Things to do in Milwaukee

Q: What are the top things to do in Milwaukee?

The top things to do in Milwaukee are: Milwaukee Art Museum Lakefront Brewery Bronze Fonz Pabst Theater Historic Third Ward

Q: What are the top activities in Milwaukee?

Top activities in Milwaukee include: Milwaukee Tour Milwaukee Walking Food Tour With Secret Food Tours Discover Iconic Milwaukee Tour Milwaukee Kayak Rental Skip the Line: Museum Admission Ticket - Grohmann Museum

A sleeper hit on Lake Michigan

Once the land of gritty factories and post-punchcard brewskis, Milwaukee has undergone a quiet glow-up, and today is one of the coolest under-the-radar cities in the Midwest with plenty of things to do. World-class museums and lakefront parks have replaced sprawling manufacturing plants, and the city has pivoted from industrial beer giants to hipster microbreweries and craft distilleries. Travelers to Brew City can enjoy the cultural and culinary scenes of a major metropolis with the down-to-earth vibe of a city just coming into its own.

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Top 13 attractions in Milwaukee

Tours & Tickets

Milwaukee Art Museum

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Right on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museums in the nation—with perhaps the most striking architecture of them all. Though the museum’s 25,000 works have plenty of appeal, you’ll also want plenty of time to explore the grounds, imagining the museum’s shiplike structure setting out to sea.More

Tours & Tickets

Lakefront Brewery

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When a brewery hosts one of America’s top-rated brew tours, you know you’re in for an experience. But don’t let the jokes and eccentrics fool you: Lakefront is serious about brewing. Sit down in their massive German-style beer hall (perhaps with a pint and a soft pretzel), and you’ll see what all the Milwaukee fuss is about.More

Tours & Tickets

Bronze Fonz

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As you’re strolling the Milwaukee Riverwalk, you’ll likely spot a statue with a leather jacket and two thumbs up. “Aayyyy!” That’s Arthur Fonzarelli, aka “The Fonz,” from the 1970s TV show Happy Days. Set in Milwaukee, The Fonz is still the city’s coolest character—even his statue is genuinely beloved, as showcased by the passersby waiting for their “Bronze Fonz” selfie.More

Tours & Tickets

Pabst Theater

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The fourth-oldest continually operating theatre in the country, tickets aren’t required to appreciate Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater. A national historic landmark and the largest theater in Milwaukee’s Theatre District, this 1895 spot is Gilded Age opulence inside and out. Commissioned by beer magnate Frederick Pabst as a German-style opera house, this venue still brings in household names worthy of its stage.More

Tours & Tickets

Historic Third Ward

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Right on the shores of Lake Michigan, Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward is where many visits start—and end. A former warehouse district, this trendy ‘hood is now home to scores of restaurants, bars and cafes, indie boutiques, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, the Broadway Theatre Center, and the famous Milwaukee Public Market. For your trip to Brew City, start here.More

Tours & Tickets

North Point Lighthouse

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Perhaps the most lauded attraction within Milwaukee’s historic Lake Park, the North Point Lighthouse reminds of Lake Michigan’s nautical past and present. First lit in 1888, this spot remained operational—guiding ships toward the Milwaukee River—until 1994. Today, visitors can tour the museum, climb to the top, and take in a beloved piece of Milwaukee history.More

Tours & Tickets

American Family Field (Miller Park)

Milwaukee’s American Family Field (formerly Miller Park) throws it back to baseball’s heyday after World War I, with giant arched windows, a red-brick facade, and a clock tower. (This is Wisconsin, though, so rest assured the retractable roof will keep you safe from any inclement weather.) Here, some 40,000 fans cheer on the Brewers, sing “Roll Out the Barrel” during the seventh-inning stretch, and pour out the Miller Lite.More

Tours & Tickets

Milwaukee City Hall

Milwaukee’s City Hall is one of the most beautiful in the US: Thanks to the city’s German heritage, it was designed in Flemish Renaissance Revival style—the same as the Hamburg Rathaus. With a massive bell tower that could pass for Big Ben, this grand beauty was once one of the tallest buildings in the world—if you count the flagpole.More

Tours & Tickets

Milwaukee Lakefront Trail

Milwaukee’s Lakefront Trail loops through Veterans Park up to McKinley Park and McKinley Beach, and runs for 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) along the shores of Lake Michigan. You’ll catch locals running, biking, and walking their dogs—it’s a popular spot for good reason. When you’re here, you’re sandwiched between the city’s impressive skyline and the lake horizon, walking between worlds.More

