Lanesboro, MN

Lanesboro's top-ranked restaurant, with scratch cooking on locally raised meats and in-season produce, burgers, homemade draft root beer, and a big gluten-free and vegetarian selection. Grab a table on the front patio facing Parkway and order the root beer on tap.

An organic scratch kitchen overlooking the Root River and bike trail, with award-winning burgers, handmade pastas, and a rotating weekly house cake. Sit on the riverside and ask what this week's cake is.

A craft-beer pub focused on regional brews, with in-house artisan flatbreads, burgers, and bone-in wings. The flatbreads are the move, and the tap list leans hard on Minnesota and regional breweries.

A no-menu breakfast and bakery famous for French toast, cinnamon rolls, croissants, and fresh-baked breads, plus a daily lunch menu. There is no menu; just tell them what you want, and come early before the cases empty.

A modern downtown coffeehouse doubling as a maker boutique, with good espresso and fresh muffins and croissants made with local farm eggs and cream. Browse the local-maker crafts while you wait, then grab a seat by the fireplace.

An old-fashioned Parkway Avenue ice cream parlor with fun flavors, huge portions, gluten-free options, and coffee. A great post-bike-ride stop right on Main Street; a single scoop is plenty.

A famous seasonal pie shop steps off the Root River Trail in tiny Whalan, with rotating sour cream raisin, Dutch apple, and coconut cream pies. Ride the trail from Lanesboro and arrive before noon; pies sell out on summer weekends.

Lanesboro's first brewery in over a century, in a converted granary on the Root River at the north edge of downtown, with a laid-back taproom and riverside patio. The patio runs year-round, with heaters and a fire pit going in winter.

A paved rail-trail through the Root River valley with Lanesboro at its heart, a gentle rail grade past limestone bluffs, river crossings, and frequent eagle sightings. The Lanesboro-to-Whalan stretch is the easy scenic warmup and ends at the pie shop.

A paved spur branching off the Root River Trail toward Preston and Harmony, climbing through wooded valleys and farm country with streams alongside. The Preston-to-Harmony section has rougher asphalt, so expect cracks and roots.

A hilltop environmental learning center above town with a high ropes course, hiking trails, and sweeping bluff views over the Root River valley. The ropes course is the standout, but the overlooks alone are worth the drive up.

A guided cave tour near Harmony with a sixty-foot underground waterfall, narrow high-ceilinged passages, fossils, and an underground chapel, rated among the top caves in the country. It is roughly two hundred fifty steps down and back, so skip it if knees are an issue.

A state park near Preston with guided cave tours, a restored historic village, and miles of hiking and horse trails through Driftless bluff country. There is no cell service in the park, so download directions first.

Southeastern Minnesota's premier professional theatre, running a rotating repertory of comedies, dramas, and musicals in an intimate house where every seat is good. Book ahead for the marquee summer show; it is an annual tradition for many visiting families.

A multi-disciplinary arts center on Parkway Avenue with a rotating exhibition gallery and a juried sales gallery showing work from dozens of regional artists, plus a historic theater. The sales gallery has work at every budget, a good place to buy a real local piece.

A family-owned river outfitter of decades, renting tubes, kayaks, canoes, and bikes right in downtown by the trail. They fit your life jacket personally and hand out straps so you can raft tubes together.

Guided tours into Amish family farms around the area, departing from downtown, where you visit working farms and buy quilts, furniture, and baked goods directly. Tell your guide whether you are after quilts, furniture, or baked goods and they will route the stops.

A family winery in the town's former creamery, making fruit, berry, and vegetable wines plus gourmet cooking wines. Taste the rhubarb and raspberry; the oddball fruit and vegetable bottles are the whole point.

Lanesboro's preserved limestone Main Street, a national-register district that is a near-intact snapshot of a century-old rural Minnesota downtown. Walk the full strip end to end; the theater, galleries, cafes, and shops are all on this one street.

A limestone gravity-arch dam built to power the town's flour mills, one of only a handful of its kind still standing, and a classic photo spot on the Root River. Shoot it at golden hour from the Church Hill overlook for the postcard view.

A free three-story local-history museum right on the bike trail, with railroad history, period rooms, vintage gowns, and hand-carved clocks. It is free and air-conditioned, a good midday break from the trail; do not skip the lower level.

A tree-shaded park at the heart of town with picnic shelters, a playground, courts, a gazebo, and two spring-fed trout ponds, the jewel of Lanesboro. The stocked ponds make for easy trout fishing right in town.