Guthrie Theater, a major regional theater, is also near the river and is open to the public. It has kind of a “bridge to nowhere “ that gives you a good view of the river.

There is a Chain of Lakes in MInneapolis, good for scenic walking and gawking at the expensive houses around them. Lake of the Isles and Lake Harriet are the nicest and could be reached by taxi or Uber. There is a nice shopping/eating area in Saint Paul, stretching along Grand Avenue.

Minnehaha Park is not far from the airport. If we have had a wet summer, there are some good water falls there and you can actually hike down all the way to the Mississippi River (and back up again). There is a popular seafood restaurant in the park - Sea Salt Eatery.

Other museums include the MInneapolis Institute of Art, the Minnesota History Center (St. Paul) and the Science Museum (also St. Paul).

Renee gave you some good ideas. The Mall of America would be the most convenient since it's just one light rail stop from the airport, but I'm not a big mall shopper so it wouldn't be my choice. I avoid it like the plague. :)

I would vote for her suggestion to take the light rail downtown and walk around. It's about a 20 minute ride and you get off at the US Bank stop, then walk towards the Mill City Museum. Visit the museum (and check out their fun gift shop) then head over to the Stone Arch bridge, which is lovely to walk across. Once you're on the other side, there are some pretty parks to walk through including the Father Hennepin park. There are lots of good restaurants in that area, too.

Thanks for all the suggestions! We arrive in Minneapolis at 11 am and the flight departs at 8:45 pm. Our luggage is checked through but we’ll each have a carryon to drag around. Our flight was originally scheduled to leave at 6:55 pm but we just received this change from Delta. Debating whether to try to change the flight or to see a bit of Minneapolis (never been there).

Some good ideas above!

If you end up at our ginormous mall, here's the info on bag storage:

https://www.mallofamerica.com/guest-services

I wouldn't think you'd have any issues finding a locker to fit your bags as this is such a common destination for long layovers. If you were history fans,,, I'd love to send you over to Fort Snelling - it's very close to the airport - but I just checked their amenities and they don't have a place to stow the bags. :O(

You could possibly rent a locker at the Mall of America and then head out somewhere else in the Twin Cities, returning to the Mall in time to pick up your stuff and get to the airport. Sometimes the TSA shuts down some of their lines in the evening, so the wait to get through security is actually longer in the evening even though the crowds are smaller. Go figure. In any case, it would be important to give yourself plenty of time to get back through security.

There is more than one stop between the airport and the Mall (as someone mistakenly stated above). The stops are:

Airport Terminal 1
Airport Terminal 2
American Blvd.
Bloomington Central
30th Avenue
Mall of America

Once on the train, it takes about 15 minutes between Terminal 1 and the Mall. It takes about 20 minutes from Terminal 1 to US Bank Stadium (downtown) or 35 minutes from the Mall to downtown. Trains run less often on weekends than weekdays.

Minnesota in the summer can be glorious and deserves a visit! But I might opt for a shorter layover rather than squeezing in such a quick visit. Totally your call!

There are 2 apps that show places (geographically random) that have agreed to store luggage, like a coffee shop or a pet grooming place, whatever, handy to know:

bounce
luggage hero

The number one attraction is probably the Minneapolis Art Institute but that is not simple by train, https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Minneapolis-Airport-MSP/Minneapolis-Institute-of-Art#r/Tram-line-11-bus. It's free (the museum, not the train).

Another top site in dry weather would be the Sculpture Garden.

Adding to above: Ft Snelling is a hike from the light rail station, about a mile, and the path is not signed, it's not in sight either. It's a good destination when open but off the beaten path, you will be the only one threading through the more recent fort buildings and under the highway trying to find the old fort. Also from Terminal 1 there are 5 stops to Mall of America, a good 15 minutes (as Renee noted above).

Tom, thank you. I’ll check out those apps!

Since you'll be there in August, I was going to suggest getting ice cream at Izzy's, but apparently they've gone out of business, boo! Question - are you arriving in MSP from an international flight? Or are you in a minimal time zone change situation? To me that would be important factor in choosing what to do (or not do) on the layover. If you need to keep awake, I'd focus on something outdoors. IMHO, the Mall of America is not a good representation of MSP at all, but it might prove most practical given the luggage situation. You could always catch a movie (though not if you're jet lagged!).

Another option is to spring for airline lounge passes and just ride it out. I did that on a long ATL layover on a return home and picked a lounge with showers - heaven.

If they were to try Snelling, I'd have recommended an Uber or Lyft.

If it fits your schedule you could check into these walking tours and learn a bit about Minneapolis' history - it's an interesting one. You could take the light rail to the Mall and store your bags, then take it downtown if it's convenient. I don't know anything about this company but their schedule just popped up on my FB feed (I'm in a few Mpls groups though I no longer live there).

Thanks everyone for all the helpful info! We’ll be flying home from Reykjavik.

flying home from Reykjavik

I see, a forum regular did this run on Delta from Cleveland to Iceland via MSP, within the last 2 years.

This is not the time to carry on your main bags on principle, if you can check your bags all the way through that's really worth doing here, unless you are trying to stand by on an earlier flight.

Fort Snelling is a good idea since it is so close, see https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling free for tribal members and vets, reduced admission if 65+. An Uber/Lyft would be $5 plus tip coming back, going there there's a fee of about $5 more for airport pick up. 5 minute drive at most. There are train then walking directions on the main website. There is no food in the area. If this interests you then get something to eat at the airport first, exit immigration for CONNECTING passengers into the secure airside area of Terminal 1 using your Cleveland boarding pass, then eat, then exit the secure area for the train. There's no food landside at the terminal AFAIK so don't go down the escalators and outside.

Here's the link to the main art museum https://new.artsmia.org/ I would get there via train to Nicollet then transfer to the 11 bus, which goes right to the corner by the museum entry (east side). There's a cafe. No more than an hour door to door.

You only have time for one of these, they close at 4 or 5.

The sculpture garden is free but at the modern art museum (Walker), http://walkerart.org/visit/garden/ open till Midnight. Could do after the other art museum, or just see the Walker and the sculpture garden. I don't believe there's a cafe.

I was stuck in Minneapolis for a day in January, but only had a backpack with me so I carried it around. I took the light rail train downtown and took a tour of the US Bank Stadium where the Vikings play and then took the train the other way to the Mall and wandered for a few hours and ate at Cantina Laredo which was a surprisingly good Mexican restaurant. I do remember seeing lockers right inside the doors to the mall where the train drops you off.