Explore Milwaukee in a day
History
The city Milwaukee is located 2 hours North of Chicago on the lake Michigan in the United States of America. It was founded in 1846 by mainly German and Polish settlers. The original founders have a huge influence on it’s culture today. People of Wisconsin are proud of their heritage and culture. I like to joke that some German-Americans I met here are prouder of Germany than I am myself being born and raised there. Milwaukee was known for its breweries (Miller, Pabst, Schlitz, etc.) and also for it’s state of the art tooling. It was called the workbench of the world in the previous century.
Today
Nowadays Milwaukee has 600,000 citizens, but together with it’s suburbs it has more than 2 million people living in the area. It is big for its banking and insurance industry, but you can still feel the vibes of it’s brewing past. The city is one of the last segregated cities in the US. After the apartheid the German and Polish citizens moved to the suburbs. African Americans moved into the former German neighborhoods in the North and Hispanic people moved into the former Polish neighborhoods in the West of the city. Due to this lack of diversity the crime rate of the city is one of the highest in America being listed within the top 5 of the crime rate per capita. I never felt unsafe in the city though and there are many cultural events during the year to raise cultural understanding and acceptance.
Tour Milwaukee in a day
When guest and friends visit Milwaukee I usually tour with them the following sites and places. The first 3 waypoints are in walking distance to each other as well as to the Amtrak Station.
This is the historical downtown former industry district. The old factory buildings have been long turned into hip housing, cool bars and little shops to check out. The public market offers a wide range local and foreign food and also hosts different specialty shops.
The Pfister is one of Milwaukee’s oldest and most ritziest hotels. Check out the Lobby and go up to the 23rd floor to enjoy a beautiful view over the city skyline from the Bar BLU. The bar has not only a nice view from a top but also a happy hour during weekdays and live Jazz Music on Fridays and Saturdays. The artificial flame you can see on one of the neighboring buildings to the right is actually a weather indicator.
One of Milwaukee's city landmarks with a really nice art gallery. Walk a little bit around the museum into the direction of the discovery world to get a nice view on the skyline and the lighthouse in the harbor.
Do you feel like doing a little walk? Then it is time to check out the Upper East Side, Bradford Beach is Milwaukee's only Downtown beach and close to it is the North Point wizard like tower and the enclosed Lake Park with it's beautiful lighthouse and bridges. If you are more mobile you should check out the haunted Grant Park in South Milwaukee with the Seven Bridges Trail!
Lakefront is one of Milwaukee's bigger micro breweries and offers a really good tour with free drinks. Also try their cheese curds, traditional Wisconsin fried cheese. They have the best I ate so far. Enjoy the rest of your night on Water and Brady Street which are filled with nice bars. Water street provides a more college flair of partying and Brady Street is more the environment of young (and older) professionals.
Insider Tips
Sites
If you have a car take the Lake Drive up North into the Shorewood neighborhood, along the road you will see Milwaukee’s most impressive housing and the Atwater park on the way has a magnificent cliff and beach. On this picture you see the beach during the winter.
Kilbourn Park
This park is at the End of North Avenue, because it is based on a little plateau you will get a beautiful view over the city. This picture was taken during fall.
Milwaukee River Boat Tour
These boat tours are super fun, it's cool to see the city from a different angle and usually drinks are included. It's a good pregame before going out on Water St or historic 3rd ST.
Historic 3rd st
It's one of Milwaukee’s historic streets and it has a lot of German culture and architecture. Check out Old German beer hall or Buck’s Bradly with the longest bar in town.
Food & Drinks
Bel Air - my favorite Tuesday night event. Bel Air offers Mexican food for really good price value combined with a hip flair. The taco special on Tuesday and Thursday is the best day to go but requires waiting. You get drafts and Tacos for $2 each.
Sobelman's
Another tradition in Wisconsin is definitely the Bloody Mary for brunch and Sobelman's has the biggest, if you love Bloodies or want to try American XXL drinks definitely give it a shot.
Ma Fischer's
My favorite brunch location with good price value, their skillets are phenomenal. Service is super fast, you get your food within 10 min and drinks are refilled like every minute in addition it is a 24/7 in the style of an old diner. The bar is located on Farwell which is a really nice street, especially for food in Milwaukee. If you make it down here definitly also check out the main room of the Oriental Theater and FroYo a cool Frozen Yogurt place next door to Ma Fischer's.
Bar Specials
During the week days you can get really good specials on food and drinks! Bar Loui's (Tuesday) and RedRock (Wednesday) have a $1 Burger special, Brother has cheap drinks until 9pm and Wings(Wednesday after 9pm)for $0.25. Bel Air or Vegabond (No line) are perfect for Tacos (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Brothers, Vitucci’s and Old German Beer Hall have drinking specials on Thursdays.
Events
Summerfest & Cultural Events in Milwaukee
Definitely the biggest event of Milwaukee, 2 weeks during summer all kind of bands are playing and on some days it is possible to get in for free too, check out their website.
During the summer time Milwaukee is hosting all kind of cultural festivals on the Summerfest grounds which are super fun, check it out here.
Jazz in the Park
In the summer you can listen to live Jazz every Thursday on Cathedral Square, bring your picnic incl. drinks equipment it is allowed to drink in Public! The Cathedral Square also offers a bunch of nice bars and eat-out possibilities.
Tailgating for a Brewer Game
The brewers are Milwaukee's local Baseball team and their tailgate parties are legendary. Bring your drinks and BBQ and have a good time with all people on the parking lot pregaming for the game. Honestly I would say that 75% of the people who go to the brewers game, come mainly for the pregaming - it's great, to say it in the president's words!
Author
I came to Milwaukee in 2015 to finish my seniors year of undergraduate industrial engineering at MSOE. Over the years I got to like Milwaukee more and more. The city has a lot to offer although there are more activities available in the summer than in the winter. The constantly changing skyline proves that the city is on a growth phase right now. It offers a lot of fun activities for the young generation and is also affordable. The people in Wisconsin are really friendly and open minded and love to share culture and hospitality. Although I am leaving Milwaukee I am definitely planning on coming back. Therefore I recommend everybody to visit the city at least once and for a day!