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All the United States Minnesota

The Atlas Obscura Guide To Minnesota

189 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Minnesota

Updated January 27, 2025

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Cities

Top Cities
Minneapolis
Electro-Metabograph
Saint Paul
Entrance to the tunnel.
Duluth
A 1927 Greyhound bus on display at the museum.
Hibbing
(Flickr/Trip Deezil)
Alexandria
Devil’s Kettle.
Grand Marais
All Cities
  1. Alexandria
  2. Baudette
  3. Bemidji
  4. Duluth
  5. Fergus Falls
  6. Grand Marais
  7. Hibbing
  8. Minneapolis
  9. Saint Paul
  10. St. Cloud
  11. St. Joseph
  12. St. Louis Park
  13. Two Harbors
  14. Winona
Attractions
Food & Drink
Map
Leaderboards
Stories
Lists

Unusual Attractions in Minnesota

The anechoic chamber

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Orfield Labs Quiet Chamber

This lab's maddening silence is good for business but bad for sanity.
Niagara Cave

Harmony, Minnesota

Niagara Cave

This large midwestern cavern features impressive rock formations and an underground waterfall.
Devil’s Kettle.

Grand Marais, Minnesota

Devil's Kettle

Half of a waterfall goes into the river while the other half seems to disappear.
Electro-Metabograph

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Museum of Quackery and Medical Frauds

A museum within a museum, devoted to history's most questionable medical devices.
The Frank Lloyd Wright gas station today

Cloquet, Minnesota

Frank Lloyd Wright Gas Station

The famed architect designed this Minnesota gas station of the future with a lookout tower.
The entrance to the caves in St. Paul.

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Wabasha Street Caves

These curious caverns have been home to mushrooms, gangsters, and disco.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

City Salvage

An architecturally-focused antique shop.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum

20,000 pieces in a Frank Gehry-designed building.
See All 189 Things To Do in Minnesota

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Minnesota

Rib options

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Herbivorous Butcher

A butcher shop in Minneapolis has all the meats and cheeses you’d expect from any of its kind—except that all the products are vegan.
Spam Museum - new location is 101 3rd Ave NE and is due to open April 22, 2016 in Austin, MN

Austin, Minnesota

Spam Museum

Ever wanted to can Spam?
Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store

Jordan, Minnesota

Minnesota's Largest Candy Store

This bright yellow building is packed with sweet treats from all around the world, from chocolate-covered crickets to whoopie pies.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Gatherings Cafe

An eatery within the Minneapolis American Indian Center writes colonial ingredients out of the story of Native American cuisine.
See all 12 Places to Eat in Minnesota
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

In partnership with GetYourGuide

Unforgettable Experiences Nearby

Atlas Obscura Itineraries

18 Mini Golf Courses You Should Go Out of Your Way to Play

Adventures filled with oversized characters, obstacles, and castles await—all you need to join is a putter and a ball. Yes, we're talking about miniature golf, the Lilliputian game with a big imagination. Since 2012, we—Tom Loftus and Robin Schwartzman—have been documenting the world of mini golf on our website A Couple of Putts. After putting our way through more than 300 courses, we’ve stumbled into becoming experts who design, build, and consult on all things miniature golf. With our keen eye for elements that make courses distinctive and magical destinations, we’ve created this world tour to showcase some of our personal favorites, as well as a few courses on our “must play” list. In keeping with the theme, here are 18 unique courses that span the globe. This wild assortment of putting places offer unique ways to interact with the past and present. Putt when ready!

View Itinerary
The courses may be miniature, but the spectacle is gigantic.

Explore Minnesota

Architecture 21
Museums 21
Architectural Oddities 16
Art 14
Water 14
Statues 13
Roadside Attractions 12
Monuments 10
Music 10
Parks 9
Collections 9
Animals 9
Unique Restaurants & Bars 2
Places To Stay 2

Minnesota Leaderboard

Places Added

  1. lizzieboyle
    18
  2. Dr Alan P Newman
    12
  3. Emily Sue
    5
  4. littlebrumble
    5
  5. typosinkeye
    5
Join the Ranks!
Add an unusual place to Minnesota.

