Easy methods to Expertise Milwaukee Like a Native in 2024

Posted: 3/15/2024 | March fifteenth, 2024

The next visitor put up is by my pals Adam from the web site Getting Stamped. He and his spouse are very long time residents of Milwaukee and, since I’ve by no means been, I’ve invited him on to share some tips on visiting town.

Milwaukee is underrated, for my part. I adore it!

The biggest metropolis in Wisconsin and only one.5 hours north of Chicago, it’s the excellent measurement: not too small not too huge. It provides tasty meals and drinks, nice sports activities groups, and enjoyable festivals. Plus, it’s inexpensive. And don’t neglect the pleasant locals!

I’ve lived right here my complete life, and my spouse has lived right here for 20 years. We’ve traveled all over the world many instances, and when it got here time to plant roots and begin a household, we may have gone anyplace. However we select to return house to Milwaukee, which has a lot to supply.

If you wish to know how one can expertise it like a neighborhood, listed below are my insider suggestions:

1. Keep central

I extremely suggest staying downtown or the Third Ward. That is the place many of the in style sights are positioned. The accommodations could be barely costlier than elsewhere, however you’ll save on transportation prices since all the pieces is walkable.

These are two accommodations I like:

2. Reap the benefits of free rides

Milwaukee doesn’t have a subway system, but it surely does have an incredible free streetcar service known as the Hop, with quite a few stops downtown and across the Third Ward space. Merely hop on and off — no tickets or reservations are wanted! The Hop runs each quarter-hour throughout peak instances and each 20 minutes off-peak and weekends. Click here for the map and schedule.

Insider tip: If you’re heading to a sporting occasion, many bars and eating places supply free shuttles to American Household Subject for Brewer baseball video games and concert events, Summerfest Grounds for festivals and concert events, Fiserv Discussion board for Bucks basketball video games, and different occasions round city.
 

3. Eat like a neighborhood

You would possibly suppose Milwaukee’s all beer and cheese (and there’s no scarcity of these), however the meals scene has much more to supply. Milwaukee has its personal (generally quirky) meals traditions and staples, like ButterBurgers and frozen custard.

It additionally has some unbelievable markets, the place you’ll be able to get pleasure from a few of the metropolis’s finest meals from many distributors, multi functional place and in a enjoyable and inexpensive food-hall ambiance. These are two of my favorites:

• 3rd Street Market Hall – It is a must-visit vacation spot, because it supplies a spot for vacationers and locals alike to get pleasure from Milwaukee’s numerous delicacies. Right here, one can find the aforementioned frozen custard, plus pho, pizza, burgers, artisan sandwiches, tacos, sizzling canines, home-cooked meals, ramen, sushi, arepas, and a lot extra — all at inexpensive costs.
• Milwaukee Public Market – Positioned within the historic Third Ward, this superior market is the perfect place to patronize all kinds of distributors with distinctive merchandise, meals choices, and drink pairings. It’s a singular spot to expertise the flavors of Milwaukee’s culinary scene, all beneath one roof, and soak within the native tradition whereas buying or grabbing a chew.

4. Take pleasure in native delicacies

There are a couple of meals that it is advisable attempt that you simply (perhaps for good motive) is not going to discover many different locations. They’re distinctive, tasty, and total fairly inexpensive!

• Deep-fried cheese curds – Sure, it’s a factor, and they’re wonderful — get them organized and thank us later. Lakefront Brewery is our high choose.
• Frozen custard – It might appear to be ice cream, but it surely’s a lot richer and creamier, with a couple of further elements. Kopps is the perfect place for it (and nice burgers) — and in addition a kind of locations that, in the event you don’t go, did you even go to Milwaukee?
• Bratwursts – One other Milwaukee staple. No person does them at the next stage than Vanguard Restaurant within the Bayview neighborhood. It’s best recognized for its wonderful house-made sausages, together with vegan choices, with many at an inexpensive worth of beneath $10.

On this checklist, we now have solely centered on the Milwaukee favorites, however foodies who wish to delve deeper into the culinary scene can also wish to try our full checklist of the best restaurants in Milwaukee.
 

5. Discover brewing historical past

Whereas microbreweries aren’t precisely a brand new pattern, Milwaukee has been brewing since earlier than it was cool. At one time, it brewed extra beer than any metropolis on the earth. That historical past is clear throughout city in breweries, eating places, and pubs.

