The Short Answer
A well-built 48 hours in Center City looks like this: arrive Friday around 6:00 pm, dinner and drinks on the rooftop, sauna before bed. Saturday, drive twelve miles east to Taylors Falls for Interstate State Park and Franconia Sculpture Park, then spend the afternoon on the water or on snow depending on the season, and the evening back at the rooftop. Sunday, a slow breakfast, one Swedish heritage stop on the way out, and home by early afternoon.
Center City sits about 39 miles from St. Paul and 43 from Minneapolis, roughly 45 to 50 minutes via I-35 north to US Highway 8 east. The short drive is what makes a true 48-hour weekend possible here. You are not spending Friday night and Sunday afternoon in the car.
Before You Go: Three Decisions
Book the sauna slot when you book the room. At Nordic Harbor every overnight stay includes a private 90-minute sauna and cold plunge session, but the good times go first. Friday around 9:00 pm and Saturday around 4:00 pm are the two slots this itinerary is built around.
Decide on the boat before Saturday. Summer rentals fill on weekends. If you want Saturday afternoon on the water, reserve it in advance rather than hoping.
Check the hours of anything seasonal. Two stops in this itinerary run on seasonal schedules. Details are in the relevant sections.
Friday
5:00 pm, Leave the metro
The I-35 corridor north out of the Twin Cities backs up between roughly 4:00 and 6:00 on Fridays, particularly in summer. If you can leave at 3:30 or wait until 6:30, you will save about twenty minutes. If you cannot, it is still under an hour.
Route: I-35 north to Forest Lake, then US Highway 8 east through Chisago City and Lindström into Center City.
6:00 pm, Check in and drop everything
Do not unpack. Put the bag in the room, change into something comfortable, and go upstairs.
6:30 pm, Rooftop
The rooftop is the reason to arrive on Friday rather than Saturday morning. In summer it is fully open to the air and the sun sits over the lake until past 9:00. In winter it is enclosed in panoramic glass and heated, which means the view of the frozen lake comes without the wind.
Order something, sit down, and let the drive fall off you. This is the single most important scheduled hour of the weekend and it has no agenda.
8:00 pm, Dinner
Nordic Kitchen downstairs, or stay on the rooftop with food from Jake’s on the Lake. Either way, keep it unhurried. You have nowhere to be.
If you would rather eat in town, Lindström and Chisago City are a few minutes west on Highway 8 and have a cluster of local restaurants. Confirm hours before driving over, since small-town kitchens close earlier than metro ones.
9:30 pm, Sauna and cold plunge
Ninety minutes, private, no one else in the room. If this is your first time, the short version: heat until you have had enough, plunge briefly, rest, repeat. Do not treat the cold as a competition, and drink water between rounds.
New to it? Read [The sauna and cold plunge guide →] before your session.
11:00 pm
Bed. You will sleep unusually well. That is the sauna.
Saturday
8:30 am, Slow start
Coffee, water view, no alarm if you can manage it. The mistake people make with a two-day trip is scheduling Saturday like a Tuesday.
10:00 am, Drive east to Taylors Falls
Twelve miles east on Highway 8, about twenty minutes.
Interstate State Park is the anchor. The glacial potholes are the draw, which are deep cylindrical shafts drilled into basalt by meltwater at the end of the last ice age, some of them dozens of feet deep. The trails along the St. Croix bluffs are short but genuinely scenic, and the river gorge through the Dalles is the most dramatic landscape within an hour of the Twin Cities.
A Minnesota state park vehicle permit is required. You can buy a day pass at the entrance or an annual pass if you expect to come back.
Plan on ninety minutes to two hours. Wear real shoes; the rock is uneven and gets slick.
12:00 pm, Lunch in Taylors Falls
Small river town, a handful of options, easy to walk. Eat, then get back on the road.
1:00 pm, Franconia Sculpture Park
Eight miles back west toward Center City, at the intersection of Highway 8 and Highway 95 in Shafer.
Franconia is a large outdoor sculpture park with a rotating collection of over a hundred contemporary works spread across open fields. Admission is free, and the park is open daily from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm year round. A parking fee applies on weekends during the peak season, roughly June through October, so bring a few dollars.
The visitor center, Franconia Commons, runs a shorter season and is generally closed from mid-November to mid-April. The park itself stays open regardless, and a snow-covered sculpture field is a genuinely different experience from a summer one.
Leashed dogs are welcome. Allow an hour, more if the weather is good.
3:00 pm, Back to Center City
3:30 pm, The main event, by season
Summer: get on the water. A half-day pontoon rental on the Chisago Lakes chain is the best possible use of a Saturday afternoon here. The lakes connect through channels, so you get a genuine loop rather than laps around one basin. Anchor somewhere shallow, swim, sit.
