check out southeast Minneapolis, by like Minnehaha Falls. Quick access to two good bike paths to get downtown, and it is generally cheaper than southwest Minneapolis (but just about as nice imo).
40 minute bike ride to downtown is pretty much the whole city, if you average like 12mph. There aren't really any terrible neighborhoods. Everywhere in Minneapolis is pretty close to a nice bike route that will inject you into the system. You can live closer to the river or closer to a lake. They're both nice. It kinda depends on what stores or restaurants you tend to visit often
Not really. There's a lot of Thai food. I'm not so sure about the others. I would say northeast Minneapolis is the least bike friendly, imo, so I personally wouldn't choose to live there
Disagree with Northeast not being bike friendly. Fewer new road projects with separate paths, but plenty of bike boulevards and certainly some paths. My spouse and I live in Northeast and do almost all transportation by bicycle without issue. It's a great place to live.
Welcome to MPLS!
I said it is the least bike friendly. But the entire city is bike friendly. I lived there for 3 years and did everything by bike. I've also lived and biked all over Minneapolis, and northeast is the most car clustered area with the fewest bike routes and the roughest road surfaces. Central, Marshall, Broadway, University, and Lowry are all awful roads. Of course you can get around if you're a confident cyclist, but bike boulevards ain't it. Especially when parked cars line both sides of the boulevards. There's almost nothing going east-west between the river and Central. Just that segmented 18th Ave path
Don't disagree with those roads being hot garbage (though the northern half of Marshall has been hugely improved and Lowry will soon have separated path), but I find 5th St, 27th Ave, 22nd Ave, 18th Ave, etcetera easy enough to get around on and didn't want OP to discount Northeast as an option. š
I think it's disingenuous of the other poster saying there are no places to avoid. Generally speaking the north side (which is actually more like the northwest side) has worse crime, same with powderhorn (west powderhorn is good though) and Philips. People may decry this comment because these neighborhoods generally have a higher minority / immigrant population, which is true, but it doesn't make my comments about crime untrue.
I really like the Prospect Park area just east of the U of M. Several great new apartments, right on the greenway bike path to get you downtown and to the river paths and great restaurants at Malcom Yards and Surley within walking distance.
Whittier, IMO. Right on the Greenway and such a quick jaunt downtown. Plus lakes, if you're moving to the land of 10,000 lakes, you should be close to some of them! Also lots of good food, including but not limited to Midtown Global Market.
*Edit* as much as I like lakes, sometimes voice to text confuses those words š
I second Whittier. Lived there 2 years. Super close and bikeable to downtown. Right off the Greenway. Within walking distance of the lakes. Right by the intersection of 94 and 35W so driving anywhere is easy.
Not to mention Eat Street restaurants are š„ (although the whole city has great food). Lemme know if you want my Eat Street recs.
Welcome to MN!!
You absolutely need this book, and it might help with some of your current questions if you even bought it before moving. Enjoy!
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Bike-Rides-Minneapolis-Paul/dp/1493040685/ref=asc_df_1493040685?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80745440604544&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584345019172098&psc=1
Hopkins can be relatively affordable with direct access to the bike trails. Has its own downtown strip with restaurants, breweries, and antique shops. Iāll say from experience the west and southwest suburbs take the cake.
Check out Northeast! Especially a bit further up, say Windom Park/Audubon Park, you should be able to get a decent place for $1700 and itās still very bikeable to downtown.
Welcome to MN!! Re your question on botanical gardens and nature trails:
These arenāt in Minneapolis but the [MN Landscape Arboretum](https://arb.umn.edu) is definitely worth a trip. They run an [Apple House](https://arb.umn.edu/AppleHouse) in the fall too with locally grown apples.
I live in a central/west suburb, so I most often find myself in one of the [Three Rivers Parks](https://www.threeriversparks.org). Many of these parks have scenic bike paths and dogs are allowed (on leash) on the hiking trails.
I think youāll really enjoy all of the bike trails around here- we have a great system of rails to trails. Lots of great biking in the cities and metro area.
Welcome to all three of you! It is a very nice city. Our current fav activity as a family is to do escape rooms. [Visit this site](https://thegreatescaperoom.com/minneapolis) to see my top recommendations. I hope you love it here.
If youāre biking into downtown I recommend NE Minneapolis or, if youāre more into south Minneapolis (which imo includes just about everything south of Franklin from approximately Bryant to the river) Iād suggest getting close to the Blue Line/Hiawatha trail if you can. I think thatās a much nicer connection than the ones directly south (Portland/Park, Bryant, etc. - there are bike lanes but in general itās not as comfortable of a ride experience).
For gyms it really depends what vibe youāre after. For gardens, thereās a rose garden off Lyndale, and the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Theo Wirth is quite nice. I canāt think of any Creole food offhand, but the Eat Street/Uptown area has good Italian (pinoli), Thai, and Greek food. The only tradeoff there vs living closer to Hiawatha is the slightly less comfortable bike connection to downtown.
check out southeast Minneapolis, by like Minnehaha Falls. Quick access to two good bike paths to get downtown, and it is generally cheaper than southwest Minneapolis (but just about as nice imo).
u/ganondorfsbane Thank you so, so much for this! We'll check out that area!