Lakefront Brewery provides most likely the perfect brewery tour within the metropolis. It’s much more enjoyable than simply taking a look at shiny tanks and sniffing a pungent jar crammed with hops. The tour guides are hilarious (some are actually comedians from a neighborhood membership), and your tour will embrace 4 beer samples. That is by far the perfect worth and our private favourite tour — plus, the beer corridor is lots of enjoyable. The excursions are tremendous in style and promote out on the weekends, so it’s suggested to buy tickets upfront.

If you wish to preserve sampling native beers, ensure that to take a look at a couple of different of my favourite Milwaukee breweries:

• MobCraft Beer – This brewery provides excursions and in addition has an excellent taproom with tasty pizzas, in addition to actually good IPAs and bitter beers.
• Eagle Park Brewing Company – They don’t supply excursions, however they do have an enormous number of distinctive bitter beers.
• Good City Brewing – There are two areas: the Eastside one provides excursions, and the downtown one doesn’t. However the latter is true throughout the road from Fiserv Discussion board and excellent place for a beer earlier than a sport.

6. Do some inexpensive actions

Milwaukee has far more to do than we may squeeze onto this web page, however we’ve narrowed it down, specializing in must-do and budget-friendly choices (some are even free!):

• Bradford Beach – It is a sandy park on the shorelines of Lake Michigan. Convey a towel and go for a swim, take part a sport of seaside volleyball, or seize custard at MooSa’s or lunch at The Dock Waterfront Bar & Grill.
• Stroll the Milwaukee Riverwalk – Expertise the guts of town, and immerse your self in its tradition. Most of the Milwaukee’s finest retailers and eating places may be discovered alongside the three-mile route alongside each side of the Milwaukee River.
• Disc-golf at Milwaukee County Parks – Milwaukee has 11 disc-golf courses — six full ones ($5) and 5 short-practice ones (free).
• Bike the Oak Leaf Path – Milwaukee County provides over 135 miles of trails for biking, lots of which characteristic scenic views of Lake Michigan. You will discover the path map here.
• Bronze Fonz – Cease to take an image with a bronze sculpture of Arthur Fonzarelli, aka the Fonz, from Blissful Days (a sitcom a couple of Milwaukee household within the Fifties).
• Indoor garden video games at third Road Market Corridor – Get pleasure from a wide range of distinctive eating places and free indoor video games, together with large Jenga, cornhole, shuffleboard, and golf simulators. It’s a enjoyable place, particularly when the climate isn’t nice!

After you’ve scoured this information, if it is advisable fill any clean spots in your itinerary, we now have an in-depth checklist masking the entire things to do in Milwaukee.
 

7. Get pleasure from free-admission days

A few of Milwaukee’s high sights welcome guests without cost on sure days. Watching the calendar can rating you free tickets that in any other case would set your group again tons of.

8. Chase low cost completely satisfied hours

For higher or worse, the individuals of Milwaukee get pleasure from their enjoyable instances intertwined with a beer or three. To kick off an thrilling night time in Milwaukee, head to the place the locals go: discover a good completely satisfied hour, or go to a budget-friendly dive bar.

• McGillycuddy’s – $1 faucets, $2 craft beers, $4 rails and mixers, and $5 appetizers (Tuesday–Friday, 3–7pm).
• Mo’s Irish Pub – $2.72 drafts, $5 wines (Tues–Thurs 4–6pm, Fridays 3–6pm); additionally free brewery shuttles.
• Milwaukee Brat Home – Blissful hour specials change each day (Mon–Fri 3-6pm).

9. Discover the colourful public artwork scene

Many locations round city have large-scale public artwork shows that you may go to without cost. Most of those items are in a few of the most enjoyable and stylish areas. These are a few our favorites:

• Black Cat Alley – One of many largest areas devoted to public murals is positioned close to North Avenue, within the Eastside neighborhood. Along with the artwork, you’ll additionally discover nice eating places, breweries, and artisanal retailers.
• Sculpture Milwaukee – Yearly, this city-funded program shows sculptures by artists from the world over on Wisconsin Avenue. Some are everlasting and a few are modified out yearly, so there are at all times new issues to see.

From meals to free days and bratwurst to beer, Milwaukee has a ton of issues to do and see on a funds. Hopefully this checklist gives you a good suggestion of the place to start out!

Hannah & Adam Lukaszewicz are full-time journey writers and run the journey web site Getting Stamped, which is devoted to firsthand guides to their favourite locations all over the world. After they aren’t touring the world, Milwaukee is the place you’ll discover them, they usually cowl their hometown in-depth on the web site Milwaukee Insider. You’ll be able to comply with their adventures on Instagram and social media @gettingstamped.