I believe that unless you're flying your own plane to Baraboo, Madison is the closest airport--about an hour from the Dells.

Yes, the MSN is the closest to the dells. The airport is right near the interstate on the edge of the city toward the dells and I'm thinking 45 minutes from the airport about 50 miles or less. MSP Minneapolis is about 3+ hours and an easy drive. OHare is 3.5 and a nasty drive. Not much flies to Madison though. Milwaukee is about 2+ hours

So nothing else nearby to the north or west then?

Thanks so much!

The next closest airport would be CWA (Central Wisconsin) in Mosinee. Madison is still your best bet.

Depending on where you are flying from, Rockford, Il (RFD) offers many flights (united, etc.) is is about 2 hours south of the dells. www.flyrfd.com

Thanks. I'm helping put together an event in the Dells and need to give as much info as possible to those attending.

O'Hare airport has several flights daily to and from Madison. My daughter lives on the East Coast and quite often we have found it cheaper ( not to mention closer and we don't have to deal with Chicago traffic) to have her fly to Chicago, change planes and then fly to Madison, then just having her fly just to Chicago. Once you leave Madison, it is a beautiful drive from Madison to Baraboo no matter which road you take, highway 12 or the interstate.
Plan around an hour for the drive.

How many people do you have coming to your event? I would think it would be possible to arrange some kind of group transportation from Madison to the Dells. It seems there are lots of bus services around Madison, there are Madison to O'hare busses and Madison to Minneapolis busses. Perhaps when you make your hotel reservations in the Dells, they will have a suggestion.

Wilbur, we are expecting 1000, maybe more, but most (90%) will come from Wisconsin and therefore flying won't be an issue. I'm just curious for those flying in from elsewhere so I can give them some good alternative airports to try.

And I agree, the drive from Madison to Baraboo is quite nice!

1000 people ! Wow, and I was worried your event would not be large enough to charter a bus!

I also have flown into Central Wisconsin Airport, it would be a slightly longer drive I think but located right on highway 51/39. If I recall correctly, it is a smaller airport than Madison's.

There is an airport in LaCrosse. I don't know anything about it. Maybe someone could write in.

Would suggest that, unless someone is flying from a place that has nonstops to Madison, the time taken up making the connection about equals the driving time from either O'Hare or Milwaukee -- and in lousy weather, you might not even make the connection.

....but the traffic congestion between Chicago and Madison can be hellish, especially on a summer weekend.