This summer, we took the most amazing road trip through Wisconsin! We had never been farther north than Nebraska, and it was our first time visiting any of the Great Lakes. I found a picture several months beforehand showcasing the stunning stone beach of Washington Island, and we decided right then it was our next summer road trip. The weather was perfect, and there are so many family friendly things to see and do in this amazing state. If you are considering Wisconsin for your summer travels, keep reading to learn about my family’s 7-day Wisconsin road trip itinerary with kids.
We love hitting multiple cities when we road trip through a state, so we decided to make stops in Milwaukee, Sister Bay in Door County, and Madison. We traveled the last week of July, and while the weather in Kansas was miserably hot, we had beautiful, 75 degree days almost every day in Wisconsin! So if you are looking for a getaway from the Midwest heat of the summer, this is a great option! Our kiddos were 2, 4 and 6 at the time of our trip, and they had the best time. There are so many kid friendly things to do in Wisconsin, we barely scraped the surface!
Day 1: Travel day to Milwaukee
Day 2: Mitchell Park domes, Milwaukee Public Museum
Day 3: Milwaukee zoo
Day 4: 7 bridges hiking trail, drive to Sister Bay
Day 5: Sister Bay Beach, Cana Lighthouse
Day 6: Washington Island
Day 7: Cavepoint county park, Whitefish Dunes State park. Drive to Madison
Day 8: Madison Children’s Museum, Wisconsin State Capitol
Day 9: Travel home
Travel day! We left our home in Wichita bright and early. We packed up our minivan with all the road trip essentials and hit the road. We made a pit stop just north of Kansas City at the cutest little park called Penguin Park. They had semi-clean bathrooms, lots of fun stuff for our kids to climb and play on, and a big open area for everyone to get some energy out.
We climbed back into the car for the next trek, and made our next pit stop at the Dovonian Fossil gorge in Iowa City. It is a gorge right next to the lake that has natural fossils. It was really neat, however, we were traveling in late July and it was HOT! And there is zero shade there. Needless to say, our stop was very quick.
We loaded back into the car and drove the rest of the way on into Milwaukee, where we spent the next 2 ½ days. We checked into our hotel, the Homewood Suites in Wauwatosa. It was a great hotel, in a very safe area with lots of restaurants nearby and only a 10 minute drive into the downtown area. They had a room that comfortably fit our family of 5 (plus my Mother-in-law, who joined us on this trip) which is something we are always on the lookout for.
Our first stop in Milwaukee was the Mitchell Park Domes. We arrived right at 9am when they opened, and were one of the only people there for most of our visit. The museum has 3 large domes; dessert, floral, and tropical. There was a special dinosaur theme exhibit going on in the domes when we were there, and they had life-sized dinosaur statues throughout the museum that my kids really enjoyed finding. The domes and foliage are magnificent, and truly something to marvel at. They also have a discovery center that my kids enjoyed playing at, which has lots of educational opportunities for kids. We spent around 2 hours at the dome, and it cost our family of five $30 to enter (my youngest was free).
Right outside of the Mitchell Park domes is a neat little trail called Three Bridges Park. We spent about 45 minutes checking out the really cool old 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. It was a great way to spend an hour and get some fresh air while enjoying the sunshine.
After we left the Mitchell Park domes, we headed to the Milwaukee Public Museum, which was just a 5 minute drive from the domes. Milwaukee has several really great museums, and I had a hard time deciding which one would be the best for my kids (age 6, 4, and 2). I decided on the Public Museum over Discovery World Milwaukee, and was a little nervous that it would not keep them engaged.
I was so wrong! 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. We got into this museum for free using our reciprocal membership to our local children’s museum, and this included a ticket to one of the dome shows for each of us.
We got to the museum at 11:30, and spent about 5 hours exploring 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 that we were able to sit and eat at. I tried to research on their website before going to see if they had a restaurant there, but their website was very vague. 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 limited menu.
After we left the museum, we headed to the coolest restaurant for dinner: Don’s TV & Repair speakeasy. 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. Definitely check it out if you are looking for a good, kid-friendly place for lunch or dinner.
