St. Louis Park: Bike Trails, Nature and Culture

St. Louis Park offers several specific themes to consider when planning your trip: paved bike trails, a nature area, water attractions, ice rinks and a historic depot. If you’re looking for a hotel for a stay in the city, you can start by considering whether cycling, time outdoors, recreational activities or local history will shape your trip. The destinations mentioned here each offer a different focus.

Bike Trails in and through St. Louis Park

The North Cedar Lake Regional Trail is 4.4 miles long and paved. It starts in Hopkins, runs through St. Louis Park and connects with trails around Cedar Lake in Minneapolis. Its length, surface, starting point and connection give you specific points of reference for getting a sense of this route. If you’d like to include a route in your travel plans, you can consider both the trail’s character and its stated connection.

Regional bike trails managed by the Three Rivers Park District also run through St. Louis Park. Unlike the specific route description of the North Cedar Lake Regional Trail, this topic is framed around regional trails and who manages them. This offers a useful comparison for your planning: you can consider one named trail with a stated length, or regional bike trails as a separate focus.

Water Attractions and Ice Skating

The Rec Center is home to the Recreation Outdoor Center (ROC), the outdoor Aquatic Park and two indoor ice rinks. This brings several different recreational options together in one facility, which you can consider separately when planning your trip. The Aquatic Park is specifically described as an outdoor area, while the ice rinks are indoors. This helps you distinguish between the recreational offerings by their respective focus.

The Aquatic Park features four-story water slides, a zero-depth-entry pool and a 12-foot-deep diving pool. Its amenities therefore include the slides and two types of pools described in different ways. To get a sense of the water facility, you can consider the slides and pool features separately; this also distinguishes the Aquatic Park from the indoor ice rinks within the Rec Center.

Nature Area and Visiting Hours

Westwood Hills Nature Center is a 160-acre nature area with wetlands, forests and restored prairie. Its size and landscape types together give you a specific picture of the nature area: you can distinguish it as a nature-focused destination from an individual bike route or the sports and recreational facilities. If you’re considering nature as part of your selection, the size and mix of habitats offer helpful points of reference.

The trails at Westwood Hills Nature Center are open every day, year-round, from sunrise to sunset. Plan your visit to the trails within this time frame; the year-round daily opening hours are a specific part of your day’s plans.

Historic Depot in Jorvig Park

The historic depot building of the St. Louis Park Historical Society is located in Jorvig Park. It brings local history into your choice of destinations as a distinct topic. If you’d like to consider historic heritage alongside bike trails and nature, you can include the depot as a separate point of interest in your travel plans.

Visits to the depot building are available by appointment or during special events. Arrange your visit with the Historical Society in advance so you can account for this access arrangement in your plans.

Discover more destinations: Long Lake, Osseo, Golden Valley, Edina, Rogers, Plymouth, Mound, Minneapolis

For the broader travel overview: Hennepin.