Title about says it all. Need both full day ideas, and half-day ideas.
will you have a car or access to other transportation?
Head to Minneapolis. The clinic may be great but its basically in a small town.
Yes, we’ll have a car. Right now Legoland at Mall of the America is on the possible day trip list. It looks like downtown Minneapolis would be a bit over an hour and a half by car.
When will you be visiting Rochester and are your interests more city-focused or would outdoors activities be of interest?
There really isn’t much in Rochester proper. One of the Mayo brothers’ homes (mayowood) is a museum open to the public. The clinic runs a historical tour that is pretty interesting. Most of the things to do are day trips. Obviously the twin cities, but a lot of options in the smaller towns of SE Minnesota down toward Iowa or over to the Mississippi. There are caverns you can tour, antique stores, and lots of parks/natural beauty sites if you’ll be there in hiking weather.
Here is a link to a shuttle service (multiple times per day) that goes from the Kahler Hotel (across from the Mayo entrance that is on the same side as the piano) and the Minneapolis airport. There is a light rail line that runs between the airport and the Mall of America. You can also take the light rail from Mall to downtown Minneapolis. There used to also be a shuttle run directly to the Mall. Verify with them, but I am guessing this may have ended with the new light rail system.
https://www.gorochesterdirect.com
Just a 2 block walk from the Mayo is University Square which has some unique shops and a restaurant with delightful salads, sandwiches, full meals and a bar called Chesters.
The art work on each floor of the clinic is worth wandering around to enjoy.
We will be there next week, so looking for indoor stuff as the weather is projected to be in the teens and twenties.
Thanks for reminding me how close it is to NE Iowa. We do have family there who we haven’t seen in a while. I’ll also check out the transport from the Mall to downtown Minneapolis. It might be better than dealing with the driving and parking.
The artwork in the clinic is wonderful. On our last visit, we picked up a guidesheet, and I regretted not checking out the audio tour. That would also be something we could do.
Good luck.