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Marquette University

Just steps beyond downtown Milwaukee, Marquette University is one of the city’s foremost educational institutions, established in 1881. A Catholic–Jesuit university, it’s also one of the more prominent—and largest—private colleges in the United States. With more than 11,000 students and an endowment of nearly $1 billion, its legacy reaches across the globe.More

#11

Bounce Milwaukee

Families—or grown-ups who are still kids at heart—looking for indoor fun in Milwaukee should consider an afternoon at Bounce Milwaukee. The massive play place has endless games, including a 700-square-foot inflatable sports arena where you can play basketball or other sports on a bouncy playing field, a rock-climbing wall with a variety of routes, and a 360-degree laser-tag arena with the world's first Zone Helios laser tag system. The Adrenaline Zone is a soft-sided obstacle course where visitors can act out their inner American Ninja Warrior, while gamers can geek out on dozens of vintage arcade games.More

#12

Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear

To uncover what life was like in the 1920s and 1930s, visit Milwaukee's Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear, where you can marvel at 20th century Americana, from crank telephones to glass medicine bottles. The museum's holdings are highlighted in theme rooms. Don't miss the recreated general store, vintage barbershop, and hidden speakeasy.More

#13

Lake Park

Milwaukee’s Lake Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, one of the most famous landscape architects of the 19th and 20th centuries. Sitting high on a bluff above Lake Michigan, this 130-acre spot—which dates back to 1889—is full of amenities, from golf courses and walking trails to picnic areas. Plus, there are those endless Great Lake vistas that never go out of style.More

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Top activities in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Tour

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From

$40.00

Milwaukee Walking Food Tour With Secret Food Tours

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From

$99.00

Discover Iconic Milwaukee Tour

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From

$67.00

Milwaukee Kayak Rental

From

$55.00

Skip the Line: Museum Admission Ticket - Grohmann Museum

From

$5.00

MilwaukeeTandem Kayak Rental

From

$89.75

A Romantic Journey Through Milwaukee

From

$160.52

Sightseeing in Milwaukee – Walking Tour

From

$160.52

Private Photo Session with a Local Photographer in Milwaukee

From

$272.99

per group

Vacation Photographer in Milwaukee

From

$272.99

per group

Geneva Lake Shore Path: Uncover 21 miles of stories on a self-guided audio tour

From

$10.38

2-Hour Bus Tour in Milwaukee City

From

$40.00

Milwaukee Private or Public Pedal Tavern Tour

From

$34.99

Family Fun Food Tour

From

$79.99

Oshkosh Oh My Gosh Scavenger Hunt

From

$20.00

~~$25.00~~ $5.00 savings

Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Game Ticket at American Family Field

From

$11.89

Sheboygan Arts & Water Segway Tour w/ Private Tour Option

From

$99.00

Milwaukee's Ladies of the Night Historical Walking Tour

From

$51.30

Milwaukee Ghost Walks

From

$29.00

Private Christmas Lights Tour of Milwaukee Magic

From

$331.96

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All about Milwaukee

When to visit

Midwestern winters take no prisoners, and the icy wind off Lake Michigan is a daunting foe during the colder months in Milwaukee. Come spring, the City of Festivals comes back to life with dozens of open-air events and street celebrations that stretch from May through September—many, unsurprisingly, focused on the local beers. The most famous is Summerfest, which spans three weekends in June and July and features a dozen stages set up across the city for acts from Bluegrass to pop.

Getting around

Milwaukee has a compact downtown, so it’s easy to walk between many top sights; alternatively, grab a bike or scooter via one of the city’s sharing programs. The 3-mile (5-kilometer) Milwaukee RiverWalk runs between the Beerline B neighborhood to the Historic Third Ward for a scenic route through downtown, and there is a robust bus system—including dedicated shuttles to lakefront festivals in the summer—to travel further afield. In true Midwestern style, blue-shirted Public Service Ambassadors roam the most touristed areas downtown to offer assistance for getting around.

Traveler tips

Milwaukee may no longer be the home of major commercial breweries like Pabst, Schlitz, and Blatz (though Miller is still based here), but beer remains one of the city’s major draws in the guise of a growing microbrewery and brewpub scene. More than a dozen breweries in and around the city offer tours and tastings, craft beer pubs, and gardens for flights and pints. The official Visit Milwaukee website has informative, interactive maps to plot out your suds-soaked route, and various companies offer beer tours.

Local Currency

US Dollar ($)

Time Zone

CDT (UTC -6)

Country Code

Language(s)

English

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Things to do in Milwaukee

A sleeper hit on Lake Michigan

Top 13 attractions in Milwaukee

Explore Milwaukee by interest

Top activities in Milwaukee

All about Milwaukee

When to visit

Getting around

Traveler tips

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