Free & Cheap Things to Do in St. Paul

Family & Kids

A full zoo — gorillas, big cats, polar bears — plus the glass-domed 1915 Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, and admission is by voluntary donation. One of the last great free zoos in America, inside a classic streetcar-era park with a lakeside loop attached.

Address: 1225 Estabrook Dr, St. Paul, MN 55103

Tip: Suggested donation is modest and genuinely optional — give what you can. Sunken Garden flower shows change five times a year; weekday mornings dodge the stroller rush. Lakeside Como Town rides next door cost extra.

Landmarks

Cass Gilbert's 1905 marble capitol carries the world's second-largest self-supported marble dome and the gleaming gold Quadriga above its entrance. Admission is free, guided tours run six days a week on a $5 suggested donation, and summer tours often climb to the roof terrace beside the golden horses.

Address: 75 Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55155

Tip: Ask about roof access when you book a guided tour — the Quadriga terrace is the best photo in the capital. Closed Sundays; the rotunda and chambers are self-guidable whenever the building is open.

Museums

The giant on the Mississippi bluff: dinosaurs, the Omnitheater dome (a show is included with admission), the Mississippi River gallery, and some of the best traveling science exhibitions in the country. The sticker is steep, but the museum's $3 income-based Great Tix program is among the most generous anywhere.

Address: 120 W Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55102

Tip: Great Tix applies to individuals, families, and community groups — $3 a head, bought online like any ticket. Twin Cities metro library cardholders can also check out a free Museum Adventure Pass. Groups of 15+ save $3 each.

Museums

The Minnesota Historical Society's flagship museum tells the state's whole story — a walk-through 1968 split-level house, a Greatest Generation gallery with a wartime C-47 fuselage, and the famous weather exhibit where a basement shakes through a simulated tornado.

Address: 345 W Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55102

Tip: Check the calendar for free-admission days tied to community celebrations. The building sits between the Capitol and the Cathedral — all three stack into one architecture-heavy afternoon, two of them free.

Family & Kids

Three floors of climb-everything, touch-everything galleries downtown — a four-story climbing tower, a kid-scale town, water tables, and a rooftop art park. Built for ages one to ten, priced per person, and cheaper if you buy before you arrive.

Address: 10 W 7th St, St. Paul, MN 55102

Tip: Buy online and save $2 a ticket; income-qualified families pay $5 flat. Memberships pay for themselves in two visits if you're local. Weekday afternoons after the field-trip waves are calmest.

Arts & Culture

The 1902 Romanesque federal courthouse — pink granite turrets, a five-story skylit cortile — where gangsters like John Dillinger's associates were tried, now a free cultural center with small museums, galleries, and regular free concerts inside. Rice Park's fountains sit right out front.

Address: 75 W 5th St, St. Paul, MN 55102

Tip: Free public tours run Thursdays and Sundays; the gangster-history connection makes it a fun pairing with a Mississippi riverfront walk. December's free holiday concerts in the cortile are a St. Paul tradition.

History

The Empire Builder's 1891 red-sandstone fortress on Summit Avenue was the largest house in Minnesota for a century — 36,000 square feet, 13 bathrooms, a two-story skylit art gallery — and the guided tour digs into both Gilded Age opulence and the servants who ran it.

Address: 240 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55102

Tip: Tours sell out summer weekends — reserve ahead. It's the natural starting point for a free self-guided Summit Avenue mansion walk afterward; F. Scott Fitzgerald's rowhouse is a half-mile stroll east.

Landmarks

One of America's great domed churches crowns the hill above downtown — a 186-foot copper dome, 24 stained-glass windows, and a sightline straight down to the Capitol it deliberately upstages. Open daily for free visits, with free guided tours several days a week.

Address: 239 Selby Ave, St. Paul, MN 55102

Tip: Check the tours page for the current free docent schedule and Mass times before visiting. The front steps at dusk give the best free skyline-and-Capitol view in the city.

Town & Shops

Summit Avenue holds the longest intact stretch of Victorian mansions in the country — four-plus miles from the Cathedral to the Mississippi — while parallel Grand Avenue supplies the 26-block strip of boutiques, bookstores, and cafés. Walking either costs nothing and rewards endlessly.

Address: Summit Ave & Grand Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105

Tip: Walk Summit westward from the Hill House for peak mansion density, then cut one block south to Grand for coffee and browsing. MNHS runs $14 guided Summit walking tours May through September if you want the stories.

History

Six burial mounds up to 2,000 years old — sacred ground for Dakota people and among the oldest human-made structures in Minnesota — crown a blufftop park with sweeping views over the Mississippi and downtown. Recently renamed Wicaḣapi, the park is free and open daily.

Address: 10 Mounds Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55106

Tip: This is an active sacred site — stay on paths and off the mounds themselves. The overlook is one of the best free skyline-and-river views in the Twin Cities, especially at sunset; interpretive signs explain the Dakota history.

Town & Shops

The commercial heart of the largest urban Hmong community in America: more than 125 stalls and 11 restaurants packed into two buildings and an outdoor market — fresh produce, textiles, herbs, and some of the best-value Southeast Asian food in the Twin Cities.

Address: 217 Como Ave, St. Paul, MN 55103

Tip: Come hungry: papaya salad, sausage, and stuffed chicken wings for under $12 is a legitimate St. Paul food pilgrimage. Weekends bring the outdoor market to full strength; cash is handy at smaller stalls.

Parks & Nature

The 384-acre park wrapped around Como Lake pairs a 1.7-mile paved lake loop with the historic 1905 Lakeside Pavilion, paddleboat rentals, gardens, and free summer concerts on the pavilion stage. The zoo and conservatory anchor its western edge.

Address: 1199 Midway Pkwy, St. Paul, MN 55103

Tip: Free pavilion concerts run all summer — check the parks calendar. The lake loop plus zoo plus conservatory makes a zero-dollar full day; arrive before 10am on weekends for free parking near the pavilion.