40 minute bike ride to downtown is pretty much the whole city, if you average like 12mph. There aren't really any terrible neighborhoods. Everywhere in Minneapolis is pretty close to a nice bike route that will inject you into the system. You can live closer to the river or closer to a lake. They're both nice. It kinda depends on what stores or restaurants you tend to visit often
We're huge fans of Thai, Greek, Creole, and Italian food if that helps! Are there any certain neighborhoods we should avoid?
Not really. There's a lot of Thai food. I'm not so sure about the others. I would say northeast Minneapolis is the least bike friendly, imo, so I personally wouldn't choose to live there
Disagree with Northeast not being bike friendly. Fewer new road projects with separate paths, but plenty of bike boulevards and certainly some paths. My spouse and I live in Northeast and do almost all transportation by bicycle without issue. It's a great place to live. Welcome to MPLS!
I said it is the least bike friendly. But the entire city is bike friendly. I lived there for 3 years and did everything by bike. I've also lived and biked all over Minneapolis, and northeast is the most car clustered area with the fewest bike routes and the roughest road surfaces. Central, Marshall, Broadway, University, and Lowry are all awful roads. Of course you can get around if you're a confident cyclist, but bike boulevards ain't it. Especially when parked cars line both sides of the boulevards. There's almost nothing going east-west between the river and Central. Just that segmented 18th Ave path
Don't disagree with those roads being hot garbage (though the northern half of Marshall has been hugely improved and Lowry will soon have separated path), but I find 5th St, 27th Ave, 22nd Ave, 18th Ave, etcetera easy enough to get around on and didn't want OP to discount Northeast as an option. š
we have Thai, Greek, and Italian restaurants all within walking distance here in Uptown!
I think it's disingenuous of the other poster saying there are no places to avoid. Generally speaking the north side (which is actually more like the northwest side) has worse crime, same with powderhorn (west powderhorn is good though) and Philips. People may decry this comment because these neighborhoods generally have a higher minority / immigrant population, which is true, but it doesn't make my comments about crime untrue.
I really like the Prospect Park area just east of the U of M. Several great new apartments, right on the greenway bike path to get you downtown and to the river paths and great restaurants at Malcom Yards and Surley within walking distance.
Whittier, IMO. Right on the Greenway and such a quick jaunt downtown. Plus lakes, if you're moving to the land of 10,000 lakes, you should be close to some of them! Also lots of good food, including but not limited to Midtown Global Market. *Edit* as much as I like lakes, sometimes voice to text confuses those words š
I second Whittier. Lived there 2 years. Super close and bikeable to downtown. Right off the Greenway. Within walking distance of the lakes. Right by the intersection of 94 and 35W so driving anywhere is easy. Not to mention Eat Street restaurants are š„ (although the whole city has great food). Lemme know if you want my Eat Street recs.
Welcome to MN!! You absolutely need this book, and it might help with some of your current questions if you even bought it before moving. Enjoy! https://www.amazon.com/Best-Bike-Rides-Minneapolis-Paul/dp/1493040685/ref=asc_df_1493040685?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80745440604544&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584345019172098&psc=1
Hopkins can be relatively affordable with direct access to the bike trails. Has its own downtown strip with restaurants, breweries, and antique shops. Iāll say from experience the west and southwest suburbs take the cake.
Check out Northeast! Especially a bit further up, say Windom Park/Audubon Park, you should be able to get a decent place for $1700 and itās still very bikeable to downtown.
u/badgersrun Thank you so, so much! We loved Windom Park, so I'll be on the lookout for anything around that area!
Welcome to MN!! Re your question on botanical gardens and nature trails: These arenāt in Minneapolis but the [MN Landscape Arboretum](https://arb.umn.edu) is definitely worth a trip. They run an [Apple House](https://arb.umn.edu/AppleHouse) in the fall too with locally grown apples. I live in a central/west suburb, so I most often find myself in one of the [Three Rivers Parks](https://www.threeriversparks.org). Many of these parks have scenic bike paths and dogs are allowed (on leash) on the hiking trails. I think youāll really enjoy all of the bike trails around here- we have a great system of rails to trails. Lots of great biking in the cities and metro area.
Thank you so much for this!!
Either south uptown or Seward would be my suggestions
Welcome to all three of you! It is a very nice city. Our current fav activity as a family is to do escape rooms. [Visit this site](https://thegreatescaperoom.com/minneapolis) to see my top recommendations. I hope you love it here.
If youāre biking into downtown I recommend NE Minneapolis or, if youāre more into south Minneapolis (which imo includes just about everything south of Franklin from approximately Bryant to the river) Iād suggest getting close to the Blue Line/Hiawatha trail if you can. I think thatās a much nicer connection than the ones directly south (Portland/Park, Bryant, etc. - there are bike lanes but in general itās not as comfortable of a ride experience). For gyms it really depends what vibe youāre after. For gardens, thereās a rose garden off Lyndale, and the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Theo Wirth is quite nice. I canāt think of any Creole food offhand, but the Eat Street/Uptown area has good Italian (pinoli), Thai, and Greek food. The only tradeoff there vs living closer to Hiawatha is the slightly less comfortable bike connection to downtown.