Relatives land at MSP, the guest bed is made, and somebody asks the inevitable question: “So what are we doing while we’re here?” If you are hosting family in Minneapolis over the holidays, the answer that works for grandparents, kids and the cousin who only wants a cocktail is a holiday lights tour on a heated vintage trolley, a free museum or two, and a historic mansion to come home to at night.
What is the best Christmas lights trolley ride for a whole family?
Minneapolis Trolley Tours runs two versions of its Holiday Light Ride, and a mixed-age group can split them however it likes.
Santa’s Nice Ride (all ages, from $30). About an hour on a heated, decorated vintage trolley through some of the best holiday lights in Minneapolis, with Christmas music, festive narration and a vote for the best-decorated house along the way. Kids love the voting. Grandparents love not driving in the snow.
The Naughty Holiday Party Ride (21+, BYOB, from $75). Two hours, part lights tour and part rolling holiday party. If Grandma and Grandpa volunteer for bedtime duty one night, this is the grown-ups’ night out.
Both rides board at the Pillsbury Club, the 1912–14 Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion at 100 East 22nd Street, with free parking across the street. That matters more than it sounds. Some multi-city BYOB lights tours check you in at a downtown bar and leave you dragging a cooler through a parking lot. Here you carry your drinks straight onto the heated trolley, and you wait for boarding inside a Gothic limestone mansion with a fire going.
Come early for the holiday market
Before or after the Nice Ride, the Pillsbury Club Holiday Market fills the mansion with handmade gifts from more than 50 Minnesota artists. It is the easiest way to knock out the “something from Minnesota” gift for the relatives who live out of state, and it gives restless kids something to look at while the trolley pulls up. If this is your family’s first ride, the Pillsbury Club’s first-timer’s guide answers the most common questions.
What else can you do with visiting family in Minneapolis in December?
Fill the daylight hours with things that are warm, close and easy on every generation.
- The Minneapolis Institute of Art. Mia’s admission is always free, which makes it the perfect two-hour outing when nobody can agree on anything. It’s a short drive from Loring Park.
- Mill City Museum. The Minnesota Historical Society’s museum is built into the ruins of a flour mill on the riverfront, and it explains how flour money built the very mansions you’ll be riding past at night.
- A walk in Loring Park. If the weather cooperates, Loring Park is right outside the front door at 300 Clifton, and it’s lovely under fresh snow.
- The American Swedish Institute. ASI’s holiday experience is a Twin Cities family tradition; check its site for this year’s dates.
Want something a little older for the history buffs in the family? The Gilded Age Mansion Tour visits Minneapolis mansions from the outside and from the inside, and our own guide to historic house tours explains how it works.
Where should visiting family stay?
Not everyone fits in the guest room, and nobody wants the air mattress on Christmas Eve. 300 Clifton, the Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion in Loring Park, is the only mansion in Minneapolis you can tour and sleep in. Every room is different: the Crystal Mansion Room, the Grand Edwardian, the Georgian Room and the Estate Rooms each have their own personality. After an evening on the trolley there’s a hot tub for the adults and a movie room for a holiday film. The house is dressed for the season, and yes, some guests swear it’s a little haunted.
Relatives staying longer than a week? Oakland’s on 9th offers furnished, month-to-month studios downtown, which is a lot more comfortable than a hotel room for a long holiday visit.
A simple holiday-weekend plan for the whole family
- Friday night: Check in at 300 Clifton, walk Loring Park, early night.
- Saturday: Mia in the morning, lunch, then the holiday market at the Pillsbury Club and Santa’s Nice Ride at dusk.
- Saturday late: Kids and grandparents back to the mansion; the adults head out on the Naughty Ride.
- Sunday: Mill City Museum, then everyone home with a bag of Minnesota-made gifts.
Looking for a quieter version for two? Read our holiday lights date night guide.
Book the holidays before they book up
December weekends on the trolley sell out, and so do mansion rooms. Reserve your Nice or Naughty Holiday Light Ride, then book your family’s stay at 300 Clifton. We’ll keep the lights on.
Keep reading: Where Should You Stay for The Outsiders at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis? March 9–14, 2027