Foshay Museum & Observation Deck — tickets, height & honest verdict
Also searched as: Foshay Tower observation deck · W Minneapolis Foshay deck
Can you go up today?
| Mon | 12pm – 6pm |
|---|---|
| Tue | 12pm – 6pm |
| Wed | 12pm – 6pm |
| Thu | 12pm – 6pm |
| Fri | 12pm – 6pm |
| Sat | 12pm – 6pm |
| Sun | 12pm – 6pm |
Times are local to Minneapolis. Holiday closures and private events can override this — the deck page's tips cover the ones we know about.
Worth it if…
Yes — true open-air decks this old are nearly extinct (this and Smith Tower are the class), the museum floor tells the gloriously doomed story of Wilbur Foshay (fortune, tower, Sousa fanfare, prison), and being surrounded by taller glass towers makes the view oddly intimate: you're inside the skyline, not above it.
Pick another deck if…
Stairs are a problem — the last two flights from museum to deck have no elevator, full stop (the hotel offers a webcam view at museum level, which is not the same thing). And in a Minneapolis winter, an open-air parapet is a 5-minute visit.
Book Foshay Museum & Observation Deck tickets
Buy direct from the official site, or book through Viator below — same-day cancellation policies and combo bundles are often only available there. Viator links earn this site a commission at no extra cost to you.
Tickets are sold on the official site.
Best time to visit
Late-afternoon summer slots — the open-air parapet faces the modern skyline that grew up around the 1929 obelisk, and low sun turns the limestone gold.
Hours: Daily 12pm–6pm, weather-dependent. · Pricing note: $18 (13+), free under 13 and free for W Hotel guests. Buy at the W Minneapolis front desk — you get an elevator key card, then climb two flights of stairs from the museum to the deck. No step-free route to the deck itself.
Tips from the deck
- Buy at the W front desk (Marquette Ave); the desk issues the elevator key card — it's not a walk-to-the-top building.
- IDS Center's deck closed in the 1980s and became offices — the Foshay is what Minneapolis has, and it's better than its obscurity suggests.
- The museum floor's Foshay-crash story is 15 minutes well spent — don't key-card past it.
- Weather closures are real on the open deck; call the hotel on marginal days.
Where Foshay Museum & Observation Deck is — and the other Minneapolis decks
Foshay Museum & Observation Deck — quick answers
One: the Foshay Tower's open-air 31st-floor deck, run by the W Hotel ($18, daily noon–6pm, weather permitting). The IDS Center's 51st-floor deck closed in the 1980s and is now office space.
Partially — an elevator serves the 30th-floor museum, but the deck itself is up two flights of stairs with no lift. The hotel provides a live webcam view at museum level for visitors who can't climb.