1. Best Western Bandana Square
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 647-1637
Address: 1010 Bandana Blvd. West
Description: Built inside the original shell of a Northern Pacific Railroad foundry repair shop, this beautiful yellow-brick hotel has 130-year-old train tracks running through its lobby. It’s connected to Bandana Square, an office complex that is home to a cool model-train museum. Nearby are the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and Midway Stadium, a great open-air baseball field that is home to the St. Paul Saints, the Twin Cities’ minor league baseball team. The hotel facilities include an indoor pool, kiddie pool, fitness room, and hot tub, and wireless high-speed Internet throughout. The centrally located hotel is about 5 miles away from downtown St. Paul and about 8 miles from downtown Minneapolis.
2. Best Western Kelly Inn
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 227-8711
Address: 161 St. Anthony Ave.
Description: Hardly St. Paul’s most luxurious hotel, but certainly its most visible, the Kelly Inn sits right next to I-94 only 2 blocks from the State Capitol with a great view of the Cathedral of St. Paul. It offers guests comfortable, moderately priced rooms near downtown. Amenities include an indoor swimming pool, hot tub, and fitness center, as well as high-speed Internet access and a full-service bar/restaurant (Sweetwater) that delivers to your room. Parking is free.
3. Crowne Plaza Hotel St. Paul-Riverfront
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 292-1900
Address: 11 East Kellogg Blvd.
Description: Right across the street from the Mississippi River, the Crowne Plaza Hotel St. Paul-Riverfront is in the heart of downtown St. Paul. The hotel offers a restaurant, coffee and sandwich counter, and lounge. Other hotel amenities include a heated indoor pool, a fitness center, a business center, and free wireless Internet access. The hotel was renovated in 2006.
4. Embassy Suites St. Paul
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 224-5400
Address: 175 East 10th St.
Description: The Embassy Suites St. Paul has 210 rooms, all two-room suites. Hotel amenities include a business center, swimming pool, fitness club, whirlpool, sauna, downtown shuttle service, full-service restaurant (Woolley’s), and Irish sports bar (Cork’s Pub), which features a nightly happy hour. The price of the room includes a cooked-to-order breakfast, and the tropical atrium belies the Northern Plains climate beyond the glass. The hotel is about 7 blocks from the heart of downtown.
5. Holiday Inn Rivercentre
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 225-1515
Address: 175 West Seventh St.
Description: Located right across the street from the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild NHL team, and the RiverCentre convention center, this hotel is within 4 blocks of the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Children’s Museum, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. It’s also a short walk from the Minnesota State Capitol, the Minnesota History Center, and the Fitzgerald Theater. The hotel was completely renovated in 2005. Guest amenities include an indoor pool and fitness center. It’s attached to a wonderful Irish pub and restaurant called the Liffey, which provides room service. The Liffey has great food and a rooftop patio with an incredible view of downtown St. Paul.
6. St. Paul Hotel
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 292-9292 or (800) 292-92
Address: 350 Market St.
Description: Built in 1910 and located in the center of St. Paul on beautiful Rice Park, this premier luxury hotel is a member of the Historic Hotels of America and during the Depression was frequented by notorious gangsters. Fully restored to its original splendor (the most recent update was in 2005), the hotel offers guests a unique combination of turn-of-the-20th-century charm and modern convenience. The hotel is within walking distance of St. Paul’s RiverCentre, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and Xcel Energy Center, as well as the Mississippi River walk, plus more business and shops via the climate-controlled skyway.
7. Covington Inn Bed And Breakfast
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (651) 292-1411
Address: 100 Yacht Club Rd. West
Description: The only floating bed-and-breakfast in the Twin Cities, the Covington Inn is a renovated tugboat first launched in 1946 and now moored in the Mississippi River across from downtown St. Paul. Open year-round, the B&B has four comfortable rooms, all with fireplaces and private baths. The inn’s common areas are trimmed in bronze, brass, and mahogany, and many salvaged fixtures suggest what it must have been like when the tug Covington pushed barges up and down the river. You can sit out on the deck and watch the mighty river flow by gleaming downtown St. Paul.