If you ask me why I decided to visit Minnesota, the honest answer is: my 50 States marathon made me do it. But like I always say after these detours, I’m so glad I did. Left to its own devices, no one would have ever put Minnesota on my list, and that would have been a genuine loss. Let me explain why.
Sometimes the USA scrambles my brain with its geology. Imagine finding a giant swamp in a state that’s buried under snow for the better part of eight months a year. Some corners up north are so remote there’s barely a trace of human presence, and yet they hold an ecosystem I’d normally associate with the tropics. Reading about northern Minnesota is what got me curious, and once I saw the landscape, how the entire top of the state is essentially one enormous bog stitched together by lakes, I was sold.
This is exactly what I did over three days: one national park, one state-park-and-waterfall detour, and a full day soaking up the Twin Cities. If you’re planning a summer trip to Minnesota and want an itinerary that feels doable instead of exhausting, this is your starting point.
Getting to Minnesota from Seattle
The good news is that the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, have a solid airline presence, so getting there isn’t the ordeal you might expect. We found direct flights from Seattle for about $450 round trip per person. Not exactly cheap, but this is Minnesota we’re talking about, and I was just relieved to skip a layover in some connecting airport at 6 AM.
We took a morning flight out of Seattle and landed at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) by 2 PM. That left us enough of the afternoon to knock out our first stop on the same day instead of writing off Day 1 to travel, always a small win in my book.
Tips to Plan Your Minnesota Trip
There are two national parks you can pair with a Minnesota trip: Voyageurs National Park, which sits right up in northern Minnesota, and Isle Royale National Park, which technically belongs to Michigan but is far easier to reach from the Minnesota side. Yes, a lot of people actually prefer the Minnesota route over the Michigan one purely for convenience, and it’s popular with locals in summer because that’s the only window when Isle Royale is even accessible.
Our first pick was Isle Royale too, but we were late to the party, every ferry slot was already booked. If Isle Royale is your goal, start planning as early as spring. The park is near Grand Portage, roughly a 5-hour drive from MSP airport plus a short ferry ride. Go the traditional way through Copper Harbor (Michigan), and you’re looking at a 7+ hour drive and an hour-long ferry instead. Speaking from experience, because I made exactly this mistake, book the boat before you book anything else.
If you’re more of a city person, you can easily spend a day or two in St. Paul (the state capital), its twin Minneapolis, or Duluth up on the shore of Lake Superior.
Minnesota is also stacked with state parks, and the waterfalls are genuinely stunning, just don’t expect the glacier-fed turquoise blue of the PNW. I’m flagging this because a lot of people get thrown by the brown, tea-colored water. That’s not pollution; it’s tannins. This is marshy, boggy country with loose soil, and the falls run the color of strong chai. Gorgeous in their own right once you stop comparing them to Washington.
So an ideal trip looks like this: one national park + a city + a few interesting spots along the way. That’s exactly what we built our three days around. Let me know in the comments if you’d like help mapping out your own version.
Our Stay in Minnesota
Since Voyageurs National Park was both our farthest destination and the most time-sensitive stop, we decided to base ourselves close to the park rather than backtrack every night. We stayed at the Quality Inn & Suites in Virginia, Minnesota, about an hour’s drive from the Kabetogama Visitor Center.
Like every other Quality Inn & Suites I’ve stayed at, this one was clean, comfortable, and did exactly what it needed to, a warm bed and a hot breakfast after a long day on the water. You can check out the video of my room here.
My Detailed Itinerary: Things to Do & Food Spots
Here’s everything we did, day by day, starting from the moment we landed at MSP. I’ve also put together two separate deep-dive guides, one detailed guide to Voyageurs National Park, and one on the Top Things to Do in the Twin Cities, so I’ll keep those sections lighter here and link you over for the full breakdown.
Day 1: Jay Cooke State Park & the Drive to Virginia
Lunch at Jimmy’s Bar & Lounge
After landing in Minneapolis, we grabbed a late lunch at Jimmy’s Bar & Lounge, nothing fancy, just a hearty, no-fuss meal to fuel the drive north. Sometimes that’s all you need before three hours in the car.
Caribou Coffee
We started our day with a much needed coffee stop and what better place than Minnesota’s classic Caribou Coffee. It’s the state’s homegrown answer to Starbucks. Grabbing that cup felt like the right way to start our journey in the North Star State.
Jay Cooke State Park
Our first real stop was Jay Cooke State Park, just southwest of Duluth. The star here is the swinging suspension bridge over the St. Louis River, where the water carves through slabs of ancient, tilted slate that look almost man-made in how neatly they’re stacked. It’s the kind of landscape that makes you stop and go, “wait, how did this happen?”, which, if you’ve read this far, you know is my favorite kind of landscape.
