How to Encounter Milwaukee Like a Neighborhood in 2024

Posted: 3/15/2024 | March 15th, 2024
The subsequent visitor post is by my good friends Adam from the site Acquiring Stamped. He and his wife are extensive time residents of Milwaukee and, because I have in no way been, I have invited him on to share some recommendations about traveling to the city.
Milwaukee is underrated, in my belief. I like it!
The most significant metropolis in Wisconsin and only 1.5 hours north of Chicago, it is the perfect sizing: not much too modest not way too major. It gives delicious foodstuff and beverages, excellent athletics teams, and exciting festivals. In addition, it is economical. And really don’t overlook the welcoming locals!
I have lived listed here my complete lifetime, and my wife has lived in this article for 20 years. We’ve traveled all over the earth numerous situations, and when it came time to plant roots and get started a family, we could have long gone any place. But we select to come house to Milwaukee, which has so substantially to present.
If you want to know how to knowledge it like a area, listed here are my insider tips:

 
1. Remain central
I hugely propose being downtown or the 3rd Ward. This is where most of the popular attractions are located. The motels may well be marginally much more highly-priced than somewhere else, but you are going to save on transportation expenses considering that every thing is walkable.
These are two inns I love:

 
2. Consider benefit of totally free rides
Milwaukee does not have a subway process, but it does have an remarkable absolutely free streetcar provider called the Hop, with a lot of stops downtown and close to the Third Ward place. Just hop on and off — no tickets or reservations are required! The Hop operates every single 15 minutes during peak moments and each individual 20 minutes off-peak and weekends. Click here for the map and timetable.
Insider suggestion: If you are heading to a sporting celebration, quite a few bars and places to eat supply cost-free shuttles to American Household Area for Brewer baseball video games and concerts, Summerfest Grounds for festivals and concerts, Fiserv Forum for Bucks basketball video games, and other gatherings all around city. 
3. Eat like a community
You may believe Milwaukee’s all beer and cheese (and there is no scarcity of individuals), but the foodstuff scene has a large amount extra to offer. Milwaukee has its individual (often quirky) meals traditions and staples, like ButterBurgers and frozen custard.
It also has some unbelievable markets, where by you can get pleasure from some of the city’s most effective meals from a lot of vendors, all in just one position and in a enjoyment and very affordable food items-corridor atmosphere. These are two of my favorites:

3rd Road Industry Hall – This is a need to-stop by location, as it provides a place for travellers and locals alike to get pleasure from Milwaukee’s numerous cuisine. Below, you will locate the aforementioned frozen custard, in addition pho, pizza, burgers, artisan sandwiches, tacos, scorching canine, home-cooked meals, ramen, sushi, arepas, and so significantly more — all at economical price ranges.
Milwaukee Public Market place – Located in the historic 3rd Ward, this wonderful industry is the ideal location to patronize a wide range of distributors with exclusive items, food stuff choices, and consume pairings. It’s a exclusive spot to practical experience the flavors of Milwaukee’s culinary scene, all beneath one particular roof, and soak in the area lifestyle although shopping or grabbing a chunk.

 
4. Indulge in neighborhood delicacies
There are a few food items that you will need to try out that you (perhaps for very good purpose) will not locate numerous other locations. They are special, tasty, and total very reasonably priced!

Deep-fried cheese curds – Certainly, it is a issue, and they are incredible — purchase them and thank us afterwards. Lakefront Brewery is our best choose.
Frozen custard – It might glance like ice product, but it’s a lot richer and creamier, with a several excess ingredients. Kopps is the best spot for it (and great burgers) — and also a single of people locations that, if you really don’t go, did you even pay a visit to Milwaukee?
Bratwursts – Another Milwaukee staple. No one does them at a higher stage than Vanguard Restaurant in the Bayview community. It is finest acknowledged for its astounding residence-manufactured sausages, like vegan alternatives, with numerous at an affordable rate of less than $10.

In this listing, we have only centered on the Milwaukee favorites, but foodies who want to delve further into the culinary scene could also want to look at out our full list of the best dining establishments in Milwaukee. 
5. Discover brewing record
Even though microbreweries are not just a new pattern, Milwaukee has been brewing considering the fact that in advance of it was cool. At one particular time, it brewed far more beer than any metropolis in the environment. That background is apparent all close to city in breweries, places to eat, and pubs.
Lakefront Brewery features possibly the most effective brewery tour in the town. It is a great deal extra entertaining than just on the lookout at shiny tanks and sniffing a pungent jar loaded with hops. The tour guides are hilarious (some are pretty much comedians from a neighborhood club), and your tour will include things like four beer samples. This is by much the finest price and our personal beloved tour — as well as, the beer hall is a ton of enjoyable. The tours are tremendous preferred and market out on the weekends, so it is recommended to invest in tickets in progress.
If you want to hold sampling neighborhood beers, make sure to examine out a few other of my favorite Milwaukee breweries:

MobCraft Beer – This brewery presents tours and also has a excellent taproom with delicious pizzas, as properly as genuinely very good IPAs and bitter beers.
Eagle Park Brewing Corporation – They do not give tours, but they do have a substantial assortment of distinctive bitter beers.
Fantastic Metropolis Brewing – There are two spots: the Eastside one particular offers excursions, and the downtown a single does not. But the latter is right throughout the street from Fiserv Discussion board and excellent spot for a beer ahead of a recreation.

