Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

Incredible, huge, three-story, free art museum with ongoing exhibits as well as various rotating and traveling special exhibits that have a fee (however, those exhibits usually offer free days as well). I have spent many hours over many days over many years and yet I STILL haven't seen everything even in the ongoing exhibits. You should make a reservation for tickets for special events but usually you can walk-in and still get a ticket, even for those. They have a fun, free Family Day event the second weekend of every month with fun activities and a take-home tote. You can also get a free or paid membership (different levels have different benefits). Definitely donate if you can as well, to help support the museum. There is a gift shop as well as a couple restaurants on site. They offer a free coat check and self-service lockers, which is great for winter when you don't want to lug your coat around. The museum is located on the bus route and there is free on-street and some paid parking lots available. Sometimes they offer free shuttles as well. The museum is accessible with ramps and elevators and offer free wheelchairs for use (which was so helpful when I was there while on crutches). We love the fun, family-friendly Rock the Cradle event they host with the Children's Theatre Company in March and the beautiful Art in Bloom event in the spring.

Absolutely insanely amazing... Literally filled with wonders. The Mia is huge and has an INCREDIBLE amount of wonderful art. I was there 3 hours and didn't even get through one floor. I think I spent two hours just in the Asia exhibits and I didn't even see everything in there. Time flies by when there's so much to get immersed in. I think it would take me days to truly appreciate all of the art. If you like to sketch, definitely bring your materials! I had a blast :D And Mia is completely free!!! (Although everyone should make a donation to this wonderful place). I would put this at the top of the to-do list when in the Twin Cities. Hopefully I'm back in Minneapolis soon so I can designate a few full days to the Mia:) The facilities were very clean and there is plenty of room to social distance even with a good amount of people visiting (I was there on a Wednesday 11am-2pm). Lovely staff as well and they do have a self-service coat check with lockers. As of 4/27/22, masks are optional although many guests still masking when I was there:) Very accessible by bus too!

MIA is a beautiful museum that is free to the public. It has a parking ramp for easy parking ($7 for the first two hours and an additional $1/hr after the initial two hrs) if you don't want the hassle of finding street parking. The building is shared with Children's Theater, which is a great place to catch a show if you have young ones. MIA has multiple floors to explore (stairs and elevators to choose from) with multiple restrooms (that are clean) on each floor for convenience. They also have a little cafe with tables and a little shop on the first floor. In my opinion, this museum is far superior in content than The Walker.

This completely FREE museum offers so much for the visitors to see and learn that one visit is simply not enough! I visited for the first time today on a Wednesday, and I loved every minute of my visit. I spent most of my time perusing arts from Europe and America between 1600s to modern times on the third floor. I saw one painting from Monet's later years and it was interesting to see the transformation of his artistic style. The second floor displays artifacts, paintings and other artworks from various parts of the world. A cafe and a gift shop can be found on the main floor. I will for sure return!

It was my first time. I was very impressed. Very very very large building. Three Floors. I was there 3 hours and I didn't even see everything. They have one or two sections where it cost money to get in but those are like for specialty exhibits like Van Gogh and they had some Japanese textiles thing that was like 20 bucks to get in. They have a coffee shop and a gift store on the first floor. All the art was really interesting. I highly recommend reading the plaques, some really funny stuff. I should have taken more photos. I can't wait to go back. In the African art section on the first floor, if you read the plaques it's almost comical they tell stories of how they have no idea where the art came from or who made it and it was donated by some white guy. I think an effort should be made to return some of that stuff, especially stuff within the last century.for example there was several spiritual artifacts that were so sacred they should be returned. They have a really great Mediterranean section as well, one thing was an urn. That should be returned and put in an intentional resting place that isn't to be gawked at by tourists.