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 associates 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 the town.

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

The biggest metropolis in Wisconsin and just one.5 hours north of Chicago, it’s the excellent measurement: not too small not too large. It gives tasty meals and drinks, nice sports activities groups, and enjoyable festivals. Plus, it’s reasonably priced. 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 occasions, and when it got here time to plant roots and begin a household, we might have gone wherever. However we select to return dwelling to Milwaukee, which has a lot to supply.

If you wish to know the right way to expertise it like a neighborhood, listed here are my insider ideas:

1. Keep central

I extremely advocate staying downtown or the Third Ward. That is the place a lot of the widespread points of interest are positioned. The inns could be barely costlier than elsewhere, however you’ll save on transportation prices since every thing is walkable.

These are two inns I like:

2. Reap the benefits of free rides

Milwaukee doesn’t have a subway system, nevertheless it 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 occasions and each 20 minutes off-peak and weekends. Click here for the map and schedule.

Insider tip: In case you are heading to a sporting occasion, many bars and eating places supply free shuttles to American Household Discipline 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 (typically quirky) meals traditions and staples, like ButterBurgers and frozen custard.

It additionally has some unimaginable markets, the place you possibly can get pleasure from a number of the metropolis’s finest meals from many distributors, multi functional place and in a enjoyable and reasonably priced food-hall environment. These are two of my favorites:

• 3rd Street Market Hall – This can be a must-visit vacation spot, because it gives a spot for vacationers and locals alike to get pleasure from Milwaukee’s numerous delicacies. Right here, you will see the aforementioned frozen custard, plus pho, pizza, burgers, artisan sandwiches, tacos, scorching canines, home-cooked meals, ramen, sushi, arepas, and a lot extra — all at reasonably priced costs.
• Milwaukee Public Market – Situated 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 novel spot to expertise the flavors of Milwaukee’s culinary scene, all beneath one roof, and soak within the native tradition whereas procuring or grabbing a chew.

4. Take pleasure in native delicacies

There are a couple of meals that it’s good to attempt that you simply (perhaps for good purpose) is not going to discover many different locations. They’re distinctive, tasty, and general fairly reasonably priced!

• Deep-fried cheese curds – Sure, it’s a factor, and they’re wonderful — organize them and thank us later. Lakefront Brewery is our prime decide.
• Frozen custard – It could appear like ice cream, nevertheless it’s a lot richer and creamier, with a couple of additional components. Kopps is the perfect place for it (and nice burgers) — and in addition a kind of locations that, if you happen to don’t go, did you even go to Milwaukee?
• Bratwursts – One other Milwaukee staple. No one does them at the next degree 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 reasonably priced value of beneath $10.

On this checklist, we now have solely centered on the Milwaukee favorites, however foodies who need to delve deeper into the culinary scene may additionally need to take a look at our full checklist of the best restaurants in Milwaukee.
 

5. Discover brewing historical past

Whereas microbreweries aren’t precisely a brand new development, 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 obvious throughout city in breweries, eating places, and pubs.

Lakefront Brewery gives 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 full of 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 quite a lot of enjoyable. The excursions are tremendous widespread and promote out on the weekends, so it’s suggested to buy tickets upfront.

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

• MobCraft Beer – This brewery gives excursions and in addition has an important 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 collection of distinctive bitter beers.
• Good City Brewing – There are two areas: the Eastside one gives excursions, and the downtown one doesn’t. However the latter is true throughout the road from Fiserv Discussion board and great spot for a beer earlier than a recreation.

6. Do some reasonably priced actions

Milwaukee has far more to do than we might 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 – This can be a sandy park on the shorelines of Lake Michigan. Convey a towel and go for a swim, take part a recreation of seashore volleyball, or seize custard at MooSa’s or lunch at The Dock Waterfront Bar & Grill.
• Stroll the Milwaukee Riverwalk – Expertise the guts of the town, and immerse your self in its tradition. Lots of the Milwaukee’s finest retailers and eating places could be discovered alongside the three-mile route alongside either 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 gives over 135 miles of trails for biking, a lot of which function scenic views of Lake Michigan. Yow will discover the path map here.
• Bronze Fonz – Cease to take an image with a bronze sculpture of Arthur Fonzarelli, aka the Fonz, from Completely happy Days (a sitcom a few Milwaukee household within the Fifties).
• Indoor garden video games at third Road Market Corridor – Take pleasure in a wide range of distinctive eating places and free indoor video games, together with big 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’s good to fill any clean spots in your itinerary, we now have an in-depth checklist overlaying all the things to do in Milwaukee.
 

7. Take pleasure in free-admission days

A few of Milwaukee’s prime points of interest welcome guests without spending a dime on sure days. Watching the calendar can rating you free tickets that in any other case would set your group again lots of.

8. Chase low-cost joyful hours

For higher or worse, the folks of Milwaukee get pleasure from their enjoyable occasions 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 joyful 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 – Completely happy hour specials change every day (Mon–Fri 3-6pm).

9. Discover the colourful public artwork scene

Many locations round city have large-scale public artwork shows that you would be able to go to without spending a dime. Most of those items are in a number of the most enjoyable and classy 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 all the time 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 price range. Hopefully this checklist provides you with a good suggestion of the place to begin!

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 may comply with their adventures on Instagram and social media @gettingstamped.