Last summer, I visited my 28th state of North Dakota. It is a state that is not always on the top of most peoples bucket list, but in order to hit my goal of “spending the night in all 50 states before the age of 30,” North Dakota needed to be checked off. I decided on visiting the city of Fargo for the weekend because it was a 5 hour drive from my hometown in Minnesota. It is a town right across the Minnesota border!
My boyfriend and I stayed 2 nights and 2 days. I felt like it was the perfect amount of time to explore the city! The downtown is basically one long street, so it is easy to knock out all of the stuff to do in a day!
Stay: Delta Hotels Fargo
The only reason we picked this hotel to stay at was because it was an affordable Marriott. I have Marriott Gold status, so I prefer to stay at Marriotts for the complimentary room upgrades and extra points that I earn on each stay. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a pool and a hot tub in this hotel and the pool actually had a water slide! The hotel was less than 10 minutes away from downtown so it was nice and close.
Another good hotel option if you want a more luxurious stay or a hotel that is right in the heart of downtown would be the Jasper hotel.
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/farde-delta-hotels-fargo/overview
https://jasperfargo.com/
Food
Rosewood
This cute brunch spot is located in the heart of downtown beneath the Jasper hotel. The vibes were so cute and the food was great! We also ate at an Irish pub for dinner, but I honestly didn’t love the food so I am not going to recommend any other places here but some that I heard were good were:
- Sandy’s Donuts (sadly they were closed both days we tried to go but heard good things about this place!)
- Brew Bird (fried chicken/beer place)
- Wild Terra Cider
- Vinyl Taco (this was another place we heard great things about, but we visited over 4th of July weekend, so lots of places were closed including this one:(
Shopping
Okay I feel like this is where Fargo knocked it out of the park. I am not a big shopper (I didn’t buy anything, just window shopped) BUT, I was so tempted to get some clothes because they had the cutest shops along the downtown strip.
Here is a list of some of my favorite shops!
The Mason Jar Boutique
Kindred People
Proper Clothing
Outermost Layer (athletic/running clothes)
Mint + Basil Boutique
Walk around Downtown/Explore the Art Walls
At the start of downtown there are some cool wall murals that are drawn on some old train cars! It’s fun to just quickly walk around and take a look at the murals! Fargo also has the cutest old timey movie theatre! If you have time I would recommend going to see a movie. My boyfriend and I did not get a chance to see a movie, but the movie theatre is picturesque.
Hiking
Maplewood State Park
Okay so this is technically in Minnesota and not in North Dakota, but it is so close to the border and it’s definitely a must hike. We did the Hallaway hill hike. It’s 1.3 miles roundtrip, so super easy. When you reach the top you get 360 views of the lakes!! Bonus points if you bring a swimsuit/paddleboard and go swim in the water!
That is it for my Fargo, ND weekend guide! I hope you guys enjoyed this quick guide and hopefully it gave you some ideas for an upcoming trip or if you ever find yourself in North Dakota, make a stop here!!
