17yr - 10 hour layover in Minneapolis safe to look around?

My son will be spending three weeks in Missoula in June . As a result of purchasing a cheap flight from Aus he will have a 10 hour wait between flights. He arrives around mid day on a Wednesday, he will have been traveling for about 24 hours so will be fairly tired but to help the time pass I wondered if it would be safe for him to leave the airport and have a look around?

He has traveled twice to the US before on his own and is confident traveling by himself. Sadly I%26#39;m not at all familiar with Minneapolis so would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

Lisa

17yr - 10 hour layover in Minneapolis safe to look around?

Yes, it will be safe. The light rail stops at the airport, so he could get on it and visit a few places. One choice is the Mall of America, the largest shopping/entertainment center in the country. Or he could ride the light rail to downtown Minneapolis and see things. Finally, he could choose to spend a few hours at Minnehaha Park, a beautiful park in the city that includes an incredible waterfall. Here are some sites to check out:

http://www.metrotransit.org/rail/

http://www.minneapolis.org/

www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp鈥?/a>

17yr - 10 hour layover in Minneapolis safe to look around?

Definetly tell him to get out of the airport....he might go insane staying there for 10 hours! I don%26#39;t have much to add to the post above only wanted to say not to worry, Minneapolis is a very clean, safe city.

Go downtown (take the light rail to nicollet mall), get a bite to eat, walk around some, maybe shop a little bit then stop at minehaha park on the way back to the airport. IMHO, mall of america is a waste of time.

Definitely get out of that boring airport. Follow signs for the light rail and take it toward downtown. Will take about 40 minutes to get downtown. Lots to see there.

Or if the weather is nice he can stop at the Minnehaha Park/50th Street stop for a bite at Cap%26#39;s (the train stops next to the parking lot -- can%26#39;t miss it) then wander Minnehaha Park. Would take about 15 minutes to get to the park stop on the train. He could follow the path down along the creek to see the famous Mississippi River. And of course, doing that he%26#39;d see beautiful Minnehaha Falls.

a lot of people here think the Mall of america is a waste of time, but thats because we are all jaded, and most of us have ';holiday time traffic'; horror stories.

(plus transit from the airport to the MOA is a 5 minute lightrail ride, so no cabs!)

its not too bad, itll be a good place (thats close to the airport) to go and have a look around.

kind of busy though, so depending on his tolerance of people after a 24hr flight, it may be a good experience!

also, the lightrail will take him intodowntown, but most of the area isnt really all that great until nighttime. (most resturaunts close between 2-8ish)

but it is a safe place for him to go.

Also for a 17 year old he might enjoy going to ';block-E';.

www.mplswarehouse.com/search.cgi鈥?/a>

It has a very large restauarnt/arcade.

It is only one block from nicollet.

People are telling you to go to nicollet because it is the pedestrian core of downtown minneapolis.

It is a very nice walk down the street.

But to tell you the truth I am not so sure that a 17 year old boy would find it all that thrilling.

Of course a lot depends on how tired he is, how the weather is, and of course what he feels like doing.

If he feels cooped up and wants to get outside, then a visit to the Minnehaha Park would be great.

I took my 15 year old brother there when he visisted. We walked down a short trail to the Mississippi - which thrilled him to death. He jumped in and declared that he could not believe he was in the Mississippi.

If that sound like a good idea 0 let us know and I am sure we could bore you with information.

Does it really take 40 minutes to get downtown by rail?

does that include airport walking time?

Well it actually does take about 20 minutes walking to get from the main part of the Linburgh Terminal to the light rail station. Just make sure your son, cuts four to five hours of that layover time off to make sure he gets back to the airport ontime. The links above are good to look at and maybe print out. Mall Of America, one can easily blow a wad of time in.

~JS

Thank you so much for all the great suggestions. He is actually now really pleased to be having such a long layover so he can get out and have a look around.

Really appreciate all your help.

Lisa

From the Lindbergh, actual TRAVEL time is about 30 minutes (including the wait for stops). But if you factor in the time to buy a ticket and the wait for a train to arrive, I usually include that buffer time in there so people aren%26#39;t running late.