The great outdoors is part of what makes Minneapolis-Saint Paul so incredibly spectacular: the cities are filled to the brim with outdoor based activities for every season. While not every resident of the Twin Cities is an avid outdoors person with expansive knowledge of nature, that doesn’t mean that they’re incapable of enjoying what Minneapolis and Saint Paul have to offer. If you want to spend time outside in the Twin Cities but don’t want to scale cliffs and do daredevil sorts of things, here are seven easy hikes to add to your outdoor bucket list in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. These might just be some of the best hikes in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, so write them down:

These are just a few of the easiest and most beautiful hikes within Minneapolis and Saint Paul that you should add to your outdoor bucket list. We know the Twin Cities offer a variety of other options for hiking, and we’d love to know about your favorites in the comments below!

If you love the great outdoors, read about these 10 epic and outdoorsy things in Minneapolis-Saint Paul that anyone can do.

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Best Hikes in Minneapolis-Saint Paul

What are some wonderful kid-friendly hikes around Minneapolis-Saint Paul?  

Minneapolis is a hiker’s paradise – it's just that a lot of folks don’t know it! That being said, there are lots of wonderful trails perfect for novice hikers, so they’re perfect for bringing the kids. Check out amazing hiking trails in Minnesota that just so happen to be the Minneapolis-St. Paul area’s best, like Hidden Falls Trail at Hidden Falls Regional Park. It’s short and sweet, at just 1.3 miles in length, and it’s perfect for even the littlest of little ones. Another favorite kid-friendly hike near Minneapolis-St. Paul is found at Long Lake Park; it’s the 1.4-mile scenic trek known as, appropriately, the Long Lake Trail.  

What are some of the most scenic hikes in Minneapolis-Saint Paul?  

With 17.6 million acres of forest land and quite literally more than 10,000 lakes, Minnesota is one of the most amazing states in the country. Some of the hiking trails in the Twin Cities area are so ridiculously stunning that you might just forget you’re so close to the city. One perfect example of this is the Lebanon Hills Regional Park, which is so much more than just outrageously beautiful. It’s one of the most scenic places in Minnesota and easily one of the most popular places to go hiking near Minneapolis-St. Paul. We’re also hopelessly obsessed with Minnehaha Regional Park, where we love embarking upon the incredible waterfall hike that leads to one of the most amazing waterfalls in Minnesota.  

What are some of the best easy hikes in Minneapolis-Saint Paul?  

There are literally thousands of hikes in Minneapolis-St. Paul, so naturally, a decent fraction of those are quite easy. We just so happen to have several favorite easy hikes in Minneapolis-St. Paul, like the to-die-for Lake Harriet Loop Trail, at Lyndale Park. It’s got it all: a sparkling blue lake, rose gardens, blue skies ... it’s everything that’s beautiful about Minnesota, and it’s definitely one of our favorite lake hikes in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Another classic is the four-mile-long Nine Mile Creek Loop, which is easily one of the most beautiful hikes in the Midwest.