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Weekly note
Minneapolis: aerial view of city buildings during daytime
Photo by Andrew S on Unsplash

Best time to visit Minneapolis

United States · North America

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Minneapolis

Tap a month for its page

  1. Minneapolis in January: avoid
  2. Minneapolis in February: avoid
  3. Minneapolis in March: avoid
  4. Minneapolis in April: good
  5. Minneapolis in May: sweet spot
  6. Minneapolis in June: good, busy
  7. Minneapolis in July: sweet spot, busy
  8. Minneapolis in August: good, busy
  9. Minneapolis in September: sweet spot
  10. Minneapolis in October: good
  11. Minneapolis in November: avoid
  12. Minneapolis in December: avoid
  • Sweet spot
  • Good
  • OK
  • Avoid
  • Busy
Go in May, Jul or Sep — these months score within a whisker of each other; 21C max, 10 rainy days. Aug is the next best.

Things to do in Minneapolis

  • Bde Maka Ska Bde Maka Ska has three public beaches and boat rentals (and lessons), and a snack bar that resembles a real restaurant more every summer.
  • Basilica of St. Mary Opened in 1914 as a pro-cathedral, Pope Pius XI lifted its rank to that of minor basilica in 1926, making it the first basilica in the United States.
  • Foshay Museum Museum of the Foshay Tower, the former tallest building in Minneapolis from 1929-1971.
  • Guthrie Theater This internationally renowned theater opened in 1963 and is known for its productions of both classical literature and new work from contemporary playwrights.
  • Saint Anthony Falls This now-tamed waterfall is the only major natural one on the Mississippi (Dakota: wakpa tanka, "great river").
  • Lakewood Cemetery Cemetery in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States
  • Stone Arch Bridge Former railroad and current pedestrian and bicycle bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Tours and tickets in Minneapolis

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Minneapolis/Downtown, Minneapolis/Saint Anthony Falls Historic District, Minneapolis/Southwest), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

MonthMax °CRain days HumiditySun h/day VerdictWhy
Jan -5° 4d 76% 5.5h avoid bitter cold: -5C daily max
Feb -2° 4d 74% 7.5h avoid bitter cold: -2C daily max
Mar 6° 7d 68% 8.0h avoid bitter cold: 6C daily max
Apr 12° 9d 67% 8.3h good 12C max, 9 rainy days
May 21° 10d 63% 10.5h sweet spot 21C max, 10 rainy days
Jun 27° 9d 65% 12.1h goodbusy busier than usual
Jul 29° 6d 70% 12.7h sweet spot busy busier than usual
Aug 27° 8d 72% 11.1h goodbusy busier than usual
Sep 24° 8d 72% 9.5h sweet spot 24C max, 8 rainy days
Oct 14° 8d 69% 7.3h good 14C max, 8 rainy days
Nov 5° 5d 71% 5.7h avoid bitter cold: 5C daily max
Dec -1° 5d 78% 4.6h avoid bitter cold: -1C daily max

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Nicollet Mall, downtown, 12 km from the airport (MSP): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in June and August.

Then and now

Minneapolis's September days now average 23.6°C, 3.0°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 2 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1981–90-4.7°-2.3°4.7°13.2°20.1°24.8°28.0°25.9°20.6°13.1°4.0°-4.4°
2017–26-4.6°-2.2°6.0°12.1°20.7°26.9°28.9°27.1°23.6°14.4°5.3°-1.4°
Change+0.2°+0.1°+1.3°-1.1°+0.6°+2.1°+0.9°+1.1°+3.0°+1.3°+1.3°+3.0°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Minneapolis is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

  • Paying — Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work almost everywhere, though a few small places take cash only. Keep some $1 and $5 notes for tips; Venmo and PayPal are for locals.
  • UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
  • Tipping — Expected: 15–20% in sit-down restaurants (18–20% is standard in New York) and 10–20% for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers. Large groups may find it already on the bill.

Getting around Minneapolis

  • Apps — Rides: Lyft, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and some other cities you can also book a driverless Waymo in its own app.

The city streets have a grid system that's helpful if you learn it. Minneapolis is divided into quadrants: North, South, Northeast and Southeast. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Minneapolis, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

  • Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
    TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (50)

Minneapolis in pictures

Minneapolis April 2025 13 (Minneapolis City Hall)
i

Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Minneapolis skyline 51
i

AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Minneapolis is like

Minneapolis is a city of about 430,000 people (2019) and the largest city in Minnesota. Along with neighboring Saint Paul, it forms the urban core of the Twin Cities region, the third largest metropolitan area in the Midwest after Chicago and Detroit. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing
The museums, natural parks and waterfronts, malls, shopping districts, and dining zones should give you several options no matter what your age. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing
Minneapolis on the surface seems like a pretty but rather quiet tourist destination. If you properly do your research though, there is plenty to do. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP IATA) is located 10 miles southeast of downtown Minneapolis. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe
Dial 911 for emergencies and 311 for non-emergencies. As with any major American city, keep your eyes open and your wits about you, particularly at night. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Minneapolis, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Minneapolis

Also in United States

Nearby

Kind of place

Minneapolis is in United States, North America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and fare data before any link is built.