Title: 5 Fantastic Fall Drives in Minnesota | Minnesota Monthly
Headings: 5 Fantastic Fall Drives in Minnesota
5 Fantastic Fall Drives in Minnesota
VALLEY VIEWS
Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway
Route: Belle Plaine to Ortonville
Distance: 287 miles
Find a map for this adventure at Minnesota River Valley National Scenic Byway
STOPS ALONG THE WAY
RIVER ROAD
St. Croix Scenic Byway
Route: Afton to Sandstone and back
Distance: 280 miles
Find a map for this adventure at St. Croix Scenic Byway
ROUTES ALONG THE WAY
WISCONSIN BYWAYS
Wisconsin North Woods
Route: Hayward to Bayfield
Distance: Roughly 250 miles
STOPS ALONG THE WAY
SOUTHERN MEANDER
Historic Bluff Country Scenic Byway
Route: Dexter to La Crescent
Distance: 88 miles
Explore Minnesota has additional information on the Historic Bluff Country Scenic Byway
STOPS ALONG THE WAY
TWISTS AND TURNS
Glacial Ridge Trail Scenic Byway
Route: Willmar to Alexandria
Distance: 245 miles
Find a map for this adventure from the Glacial Ridge Development Association
STOPS ALONG THE WAY

Content: The St. Croix is special—relatively clear, swift, wooded. It is one of the nation’s original wild and scenic rivers, and the only one to flow through Minnesota. But I also love the towns. Built along the river, where riverboats first disgorged settlers, they are solid, well organized, and pretty in a way that newer towns can’t quite match. Find a map for this adventure at St. Croix Scenic Byway
ROUTES ALONG THE WAY
Afton dates to the 1850s and takes its name from a Robert Burns poem. Looking for a place to eat or stay? Try the Afton House Inn (651-436-8883). Stillwater, the self-proclaimed “birthplace of Minnesota,” founded in 1843, is a tourist town that offers restaurants, bars, antique shops, and retail shopping. A few miles north on Highway 95 is Marine on St. Croix, an impossibly quaint town of clapboard buildings that claims it is even older than Stillwater. Where Highway 95 meets U.S. 8, you may notice surprising metal sculptures rising from a field.