Places Edited

  1. Collector of Experiences
    52
  2. Dr Alan P Newman
    28
  3. michaelnhartman
    19
  4. lizzieboyle
    15
  5. lorie shaull
    12

Places Visited

  1. joewicklund
    124
  2. collinqburke
    123
  3. wajone
    106
  4. okbyajc
    90
  5. swooleve
    84

Recent Minnesota Activity

  • sarahochocki

    wants to go to Twelve Vultures

  • sarahochocki

    wants to go to The Nook Basement

  • sarahochocki

    wants to go to Schubert Club Museum of Musical Instruments

  • mmiraglia

    has been to The Herbivorous Butcher

  • mmiraglia

    has been to Minnehaha Falls

Stories About Minnesota

A fish sits on the edge of a hole cut through the ice of Bass Lake in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest.

Ice Fishing in the Time of Climate Change

Wide swings in winter temperature delay ice formation on Midwest lakes, turning a beloved pastime into a dangerous game.
by Kristoffer Tigue
January 27, 2025
Em Loerzel and her Anishinaabe community in western Wisconsin are bringing Mino and his fellow Ojibwe ponies back to their ancestral land.

The Return of the Ojibwe Pony, the Midwest's Native Horse

A rare breed once on the brink of extinction is making a comeback on their ancestral lands.
by Roxanne Hoorn
July 25, 2024

Podcast: Owamni

Visit a restaurant dedicated to decolonizing food and honoring Indigenous meal traditions, with its award-winning chef Sean Sherman.
by The Podcast Team
February 14, 2024
Captain Heather Friedli puts the final touches on Team Kwe’s sculpture, “Wenabozho and Dadibaajimad Journey on the River of Souls.”

This Team of Indigenous Women Sculpts Stories in Snow

Team Kwe honors their Anishinaabe roots in the art and sport of snow sculpting.
by Roxanne Hoorn
February 1, 2024

Podcast: Seeking the (Minnesota-Shaped) Forest Through the Trees - Part 2

The man behind the mysterious project finally shares why.
by The Podcast Team
February 1, 2024

Podcast: Seeking the (Minnesota-Shaped) Forest Through the Trees - Part 1

If a tree falls in Google Maps, does it make a sound?
by The Podcast Team
January 31, 2024
A nearly gutted department store escalator in Owings Mills Mall in Owings Mills, Maryland.

The Life and Death of the American Mall

The indoor suburban shopping center is a special kind of abandoned place.
by Matthew Christopher
January 10, 2024
Making Swedish egg coffee is both a beloved tradition and a fascinating chemical process.

The Midwest's Scandinavian Secret to Eggcellent Coffee

Immigrants from Northern Europe used eggs to make a smooth, tasty brew.
by Kathy Adams
November 7, 2023

Lists Featuring Minnesota

Madaba Mosaic Map
The gallery of maps, showing the ceiling
Great Polish Map of Scotland

13 Marvelous Maps That Go Way Beyond Paper

Charting the world's most intriguing out-of-the-box cartography.

13

Including Madaba Mosaic Map, Gallery of Maps - Galleria delle Carte Geografiche, and Mapparium Globe

Blue Sky Mausoleum.
Darwin Martin House Complex.
Skylights on the exterior porch made of red cypress.
A restored Wright house on the Burnham Block.

A 12-Stop Road Trip of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Most Surprising Designs

A UFO-inspired church, a futurist gas station, and more deep cuts.

12

Including Blue Sky Mausoleum, The Darwin D. Martin House, and Kentuck Knob

Original letter of Abraham, the son of Maimonides found in the Cairo genizah.
A sculpture of the Tower of Babel, by Alan Baughman, from the Introductory Room of the Museum of the Alphabet
Boontling word of the week in the tap room of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

A Linguistics Lover's Tour of the World

12 places to marvel at the history of human language.

12

Including The Cairo Genizah , The Museum of the Alphabet , and Boontling Language of Boonville

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