Brand USA - Great American West: from Minneapolis to the Rockies

Minneapolis stretches along the banks of the Mississippi River in the heart of Minnesota, forming with neighbouring Saint Paul the metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities. Nicknamed the "City of Lakes" for the many bodies of water dotting its urban fabric, it is a dynamic, green city where Nordic culture blends with a lively creative spirit. Its industrial past comes alive at the Mill City Museum, built into the ruins of an old flour mill, and along the Stone Arch Bridge, a historic pedestrian crossing over the Mississippi offering spectacular views of Saint Anthony Falls. The city's artistic soul beats at the Walker Art Center and its sculpture garden, where the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry stands as a recognisable symbol of Minneapolis. The city was the birthplace of Prince, the pop music legend, and preserves one of the Midwest's most vibrant music and theatre scenes. In summer the Bde Maka Ska and Harriet lakes fill with cyclists, canoeists and swimmers, while numerous parks invite long walks. Between craft breweries, markets and a growing food scene, Minneapolis surprises with its quality of life and its balance of nature, culture and modernity.

Sioux Falls takes its name from the waterfalls of the Big Sioux River, which tumble over pink quartzite rocks in the heart of the city, now gathered in the striking Falls Park. The main center of South Dakota, it is a lively and growing city, a gateway to the great plains of the American Midwest. The historic Phillips Avenue downtown lines up period buildings, cafés, galleries and a surprising collection of outdoor sculptures scattered along the sidewalks. Among green spaces, riverside bike paths and warm small-town hospitality, the city offers an authentic taste of rural America. Sioux Falls is also a convenient base for reaching South Dakota's icons: Mount Rushmore, the wild spires of the Badlands and the wooded slopes of the Black Hills. A genuine stop along the roads of the Great Plains.

Rapid City rises at the foot of South Dakota's Black Hills and has earned its nickname as the "Gateway to Mount Rushmore," the famous memorial carved into the rock a short drive away. The town is known for its "City of Presidents," a series of life-size bronze statues of American presidents scattered across downtown street corners, and for Art Alley, a lane entirely covered in murals. From here, scenic byways lead to Custer State Park, with its free-roaming bison, the granite spires of the Needles, and the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, dedicated to the history of the Lakota people. Further east unfold the lunar landscapes of Badlands National Park. An ideal base for exploring the wild nature of the American Midwest, Rapid City blends outdoor adventure with historical memory.

Founded in 1896 by the legendary Buffalo Bill Cody, this Wyoming town is the eastern gateway to Yellowstone National Park, reached along the spectacular Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway. Cody preserves the authentic soul of the Old West: the Buffalo Bill Center of the West brings together five museums devoted to the frontier, art, firearms and Native Americans, while every summer evening the Cody Nite Rodeo revives the adrenaline of the rodeo. All around, canyons, dams and prairies open the way to the geysers and wildlife of Yellowstone.

You travel along the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway, which follows the Shoshone River through the forest and the highest mountains in Wyoming, with very diverse landscapes: expanses of wild sagebrush, fir forests, glaciers, with a wildlife including elk, deer, mountain goats, grizzly bears, and brown bears. Established in 1872 as the world's first national park, Yellowstone spreads across a volcanic plateau between Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, holding one of the most extraordinary concentrations of geothermal phenomena on the planet. Here the famous Old Faithful geyser erupts at regular intervals, while the Grand Prismatic Spring dazzles with its rings of shifting colours and the limestone terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs form surreal landscapes. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, carved by the river of the same name, plunges into spectacular waterfalls between golden walls. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park is also a wildlife sanctuary where bison, elk, grizzly bears and wolf packs can be spotted, especially in the Lamar Valley. Among forests, alpine lakes and meadows, Yellowstone offers hikes, wildlife safaris and the thrill of a primordial, powerful nature, a symbol of the American wilderness.

Glacier National Park, in northern Montana on the Canadian border, is one of the most spectacular parks of the Rocky Mountains, nicknamed the 'Crown of the Continent'. Two thousand lakes, rivers, forests, majestic mountains, here is Glacier National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a paradise also for wild animals, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, brown bears and grizzly bears, wolves and cougars. The name does not derive so much from the existing glaciers, few, small and retreating, but from the enormous expanse of ice that created its valleys during the last ice age, about 20,000 years ago. The legendary Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses the heart of the park with breathtaking views over Logan Pass. Hundreds of kilometres of trails make it a hiker's paradise. Pristine and grand wilderness, Glacier is nature in its purest state.

Great Falls takes its name from the five waterfalls the Missouri River forms in quick succession, in the heart of central Montana. The town is tied to the Lewis and Clark expedition, which faced a long overland portage here — a story told at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Don't miss the C.M. Russell Museum, devoted to the famed Western painter Charles Marion Russell, and strolls along the River's Edge Trail. An ideal stop on the way to the wide prairies and the Rocky Mountains, Great Falls blends frontier history with open nature.

Billings, Montana's largest city, spreads across the Yellowstone River valley beneath the Rimrocks, scenic sandstone cliffs that ring it to the north. At Pictograph Cave State Park visitors admire ancient rock paintings, while the Western Heritage Center recounts the frontier story. Breweries and distilleries enliven downtown, an ideal base for exploring the vast West: the Little Bighorn battlefield, the peaks of the Beartooth Mountains and, further south, the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. A city of wide-open spaces where Western culture meets wild nature.

Bismarck is the capital of North Dakota, a quiet city overlooking the Missouri River at the centre of the Great Plains. The modern tower Capitol, nicknamed the "Skyscraper of the Prairie," dominates the skyline, while the North Dakota Heritage Center tells the story of Native peoples and pioneers. Nearby Fort Abraham Lincoln recalls the expeditions of General Custer. Bismarck is the ideal destination for those seeking prairie history, Native culture and the wide spaces of the northern Midwest.

Fargo is the largest city in North Dakota, spread along the Red River at the border with Minnesota, made famous by the Coen brothers' film of the same name. Its revitalised downtown offers the art déco Fargo Theatre, galleries, craft breweries and a lively food scene. A crossroads of the great northern prairies, the city blends a welcoming Midwestern atmosphere with young, creative energy. Between agricultural heritage, culture and hospitality, Fargo is a surprising urban stop in the heart of the American Great Plains.