The river runs that classic northern-Minnesota tea-brown, foaming over the rock like something out of a nature documentary. We wandered the trails near the bridge, took our photos, and then pointed the car north toward Virginia for the night.
- Where: Jay Cooke State Park, Carlton (about 20 minutes from Duluth)
- Good to know: Minnesota state parks require a vehicle permit, around $7 for a day pass or $35 for the annual, valid across all state parks. Worth the annual if you’re park-hopping like we were.
Day 2: Voyageurs National Park
This was the heart of the trip, and it deserves its own full write-up, so check out my detailed Voyageurs National Park guide for the complete play-by-play.
Voyageurs is a water-based park, which is what makes it so different from almost anywhere else. You don’t really drive through it, you get out on the lakes. We spent the full day exploring by boat, and it completely reframed what a national park visit can look like.
We did the Grand Tour, the park’s signature ranger-led boat trip, which glides you across the big interconnected lakes and out to some of the spots you simply can’t reach on foot. The highlight for me was the Ellsworth Rock Gardens tour, a quietly magical place built by one man, Jack Ellsworth, over decades on the north shore of Kabetogama Lake. Terraced flower beds and hundreds of balanced-stone sculptures, all in the middle of the wilderness.
We also stopped by the Rainy Lake Visitor Center, the best jumping-off point on the park’s north end for maps, ranger tips, and orientation. For snacks and supplies, we pulled into Jim’s Ash Trail Store, a proper northwoods pit stop where you grab your drinks, jerky, and whatever you forgot to pack. I somehow always end up grabbing “one extra for later.” It’s never actually for later.
We wrapped the day with dinner at The Dam Supper Club, a classic Minnesota supper club where the portions are generous and nobody’s in a hurry. Exactly what you want after a full day on the water.
Good to know: Voyageurs has no entrance fee, but the ranger-led boat tours do cost extra (roughly $40–$60 per adult depending on the tour) and sell out in summer, book ahead. Check current rates and schedules on the National Park Service site before you go.
Day 3: Pattison State Park & the Twin Cities
On the drive back south toward the Twin Cities, we broke up the trip with one more waterfall stop.
Pattison State Park
Just across the border in Wisconsin (near Superior), Pattison State Park is home to Big Manitou Falls, at around 165 feet, it’s the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin and one of the tallest east of the Rockies. Same tannin-brown water, thundering down a rocky gorge framed by pines. A quick, worthwhile detour that costs almost nothing but a Wisconsin day pass.
Then it was on to the cities. I’ve got a full Top Things to Do in the Twin Cities guide, but here’s the run of what we packed into the afternoon and evening.
Minneapolis and St Paul
- Harriet Island Regional Park – Right across the river from downtown St. Paul, this riverfront park gives you the postcard skyline view and a mellow place to stretch your legs after the drive.
- Cathedral of Saint Paul – A stunning bit of French Beaux-Arts architecture in downtown St. Paul, and a nod to the city’s deep French roots, St. Paul was named after the apostle by a French missionary, and that heritage still shows up in the churches and street names.
- Minnesota State Capitol – The gleaming white-marble capitol, crowned with one of the largest self-supporting marble domes in the world. Even a quick stop is worth it for the exterior and the golden Quadriga statue out front.
- Minnesota History Center – If you want the why behind everything you’ve been driving past, the fur-trading voyageurs the national park is named for, the logging era, the immigrant waves, this is where it all clicks into place. A great rainy-afternoon backup, too.
- Mall of America® – You can’t do Minnesota without at least acknowledging the Mall of America, the largest mall in the country, complete with an indoor amusement park. It’s gloriously over the top. We went more out of curiosity than shopping ambition, and honestly, an indoor roller coaster in a shopping mall is very on-brand for a state that spends half the year frozen.
Dinner at Cadillac Ranch
We closed out the day with dinner at Cadillac Ranch restaurant in Mall of America. This casual American comfort food, big portions, and a lively vibe. A relaxed way to toast the end of a road trip.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I had a genuinely great time exploring Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Voyageurs National Park. And yet I left with that familiar feeling that I’d only scratched the surface, there’s so much of this state I still haven’t touched. I’d love to come back and give the cities their due, especially Duluth, Superior, and Bemidji up north.
Minnesota surprised me, and it’s not often a state I visited “just for the marathon” leaves me plotting a return trip. If northern lakes, tea-colored waterfalls, and a good supper club sound like your kind of summer, trust me, this one’s worth it.
Have you been to Minnesota, or is it still on your list? Drop your favorite spot (or your questions) in the comments, I’m always happy to help plan. And if you want the deep dives, check out my full Voyageurs National Park guide and Top Things to Do in the Twin Cities. Follow along on Instagram @backpackingwithmylens for real-time trip updates.
