The way to Expertise Milwaukee Like a Native in 2024

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

The next visitor publish is by my buddies 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 recommendations on visiting the town.

Milwaukee is underrated, for my part. I find it irresistible!

The most important metropolis in Wisconsin and only one.5 hours north of Chicago, it’s the good measurement: not too small not too huge. It gives 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 come back dwelling to Milwaukee, which has a lot to supply.

If you wish to know learn how 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 common points of interest are situated. The inns could be barely dearer than elsewhere, however you’ll save on transportation prices since every little thing is walkable.

These are two inns I really like:

2. Make the most of free rides

Milwaukee doesn’t have a subway system, however it does have an incredible free streetcar service referred to 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 on right 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 Subject for Brewer baseball video games and live shows, Summerfest Grounds for festivals and live shows, Fiserv Discussion board for Bucks basketball video games, and different occasions round city.
 

3. Eat like a neighborhood

You would possibly assume 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’ll be able to take pleasure in a number of the metropolis’s finest meals from many distributors, multi function place and in a enjoyable and inexpensive food-hall ambiance. These are two of my favorites:

• third Avenue Market Corridor – This can be a must-visit vacation spot, because it supplies a spot for vacationers and locals alike to take pleasure in Milwaukee’s various delicacies. Right here, one can find 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 inexpensive costs.
• Milwaukee Public Market – Situated within the historic Third Ward, this superior market is the very best 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 below one roof, and soak within the native tradition whereas buying or grabbing a chunk.

4. Take pleasure in native delicacies

There are a number of meals that it’s good to attempt that you simply (perhaps for good motive) won’t 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 — organize them and thank us later. Lakefront Brewery is our high choose.
• Frozen custard – It might appear to be ice cream, however it’s a lot richer and creamier, with a number of further elements. Kopps is the very best place for it (and nice burgers) — and likewise a kind of locations that, should you don’t go, did you even go to Milwaukee?
• Bratwursts – One other Milwaukee staple. No one 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 value of below $10.

On this record, 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 record of the finest eating places 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 this planet. That historical past is clear throughout city in breweries, eating places, and pubs.

Lakefront Brewery gives in all probability the very best 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 embody 4 beer samples. That is by far the very best worth and our private favourite tour — plus, the beer corridor is a number of enjoyable. The excursions are tremendous common and promote out on the weekends, so it’s suggested to buy tickets prematurely.

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

• MobCraft Beer – This brewery gives excursions and likewise has a terrific taproom with tasty pizzas, in addition to actually good IPAs and bitter beers.
• Eagle Park Brewing Firm – They don’t supply excursions, however they do have an enormous number of distinctive bitter beers.
• Good Metropolis Brewing – There are two places: the Eastside one gives excursions, and the downtown one doesn’t. However the latter is correct throughout the road from Fiserv Discussion board and great spot 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 Seashore – This can be a sandy park on the shorelines of Lake Michigan. Carry a towel and go for a swim, take part a sport of seashore volleyball, or seize custard at MooSa’s or lunch at The Dock Waterfront Bar & Grill.
• Stroll the Milwaukee Riverwalk – Expertise the center of the town, and immerse your self in its tradition. Most of the Milwaukee’s finest retailers and eating places could 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 programs — 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 characteristic scenic views of Lake Michigan. You’ll find the path map right here.
• Bronze Fonz – Cease to take an image with a bronze sculpture of Arthur Fonzarelli, aka the Fonz, from Completely satisfied Days (a sitcom a few Milwaukee household within the Fifties).
• Indoor garden video games at third Avenue Market Corridor – Take pleasure in quite a lot 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 record protecting all the issues to do in Milwaukee.
 

7. Take pleasure in free-admission days

A few of Milwaukee’s high points of interest 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 comfortable hours

For higher or worse, the individuals of Milwaukee take pleasure in their enjoyable instances intertwined with a beer or three. To kick off an thrilling evening in Milwaukee, head to the place the locals go: discover a good comfortable 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 satisfied 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 which you could go to without cost. 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 situated 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 internationally 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 finances. Hopefully this record 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, and so they cowl their hometown in-depth on the web site Milwaukee Insider. You may comply with their adventures on Instagram and social media @gettingstamped.