It is easy to be inundated with a bunch of ordinary hotels when what you are looking for is a cool hotel, really the best hotels in Minneapolis. Here are 5 Exceptional Hotels that are actually really cool, and did not pay anything to advertise here. Each hotel is described with the cool aspects that make it rank in the best hotels. There are no ordinary downtown Minneapolis hotels mixed in with links to book. Google is full of ads that direct you to all of the average downtown hotels. From industry insiders, here are the cool hotels that rank as the best hotels in Minneapolis .
- 300 Clifton Mansion Bed and Breakfast
- Oaklands on 9th Historic Apartment Hotel
- Hewing Boutique Hotel
- Rand Tower Hotel
- Nicollet Island Inn
- Honorable Mention: Four Seasons Hotel
#1 Best Hotel Minneapolis – 300 Clifton Mansion Hotel
There is nothing like 300 Clifton Mansion anywhere in the Midwest which is why it is the #1 best hotel in Minneapolis. 300 Clifton is a hybrid boutique hotel and bed & breakfast which operates inside the most important historical house in Minneapolis. It incorporates an entire restored estate, from the English gardens, to the towering rooms 65 feet over Loring Park. Here are the 6 Features that make 300 Clifton Bed and Breakfast so cool and unique and the #1 Best Hotel in Minneapolis.
Features:
1) It’s a Mansion Hotel!
As the best hotel in Minneapolis, you stay in splendid rooms, and explore all of the luxurious common areas of the Gilded Age Mansion. It is incredible to walk the hallways, stare through the leaded glass and admire the original lighting in the estate. The rugs, artwork, furniture, woodwork and would make it an incredible mansion to visit, but you actually get to touch and feel it all! It takes luxury hotels to the next level, because the homes in the Gilded Age really knew how to be spectacular.
2) Hotel Hot Tub!
There are gardens all around 300 Clifton boutique hotel, bed and breakfast and in one of the secret gardens, there is a huge hot tub. Guests at 300 Clifton bed and breakfast can reserve the entire garden and hot tub for themselves and get an aqua massage under the stars, or lounge out in the sun.
3) Hotel Trolley Excursions
The Best Minneapolis Hotels have the top unique amenities, and there is only one trolley tour company in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Trolley Tours starts and ends all of their tours at 300 Clifton Bed and Breakfast Hotel, so it is a breeze to hop onto the trolley for a Ghost Tour, True Crimes Tour, Wine Tour, Gilded Age Mansion Tour, or Narrated Scenic Tour. The trolley tours are world-class and will be the highlight of your trip to Minneapolis.
4) The Gardens are Insane
The gardens at 300 Clifton Boutique Hotel are absolutely the best in Minneapolis. Nowhere else can you sit in luxury on the veranda, read a book, sip wine and gaze over a huge water garden. You are encouraged to feed the ducks and the koi in the formal water garden with provided food. The sculpted hedges, roses, fountains, and magnificent flowering bushes make 300 Clifton Hotel gardens difficult to leave. For a cool hotel experience, explore each of the 5 distinct gardens around the estate.
5) Cool Themed Rooms
Where else can you rest your glass of wine on an anvil in your luxurious hotel room? You can sleep atop a wagon in another luxury hotel room. The best hotels in Minneapolis are incredibly unique and nothing is more unique than entering your room through a secret door, having your own private garden, or brushing your teeth in an antique forge. All of these cool things are part of your incredible stay at the best Minneapolis Hotel, 300 Clifton Bed and Breakfast.
#2 Best Hotel Minneapolis – Oaklands on 9th Apartment Hotel
This boutique hotel is completely unique in the Twin Cities. Oaklands on 9th Boutique Hotel is the second best hotel in Minneapolis because it is a historic museum, full studio apartments, and you get so much bang for your buck.
