Things to do in Minneapolis (The Mini-Apple)

I can’t take credit for the clever Mini-Apple line… I saw it on a billboard on the side of one of the highways here in Minneapolis, but I thought it was funny so I thought I would give you a laugh!

So, what is there to do in Minneapolis? I am happy to share some of my highlights!

1. Let’s start with the obvious, The Mall of America. I have spoken with plenty of locals here who opt to never go to the mall or maybe take a trip once a year, but most leave it to the tourists to fill this massive attraction. I decided to take a trip one night to see it for myself. Let me tell you, this place is bigger than anything I had ever pictured, even after looking through the website and seeing all the attractions listed.

I arrived around 7 o’clock at night thinking the hour and a half I had before closing time would be plenty, boy was I wrong. It took me an hour, at a fairly quick pace, to make it around 1 floor. So just know that if you plan on seeing a significant amount of the mall or enjoying a few of the attractions, you should probably set aside a significant portion of your day to visit.

When I walked in the first thing I noticed was the massive Nickelodeon amusement park in the center. I had heard that there was a roller coaster inside the mall, but this was a legitimate amusement park! There were multiple rides, different games, and no part of it felt like a cheap carnival, which is kind of what I had expected.

I noticed there was a very good mixture of small boutiques, large brand names, high-end brands and everyday brands. Whatever you want, you can find it here. I stopped in one of my favorite splurge stores and did some retail therapy of my own, grabbed some ice cream to-go and decided I would have to come back to get the full experience.

I ended up taking another, more thorough trip before I left and I was still as amazed as the first trip. They had the Nickelodeon amusement park, a Legoland, 2-3 different mini-golf courses, an aquarium, a huge movie theatre, and even a few mystery activities like a mirror maze, and an escape room. Made me think maybe the hotels attached to the mall were worth the cost.

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2. PARKS! I know this is never the most exciting item on a list of things to do. However, I noticed that everywhere I went there seemed to be a park on ever corner. I am not talking about the small little corner parks with a swing or two thrown in it, like beautifully landscaped parks with trails and playgrounds and some with the option to fish! After doing some research into all the different park options, I decided to visit Minnehaha Falls. I expected to have to take a bit of a hike to find the namesake fall but as soon as you walk into the park, BOOM, there it is and while it is small, it is beautiful and a surprising find in the middle of a large city.

3. Another park, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It seemed that on every list of things to do, this park was the first thing listed, the first photo you see etc. so I had to take a look. I went after work one day and took a stroll through the park. By no means is this a time consuming outing but would be the perfect place to have a lunch picnic or to lay a blanket down and just relax.

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The art is interesting, some pieces may seem random but then there are others like the tree full of wind chimes that are somehow so breathtaking. There are also some smaller sculptures along the pathways that are more abstract but seem to have more explanation behind them.

4. I didn’t think I was going to include any restaurants on this list because there are so many different places and not nearly enough time to try them all. However, I talked to one of the locals and I was told about a chef named Ann Kim who had just won the James Beard award for the midwest region only a few days before my arrival. She owns two restaurants in the Minneapolis area called Young Joni and Pizzeria Lola, I figured I had to try them both.

While they both share a lot of the same menu items, they are both very different vibes. Young Joni is a more upscale venue and a perfect place for a date night or for a dinner with out-of-town guests while Pizzeria Lola is a great lunch spot with a cute patio and a much more laid-back vibe.

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As far as the food goes, I didn’t try anything I didn’t like, and believe me, I went back more times than I would like to admit. I tried the La Parisienne pizza at Young Joni’s as well as the Church Basement Cookie and Bar Plate, both were phenomenal. At pizzeria Lola’s I had the Old Reliable pizza, the Iowan pizza, the Margherita pizza, and the My Sha-Roni, each and every one were delicious and fresh. I also tried the DIY Ice Cream Sandwich which was nothing fancy but satisfied my sweet tooth nonetheless.

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5. Last but not least, and probably my favorite activities of my trip, the zoos! You have two options to visit some furry, and not so furry friends in the Minneapolis area. The first zoo I visited was the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.

The Como Zoo is known for being the first zoo in the state of Minnesota and does not require any admission fees. However, a $3 donation is suggested at the door. I am hoping that I went at the exact wrong time as the zoo only had about 50% of the animals present and none of the food vendors were operating either except for their small cafe inside the entrance.

The ostriches definitely caught my eye as they were both so playful. The bird on the left loved to play with the visitors and when she got bored of that, she quickly ran over to her friend and started picking on her instead. You read that right, two feisty women left to co-habitat haha. The gorillas and the orangutans were all pretty active as well. I got a kick out of the mommy orangutan who always had to have at least one hand on her baby at all times.

There is also a fully functioning amusement park on-site for all the kiddos to enjoy with rides and games. The park did seem to be in full swing while I was there. The conservatory on the other side of the grounds was surprisingly beautiful. There are not many brightly colored flowers except for in the sunken garden room, but there is a spice garden which was pretty educational and an extremely peaceful Japanese garden as well.

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Your other zoo option would be to go to the Minnesota Zoo. Adult admission is $18 and parking is $7. This zoo is worth every penny. While this zoo also had construction work going on and they were also clearly in their off season, they still had most of the animals available.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours walking around the park and that was without taking time to really stop anywhere for too long and I also didn’t grab any food. However, at least I had more options for food here. I got to the zoo around opening time which seemed to be perfect as the animals were either freshly fed or up waiting for their turn to eat which in turn gave me some very active animals to see. The otters were my favorite as they swam around and collected ice pieces to chomp on during their morning swim. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a good photo of them as they were so quick!

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The set up of the park was awesome as they had all the animals separated by “trails”. You could walk through the tropics to find different monkeys, birds, a crocodile and even some flamingos. or go down the Minnesota trail to see a beaver, porcupine and wolves! There was definitely no lack of animals, with tigers, leopards, bears, and wild horses to see.

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If you are deciding between the two, and you have a decent amount of time, I would 100% suggest spending your time and money at the Minnesota Zoo but it is an awesome opportunity to be able to go to a zoo, any zoo, for free.

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Some thing to note about Minneapolis:

1. People will either be going 20 MPH over the speed limit, or 10 MPH below the speed limit, there is no in-between.
2. Directions around each activity are basically non-existent. Good luck finding the entrances, or parking or specific attractions within the parks.
3. The people I have met here are some of the nicest people and I look forward to going back!