Biwabik, Minnesota
Biwabik was a northern-Minnesota getaway back in 2021, when we booked into The Lodge at Giants Ridge for a taste of the Iron Range.
Our experience
Tucked into the forests and old mining country of northeastern Minnesota, Biwabik is a tiny town with a big-outdoors setting — lakes, woods, golf, mountain biking, and winter trails centered around nearby Giants Ridge. The Lodge itself sits right in the Giants Ridge recreation area, making it an easy base for year-round outdoor activities.
We came for the fresh air and the change of scenery from the cities, the kind of place where the lodge and the surrounding trails can be the whole agenda.
It's small-town Minnesota at its most peaceful, deep in Iron Range country.
Biwabik has a distinctive Bavarian-inspired downtown and celebrates that character each December with Weihnachtsfest, an annual holiday festival featuring the town's Christmas lighting, music, and festivities.
Must-sees and must-dos
- Giants Ridge — the area's year-round outdoor hub for golf, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and other recreation.
- The Lodge at Giants Ridge — our north-woods base in the heart of the Giants Ridge recreation area.
- Biwabik — explore the small-town setting, Bavarian-inspired downtown, and surrounding Iron Range scenery.
- Mesabi Trail — a paved recreation trail running through Biwabik and onward toward Giants Ridge through forests and lake country.
- Lake country recreation — nearby lakes including Sabin and Wynne provide opportunities for paddling and other classic northern-Minnesota outdoor activities.
- Fall and winter scenery — the wooded hills around Biwabik make the area especially appealing for autumn outings and snowy winter getaways.
Our pro tip
We'd treat Biwabik as a seasonal outdoors base — Giants Ridge offers very different experiences depending on the time of year, from golf and mountain biking in the warmer months to skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country trails in winter.
It's about a three-hour drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul to The Lodge at Giants Ridge, so we'd settle in for a few nights rather than treat it as a quick day trip.
If you're flying into Minnesota, renting a car is an easy way to reach Biwabik and explore Giants Ridge and the surrounding Iron Range. You can compare rental cars in Minneapolis here.