244 miles, about 3 hr 35 min of driving. Here are the real towns worth stopping in between Des Moines, IA and Minneapolis, MN, and why each one earned it.
Every stop is a real town on your actual route — not a chain billboard. We score towns on what a driver needs at that point in the drive: fuel and food for a stretch break, parks and grass when a pet is along, hotels and restaurants when it's an overnight. Detour distance counts against a town, so nothing here costs you a long side trip.
This page is planned for a 9-hour driving day leaving at 8:00 AM. Change any of that — your hours, your MPG, pets, small children, an EV's charging range — and the stops change with it. Plan Des Moines to Minneapolis your way →
How far is Des Moines, IA to Minneapolis, MN?
About 244 miles, roughly 3 hr 35 min of driving before stops.
Can you drive Des Moines to Minneapolis in one day?
Yes — one long day at 9 hours of driving.
Where is a good place to stop between Des Moines and Minneapolis?
Bancroft, MN is the first one on this route.