Getting Around, Saint Paul Travel, Transport and Car Rental
(Saint Paul, Minnesota - MN, USA)
If you have chosen to stay in St. Paul, it is most likely that you will intend to travel to its neighboring Twin City of
Minneapolis at some stage, and a rental car certainly provides the simplest mode of transport for this extremely popular journey.
The roads in downtown St. Paul are known for being a little jumbled and confusing to find your way around, with the layout being very much influenced by the route of the Mississippi River. Numerous bridges span the river, such as the Lafayette Bridge (Highway US-52) and the High Bridge (Highway US-149).
Metro Transit bus transport is on hand and offers frequent inexpensive connections between the Twin Cities. If convenience is more of an objective than budget, then taxis can be arranged to meet your travel needs. However, tourists staying in a downtown hotel will find that it is possible to stroll around this part of the city, where restaurants and plentiful attractions include the History Theater, the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the spreading Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) / Arriving by Air
Address: 6040 28th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota (MN), 55450, USA
Tel: +1 612 726 5555
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is located just a 20-minute drive to the southwest of the city center, being a little over 10 miles / 16 km away and reached by taking Interstate I-35E, joining Fort Road / 7th Street West at exit 103B. Over 35 million passengers currently use this facility every year, meaning that it is often exceptionally busy and therefore very organized.
Ground transportation options are therefore in good supply and include a bus service, which travels along Route 54 and is operated by Metro Transit. There are also scheduled Jefferson Line buses and Greyhound coaches, as well as free shuttles to many of the largest hotels, taxi transport and shuttle vans, and car rental (Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty). Alternatively, consider traveling on the Light Rail Transit (LRT), which connects downtown Minneapolis and stops at various stations along the way, including those of Fort Snelling, the VA Medical Center, Minnehaha Park, Lake Street / Midtown, Franklin Avenue, Cedar-Riverside, Metrodome, Government Plaza, Nicollet Mall and the Warehouse District.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Airports Guide
Car Rental
St. Paul and Minneapolis are connected by Interstate I-94W, a journey time of approximately 20 minutes or thereabouts, depending upon traffic. If you have a hire car, then you may well like to drive a little further afield and take full advantage of the comprehensive network of highways and interstates linking the rest of Minnesota and also the state of
Wyoming, to the east. Interstate I-35 heads northwards to Little Canada and Vadnais Lake, and in a south-southeasterly direction to Eagle, Burnsville and Owatonna, and all the way to
Des Moines,
Iowa.
Buses
Bus transport in St. Paul is operated by the same transit system as the buses in Minneapolis, namely the Metro Transit company. Regular daily buses travel to many places of interest in and around downtown St. Paul, connecting the Hiawatha light-rail line and also the nearby Mall of America, in the suburb of Bloomington. Bus route number 16 is particularly popular and runs eastwards along University Avenue, all the way into downtown Minneapolis.
Greyhound and Megabus offer additional public transport connections further afield from Minneapolis, traveling to destinations such as
Atlanta,
Chattanooga,
Chicago,
Cleveland,
Indianapolis,
Louisville,
Milwaukee,
Nashville,
Savannah and
St. Louis.
Trains
The Amtrak train station resides between the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, being found on Transfer Road, just off University Avenue Southeast. This railway station is open each day between the hours of 06:00 and 00:30. The Empire Builder rail line travels through the station on a daily basis, starting in Chicago and transporting passengers to the Pacific Northwest, taking in much of the famous Lewis and Clark Trail.
Some of the most popular stops after St. Paul include St. Cloud (MN), Staples (MN), Detroit Lakes (MN), Fargo (ND), Grand Forks (ND), Devils Lake (ND), Rugby (ND), Minot (ND), Stanley (ND), Williston (ND), Wolf Point (MT), Glasgow (MT), Malta (MT), Havre (MT), Shelby (MT), West Glacier (MT), Whitefish (MT), Libby (MT), Sandpoint (ID), Spokane (WA), Ephrata (WA), Pasco (WA), Wenatchee (WA), Leavenworth (WA), Wishram (WA), Everett (WA), Edmonds (WA),
Seattle (
WA), Vancouver (WA) and
Portland (
OR).
Taxis
Taxi transport is an extremely convenient way to travel around St. Paul, especially for shorter journeys. Most hotels can arrange a taxi on your behalf and many cab companies provide fixed-fares for destinations such as MSP Airport or the adjacent Twin City itself, Minneapolis. Local cab services include:
- Airport Taxi Service - tel: +1 651 699 9999
- Gopher Taxi - tel: +1 651 635 0199
- Suburban Taxi - tel: +1 952 679 7834
- Yellow Taxi - tel: +1 651 222 4433
- Google+