Features:
1) Historic Museum
Oaklands on 9th is the first apartment building ever built in Minneapolis. It is a cool old brownstone which makes it one of the most unique places to stay in Minneapolis. There was a devastating fire that nearly destroyed the building, and all throughout, there are mementos of that fire incorporated into the decor. The design is incredibly moving. There is also lots of original wood, tiling, trim and antique lighting. Since the fire was just a few years ago, the entire hotel is brand new and completely redone with the most modern amenities. The building was designed by famed architect Harry Wild Jones in 1989. Throughout the hallways is a comprehensive Harry Wild Jones museum which illustrates most of his over 350 designed buildings. The chronological museum continues to present day pictures completing a century of Minneapolis through the perspective of Oaklands on 9th. This museum makes for an incredibly unique Minneapolis hotel.
2) Full Studio Apartments
When staying in a boutique hotel in Minneapolis, sometimes it is convenient or necessary to have a complete kitchen. This is a huge amenity that makes Oaklands on 9th one of the best hotels in Minneapolis. Microwave, stove top, refrigerator, plates and utensils turn a simple hotel room into a real luxury hotel room with such a unique amenity. If you have the last bites of a meal at a great downtown Minneapolis restaurant, or if you want to prepare a full meal, Oaklands on 9th hotel has this rare amenity making it perfect for a staycation or an extended stay. Travel nurses, digital nomads frequent this extended stay luxury hotel.
3) Best Deal in Town
Oaklands on 9th Hotel is family owned, so they are able to keep the cost low. It is a very cheap hotel in Minneapolis, but being family owned, it is also very well run with attention taken to every detail. There are special deals at Oaklands on 9th Hotel for extended stays, and there are wonderful nightly rooms that are cheaper and have more to offer than any Minneapolis hotel. So of all of the hotels listed here, Oaklands on 9th Boutique Hotel is the cheapest and that aspect helps it to rank as one of the best hotels in Minneapolis.
#3 Best Hotel Minneapolis– Hewing Boutique Hotel Minneapolis
The Hewing Hotel is a Boutique Hotel in North Loop Minneapolis. The historic building used to be a showroom for farm equipment and the basement is so big it even allowed for trains to drop off merchandise! In this amazing historic warehouse, the Hewing has established a Scandinavian themed boutique hotel with such great amenities, it is one of the best hotels in Minneapolis.
Features:
1.) Rooftop Bar and Hot Tub
To qualify as a best hotel in Minneapolis, the hotel has to have very unique amenities which make it unlike other hotels in Minneapolis. The rooftop bar at the Hewing Hotel is that unique amenity. It is an indoor/ outdoor rooftop bar on the sixth floor overlooking the North Loop in downtown Minneapolis. But it is far more than a stylish rooftop bar with great drinks and an incredible view of the city. There is also a hot tub on the roof! It is a huge hot tub, outside, right in the middle of the patio. But that’s not all. The Hewing Boutique Hotel also has a Scandinavian Dry Sauna. The sauna, hot tub, rooftop bar and view of the city makes this the best hotel in Minneapolis North Loop.
2.) Unique Events at the Boutique Hotel Minneapolis
Check out the calendar at the Hewing Boutique Hotel before you book because they have an array of music performances and community engagement events. The alley next to the hotel is unique and is used by Hewing boutique Hotel for special events and seasonal experiences. The rooftop highlights a summer music series, there are health and wellness retreats, and parties in the alley. Hewing Hotel is one of the best Minneapolis Hotels because of the incredible event schedule here.
3.) Great use of Architecture
Throughout the entire Unique Hotel the architecture is amplified to illustrate the theme. Hewing Boutique Hotel has a rustic Scandinavian theme. The rough brick and monumental exposed timbers are pervasive. They are in every space including the Scandinavian restaurant and bar Tullibee, the hotel guest rooms, and the common areas. It is immersive and really well executed. The way the architecture melds with the theme makes Hewing Boutique Hotel one of the best hotels in Minneapolis.
#4 Best Hotel Minneapolis: Rand Tower Hotel Minneapolis
To be a best hotel in Minneapolis, you have to pick a theme and execute it well so that the guest has a unique hotel experience. The Rand Tower is just this sort of cool experience. The theme is flight, and especially the dreamy glory days of early flight. Rand Tower is kinda cursed. It was built in 1929 just as the stock market crashed and America went into the Great Depression. 100 Years later, Rand Tower was re-imagined and turned into a luxury hotel just as the pandemic and riots crashed the hospitality economy of the world and especially Minneapolis.
