Excelsior: Harbor, Trolley and The Commons

Excelsior brings together a port of call, a historic downtown and open recreational spaces at The Commons. If you’re looking for a hotel in Excelsior, you can weigh whether the harbor, local history, or trails and outdoor recreation should be the focus of your stay. Explore the town by charter boat and cruise, visit historic buildings, ride the trolley, or enjoy the park, beach and regional trail.

Harbor and Cruises

Excelsior serves as a port of call for several commercial charter boat operators. Their boats offer a variety of public and private cruises. The Port of Excelsior is separate from these services and provides access for docking: visitors arriving by water can dock there in a public area for a fee. For planning purposes, the key question is whether you want to take a cruise or reach Excelsior by water.

Historic Downtown and Trolley Ride

The Excelsior Downtown Historic District is designated as a Heritage Preservation Site. It includes 74 buildings and one site: the Port of Excelsior. Historic Water Street and the many historic homes in the surrounding area also continue to draw visitors to Excelsior. The Excelsior Streetcar Line is downtown on Water Street, between Third Street and George Street. It offers a trolley ride along half a mile of track on the former Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway route. At the depot, passengers can also view a photo gallery featuring hotels, trains, paddlewheel steamers and 19th-century landmarks.

The Commons: Park, Events and Beach

The Commons is a 13-acre park with open recreational spaces and picnic areas. An art fair is held there annually, and several concerts take place at the bandshell in summer. The events therefore differ in timing: the art fair is held annually, while the concerts take place during the summer months.

For the public swimming beach at The Commons, the city lists the period from Memorial Day through Labor Day and says it is open seven days a week during the swimming season. Swimming is at your own risk; no lifeguards are on duty. Check current beach access before visiting.

The Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail

The Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail runs through Excelsior and is part of a route more than 15 miles long between Hopkins and Carver Park Reserve. The trail is cleared in Excelsior during the winter months. The distances reflect two different scales: half a mile of track for the trolley ride, compared with the more than 15-mile route that the trail is part of. This makes it possible to consider a single trolley ride and the trail’s regional route as different ways to spend your stay.

Discover more destinations: Plymouth, Wayzata, Crystal, Mound, Edina, Long Lake, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis

For the broader travel overview: Hennepin.