Where to Meet Between Minneapolis and Austin
Minneapolis and Austin are about 1,100 miles apart, which sounds manageable — but they sit on opposite sides of the Great Plains in a north-south axis that limits direct-flight options more than the raw distance suggests. The good news: the intersection is actually strong, and the best picks land within 7 to 30 minutes of each other. The Midwest works in your favor here.
See all direct-flight options from Minneapolis and Austin →
Where you can both fly direct
Top destinations for Minneapolis–Austin travelers
Tulsa
Seven minutes separates the two flights to Tulsa, which makes it one of the most balanced city-pair meetups you’ll find anywhere. Tulsa gets overlooked because it doesn’t have the profile of Kansas City or Nashville, but the Art Deco downtown is legitimately striking, the Gathering Place park along the Arkansas River is excellent, and the restaurant scene has improved considerably over the past decade. Prices are lower than most comparable Midwest cities.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 1h 32m | Austin: 1h 25m
Kansas City
Kansas City adds about 20 minutes to the gap over Tulsa but makes up for it in options. The barbecue alone justifies the trip — multiple distinct regional styles worth comparing in a single weekend. The 18th and Vine Jazz District, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and the Crossroads arts corridor give you different modes for the same city. Flight prices tend to be competitive from both Minneapolis and Austin.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 1h 32m | Austin: 1h 55m
Memphis
Memphis sits closer to Austin’s side than Minneapolis’s, but the gap is under half an hour and the city earns its place on this list. Beale Street’s blues bars, a serious barbecue scene anchored by Central BBQ and Cozy Corner, and the National Civil Rights Museum make it more substantive than a weekend trip to a larger hub. Fall and spring are the best times.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 2h 18m | Austin: 1h 52m
St. Louis
St. Louis is one of the most underrated meeting cities in the country. Gateway Arch, Forest Park (free admission), a great craft brewery scene in the Soulard and Cherokee neighborhoods, and affordable hotel prices. The 30-minute gap is reasonable, and both flights stay well under two hours. If neither traveler has been in a while, it tends to surprise people.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 1h 35m | Austin: 2h 05m
Chicago
Chicago adds a bigger gap — Austin’s flight is 50 minutes shorter — but the payoff is obvious. Chicago is one of the few cities in this intersection that works as well for a cultural long weekend as it does for a quick trip. Architecture tours, the lakefront, neighborhoods like Logan Square and the West Loop for food, and world-class museums. Flights from both cities are frequent enough that timing flexibility is easy to manage.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 1h 40m | Austin: 2h 30m
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City sits just under a 50-minute gap, skewed toward Austin. The Bricktown canal district and the Myriad Botanical Gardens have transformed the downtown area, and the National Memorial for the 1995 bombing is among the most thoughtfully designed memorial sites in the US. Works best as a short weekend trip where neither city needs to overthink the logistics.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 2h 13m | Austin: 1h 25m
Further afield
Cancún
Cancún skews significantly toward Austin — Minneapolis’s flight is 90 minutes longer — but if beach time is the priority, the hotel zone and nearby Caribbean coast make it an easy yes. The cenotes around Tulum add something more interesting than resort poolside if both travelers want to explore. High season is December through April; avoid hurricane season (August–October).
Flight times: Minneapolis: 4h 00m | Austin: 2h 30m
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta has a better flight balance than Cancún for this pair, with Minneapolis and Austin each arriving within about two hours of each other. The old town (Zona Romántica) has significantly more character than the hotel strip — better restaurants, beach bars, and cobblestone streets. Good option for a week-long trip where you want beaches without the full-resort feel.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 4h 26m | Austin: 2h 20m
London
Both cities fly nonstop to Heathrow, and the gap is about 80 minutes — manageable for a transatlantic trip where both sides are already in the air for eight or nine hours. London needs at least five days to get proper use out of it. The range of neighborhoods — from Shoreditch to South Bank to Notting Hill — means it resets well on return visits.
Flight times: Minneapolis: 8h 05m | Austin: 9h 25m
Flight times at a glance
| Destination | From Minneapolis | From Austin | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tulsa | 1h 32m | 1h 25m | ~7m gap |
| Kansas City | 1h 32m | 1h 55m | ~23m gap |
| Memphis | 2h 18m | 1h 52m | ~26m gap |
| St. Louis | 1h 35m | 2h 05m | ~30m gap |
| Chicago | 1h 40m | 2h 30m | ~50m gap |
| Oklahoma City | 2h 13m | 1h 25m | ~48m gap |
| Cancún | 4h 00m | 2h 30m | ~1h30m gap |
| Puerto Vallarta | 4h 26m | 2h 20m | ~1h06m gap |
| London | 8h 05m | 9h 25m | ~1h20m gap |
Best time to go
Minneapolis winters are genuinely brutal — January and February average lows below 0°F — which makes winter the most motivated season to book flights somewhere warm (Cancún, Puerto Vallarta). Austin summers run 95–105°F from June through September, which narrows the Midwest meetup window to spring and fall.
The best overlap is April through May and October through November. ACL Music Festival in Austin falls in early October if that’s relevant to either traveler; Minneapolis’s State Fair runs late August and is worth knowing about if you’re going the other direction.
Tulsa and Kansas City work well year-round. London is best April–June or September–October.
Ready to pick a destination? Try Midway →
Related city pairs
- Meet Between Dallas and New York — another south-to-north pairing
- Meet Between Los Angeles and Chicago — Chicago as a hub city
- Meet Between Detroit and Dallas — overlapping Midwest and Texas dynamic
More on meeting in the middle
- Where to Meet in the Middle — the full guide to flight-aware meeting points
- Meet Between Chicago and Miami