Minneapolis

There is no sea here, but there is summer lake swimming in the middle of the city. Lake Harriet, Bde Maka Ska, Lake Nokomis and the more secluded beach on Cedar Lake all have sandy strips, lifeguarded areas in summer and water that reaches about 24°C by late July. On a warm evening locals bike over after work, swim, and paddleboard or sit on the grass.

The catch is the calendar. Water is comfortable only from about late June to early September, and for half the year the lakes are frozen solid. The beaches are small and fine for a swim or an afternoon, but nobody books a trip here just for them.

Eating here is better and more varied than outsiders expect. The most interesting cooking comes from the city's immigrant communities. Lake Street and Eat Street on Nicollet Avenue are lined with Mexican, Vietnamese, Somali and Ethiopian kitchens, and the Hmong markets around the Twin Cities offer food found in few other American cities. The Midtown Global Market gathers much of this under one roof. The regional comfort food is the Juicy Lucy, a burger with the cheese melted inside, along with hotdish, walleye and Scandinavian baking.

Northeast and the North Loop are where the chef-driven restaurants and craft breweries cluster, and brewery taprooms are a big part of local social life. What the city lacks is a cuisine of its own that would draw you here, and its fine-dining tier is good but small.

Minneapolis is a museum city more than a sightseeing city. The Minneapolis Institute of Art is a large encyclopedic collection running from Chinese jades to European old masters, and general admission is free. The Walker Art Center is one of the country's leading modern and contemporary art museums. Next door, the Sculpture Garden has the much-photographed Spoonbridge and Cherry. The Weisman Art Museum's folded steel building sits on the university campus above the river.

The city's history is industrial. The Mill City Museum is built into the ruins of a flour mill, and the Stone Arch Bridge crosses the Mississippi beside St Anthony Falls, the only falls on the river. Beyond the riverfront, historic architecture is scattered, and two or three days covers the main sights.

Going out here is friendly and spread across several neighbourhoods rather than concentrated in one strip. Northeast has brewery taprooms and old neighbourhood bars. The North Loop's warehouses hold cocktail bars, and downtown's Warehouse District and Uptown fill on weekends with a younger crowd. Summer nights on patios and rooftops are the best of it.

Bars close at 2am, the club scene is modest, and winter thins out the streets. This is a city of good bars, not of all-night partying.

Green space is one of the city's real strengths. The Grand Rounds is a ring of parkways and paths of about 80km that links the Chain of Lakes, Minnehaha Falls and the wooded gorge of the Mississippi. You can cycle, run or skate for hours with barely a road crossing. In summer people canoe and paddleboard on the lakes and paddle the river. In winter Theodore Wirth Park grooms cross-country ski trails, and frozen lakes host skating and ice fishing.

Beyond the city, the St Croix River valley, with its rock bluffs, is about an hour away, and the Minnesota Valley wildlife refuge sits near the airport. The land is flat to gently rolling, though, with no mountains, and winters are long and severe.

The best short trip is barely a trip at all. St Paul, the other half of the Twin Cities, has the State Capitol, the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Victorian mansions of Summit Avenue, all a light-rail ride away. Stillwater, about forty minutes east, is an old logging town on the St Croix with antique shops and a lift bridge. Further down the Mississippi, Red Wing and the towns on Lake Pepin make a scenic river drive.

After that the list thins. Most of what lies within two hours is farmland and small towns, so a car is needed and expectations should be modest.

Families have plenty to do, much of it indoors, which matters here. The Mall of America in Bloomington contains a full indoor amusement park and an aquarium, and it is reachable by light rail. Across the river in St Paul are the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Minnesota Children's Museum and the small, free Como Zoo. The larger Minnesota Zoo lies south of the city.

In summer the lake beaches, paddle boats, playgrounds and bike paths make easy outdoor days. The local culture is relaxed and polite, and the pace is unhurried. The main drawbacks are distance, since many attractions are a drive apart, and the cold, which turns winter visits into a round of indoor venues.

Two light-rail lines cover the essentials. The Blue Line runs from downtown to the airport and the Mall of America, and the Green Line runs through the university to downtown St Paul. Downtown itself is compact, and the skyway system of enclosed footbridges lets you cross much of it in winter without going outside.

Cycling is the city's real advantage. Protected lanes, bike-share and the off-road Midtown Greenway reach the lakes and the river more easily than the buses do. Outside the core, distances grow and services thin, and trips to the river towns or the bigger zoo really need a car. In deep winter, walking any distance outdoors is hard going.

For many visitors, the shopping here means the Mall of America, the largest mall in the country. It has hundreds of mainstream stores under one roof, an easy light-rail ride from downtown, and Minnesota charges no sales tax on clothing. In the city itself, Nicollet Mall is the main downtown street. The North Loop has independent fashion and homeware boutiques, and Northeast has artists' studios and makers' shops, busiest during its open-studio weekends.

Luxury retail is thin, there are no historic market halls, and local crafts are limited to Scandinavian-heritage goods and northwoods outdoor wear. It is convenient rather than inspiring.

This is one of the more reasonably priced major American cities, though still not cheap for travellers from abroad. Hotels downtown and near the river cost moderate amounts by US standards, rising for big conventions and sporting events. Eating out follows American norms, with tax and a tip added to the bill, though the immigrant food corridors and brewery taprooms offer good value.

Several of the best sights cost little. The Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Sculpture Garden are free, as are the lakes and parks. Light rail is inexpensive, but visitors who need a car for longer outings should add hire and parking costs.

Live performance is the city's strongest suit. The Guthrie Theater, with its cantilevered bridge over the Mississippi, is one of the country's leading theatre companies. Around it is a large circuit of theatres, from the restored Hennepin Avenue houses that host touring Broadway shows to the Children's Theatre Company and smaller companies staging new work. The Minnesota Orchestra plays at Orchestra Hall downtown, and across the river the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Opera are based at the Ordway.

Popular music has its own history. First Avenue, the club where Prince filmed Purple Rain, has been the centre of the local rock scene for decades, and the city has a solid jazz and indie circuit. Something good is on most nights of the year.

The city's wellness tradition is Nordic. Scandinavian and Finnish settlers brought the sauna, and in winter public saunas set up on frozen lakes, where people alternate heat with a cold plunge or a roll in the snow. Otherwise there are day spas and hotel spas but no thermal springs or historic bathhouses.

The pace helps. The city is unhurried and polite, and walking around a lake at dusk is a common way to wind down. It is a pleasant place to slow down, but not one to choose for spa treatments.