The next day, we enjoyed the beautiful weather at the Milwaukee zoo! We love visiting zoos in different cities, and rarely do we take a vacation where we don’t make a stop at one!
One thing to note, 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. 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 going earlier to 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 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 there, 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. Since this was the only day we really needed a stroller or wagon during our trip, we opted to rent one from the zoo rather than squeeze ours in the back of our van. It worked great, and my kids were grateful to have a place to sit when their legs started to get tired.
After we left the zoo, we headed to our dinner reservations at Safehouse Milwaukee. 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. We did not know the password to enter, so we had to 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 highly overpriced for the experience. You are given a clue card that you can walk from room to room to solve, but they don’t give you the answers, and some of the answers are difficult to find. Definitely not something little kids can figure out on their own. 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). 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.
On our last morning in Milwaukee, we checked out of our hotel and headed to the southern part of the city to Grant park. Our neighbors, who were Milwaukee natives, recommended this hike to us and we knew we had to squeeze it in somewhere.
We arrived at the parking lot shortly after 9, and the hike was roughly ½ mile each way. It is an easy, toddler friendly hike through a beautiful wooded area with tons of lush foliage, and the neatest old bridges that cross a small stream. The trail leads you out to a fantastic beach right on Lake Michigan, where we spent hours playing in the sand, collecting stones from the water, and searching for sea glass. The water is cold, but we didn’t mind because it is so clear and beautiful, and the beach itself is so peaceful and serene. This was our absolute favorite activity of the trip, and I highly recommend checking out this area! You can read more about it here.
After we loaded back up from our morning at the beach, we headed back into downtown Milwaukee 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 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 it was definitely busy, but manageable. We only waited about 10 minutes for our food to be ready, which was great.
After lunch, we headed north on our way to Sister Bay. The drive was just short of 3 hours, so we stopped halfway at the Cherney Maribel Caves County park to stretch our legs for a bit. It’s a neat park that has trails accessible year round. There are several caves throughout the park, although the ones you can walk into are only open during their scheduled tours, which was not going on during our visit. There are several smaller ones that are open all the time, but they are so small you have to crawl on your stomach to enter. We wandered around the trails for awhile and peeked in a few of the caves, but I am definitely not brave enough to go into a dark cave on my belly, so we opted to just peek in with our flashlight. There were also wild raspberries growing along the trails, and my kids thought it was so fun to pick and try them!
After about an hour of exploring, we loaded back up and finished driving on into Sister Bay. We checked into our condo, and grabbed some pizza from The Wild Tomato- YUM! My husband ran to the Piggly Wiggly to grab some breakfast and lunch items while the kids and I enjoyed the beautiful sunset on our patio.
We spent our first morning in Sister Bay at the Sister Bay beach. We loaded up our beach toys, swimsuits and towels, and made the 5 minute walk to downtown Sister Bay. The beach is great, and we were one of the only ones there when we arrived around 9am. My kids loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water. Beware, it is COLD. But they didn’t seem to mind, and there were lots of other people swimming in the crystal clear lake. There is a long dock you can walk out on, kayak rentals, and you are right next to the marina. My kids loved watching the big sailboats and yachts come in and out. By the time we headed back to our house for lunch, the beach was quite busy. But it’s a big beach and never felt overly crowded.
After lunch, we drove to the Cana Island lighthouse. You take a tractor ride from the parking lot over to the island, even though you could walk across the causeway as long as the water level isn’t too high. The lighthouse itself is not huge, and doesn’t take much time to climb up and explore. It has been beautifully restored, and it is really cool to see the home where the keeper and his family lived. There are other buildings and trails to explore on the island, and my kids loved tossing rocks and shells into the splashing waves. We spent about an hour and a half exploring the island, then we headed back into Sister Bay for dinner.
We ordered takeout from Husby’s and ate it at our house. After dinner, we walked to get gelato from Door County Creamery (YUM!) and then headed back to the Sister Bay beach to play in the sand and watch the sunset. Such a beautiful view- definitely check out the sunset at least one evening!
