Minneapolis does autumn on a surprisingly small footprint. Within a few miles of downtown you can walk a lake shore, stand at the lip of a waterfall, and look down into a river gorge, all under a canopy that goes gold and scarlet in about a fortnight. The only hard part is timing it — and knowing where to stand when you get here.
Here is how fall color usually runs in the Twin Cities, the six places worth walking, and a Georgian mansion in Loring Park to come home to when your hands get cold.
When do fall colors peak in Minneapolis?
For the Twin Cities metro, colour generally arrives late — the state turns from the northwest corner down toward the southeast, so Minneapolis is usually one of the last places in Minnesota to peak. Expect the good stuff somewhere between the last week of September and the middle of October, with the exact week set by that year’s weather. Sunny days, cool nights and a decent growing season make for the brightest leaves; an early hard freeze or a windy stretch can cut the show short.
The most reliable way to plan is the Minnesota DNR’s Fall Color Finder, a map updated through the season that shows how far along the leaves actually are, region by region — its slider runs from September 1 all the way to November 7, which tells you something about how long the window really is. If you want the botany behind it, the DNR also explains why leaves change colour.
Practical advice: book a room for a weekend in the first half of October and treat any colour before that as a bonus. And check the map a few days out so you know whether to point yourself at the lakes or the river.
Loring Park: the easiest fall walk downtown
Loring Park is the one you can do in slippers. It is a block from our front door, it wraps a pond with a fountain, and the path around it is flat, lit and about three quarters of a mile. The elms and maples along the north edge colour early, and the skyline sits directly behind them, which is why this is the shot everyone ends up taking.
Walk it in the other direction and the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge carries you over the interstate to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and the Walker — a fifteen-minute stroll from mansion to Spoonbridge, most of it under trees. In late October the park is also on the route of plenty of people heading to and from downtown events, so it never feels empty after dark.
Minnehaha Regional Park and the Mississippi gorge
Minnehaha Regional Park is the classic autumn photograph in this city: a 53-foot waterfall dropping into a wooded limestone glen that turns almost entirely yellow. Take the stairs to the bottom, then follow Minnehaha Creek down to where it meets the Mississippi. The gorge trails here run through the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a national park unit that runs straight through the middle of the metro — a fact that surprises most first-time visitors.
Go on a weekday morning if you can. On a peak Saturday the parking lot fills by ten.
The Chain of Lakes and Lake Harriet
Bde Maka Ska, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Lake Harriet are strung together by paved paths, and the Lake of the Isles shoreline in particular is lined with old mansions and older oaks. It is roughly a ten-minute drive from Loring Park, or a longer and prettier bike ride. Lake Harriet has the bandshell and the rose garden; Lake of the Isles has the quiet.
Theodore Wirth, the Quaking Bog, and where the colour lasts longest
Theodore Wirth Regional Park is the biggest park in the city and the one that feels least like a city. The tamaracks in the Quaking Bog turn a strange, beautiful rust colour weeks after the maples have dropped, which makes this the place to go if you have arrived late. The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary is here too, though it closes for the season each autumn — check the park board’s hours before you drive over.
What else is happening in Minneapolis this fall
Leaf season overlaps with the busiest stretch on the city’s calendar, which is good news if you would rather not spend an entire weekend looking at trees. The Twin Cities Marathon runs October 3 and 4 and takes over a good stretch of the parkway system — beautiful to watch, worth knowing about if you are driving. Then the month tips into Halloween and spooky season, which we take personally around here.
For the rest of it — museums, dining, the theatres and the things that do not depend on the weather — our outdoor activities guide is a reasonable place to start planning a weekend.
Where to stay for a fall colour weekend in Minneapolis
300 Clifton is the Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion, an 1880s Georgian Revival house on the National Register and, by most accounts, the finest Georgian architecture in Minnesota. It is a block from Loring Park, walking distance to the Walker and downtown, and a short drive from every park above — which means you can chase colour all day and still be back in time for a drink by a carved fireplace.
Autumn is when the house is at its best. The English gardens are still going, the porch is the right temperature for sitting on, and the garden hot tub under the stars becomes genuinely excellent once the nights turn cold. Downstairs there is Gertrude’s Cistern, our speakeasy and slightly haunted video lounge with heated reclining seats — the correct answer to a grey, rainy Sunday.
Rooms are all different: the Crystal Mansion, the Georgian, the Grand Edwardian, the Coachman’s, the Blacksmith’s Forge, the Hayloft and the Estate rooms. Book direct and you also pick up our guest vouchers — a $20 Pillsbury Club dining voucher for each night of your stay and a $20 Minneapolis Trolley voucher per stay, which is a very pleasant way to see the fall colour without walking a step.
Book your fall weekend
The first two weekends of October fill first every year. Check availability at 300 Clifton, pick your room, and let us know if you want the hot tub heated for a cold night — we will have it ready.
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