We visited Duluth as part of Big Trip #5 in September 2026. Read about our previous visit in August 2022 here.

From Grand Marais, it was a scenic two-hour drive along the Lake Superior coast to Duluth, easy except for construction just north of Duluth. That construction factored into our decision making the following day when choosing a morning hike.

We learned upon arrival that the following day Duluth was hosting an inline skating marathon through town, and an Oktoberfestival by the harbor. The weather was lovely, and the touristy Canal Park area bustling. What a fun town.

Campground

The camping situation is one of the things we love about Duluth. Once again, we stayed at Lakehead Boat Basin, just a few block from the shops and restaurants of Canal Park, and a long walk/short Uber to downtown. Even better than the convenient location, though, is the view of the harbor and the famous Aerial Lift Bridge.

Eating

We’d enjoyed dinner at Zeitgeist last visit, so repeated it this time. They serve well-made cocktails and creative food—their cauliflower tempura was the best we’ve had, and our veggie-heavy bowls hit the spot after some sinful travel eating.

Our other Duluth eating goal (well, J’s goal specifically) was to get a famous burger at the very popular Anchor across the border in Superior, WI. The burger menu is all over the place; J’s had cashews on it and he said it was delicious. Other amusements at Anchor: tons of historical shipping paraphernalia on walls; our complimentary tiny glasses of Grain Belt beer, a full-size sausage in my bloody Mary, and kids can drink at bars with their parents in WI.

Drinking

Last visit, our favorite breweries were Ursa Minor and Bent Paddle. This time, we loved Ursa Minor—wow, it had exploded since we were last here, with a huge indoors and covered outdoors. The sours were so good, the salad with lake trout and goat cheese was delicious, the staff was fantastic, and it was happening on a Friday night. We took a veggie pizza home to eat the following day and it was fabulous.

Bent Paddle was not a favorite this visit: the key lime sour was great for me, but J didn’t like his IPA, and there was a weirdly quiet and serious bingo scene going on when we stopped by.

Other than beer drinking, we tried a cocktail at Altitude, a fancy cocktail place attached to a hostel (umm when I was a hostel-surfer in my 20s I was not drinking crafted cocktails) and a cool vibe.

Activities

To keep our hiking streak alive, we hiked Ely Peak in the morning: a nice two-mile walk close to town… it was pleasant, but we were spoiled by all the Lake Superior hiking we’d been doing. Near the big city there was too much civilization. Our favorite part of the hike wasn’t the lake views, but rather the beautiful forest. Our old friend the Superior Hiking Trail was part of the action here.

The Marine Museum is in Canal Park at the visitor center at the lift bridge, and is the most visited museum in Minnesota. It’s a manageable size, and we were interested to see the Edmund Fitzgerald-specific exhibits and films. I’ve mentioned previously how much we enjoyed the Gales of November book about the Edmund Fitzgerald, and of course everybody of a certain age (or affinity for the Yacht Rock station on Sirius) knows the Gordon Lightfoot song.

Our other main activity in Duluth was to take Tilly to Duluth Trading to buy her a warm coat! She had a few hand-me-downs from sweet Bugsy, but Tilly’s chest is a lot broader than Bugsy’s, so we knew she’d need her own jacket. Success! Someone in Rainer, our next stop. called her Inspector Gadget in her little cargo coat, and we’ve been using that ever since.

To do

These were on our list and we didn’t get to them, or we added them after driving by and noticing they were lovely:

• Walk in Lincoln Park (near the breweries) was on our list from last time
• Cloquet, MN is a nearby small town with a Frank Lloyd Wright gas station
• William A Irvin museum – it’s a lake vessel you can tour
• Jay Cooke State Park – hiking, swinging bridge over river, close to Duluth
• Tour Glensheen Mansion
• walk the Lakewalk up the hill from Canal Walk

Fron Duluth, it was a 2.5-ish hour drive to Ash River Visitor Center at Voyageurs National Park. We were about to meet Tilly’s favorite Airstreaming destination, Ranier MN!