This was the day I was the most excited for on our trip, and the whole reason we chose Wisconsin as our vacation destination! We were heading up north to Washington Island for the day. We knew there was some impending thunderstorms later in the day, so we got up really early in hopes we would get some time on the island before they hit.
We drove to the northern tip of the Door County peninsula and got in line for the Washington Island ferry. The ferry takes you and your vehicle across Lake Michigan to the small Washington Island. The ride is a little over a half hour each way, and we loved standing up on the top deck of the boat and watching the waves during the ride. Once we got off the ferry, we headed straight to Schoolhouse beach. This breathtaking beach has no sand, but instead is covered in smooth, limestone rocks. It looks straight out of a magazine. We brought our beach blanket and chairs (there are lots of spiders crawling in the rocks) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery until the storms rolled in. I wish we could have spent more time at this beach, but sometimes Mother Nature has other plans.
Once we realized the storm wasn’t going to pass quickly, we loaded back into the car and drove around the small island. We ended up stopping at a small souvenir shop and wandered around, and by the time we were done the rain had temporarily let up. We didn’t feel confident enough in the weather to head back to the beach (you get zero cell service on the island by the way), so we drove around the island and enjoyed the scenery. We saw several deer, chipmunks, and even a skunk on the scenic drive. Next, we stopped at the Mountain Park Lookout tower. Even though everything was very wet from the rain, there were sturdy handrails and the stairs were in good condition, so we felt safe climbing to the top. What a beautiful view!
We could see more storm clouds rolling in, so we decided it was best to head back to the ferry before the weather got bad again. We ate our packed lunch on the ride back, and then stopped at the Door County Ice Cream Factory on our way back into Sister Bay. This is an absolute must do- they had the most amazing homemade cone that I have ever tasted! I was seriously sad that we didn’t have time to squeeze in another stop before we left town!
Since the rain was quite persistent, we had a lazy afternoon and watched a movie at our house. It finally let up that evening, and we were able to make it to Sister Bay beach for some more beach time and another great view of the sunset.
This was our last morning in Door County, so we headed to Cavepoint County Park to explore the cliffs. While they are stunning to experience in person, it was slightly terrifying being out on them with small children. I wore my 2-year-old in our Tula, and kept a close eye (and hand) on our older kids the whole time. The trails weren’t crazy difficult, but did have lots of step downs and uneven spots, and even some spots that have holes leading all the way down to the water. We didn’t spend a ton of time here, but was glad we made the stop.
After we finished at Cavepoint, we drove right next door to the Whitefish Dunes State Park. It costs $10 to park, and there is access to bathrooms close to the parking lot to change. The walkway to the beach is a bit of a trek, especially when you’re carrying all the beach gear, plus a cooler, and a toddler who all of a sudden can’t walk anymore. But this beach felt the most “beachy” to us out of all the ones we went to. This was also the coldest of all the water we got into, and I couldn’t even hardly put my toes in it because it made them hurt. But my kids didn’t seem to mind- they played for hours.
We headed out of Door County to our next destination, Madison, which was 3 hours away. We checked into our hotel, Cambria Hotel, and let the kids swim in the hotel pool before we called it a night.
We only had 1 day in Madison before we headed home. Being farther away from Lake Michigan meant that the weather was quite warm, so we opted for some indoor fun for our last day. We spent the day at the Madison’s Children Museum and had a great time. There were so many cool exhibits that my kids loved. The rooftop garden was a hit, as was the art room and outdoor play area. We only packed snacks, because I had read online that there was a cafe with food for purchase. Well, the day we were there was not a delivery day, and the pantry was completely empty. Luckily, we had a decent amount of snacks to get us through until dinner, but my recommendation would be to not rely on this dining option if you are planning on spending the day there.
After we were done at the museum, we walked across the street to the Capitol building. They offer guided tours every hour, which was a great way to experience the building while learning a little about its history. My kids did great during the tour, I think because we were moving the whole time and there was a lot of really cool architecture to look at.
After our tour ended, we headed to dinner at Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace, which was great. Then back to our hotel to pack up and get ready for our long ride home!
The end of our trip had finally arrived, and it was time to head back to Kansas!