Minnesota

Minnesota, in the north of the Midwest, holds Lake Superior's North Shore, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and a national park best seen from a boat. Voyageurs National Park, near the Canadian border, spans 218,000 acres of lakes, forests and streams. It had 206,326 recreation visits in 2025.

None of the National Park Service's sites in Minnesota charges to get in. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the Forest Service's permit page on Recreation.gov and the Minnesota Historical Society's. The rest come from Metro Transit's, the airport's, the state Revenue department's fact sheets, the National Weather Service and NOAA's normals.

Why does no Minnesota national park site charge entry?

Minnesota's National Park Service sites have no entrance fee. None of them is on the 2026 list of eleven parks that add $100 per visitor from abroad. Voyageurs charges for camping, houseboat permits, ranger boat tours, special programmes and winter equipment rental. Pipestone and Grand Portage do not even sell the annual pass.

Two adults from abroad visiting all four sites in the table pay nothing in entrance fees. The $250 non-resident annual pass therefore buys nothing in Minnesota. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where it does pay off.

Pipestone's quarriers break through more than 6 feet of quartzite to reach the stone, used for pipes in prayer and ceremony, a tradition that continues. The monument's three-quarter-mile Circle Trail is open at any hour.

Why do you need a boat to see Voyageurs?

Voyageurs National Park is a water-based park. In the National Park Service's words, "much of its beauty is best explored by boat". Its visitor centres and some trails can be reached by car. All 137 frontcountry campsites lie on the large lakes. In summer only two primitive hike-in sites on the Kab-Ash Trail need no boat.

Visitors without a boat can take a ranger boat tour. The tours typically run from mid-June to the end of September, with a few early-October sailings in 2026. Tours leave from the Rainy Lake, Kabetogama Lake and Ash River visitor centres. They include the 6½-hour Kettle Falls Cruise from Rainy Lake and a 2½-hour trip to Ellsworth Rock Gardens.

Booking opens at 9 a.m. on 15 April on Recreation.gov. Tours take credit cards only, with no cash accepted. Adult fares are $50 for the 2½-hour trips, $60 for the 5½-hour Kettle Falls Cruise from Ash River and $85 for the 6½-hour one from Rainy Lake.

Children 4 to 16 and Senior or Access pass holders pay half. Every camping trip also needs a reservation or permit. The lakes can stay iced until mid-May. Summer is the busy season: the park counted 42,178 visits in July 2025 and 42,785 in August.

Which Voyageurs visitor centres reopen in May 2027?

Ash River, Kabetogama Lake and the new Crane Lake visitor centre closed for the season on 27 September 2026 and reopen on 29 May 2027. Rainy Lake, the last Voyageurs visitor centre open, kept hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily to 31 October 2026, and the park's hours page lists nothing later.

The park's pages disagree about Rainy Lake in winter. The hours page lists it as closed after 31 October "unless otherwise noted". The winter page runs ski and snowshoe rental there from January to March, Friday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at $10 an adult pair and $5 for a child. Check before driving up.

On 21 October 2026 the park's conditions page said navigation buoys and hazard markers had been removed from Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan and Sand Point lakes. The park closed all 17 campsites, houseboat and day-use sites around Dryweed Island for bear activity, and its alert, still posted on 4 November 2026, gave 31 October as the end date.

How do the Voyageurs ice roads work?

The Voyageurs ice roads are plowed routes across frozen lakes. Cars and trucks under 7,000 lbs gross vehicle weight may use them at up to 30 mph. The Rainy Lake Ice Road begins at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center boat launch. The Kabetogama Lake Ice Road runs between the Ash River and Kabetogama Lake launches.

The National Park Service gives no opening dates: "Routes vary year to year depending on conditions". Snowmobiles are not allowed on the ice roads, which can close or shorten in heavy snow, slush or thin ice. The park warns that travel beyond the plowed sections is unsafe. It asks drivers to read its Winter Ice and Conditions Report first.

Snowmobilers have 110 miles of staked and groomed trails instead. By the park's averages, ice forms on Kabetogama Lake around 28 November and on Rainy Lake around 9 December.

Do you need a permit for the Boundary Waters in winter?

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness needs a permit all year, winter included. From 1 October to 30 April the permit is self-issued and free. The Forest Service's text on Recreation.gov states that a permit is always required to enter. The wilderness covers over 1,098,000 acres along nearly 150 miles of the Canadian border.

From 1 May to 30 September, overnight paddling, motor and hiking trips and motorized day trips need a quota permit from Recreation.gov. The fee is $16 per adult and $8 per child or youth for each trip, plus a $6 non-refundable reservation fee. Non-motorized day trips use a free self-issued permit all year. A group may hold at most 9 people and 4 boats.

The Forest Service's own Superior National Forest pages refused our requests, so these figures come only from its text on Recreation.gov.

