We took a fantastic road trip through the beautiful state of Wisconsin this summer (read our full itinerary here!) and spent several days exploring the amazing city of Milwaukee with our kids. I was absolutely blown away with how much I loved this city! It was so lively and full of character. The downtown area is so beautiful, and I loved driving around through the old buildings and admiring the architecture. We spent 2 ½ days here, and I wish we would have had another 2 ½ days to explore. There are so many museums, hikes, and things to do, we had a really hard time narrowing down which ones to try!
We traveled to Milwaukee the last week in July. Disclaimer, coming from Kansas, it is nearly impossible to do anything outside in late July without your face melting off, so I am always a bit hesitant to plan a vacation at this time of the year. There is nothing more miserable than trying to enjoy a new city, or spend the day at an activity that you forked over a pretty penny for, while listening to your child tell you that “it’s hoootttt moooommm” approximately 4 thousand times in a 12 minute span. So when we are planning our late summer vacations, I am always very mindful about the weather.
Let me tell you, you can’t go wrong with Milwaukee in the summer. I don’t think the temperature ever reached 80 degrees while we were there, and the breeze that comes off Lake Michigan made the mornings and evenings almost feel cool. Plus, unlike Kansas, there are huge trees everywhere, which provide ample shade for your outdoor adventure.
I am a suburb mom through and through. While I love the hustle and bustle that comes along with staying in the heart of the city, nothing beats the outskirts where the restaurants are less crowded, the streets are quieter, and things just seem to move a bit slower.
We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Wauwatosa, about 10 minutes from downtown Milwaukee. We were able to get a 2 bedroom suite, with a sleeper sofa in the living room and 2 queen beds in a separate room (my mother-in-law joined us, so we needed a little extra space) for a reasonable price. If you are a family of 5 like us, you know the struggle of finding a room big enough to fit everyone.
We originally had a hotel booked in downtown Milwaukee, but the reviews were less than stellar and the area seemed a little rough, so we opted to stay on the outskirts. I am very happy we made this change, and would highly recommend this hotel to any family looking to stay in the Milwaukee area.
We had an amazing time at this museum, and there was the perfect amount of stuff for us to see and do in an afternoon. My kiddos loved the butterfly wing and rainforest, while my favorite part was exploring the streets of old Milwaukee. I was worried after reading some reviews online that it would be too “old” for my toddler and preschooler, and that they would be bored. Not true at all! They were very engaged, and had a fantastic time. Did I get to stop and read all the placards like I wanted? Absolutely not. But that’s ok! It’s fun to see the museum through their eyes, too.
We spent about 5 hours exploring the museum and watching the dome show. I was shocked at how uncrowded the museum was on a Saturday in late July. We packed our lunch, and there was a great seating area on the main level where we were able to sit and eat. I tried to research beforehand if they had a restaurant in the museum, but their website was very vague if it was currently open. So we played it safe and brought our own lunch. They did end up having a small cafeteria, but the hours were very limited (12-2pm I believe) and they had a pretty limited menu.
Adults: $24
Children 4-13: $18
Check their current hours and rates here.
Don’t forget to use your reciprocal membership if you have one! We got in completely free using our membership card from our science museum at home! Check here to see if your membership is eligible!
We love visiting zoos in different cities, and rarely do we visit a town without checking out their zoo!
One thing to note about the Milwaukee zoo: entering the zoo right when they open is absolute chaos. You pay to enter before you park, and there are only a few lanes and LOTS of traffic all trying to squeeze through. We got in line at 9:00 right when the zoo was scheduled to open, and creeped along in line for 45 minutes until we got to the gate to pay. I have no idea if arriving earlier or later would help cut down on the time, but I was definitely not prepared for this!
Once we parked and entered, we had a great time. It truly is a beautiful zoo, and some of our favorites were the leopard seals, ostriches, and penguins. We also rode the train and Sky Safari (our 2 year old could not ride this so he stayed on the ground with dad), and we loved both.
One thing we were underwhelmed by was the farm area. It was a very big, spread out space with hardly any animals. Next time I would skip this for the sake of time.
We packed our lunch and found a great spot to eat at with lots of tables and umbrellas for shade. We also enjoyed a yummy dole whip (IYKYK) at the concession stand right next to the otters.
We literally spent the entire day here, and ran out of time to see a couple of things we wished we would have seen before they closed! It’s a huge zoo and has so many great exhibits to see.