 
6. Do some cost-effective functions
Milwaukee has way much more to do than we could squeeze onto this webpage, but we’ve narrowed it down, concentrating on have to-do and finances-helpful alternatives (some are even absolutely free!):

Bradford Beach front – This is a sandy park on the shorelines of Lake Michigan. Provide a towel and go for a swim, sign up for in a recreation of beach volleyball, or seize custard at MooSa’s or lunch at The Dock Waterfront Bar & Grill.
Stroll the Milwaukee Riverwalk – Working experience the coronary heart of the metropolis, and immerse oneself in its society. Quite a few of the Milwaukee’s most effective outlets and places to eat can be found alongside the 3-mile route alongside both sides of the Milwaukee River.
Disc-golfing at Milwaukee County Parks – Milwaukee has 11 disc-golf courses — 6 complete ones ($5) and five brief-exercise ones (free of charge).
Bicycle the Oak Leaf Path – Milwaukee County provides more than 135 miles of trails for cycling, numerous of which function scenic sights of Lake Michigan. You can obtain the path map in this article.
Bronze Fonz – Halt to choose a photograph with a bronze sculpture of Arthur Fonzarelli, aka the Fonz, from Pleased Times (a sitcom about a Milwaukee household in the 1950s).
Indoor garden game titles at 3rd Road Market Hall – Appreciate a wide range of distinctive places to eat and cost-free indoor video games, together with giant Jenga, cornhole, shuffleboard, and golfing simulators. It is a entertaining place, primarily when the temperature isn’t good!

Right after you have scoured this guide, if you need to fill any blank spots in your itinerary, we have an in-depth list covering all of the factors to do in Milwaukee. 
7. Take pleasure in no cost-admission times
Some of Milwaukee’s major attractions welcome visitors for totally free on specified days. Watching the calendar can score you totally free tickets that normally would set your group back again hundreds.

 
8. Chase low cost delighted several hours
For better or worse, the folks of Milwaukee delight in their enjoyable situations intertwined with a beer or three. To kick off an interesting night time in Milwaukee, head to the place the locals go: discover a very good pleased hour, or go to a price range-pleasant 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) also free of charge brewery shuttles.
Milwaukee Brat Home – Happy hour specials modify daily (Mon–Fri 3-6pm).

 
9. Investigate the vivid public artwork scene
Lots of areas about town have significant-scale public artwork shows that you can stop by for cost-free. Most of these pieces are in some of the most fun and trendy places. These are a few of our favorites:

Black Cat Alley – One particular of the premier spots focused to community murals is located close to North Avenue, in the Eastside neighborhood. In addition to the art, you will also come across excellent places to eat, breweries, and artisanal outlets.
Sculpture Milwaukee – Every year, this metropolis-funded application displays sculptures by artists from throughout the entire world on Wisconsin Avenue. Some are long lasting and some are improved out every 12 months, so there are often new factors to see.

***
From food items to free of charge days and bratwurst to beer, Milwaukee has a ton of matters to do and see on a spending plan. Ideally this record will give you a fantastic idea of where to begin!
Hannah & Adam Lukaszewicz are comprehensive-time travel writers and operate the vacation web site Finding Stamped, which is dedicated to firsthand guides to their most loved areas around the environment. When they are not traveling the earth, Milwaukee is exactly where you’ll obtain them, and they protect their hometown in-depth on the web page Milwaukee Insider. You can observe their adventures on Instagram and social media @gettingstamped.

Reserve Your Trip: Logistical Suggestions and Tips
E-book Your FlightFind a low-cost flight by employing Skyscanner. It’s my favourite search engine for the reason that it queries sites and airways all over the globe so you always know no stone is getting still left unturned.
Guide Your AccommodationYou can e-book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to keep somewhere other than a hostel, use Scheduling.com as it regularly returns the most economical fees for guesthouses and inns.
Never Overlook Journey InsuranceTravel insurance policy will guard you from health issues, damage, theft, and cancellations. It is complete security in situation anything at all goes mistaken. I never ever go on a vacation without having it as I have had to use it several occasions in the past. My beloved corporations that offer the best service and benefit are:

Want to Travel for Free?Vacation credit history playing cards allow you to generate points that can be redeemed for free flights and lodging — all with out any extra shelling out. Verify out my guidebook to buying the appropriate card and my latest favorites to get started off and see the newest greatest offers.
Require Support Finding Functions for Your Excursion?Get Your Tutorial is a enormous on line market exactly where you can discover neat going for walks tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and far more.
Ready to E book Your Trip?Check out my useful resource web page for the finest corporations to use when you travel. I listing all the ones I use when I vacation. They are the finest in course and you simply cannot go incorrect using them on your vacation.

Resource backlink