Madison, WI Day Trip - Worth it?
 

Hi there! My husband and I have a free Saturday next weekend, and we're itching to get out of Chicago (where we live) for a day. We've always heard really nice things about Madison, WI and even though it's 3 hours away, we'd like to make a day trip there. We just want to make sure it's worth it since it's a 3-hour drive. Are there lots of things to do? Places to go? We've also heard that there were a couple of wineries near the area and we thought those would be fun to check out as well.

We've been to MI and other surrounding areas, so we wanted something different.

Thanks in advance!

Madison strikes me as a good sized though pleasant cross between a college town and state capitol. Here's an earlier thread with some info:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...s-shopping.cfm

Madison is in a beautiful setting on two lakes,with fun dining spots that you find in a university town.. When we lived in Chicago we always stayed overnight on trips there. It's definitely worth it but I would book a hotel room or you won't be able to enjoy it.

If it's move in day for the students, I wouldn't go near the campus, but you should be able to see enough of Madison to make it worthwhile.

Wollersheim Winery is about 20 miles NW of Madison in Prairie Du Sac. It is beautiful, on the Wisconsin River, and worth the trip, but if you're only going to Madison for a day, I'd save it for another time.

http://www.wollersheim.com/index.html

From Madison:
Leave Madison on US-12 WEST, the West Beltline Highway. US-12 and US-14 split at Middleton.
Continue on US-12 WEST (North) for 17 miles to State Hwy. 188. Turn RIGHT on Hwy. 188 and go 2 miles to the winery. Entrance will be on your RIGHT.

Move in days at the UW began this weekend, but will certainly still be going on next weekend. Plan to get to town early enough to visit the Dane County Farmers' Market on the Capitol Square. It runs from 6 am to 2 pm: I like to go around 9-10 am. You should plan to eat breakfast there, buying from the vendors. It is an event not to be missed, and you'll get beautiful views of the capitol as well. If you want, you can wander around inside the capitol while you're there.

Say "Hi" to my hometown for me - I miss it!

I lived in Madison for many years and definitely think it's worth a trip from Chicago. However, like sallytakemyhand warns, I'd be careful not to go on a weekend when students are moving back (usually in late August). The city is packed and hard to drive in on those weekends. I'd also highly recommend extending the trip to a couple days and spending at least one night, if you can. One of the best things about Madison is the restaurants and interesting nightlife. (You can often get good deals on rooms downtown near the Capitol using Priceline or Hotwire.) I'd wait to do the trip until late September. The weather should still be great but all of the student orientation stuff will have died down by then. Some of the things I'd consider doing in Madison:

- Stop in the state Capitol building and walk around. Very nice (big) state capitol
- Go to Farmer's Market around Capitol Square on Saturday morning (usually ends by 1 p.m.or so)
- Walk down State Street from Capitol to Library Mall on UW-Madison campus. It's about 7 blocks and filled with neat gift and apparel shops and restaurants with cuisines from around the world. (We love Husnus & Amy's Cafe.) There's also the Wisconsin Cheese Shop!
- Go to the UW Memorial Student Union and sit out on the terrace overlooking Lake Mendota and have a beer. Watch the ducks and sailboats.
- Walk or drive down Williamson St. Lots of interesting shops and restaurants.

Let me know if you need/want more recs. This is a good introduction tour, though. Have a great time!

My DS is heading back to Madison tomorrow (the 15th). That seems to be move in day for apts. My parent calendar says move in day for the dorms is the 30th. So next weekend will have tons of the students back but shouldn't conflict with lots of kids moving in. Classes don't start till the 2nd so kids will be partying.

Madison is a great city and worth visiting. I've had good luck using Priceline for downtown hotels. Have fun.

Also close to "Mad Town" is the Frank LLoyd Wright center, Taliesen (spelling?), or if you have an interest in "quirky", there's "The House on the Rock", and that's kind of hard to describe, so just google it for details.

Downtown Madison, has lots of cute shops, a few restaurants, art galleries, or you might enjoy a walk along the lake.

Just make sure you are not coming into town, the weekend the students are coming back to school.

Have a lovely trip.