We’re located on the edge of the “Driftless Area”, a geographic area with hills and valleys where the glaciers did not scrape the land flat. Our house is about halfway between Belleville and New Glarus. Travel times are based on car rides from our house.
New Glarus – 7 minutes
New Glarus is a tourist town with a Swiss theme. Lots of shops, bars, and restaurants. Blumenladens is known for gardening and plants and a variety of gifts. Puempels (pronounced “pimples”) is a bar that has been located in New Glarus since 1893. The New Glarus Brewery at the top of the hill has been working on their facilities and is currently not open to the public (re-opens in Sept ‘26), but while you are waiting you can visit the old brewery and gift shop at the bottom of the hill. www.swisstown.com
New Glarus State Park – 11 minutes
Outside of town is New Glarus State Park. Has camping sites. Probably best to reserve them in advance. Wisconsin State Parks require a small daily fee or annual pass to park or to camp. (If you are just visiting, you could load up a carful and just pay for one car or you could even have someone drop you off and not pay at all.)
Belleville – 12 minutes
This is where our office is. There’s a nice little park with a small shallow lake. There is a Duluth Trading Company outlet store. Main Street has Jonny O’s Pizzaria (more than just pizza) and The Hop Garden. The Hop Garden has a nice outside patio in back (often with live music.) The first Saturday in August is the Belleville Music Festival and the last Saturday in October is the UFO Day Parade. www.BellevilleWI.com
Paoli – 15 minutes
A neat little area with an old mill on the Sugar River. Artsy shops all within walking distance to each other. Weekends usually have live music outside and you can grab a beer from the Hop Garden. Seven Acre Dairy (restaurant/hotel) is getting written up in national publications. Contact Sugar River Outfitters if you want to canoe or tube the Sugar River. https://sugarriveroutfitterswi.com/
Mt Horeb – 23 minutes
Known for its “trollway”, the main road has a number of carved wooden statues of trolls. Another old downtown area with shops, antiques, and a big Duluth Trading Company store (that’s where they are headquartered.)
Wisconsin Dells – 1 hr 30 m
Wisconsin Dells is known for it picturesque rock formations on the Wisconsin River. You can take a boat or duck ride and see them. You can canoe the Wisconsin River or the different lakes. Wisconsin Dells downtown is known as a tourist trap, with all kinds of goofy things. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, mini-golf, go-cart rides, and more waterparks than anywhere else in the world.
Baraboo – 1 hr 25 m
Baraboo is home to Circus World Museum, the Crane Foundation (learn about the birds), and the very picturesque Devil’s Lake Park. (Great hiking trails along with a beautiful lake.) There is also a HoChunk Casino.
Epic Campus, Verona, WI – 24 minutes
The local version of Microsoft or Apple, this software company has an amazing campus of 22 buildings and gardens that are open to the public. You can wander around for hours and hours and hours. (There is no way to see everything in less than a week.) Whimsical buildings and rooms, art everywhere, it you are an artistic person, this is a must-see. Kids will love the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars, and other themes. (But, don’t assume this is only for kids!) Because of the popularity of Epic, they now require reservations (if you just want to wander outside in the gardens, you can without reservations.) https://www.epic.com/visiting/
Taliesen/Spring Green – 57 minutes
The working school and home of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. From our house, the drive to Spring Green is pretty amazing, with winding roads over hills and through valleys. (Only problem is there isn’t many areas to pull off to take pictures!) (Also see FLWright places in Madison.)
House on the Rock – 1 hr 8 minutes
One of the most bizarre places on earth. It is hard for me to even try to describe it. Please look it up! Somewhat near Taliesen, but don’t even try to think that you can do both in the same day. House on the Rock is an all-day event and make sure you bring comfortable shoes, there is a lot of walking. Best to go on a nice day, don’t rely on their air conditioning to keep you cool.
Monroe, Wisconsin – 26 minutes
South of New Glarus, Monroe has a few shops on the downtown square including Baumgartners, where you can get their world-famous Limburger Cheese Sandwich. Not sure if it is worth the trip by itself, but might be a good stop on your way up to our house if you’re coming from that direction.
MADISON
37 minutes drive from our house to the capitol building, which is pretty much the middle of the city. Most places listed are in the downtown area. Parking is typically pretty cheap in the parking garages downtown.
