The Ely area is a popular center for fishing, canoeing, and camping. It has many canoe outfitters, and some offer guide service.

Cliff paintings on Hegman Lake show the art of Indian tribes that inhabited the area centuries ago.

The Vermilion Interpretive Center present the local history with photographs, tapes, artifacts, and other displays.

Ely has a population of about 4,000, and an elevation of 1,500 feet.

Ely has a movie theatre, several wonderful restaurants, super markets, great North Woods clothing stores, Steger Mukluks, and Wintergreen apparel. Piragis Outfitters store ships canoes all over the country from their canoe shed on Sheridan Street.

"The Boundary Waters Canoe area Wilderness is one of the fifty places in the world everyone should visit in their lifetime," National Geographic Traveler.

"Ely Minnesota rates as my #1 vacation destination. On the map Ely appears to be at the end of the road. For people who love the wilderness and beauty and solitude, on the contrary, it's at the center of the world," the late Charles Kuralt.