Fall: the water is still boatable into early October, and the shorelines turn before the bluffs do. If it is too cold for swimming, cruise anyway.
Winter: ice fishing on the chain, snowshoeing, or a run at Wild Mountain in Taylors Falls for skiing and tubing. Or skip the outdoor block entirely and move the sauna up.
Spring: the river runs high through the Dalles in April and May, which is worth a second look if you were there in the morning. Otherwise this is the block to spend reading.
Related: [First-time pontoon renter’s guide →]
6:00 pm, Sauna, round two
If you booked the second slot, take it now. Sauna before dinner rather than after is the better order on a day you have been outside.
7:30 pm, Dinner and the rooftop
Long dinner. Back upstairs. No plans, which is the point of a Saturday night on a lake.
Sunday
9:00 am, Breakfast and a walk
Center City is small and walkable, sitting on a narrow strip of land between North Center Lake and South Center Lake. A twenty-minute walk gets you water on both sides. The historic district along the main street is worth the detour.
10:30 am, Check out
11:00 am, One heritage stop on the way home
Pick one. Do not try to do all three.
Gammelgården Museum, Scandia. An open-air museum of Swedish immigrant life, with six preserved buildings including an immigrant house from 1855 and the oldest Lutheran church building in Minnesota, from 1856. The museum runs May 1 through December 23, with the historic buildings open for tours May through October. Admission runs about $10, with a discount for seniors and military and free entry for children under 12. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. It is about twenty minutes south of Center City, in Washington County, and the grounds are open year round even when the buildings are not. Call ahead between January and April.
Lindström. Three miles west. The water tower shaped like a Swedish coffee pot is the photograph everyone takes, and the Karl Oskar and Kristina statues downtown reference Vilhelm Moberg’s emigrant novels, which are set in this exact stretch of Chisago County. Fifteen minutes, a coffee, done.
Wild River State Park. If you would rather end the weekend on a trail than in a gift shop, this is about fifteen miles north with 18 miles of trails along the St. Croix.
12:30 pm, Drive home
Sunday afternoon on Highway 8 and I-35 southbound is generally clear until late afternoon. Leave by 1:00 and you are home before the day feels over.
What to Skip
Do not schedule three things in one day. The most common way people ruin a Chisago Lakes weekend is by treating it like a city trip. Two anchors per day, maximum.
Do not drive to Duluth “since you’re already north.” You are not already north. Duluth is another two hours from here, and the detour turns a restful weekend into a road trip.
Do not skip the sauna to fit in one more activity. It is hygge and will rejuvenate and melt the stress of life away.
The Compressed Version: 24 Hours
If you only have Saturday to Sunday:
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- Saturday 12:00 pm, arrive and check in
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- 1:00 pm, Franconia Sculpture Park, since it is the flexible stop
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- 3:00 pm, boat, trail, or snow depending on season
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- 5:00 pm, sauna and cold plunge
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- 7:00 pm, dinner and rooftop
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- Sunday 9:00 am, breakfast, lakeshore walk
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- 11:00 am, check out, Lindström stop, home
Roughly twenty hours away and about ninety minutes of total driving. It still works.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far is Center City, MN from Minneapolis? About 43 miles and 50 minutes via I-35 north to US Highway 8 east. From St. Paul it is about 39 miles and 45 minutes.
What is there to do in Center City, Minnesota? Center City sits on the Chisago Lakes chain, with boating, fishing, and swimming in summer and ice fishing and snowshoeing in winter. Within twenty minutes you also have Interstate State Park at Taylors Falls, Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Wild River State Park, and Swedish heritage sites in Lindström and Scandia.
Is Franconia Sculpture Park free? Yes. Franconia is free and open daily from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm year round.
When is Gammelgården Museum open? The museum runs May 1 through December 23, with the historic buildings open for tours May through October. It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Call ahead if you are visiting between January and April.
Do I need a permit for Interstate State Park? Yes. All Minnesota state parks require a vehicle permit. Day passes are sold at the entrance, and annual passes are available.
Is a weekend in Center City worth it in winter? Yes, and it is the quieter and cheaper season. Ice fishing, snowshoeing, and skiing at Wild Mountain stay available, and the Nordic Harbor rooftop is enclosed and heated through the cold months.
Can you do Center City as a day trip instead? You can, but the drive is short enough that an overnight costs you very little extra time and changes the trip substantially. The Friday evening rooftop and sauna block is the part a day trip loses.
Book the Weekend
Nordic Harbor sits on the water in Center City with six boutique rooms, a luxury Haus that sleeps eight, a rooftop bar, Nordic Kitchen, and a private sauna and cold plunge session with every stay.
[Check availability →] · [Read the full weekend getaway guide →]
