Two days from Duluth into iron country: the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm, the Soudan Underground Mine and the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids. 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 0 min in all.
- 2Days
- 3Stops
- 4 h 52 minRoad Time, Measured
- 222 miRoad Miles, Measured
Day 1: Chisholm and Soudan
- S
Start: Downtown Duluth (start)
1 h 43 min by road, 82.3 mi, measured – a long drive
1Minnesota Discovery Center
What to see: Iron Range history museum, research center, mining-themed attractions, trolley tours.
Type: Museum, Chisholm
Hours, as the operator states: Fall/winter: Tue-Sat 10-5 (Thu to 8); Sun-Mon closed. Summer adds Sun 10-5
Admission, as the operator states: $12 adults; $10 seniors 62+ and veterans/active military; $7 students 3-17; 2 & under free
1 h 05 min by road, 47.9 mi, measured
2Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park
What to see: Cage ride 2,341 feet down to the 27th level and underground train to the Montana stope (NHL: Soudan Iron Mine).
Type: State historic site, Soudan
Hours, as the operator states: Mine tours daily Memorial Day weekend-end of Sept; Sept 28-Oct 18 weekends (Thu-Sun MEA weekend); off-season group tours only
Admission, as the operator states: Mine tour: $15 ages 13+; $10 ages 5-12; 4 & under free (ticket required)
Day 1 map: 2 of 2 stops are pinned, numbered in plan order: 1. Minnesota Discovery Center; 2. Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park. 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: Grand Rapids
- S
Start: Soudan (start of day 2)
2 h 04 min by road, 91.4 mi, measured – a long drive
1Forest History Center
What to see: Recreated 1900-era logging camp, 200-acre site, horse-drawn trolley and sleigh rides, kayak tours.
Type: Historic village, Grand Rapids
Hours, as the operator states: Sat 10-4 (Oct 24-Dec 19, 2026)
Admission, as the operator states: $15 adults; $12 seniors 65+/veterans/active military/college students; $8 ages 5-17; 4 & under and MNHS members free
Day 2 map: 1 of 1 stops are pinned, numbered in plan order: 1. Forest History Center. 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: Both days include drives over 90 minutes between stops; the Soudan to Grand Rapids drive on day 2 is the longest. The plan assumes you sleep near Soudan or Tower; we measured no lodging.
If a Stop Is Closed or The Weather Turns
Drop an Optional stop first: together they are 0 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 4 h 52 min and 222 road miles in all across 2 days. That is routing without traffic; allow more at busy times.
Can I shorten it?
Plan on 6 h 18 min on the road and at stops for day 1 on our estimates. Optional stops can be dropped and free 0 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, Duluth and the North Shore, The Minnesota River Valley, Central Minnesota. Back to all itineraries.
Related: Historic Sites, Drive Times, Iron Range & Voyageurs 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/iron-range/), checked November 1, 2026. Free to quote with a link.