Start from 22 curated places around Lanesboro, MN, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Pedal Pushers Cafe
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.
Juniper's Restaurant
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.
Trails & outdoors
Root River State Trail
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.
Harmony-Preston Valley State Trail
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.
Things to do
Commonweal Theatre Company
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.
Lanesboro Arts
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.
Landmarks & sights
Parkway Avenue Historic District
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.
Historic Stone Dam
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.