Adults: $14.75
Children 3-12: $11.75
Under 3: Free
Parking: $15
Check current hours and rates here.
Mitchell Park Domes
Another museum we visited in Milwaukee was the Mitchell Park Domes. This is a conservatory that is composed of 3 large domes connected by a central lobby: the dessert dome, the floral dome, and the tropical dome. The domes house a wide variety of native plants, trees, shrubs, and wildlife. The foliage is magnificent, and truly something to marvel at.
After you finish wandering the domes, make sure to check out the discovery center right across from the entrance to the dessert dome. It’s a small room that is geared towards kids with lots of learning opportunities.
We spent about 2 hours at the dome, and it cost our family of five $30 to enter (my 2 year old was free). Overall, my husband and I really enjoyed this activity. While my kids stayed engaged, I can’t say they were as enthusiastic about all the beautiful vegetation and foliage as the adults were, but they thought the life-sized dinosaurs were pretty awesome.
If you do hit up the Mitchell Park Domes, make sure to check out the neat little trail called Three Bridges Park right next to it. The entrance to the trail shares the parking lot with the domes. We spent about 45 minutes checking out the neat metal bridge and walking along the path. There were tons of stunning wildflowers that my kids loved looking at, and you walk right over/alongside the railroad tracks, which my toddler loved. You have a beautiful lookout over the downtown as well.
Adults: $9
Children 3-12: $6
Check current hours and rates here.
Since we only had 2 ½ days in Milwaukee, there were several other things on our list that we wanted to do but didn’t have time for! Some of the top contenders included:
I will be really honest, we don’t eat out much on vacation. Not only does it eat up a significant amount of our travel budget, but I dread the thought of taking my 3 small children to a restaurant after a long day of exploring, when everyone is overly tired, hungry and grumpy. We rarely eat breakfast or lunch at a restaurant, and typically opt to eat at our hotel or rental house, or grab take out. But I did find a couple restaurants that sounded pretty kid friendly, and had a fun theme, so we wanted to give them a try.
If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, you HAVE to check this place out. It is decked out in decor straight from our childhood, and the nostalgia factor can’t be beat. The food was good, and although we didn’t try one, I saw lots of people ordering their signature shakes- decked out with alllllll the toppings. My kids didn’t think it was as cool as my husband and I did, but that’s because they don’t remember the days of dial up and Sega. Make reservations on their website.
We made dinner reservations at Safehouse Milwaukee for our second evening in town. It’s a spy-themed restaurant that has a hidden entrance guarded by a secret password. Even though I had researched it online before we went, we still had a hard time finding the door to enter LOL. Thankfully, another family was leaving and pointed us in the right direction (look for the red door in the alleyway). If you don’t know the password to enter (we didn’t), they make you perform a silly action for the gatekeeper while being displayed on TV’s throughout the restaurant.
The overall feel of the restaurant is cool, however, the food is definitely overpriced for the experience. While waiting on your food, you are given a clue card that you can walk from room to room to solve. The riddles are not kid friendly, and even my husband and I had a hard time figuring most of them out. Our bar food was mediocre, and be aware that they tack on an entertainment fee to your bill (even though the only “entertainment” they provide you with is the list of clues that you then solve yourself). Overall, the adults were definitely disappointed with this choice, even though my kids liked it. Just not worth the price tag, in my opinion. I would skip it and find somewhere else for dinner.
We headed downtown one afternoon for a stop at the Milwaukee Public Market for lunch. It is a giant building with a paid parking lot that has tons of different options for lunch and/or shopping.
This was probably my favorite place that we ate in Milwaukee! It’s is a really great choice for lunch, since there are several places to choose from all under one roof! My husband had seafood from the St. Paul’s Fish Company, and the kids and I had sandwiches from one of the sandwich shops. Then we got some delicious treats from one of the bakeries. Everything was so tasty, and we sat up on the balcony level so we could look down and watch the crowd. It was a really great atmosphere, and everyone agreed that it was a great pick for lunch. We went over the lunch hour on a weekday, and while it was definitely busy, it was totally manageable and there were lots of open tables. We only waited about 10 minutes for our food to be ready, which was great.
We had the best time exploring the beautiful city of Milwaukee with our kids, and can’t wait to go back someday! Do you have any favorite things to do in the city? Let me know in the comments!