Two days on Lake Superior: Duluth’s waterfront and lakeshore mansion, then a long drive up the shore to Split Rock Lighthouse and Grand Portage. Every road time below was measured; the time at each stop is our estimate and is labelled that way.
Start at 9:00 a.m. each day. The first and last drives are from and to Downtown Duluth. Road times come from OpenStreetMap routing and do not include traffic, closures, parking or walking. Pick the stops you want: the ones marked Optional can be dropped, which frees 1 h 00 min in all.
- Day 1: Duluth and Glensheen
- Day 2: Split Rock and Grand Portage
- What We Could Not Confirm
- Questions
- All Itineraries
- 2Days
- 6Stops
- 6 h 52 minRoad Time, Measured
- 304 miRoad Miles, Measured
Day 1: Duluth and Glensheen
- S
Start: Downtown Duluth (start)
Under 2 min by car (0.0 mi): a short walk or the same block, measured
1Lake Superior Railroad Museum
What to see: Railroad museum in the historic St. Louis County Depot; North Shore Scenic Railroad departures.
Type: Museum, Duluth
Hours, as the operator states: Daily 10-5 (holiday closures; early close Fri-Sun during Christmas City Express)
Admission, as the operator states: $14 adults 14+; $7 ages 3-13; 2 & under free
7 min by road, 4.3 mi, measured
2SS William A. Irvin
What to see: Guided tours of a retired Great Lakes freighter.
Type: Museum, Duluth
Hours, as the operator states: See official site
Admission, as the operator states: See official site
Under 2 min by car (0.7 mi): a short walk or the same block, measured
3Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial
What to see: Memorial plaza at East First Street and North Second Avenue East, across from the lynching site; sculptures and quotations.
Type: Memorial, Duluth
Hours, as the operator states: Outdoor public plaza
Admission, as the operator states: Free
6 min by road, 3.1 mi, measured
4Glensheen Historic Estate
What to see: Congdon family mansion and grounds on Lake Superior; self-guided Classic Tour.
Type: House museum, Duluth
Hours, as the operator states: Daily 10-4 (Oct 20-Jan 4); Fri-Sun 10-4 (Jan 5-Mar 4); closed Nov 2-5, Nov 9-12, Thanksgiving, Dec 24-25
Admission, as the operator states: Classic Tour $20 adults; $18 veterans and seniors 62+; $8 ages 5-17; 4 & under free
Day 1 map: 4 of 4 stops are pinned, numbered in plan order: 1. Lake Superior Railroad Museum; 2. SS William A. Irvin; 3. Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial; 4. Glensheen Historic Estate. The start and finish points are off the map. Lines are straight and show order only, not the road. Each pin is an OpenStreetMap point for the named place, checked by eye; it is not a verified entrance or parking lot.
Day 2: Split Rock and Grand Portage
- S
Start: Downtown Duluth (start)
1 h 13 min by road, 51.4 mi, measured
1Split Rock Lighthouse
What to see: 1910 lighthouse and fog signal building, keeper’s house, visitor center film and exhibits on a 25-acre site.
Type: State historic site, Two Harbors
Hours, as the operator states: Mon and Thu-Sun 10-4; Tue-Wed closed (Oct 20, 2026-Jan 4, 2027)
Admission, as the operator states: Grounds Pass $8 (no lighthouse or keeper’s home access); Keeper’s Tour $25; Christmas at the Lighthouse $20 (MNHS members free)
2 h 11 min by road, 98.7 mi, measured – a long drive
2Grand Portage National Monument
What to see: Heritage Center exhibits and film; reconstructed Historic Depot (Great Hall, kitchen, canoe warehouse, stockade); Ojibwe Village, hiking trails.
Type: NPS unit, Grand Portage
Hours, as the operator states: Heritage Center winter hours 9-4:30, closed Sundays and federal holidays; Historic Depot closed until Memorial Day weekend 2027
Admission, as the operator states: Free
3 h 13 min by road, 145.4 mi, measured – a long drive
SFinish: Downtown Duluth (start)
Day 2 map: 2 of 2 stops are pinned, numbered in plan order: 1. Split Rock Lighthouse; 2. Grand Portage National Monument. The start and finish points are off the map. Lines are straight and show order only, not the road. Each pin is an OpenStreetMap point for the named place, checked by eye; it is not a verified entrance or parking lot.
Read this first: Day 2 is a long day: the measured drive from Split Rock Lighthouse to Grand Portage is over two hours, and the drive back to Duluth is over three. Stay a night on the shore and split it, or drop Grand Portage and finish at Split Rock.
If a Stop Is Closed or The Weather Turns
Drop an Optional stop first: together they are 1 h 00 min of the plan, and the road times for the others stay the same except where the dropped stop sat between two. Check each operator’s page before you go, because the hours above are copied from the operator on the date in our dataset and change by season.
What We Could Not Confirm
- Time on site, Essential or Optional, and the arrival clock are our own planning estimates, not operator figures. The 9:00 a.m. start is an assumption.
- Road times are OpenStreetMap routing for a car with no live traffic, closures, tolls, parking search or ferry waits. Real trips will run longer at busy hours.
- Opening hours: we did not check each arrival time against the stop’s hours. Some stops are closed on some weekdays or for the season; confirm with the operator before you go.
- Pins are OpenStreetMap points for each named place, not verified entrances or parking.
- Dog and child rules, accessibility and prices for stops whose operators do not state them are not confirmed here; ask the operator.
- Where to sleep: we measured no lodging. Day 2 starts at its first stop, so the drive from wherever you stay is not counted.
Questions People Ask
How long does the drive take on this itinerary?
We measured 6 h 52 min and 304 road miles in all across 2 days. That is routing without traffic; allow more at busy times.
Can I shorten it?
Plan on 4 h 35 min on the road and at stops for day 1 on our estimates. Optional stops can be dropped and free 1 h 00 min in all.
Are the hours and prices current?
They are copied from each operator’s own page as listed on Historic Sites, which we checked on November 1, 2026. Hours and prices change; use the Official page link on each stop.
More Minnesota Trips
Other itineraries: Twin Cities Weekend, The St. Croix Valley, The Minnesota River Valley, The Iron Range, Central Minnesota. Back to all itineraries.
Related: Duluth destination guide, Historic Sites, Drive Times, Duluth & North Shore events, Plan a Visit, Venues.
Sources
- Stops, hours and admission: the open dataset Minnesota historic sites (CSV), the same rows as Historic Sites, each with its operator link.
- Road times and miles: OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data, run by us on November 1, 2026. Coordinates: OpenStreetMap.
- Checked November 1, 2026 by It’s Minnesota. Cite this page: It’s Minnesota (https://itsminnesota.com/itineraries/north-shore-duluth/), checked November 1, 2026. Free to quote with a link.