Duluth

A port city at the western tip of Lake Superior; beyond its lift bridge and lakewalk, the North Shore Scenic Drive strings together waterfalls, lighthouses and state parks.

Duluth sits in northeastern Minnesota at the far western end of Lake Superior, facing Superior, Wisconsin, across the harbor; together they form one of the largest bulk cargo ports on the Great Lakes. Built on hillsides along the lake and stretching in a long, narrow strip along the shore, the city is cool and pleasant in summer, a favorite escape for Midwesterners. The best seasons are Jun–Sep and the fall foliage season from late September to mid-October; winters are long and cold, but there's skiing, dramatic ice-covered waves and, from late November, the Bentleyville Tour of Lights.

Sightseeing falls into three areas: first, the lakefront core, centered on the Aerial Lift Bridge and Canal Park, with the Maritime Visitor Center, the Great Lakes Aquarium, the SS William A. Irvin museum ship and the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in the historic Depot all within walking distance; follow the Lakewalk east to the Rose Garden, Fitger's Brewery and Glensheen mansion. Second, the hillside viewpoints: Skyline Parkway links Enger Tower and Hawk Ridge, great for fall colors and raptor migration. Third, day trips: northeast along the North Shore Scenic Drive to Two Harbors Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse and Tettegouche State Park in turn; southwest to Jay Cooke State Park; or across the bridge into Wisconsin to see Big Manitou Falls.

Getting there: Duluth International Airport has flights to Minneapolis and Chicago, and it's about a 2.5-hour drive from the Twin Cities. City buses have limited coverage, and you'll need a car to explore the North Shore. Plan on 2–3 days: one for the downtown lakefront, one for a North Shore drive, plus an optional half-day at a state park. Note that Lake Superior stays cold even in summer and the shore is windy, so bring a jacket even in July; North Shore lodging fills up on fall foliage weekends, so book ahead.

Top sights

• Aerial Lift Bridge – A city landmark of Duluth. The entire bridge deck can rise about 41 meters so giant lake freighters can pass through the canal.
• Canal Park – A lakefront district beside the lift bridge, where restaurants, shops, the lighthouse breakwater and the lakeside trail come together.
• Glensheen Historic Estate – A lakeside mansion estate from the early 20th century. Its 39 rooms and original furnishings show the life of an iron-mining tycoon.
• Gooseberry Falls State Park – The most popular state park on the North Shore, where the upper, middle and lower falls cascade down layers of basalt.
• Split Rock Lighthouse – A classic lighthouse standing on a cliff about 40 meters high, and the most photogenic landmark on the north shore of Lake Superior.
• Duluth Lakewalk – A path running about 12 km along the shore of Lake Superior, where you can walk or bike to link up lakeside sights.
• Great Lakes Aquarium – An aquarium rare in the United States, focused on freshwater ecosystems and showing life from Lake Superior and the Great Lakes.
• Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center – A free maritime museum beside the canal that tells the history of Great Lakes shipping, shipwrecks, and harbor development.
• SS William A. Irvin – A bulk ore freighter launched in 1938 as the flagship of U.S. Steel’s fleet, now moored in the harbor and open for guided boarding tours.
• Enger Tower – A five-story stone tower atop Enger Park, overlooking the Duluth harbor, the lift bridge, and Lake Superior.
• Skyline Parkway – A scenic road winding along the hills behind Duluth, with views over the city, harbor, and Lake Superior all along the way.
• Park Point Beach – One of the longest freshwater sandbars in the world, reached right after the lift bridge, with about 10 km of beach and dunes.
• Leif Erikson Park & Rose Garden – A lakeside park on the Lakewalk with a rose garden of thousands of bushes, offering views of the lift bridge and the lake.
• Lake Superior Railroad Museum & North Shore Scenic Railroad – A railroad museum in the 1892 historic depot, with North Shore scenic trains that run along the lakeshore.
• Lake Superior Zoo – A long-established small zoo on Duluth’s west side, with polar bears, lions, and other animals, suitable for a half-day outing with kids.
• Spirit Mountain – A ski area on the western edge of the city. In winter you can ski with views of the harbor, and in summer there are alpine coasters, zip li…
• Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory – A famous North American autumn raptor migration lookout where on a clear day more than ten thousand hawks and falcons may pass through in f…
• Fitger's Brewery Complex – A lakeside complex converted from a century-old brewery into a hotel, restaurants, and a craft brewhouse, right beside the Lakewalk.
• Bentleyville Tour of Lights – Billed as America’s largest free walk-through Christmas light display, with millions of lights lit at Bayfront Festival Park.
• Tweed Museum of Art – An art museum on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus with thousands of American and European works.
• North Shore Scenic Drive – A classic self-drive route north along the shore of Lake Superior, linking lighthouses, waterfalls and state parks.
• Two Harbors Light – A red-brick lighthouse first lit in 1892, and the oldest lighthouse in Minnesota still in operation.
• Palisade Head – A rhyolite cliff rising straight out of Lake Superior, where you can drive to the top for views of the North Shore coastline and Shovel Poi…
• Tettegouche State Park – The North Shore’s most scenic state park, home to Minnesota’s tallest waterfall and the Shovel Point sea cliffs.
• Jay Cooke State Park – A state park about 20 kilometers southwest of Duluth, where a suspension footbridge spans the rapids and slate cliffs of the St. Louis Rive…
• Pattison State Park – A Wisconsin state park whose Big Manitou Falls, about 50 meters high, is the tallest waterfall in the state.
• Amnicon Falls State Park – A small state park where a covered bridge spans a series of sandstone waterfalls, and a short loop trail lets you see the whole park in hal…

Where to eat

• Duluth Grill – A popular brunch spot in the Lincoln Park craft brewery district that makes everything from scratch, and has long ranke…
• Northern Waters Smokehaus – A smokehouse in the basement of the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace in Canal Park, where the house-smoked salmon sandwich is a…
• New Scenic Cafe – A chef-driven restaurant along the North Shore scenic drive, opened in 1999 and often called the best restaurant on the…
• Va Bene Italian Restaurant – An Italian restaurant overlooking Lake Superior, where housemade pastas and Italian sausage soup are local favorites.
• OMC Smokehouse – A barbecue restaurant run by the Duluth Grill team, serving 12-hour smoked brisket with local craft beer.
• PhoHolic Taste of Vietnam – A popular budget-friendly Vietnamese spot in Duluth, where hot pho is the perfect winter warm-up.

Itineraries

• Minnesota North Shore to Grand Portage – Drive north along Lake Superior's Highway 61 to see lighthouses, waterfalls, and the high falls on the Canadian border.