When is the Split Rock beacon lit?

Split Rock Lighthouse's beacon is lit on 10 November 2026, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., for the Edmund Fitzgerald memorial. The date is a Tuesday, a day the site is otherwise closed in winter. The Minnesota Historical Society runs the lighthouse, which guided ships from 1910 to 1969. It was built after a November 1905 gale wrecked nearly 30 ships.

From 20 October 2026 to 4 January 2027 the historic site opens Thursday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closes on Tuesday and Wednesday. The winter grounds pass costs $8 and gives no access to the lighthouse or the keeper's home. A $25 Keeper's Tour for at most ten people runs on set Saturdays. Christmas at the Lighthouse costs $20 from 27 November to 27 December.

The surrounding state park is run by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, with separate admission. A state park vehicle permit is needed whenever the historic site's visitor centre is closed. The department's website refused our requests, so we cannot give the permit price here. Pets are not allowed on the historic site.

What is open at Grand Portage National Monument in winter?

Grand Portage National Monument's Heritage Center stays open in winter, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed on Sundays and federal holidays. The Historic Depot, a reconstructed fur-trade depot, is closed until Memorial Day weekend 2027. Entry to both is free.

The monument lies about 150 miles north of Duluth, by the Park Service's figure. It was the first National Park Service unit co-managed with a Tribal Nation, the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Grand Marais, Minnesota, is about 35 miles from Grand Portage by our own routing.

Two ferries, Voyageur II and Sea Hunter III, cross from Grand Portage Marina to Windigo on Isle Royale in about 1½ to 2 hours. Isle Royale National Park is covered on our Michigan hub, and the island keeps Eastern Time, an hour ahead of Minnesota.

How long is the train from MSP airport to downtown Minneapolis?

The METRO Blue Line takes about 25 minutes from MSP airport to the Warehouse District in downtown Minneapolis, and less than 30 to Target Field. Mall of America, in Bloomington, is 12 minutes away in the other direction. Metro Transit runs trains every 15 minutes during most of the day.

An adult fare costs $2 at any time and is valid for 2½ hours. An all-day pass costs $4. Tickets are sold at station machines and in the Metro Transit app. The ride between Terminals 1 and 2 is free, 24 hours a day. For downtown St. Paul, the Route 54 bus takes about 20 minutes and runs every 15 to 30 minutes.

The airport's route map lists 37 international destinations, 35 of them abroad once San Juan and St. Thomas are set aside as US territories. They include Amsterdam on Delta and KLM, Paris on Air France and Delta, London–Heathrow, Dublin, Rome, Copenhagen, Reykjavik on Icelandair, Frankfurt on Discover Airlines, Seoul and Tokyo–Haneda. The map marks no seasons, so check that a route flies in the month you travel.

Is clothing really tax-free in Minnesota?

Clothing is exempt from Minnesota's state sales tax under Minn. Stat. § 297A.67, subdivision 8. The exemption leaves out accessories, sports and recreational equipment, protective equipment and fur clothing. Whether the local sales taxes on top also exempt clothing is not confirmed: the Revenue department's clothing page blocked our requests.

The state rate is 6.875%: the 6.5% set by statute plus three-eighths of a percent under the state constitution, in force until 30 June 2034. Cities and counties add their own, and the rates on the Revenue department's chart for the last quarter of 2026 add up to these totals:

A Minneapolis hotel with more than 50 rooms adds a 3% lodging tax and a 3% entertainment tax, for 15.025% on the room. Smaller properties carry only the entertainment tax, for 12.025%. Downtown Minneapolis also adds 3% on restaurant meals and 3% on liquor. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.

How far is Voyageurs from Minneapolis and Duluth?

Voyageurs National Park is about 5 hours north of Minneapolis–St. Paul and 3 hours north of Duluth, by the park's own figures. Most flights to Falls International Airport in International Falls connect through MSP, and the airport has taxis and rental cars.

The distances are our own routing except where marked as the park's. Our routing runs an hour or more longer than the park's times to Voyageurs. Inside the park, the Rainy Lake and Kabetogama Lake visitor centres are 36 miles apart by car. Chicago is covered on our Illinois hub.

How cold does International Falls get in January?

International Falls, the gateway airport for Voyageurs, averages a January high of 16°F and a low of −6°F, and 57 nights a year below 0°F. Minneapolis–St. Paul has 22 such nights and Duluth 38. The state's record low, in the National Weather Service's words, came when Tower "plummeted to -60 °F" on 2 February 1996.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows at each city's airport. Duluth's airport, above the city, averages 90.2 inches of snow a year, against 51.2 in Minneapolis–St. Paul.

Minnesota lies wholly on Central Time, and its clocks go back an hour at 2 a.m. on 1 November 2026.