Features:
1.) The Theme of Flight at Rand Hotel
Soar at the Rand. Everything from the architecture to the artwork is uplifting at the Rand Minneapolis Hotel. The original owner was a WW1 flying ace and so the Art Deco building, now on the National Register of Historic Places, is designed to commemorate flight. Hermes or Mercury holds biplanes in a frieze carved in stone above the outside entrance door. There is aviation themed artwork throughout the building including guest rooms. Wings themed glasswork forms the backdrop behind the check in counter. Even the amazing spiral staircase seems to fly upwards from the lobby.
2) Famous Oskar J.W. Hansen Statue: Wings
In 1929, Rand commissioned the famous Wings sculpture from Oskar J. W. Hansen. It is still in the lobby today and is worth a visit to the Minneapolis hotel to admire. The impressive statue depicts a winged man, one of Oskar’s favorite motifs. But the wings are unnaturally slender, and one is pointing up and the other down. It is a wonderfully anachronistic look, which is tantalizing to the observer because its inexplicable motion and femininity. This is compounded by the statue’s micro-penis completely out of proportion to the sculpture or its wings. Oskar loved the statue so much he cast another Wings in silver and retained it for his entire life.
3.) 4th Best Minneapolis Hotel is Also the Most Luxurious
Of the five best hotels in Minneapolis listed here, the Rand is the most luxurious. With an ultra modern flare, the hotel did not obliterate its historical roots. In the renovation, the original elevators were not destroyed, but rather restored. Even the original terrazzo floors were saved and restored. In celebrating the Golden Age of Aviation, Rand Tower pays homage to the bygone luxury of commercial flight by offering luxury accommodations rarely found in modern hotels. Notice the Tivoli Audio sound systems in each room. The Tivoli Audio has a pre-retro design and beyond good sound quality. Each room has its own Lavazza coffee station, and the linens are truly luxurious by Frette.
#5 Best Hotel Minneapolis: Nicollet Island Inn
Seek out the hidden gem on Nicollet Island, the Nicollet Island Inn. The Inn is a boutique hotel perfect for traditional weddings, or a hotel stay with a personalized experience. The Inn is so exceptional that it is a must see on a trip to Minneapolis if you stay, eat, or simply explore. The best Minneapolis hotels must be unique, and the Nicollet Island Inn certainly is that.
Features
1.) Unique Minneapolis Hotel Location – On an Island
All of the Best Minneapolis Hotels on this list are in incredible locations, but Nicollet Island Inn is especially unique. It is located on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River which is in the center of Minneapolis. Even though you are on an island, you are not isolated. Nicollet Island HotelIt is walkable to the Twins stadium and you can walk to Target Center and walk to the Hennepin Theater District while feeling you are a world away in a historic building on a historic island. The island itself is entirely owned by the Minneapolis Park Board, and also has the most unique historic neighborhood in Minneapolis. Nicollet Island Inn is one of the Best Minneapolis Hotels because of this incredibly unique and tranquil location.
2.) Historic Hotel Adaptive Reuse
Nicollet Island Inn is a historic reuse of an 1800’s door and sash manufacturing company. The old wood and beautifully laid stone create a backdrop for one of the most iconic restaurants in Minneapolis. On the edge of the Mississippi, Nicollet Island Inn Restaurant is built in a glass view-room where the old loading docks to the warehouse were located. The service is exceptional at the restaurant, and the decor is not afraid to be traditional.
Honorable Mention: Best Hotel Minneapolis: Four Seasons Hotel
Of course a Four Seasons is going to be expensive and have wonderful amenities and service, but the Four Seasons Minneapolis is also unique. It has a wonderful restaurant, Mara, by the best chef in Minneapolis, and it also has a fun and unique rooftop lounge and bar with seasonal activities.
