I will be traveling to the twin cities with my husband this summer. We are just starting to plan. We enjoy casual dining (good food reasonable priced), vegetarian friendly restaurants , breweries, outdoor activities, biking path, boat rides, and kayaking. Any suggestions?

Are there any great breweries?

The Twin Cities have quite a few breweries. Summit, Surly, Fulton, 612, Dangerous Man, Boom Island, Indeed, etc. Summit and Surly are probably the two biggest and most popular.

http://mnbeer.com/breweries/

There are lots of restaurants, basically any price range and type of food. What sort of food do you like?

There are riverboat cruises on the Mississippi River, plus Lake Minnetonka and probably some other smaller lakes.
http://www.twincitiescruises.com/
http://www.riverrides.com/

The Uptown area has several smaller lakes where you can rent canoes/kayaks, or bike around them. You can rent kayaks at Lake Calhoun, and the city of Minneapolis has the Nice Ride program where there are bikes for rent at numerous places around the city. Just register, pay and bike to wherever - you can return the bike to any Nice Ride location.

https://www.niceridemn.org/

There are some regional parks in the metro plus several state parks within an hour or so of the cities. It really depends on how far you want to drive and if you are into hiking. You can also rent kayaks/canoes at a few of the state parks, specifically Wild River State Park where you'd get shuttled to the put-in and then canoe/kayak back to the park take-out location. There are other private vendors in the area on other rivers too.

Thanks WhereAreWe for the detailed reply! This is going to really help plan a fun trip.
As far as restaurants, I like trying new dishes. I really enjoy bakeries. My husband is a vegatarian, so that can be a challenge.

Hi Kailee, Welcome to Minneapolis! Where are you planning to stay? If your trip is short, I would suggest staying in the downtown area. You will have access to all the great restaurants mentioned by WAW and more. The "chain o lakes" area is wonderful for walking, biking or renting boats. Lake Calhoun in particular for boating. Lake of the Isles for walking (beautiful mansions) and biking. Both are near the "Uptown" area for good eats and fun people watching. Lake Harriet Bandshell is beautiful with all kinds of music events in the summer. Get a picnic, a bottle of good Italian wine at D'Amico & Sons and a blanket to enjoy a night of music on the lake.

D'Amico and Sons, 2210 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis
www.damicoandsons.com.

http://www.mplsmusicandmovies.com/#!...riet-bandshell

Good vegetarian restaurants link below. Of these, I LOVE SpoonRiver. Its on the river, next to the Guthrie Theater. You might have dinner and enjoy a play. On the weekend there is the very good Mill City Farmers Market on the street in front of SpoonRiver.

http://spoonriver.com/

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/top-li...d-twin-cities/

http://www.guthrietheater.org/

Also, our Minneapolis Farmers Market is a wonderful place to stroll on Saturday or Sunday. Lots of music, foods to taste, arts and crafts, flowers. One of my favorite Sunday morning activities. Right on the edge of downtown Minneapolis.

http://www.mplsfarmersmarket.com/FreshNews/

Enjoy!
'Red

Hi Kailee - the above posters have given excellent suggestions for things to do in Minneapolis that seem to fit your interests. You mention that your coming to the Twin Cities, though, and since St. Paul is the other twin, I thought I'd offer some suggestions for the Capitol City.

Summit Brewery is in St. Paul, and offers free tours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 1:00 and at three different times on Saturdays. The tours include free samples, and the brewery has a gift shop. I don't know if you'll have a car, but that's probably the best way to get there. They have a large parking lot, with free parking.

http://m.summitbrewing.com/brewery


I would also suggest a drive or a bike ride ( you can rent a Nice Ride bike, as mentioned above) at several
locations nearby) down Summit Avenue in St. Paul. It has one of the longest stretches of preserved Victorian homes in the US and is a very pretty street. The Twin Cities marathon has its last leg along this street each fall. the St. Paul Cathedral, the beautiful State Capitol building and the Minnesota History Center are all at the end of this street. You can tour the cathedral and the Capitol building for free.

Just down the hill from here is downtown St. Paul which is also worth a look around. The Science Museum, Rice Park, Landmark Center, Harrit Island, are all great places to check out. Harriet Island is where you can board a paddlewheeler and take a ride on the Mississippi.

Oops, posted before I was finished, and I have typos I didn't get to correct above ...

Anyway, the website for the paddle wheelers is
www.riverrides.com

Just some additional suggestions. We are also a big live theater area and, if you have any interest in that, you can google the Guthrie, the Ordway, the State theaters or numerous others.

I hope you enjoy your visit to theTwin Cities!