Monona Terrace (and Frank Lloyd Wright buildings)
Wright used to live in Madison. Monona Terrace as a building he designed for the location on the lake in Madison, but it wasn’t built until a half century after his death. An amazing building on Lake Monona. You can wander inside and up on the rooftop garden. (Free.) There is a small gift shop inside. Unitarian Meeting House is a church that Wright designed in 1946 that changed how churches were designed. (There is a cost.) (See Taliesen as a separate listing.) There are other Wright designed buildings in Madison (see article.)
https://savingplaces.org/stories/visit-these-five-frank-lloyd-wright-buildings-in-madison-wisconsin
Art Galleries / Chazen / MMoCA / Overture
Madison has two wonderful art galleries, both are free to visit. Chazen Gallery is part of the University, it has changing exhibits as well as permanent exhibits. MMoCA (Madison Museum of Contemporary Art) is housed in the Overture Center, which is worth visiting on its own. This 100 million dollar building was a gift to Madison from the Frautschis (Pleasant Rowland who started American Girl dolls.)
State Street/Capitol Square
State Street consists of about eight blocks of shopping (small shops, bars, galleries, etc) that creates a corridor from the University to the State Capitol Building. (State Street is pedestrian only, no driving on the street.) Saturdays will have the Farmers’ Market on the Capitol Square, rated as one of the best Farmers’ Markets in the country. (I think it was Good Housekeeping that rated it as no. 2 in the country.) Go in the morning, if you wait until noon items will be picked over.
Monroe Street
Monroe Street is another area of shops and galleries. Not as big as State Street.
Olbrich Gardens – the outdoor gardens are free to the public. If you arrive before noon on Saturdays, you can also visit the Bolz Conservatory (indoor rain garden) for free. The Thai Pavilion is a beautiful, zen structure unique to Madison.
Henry Vilas Zoo – is a free zoo. Not as big as ones in the major cities, but certainly worth visiting.
Capitol Building – the historic building in the center of the isthmus is full of history, architecture. If you can get on the tour schedule, the back stories are wonderful. If you visit, make sure to go up to the outside balcony area to get 360 degree views of the city where you can see both lakes.
Memorial Union Terrace – part of the UW Madison campus, this landing on the bigger Lake Mendota is a fun place to hang out and make you jealous that you didn’t go to college here. (If you are shopping on State Street, this isn’t too are away on the campus end.)
Madison Children’s Museum – if you’re bringing younger kids, the Childrens’ Museum located on the Capitol Square and is a fantastic place to spend a number of hours.
EVENTS in Madison
Art Fair on the Square, July 11-12 2026
Concerts on the Square – Wednesdays from June 25 to July 30
Bratfest – May 22-24
Gleam – annual light show at Olbrich Gardens – Sept – Oct
Architectural Tours – TBA
Things to do in the area…
Fishing – there are so many places to go fishing it would be impossible to list them all here. The lakes in Madison are known as good musky fishing. (There are five lakes surrounding Madison.) There’s water everywhere in the Dells. Basically, you can’t go in any direction without hitting a lake. There are some smaller brooks for trout fishing, some close to our house between New Glarus and Mt. Horeb.
Tubing/Canoing – likewise you can always find a river to float. The Wisconsin River up towards the Dells is a shallow river great for tubing, kayaking or canoeing. Real close to our house is the Sugar River.
Bicycling – our area is one of the best in the country for taking out your bicycle. There are plenty of “rails-to-trails” converted railroad paths that are smooth, easy to traverse. There is a path around Lake Monona in Madison. If you are interested in bicycling, let us know and we’ll share some of our favorites. Plus, we have (adult) bikes here that you can borrow if bringing your own is difficult.
DAYTRIPS
Milwaukee Area:
Milwaukee Museum of Art – 150,000 square foot art museum where the architecture of the building is just as famous as the works inside.
Johnson Wax Building and Wingspread – (Racine, WI)the Frank Lloyd Wright designed headquarters and the home designed for the Johnson Wax president are amazing architectural wonders. And the tours are free, but you have to sign up in advance on the website. Free
Also look up Milwaukee Brewer Games, Summerfest, Historic 3rd Ward.
Wisconsin Dells – the waterpark capital of the world, this is a touristy area with all kinds of wacky touristy stuff. But you can also visit the Dells themselves, the rock formations made famous by photographer HH Bennett. (And you can visit the HH Bennett museum downtown that houses his studio.)
Baraboo – the home of Circus World Musuem (the original home of the Ringling Brothers Circus), the Ringling Theater, the International Crane Foundation, and the popular Devil’s Lake State Park.
Chicago
We are only a couple hours away from Chicago and Milwaukee. I don’t think I have to share what you can find in Chicago. If you don’t want to drive in Chicago traffic, we can share how to drive to the burbs and take the train downtown.
Historic Auto Attractions/Roscoe, IL – if you are coming up through Illinois, near Rockford is Roscoe which has this little gem of an attraction that nobody knows about, the Historic Auto Attraction. https://www.historicautoattractions.com/