Travel to Minneapolis-St Paul
Flying to Minneapolis-St Paul
Delta operates direct flights to Minneapolis-St Paul from the UK. Alternatively, options with one stopover include Icelandair (via Reykjavik) and United (via Newark or Chicago). Multiple airlines offer domestic routes to the city from within the USA, including American Airlines, Delta, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines.
Flight times
From London - 9 hours 15 minutes; New York - 3 hours; Los Angeles - 3 hours 30 minutes; Toronto - 2 hours; Sydney - 20 hours (including stopover).
Travel by road
There is an extensive system of interstate highways, which are the US equivalent of motorways. These are the fastest and most direct routes between locations. Some of these routes are toll roads. Traffic drives on the right. The legal driving age in Minnesota is 16.
Speed limits in Minnesota are 113kph (70mph) on rural interstate highways, (105kph) 65mph on urban interstate highways and expressways, 89kph (55mph) on other non-urban roads and 48kph (30mph) in towns. A valid national driving licence is required, although car hire companies may request an International Driving Permit if your licence isn't in English. Basic insurance is mandatory.
The AAA (tel: +1 800 222 1333; www.aaa.com) provides information and might offer reciprocal benefits to members of automobile clubs in other countries.
Emergency breakdown services
AAA (tel: +1 800 222 4357). Car hire companies generally provide a number for customers in the event of an emergency breakdown.
Routes
The Twin Cities are served by an efficient interstate highway system. I-35 runs north-south (south to Omaha and Kansas City) and has two branches – I-35E runs through St Paul, while I-35W runs through Minneapolis. The two branches meet again north of the city centre.
I-94 runs east-west through both cities (on to Winnipeg, Chicago and Milwaukee) and intersects with both branches of I-35. The I-494 and I-694 form a large oval around the cities, called the ‘Belt Line’. This intersects with most of the major highways in the area.
Other state roads into the metro area include highways 10, 52 and 55, which run roughly southeast-northwest, as well as SR-36, which enters St Paul from the east.
Coaches
Greyhound (tel: +1 800 231 2222; www.greyhound.com) and Jefferson Bus Lines (tel: +1 800 451 5333; www.jeffersonlines.com) provide intercity coach services to and from the Twin Cities to destinations around the USA and Canada, including direct services from New York, Los Angeles, Winnipeg and Chicago.
Both companies use the same city centre terminals. The Minneapolis Terminal, 950 Hawthorne Avenue, is opposite the Orpheum Theatre and is close to city bus routes along Hennepin Avenue and Seventh Street and Eighth Street. In St Paul, coaches stop at Union Depot, the Amtrak station on 240 East Kellogg Boulevard.
Time to city
From Milwaukee - 5 hours; Chicago - 6 hours 30 minutes; Omaha - 6 hours; Winnipeg - 7 hours; Kansas City - 6 hours 30 minutes.
Travel by Rail
Services
Amtrak trains stop at the renovated Union Depot station, located at 240 Kellogg Boulevard in downtown St Paul.
Amtrak trains are comfortable, if a little slow and sometimes subject to delays.
Operators
Amtrak (tel: +1 800 872 7245; www.amtrak.com) is the USA's national railway operator.
Minneapolis-St Paul is on a major east-west line, called the ‘Empire Builder’, which runs daily from Chicago to either Portland or Seattle.
Journey times
From Chicago - 7 hours 40 minutes; Portland - 37 hours; Seattle - 37 hours.
