Gateway Destination

The city once simply served as a place to rest and buy provisions before heading north. Over the last decade, though, Duluth has transformed itself into a destination in its own right.

Clinging to forested bluffs along a natural harbor at the lake's southernmost tip (150 miles northeast of the Twin Cities), Duluth claims a San Francisco-like setting. In the early 1990s, the thriving port for lake-going ships began transforming its hardworking waterfront into an appealing enclave of recreation, shopping, dining and nightlife.

Today, you can walk, bike or roller-blade for miles on a broad arc of harborside boardwalk. East of downtown, the boardwalk takes you past a row of lakeside motels to the towering aerial lift bridge. Suspended from an arch of steel girders that crosses a narrow canal, the span rises 138 feet to allow giant ore ships passage into the harbor. From the promenade in neighboring Canal Park, you can nearly touch the ships as they passthat is, if the hungry gulls will let you stop feeding them long enough to look.

West of the bridge along Lake Avenue and side streets, 19th-century brick buildings house galleries and restaurants. East of the bridge, beaches edge Park Point, a seven-mile finger of land.

Across I-35, the ornate 1890s railroad depot now serves as a heritage-and-art center with four museums. Board the North Shore Scenic Railroad here for a 30-mile shoreline excursion.

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