Wisconsin

Wisconsin reaches north to Lake Superior, and its two national park units charge no entrance fee at all. The busier one, the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway on the Minnesota border, had 852,296 recreation visits in 2025. The Apostle Islands, 21 islands off the tip of the Bayfield Peninsula, had 261,009.

Most of what a visitor pays for here is a state park sticker, a boat ticket or a Milwaukee tax. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources', the Department of Revenue's, the airport's and NOAA's normals.

What do the Apostle Islands and the St. Croix Riverway charge?

The Apostle Islands and the St. Croix charge no entrance fee, and neither is among the eleven parks that add a $100 surcharge for visitors from abroad in 2026. The $250 non-resident annual pass therefore has nothing to pay for in Wisconsin.

The Apostle Islands takes no cash at all. Meyers Beach parking costs $5 for a vehicle under 20 feet and $8 for a longer one, paid digitally. Island camping costs $15 a night, and Senior and Access pass holders get half off camping and parking.

On the St. Croix the federal landings and campsites are free, though state parks and some private landings on the river charge. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors covers the parks that do charge.

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail, which spans 1,200 miles of the state, is a third National Park Service unit. Its visitor counts are trail estimates and do not compare with the two parks.

Which boats reach the Apostle Islands sea caves?

The Apostle Islands can only be reached by water: the park says there are no roads or vehicle access to any of its 21 islands. The sea caves on Devils Island and Sand Island are best seen by boat. Apostle Islands Cruises, the park's concessioner, runs the main narrated tour from Bayfield.

The company's 2026 Grand Tour, a 55-mile cruise past the Devils Island sea caves and two lighthouses, ran from 9 May to 18 October. Tickets cost $53 for an adult and $32 for a child aged 6 to 12, plus a $2 City of Bayfield passenger tariff on each. On 27 October 2026 the company's site said its season was over and promised to return in 2027. The lighthouse tours carry no sea caves at all.

The mainland caves near Meyers Beach, about 5 miles east of Cornucopia, can be paddled in a sea kayak. Kayakers have died at the caves, and the park advises against canoes, sit-on-tops and paddleboards there. Lake Superior's water is in the 40s °F in May and June and rarely above 60°F in late summer.

Madeline Island is not part of the National Lakeshore. It is the only one of the Apostle Islands reached by a car ferry, which runs from spring breakup to winter freeze-up. The Little Sand Bay Visitor Center, 13 miles north of Bayfield, is closed throughout 2026 for building work.

When can you walk to the Apostle Islands ice caves?

The Apostle Islands ice caves near Meyers Beach open to walkers "very rarely", in the park's own words. Safe access came on 2% of all days from 2000 to 2023. The most recent openings were one day in 2026, a date the park does not give, and nine days in 2015.

On 27 October 2026 the park listed the ice caves as closed because of unstable ice conditions. When they do open, the park charges a $5 ice cave event fee to everyone over 16. The park also closes Meyers Beach and the caves in extreme cold, at a wind chill of −40°F or an air temperature of −25°F.

The park warns that its webcam can be misleading, so check the ice line on (715) 779-3398, extension 3, before driving north. The park's ice-cave page points winter visitors to Pictured Rocks in Michigan instead.

What does a Wisconsin state park sticker cost an out-of-state car?

A Wisconsin state park sticker for a car with out-of-state plates costs $16 a day or $50 for 12 months, at rates in force since 19 August 2025. A Wisconsin-plated car pays $13 a day or $28 for 12 months. The sticker is needed on every vehicle stopping in a state park, forest or recreation area.

The DNR charges by the plate, not by where the driver lives. A rental car with out-of-state plates must buy the non-resident pass, in the department's own words. The 12-month pass pays off from the fourth day in a park: three daily stickers come to $48, four to $64. Paying after entering the park adds $5.

The DNR's admission page says the annual pass runs for 12 months from purchase. Its Devil's Lake crowds page, by contrast, calls the annual sticker suitable for the calendar year. Buy online from the DNR, at a park office with card, cash or cheque, or at the card-only kiosks that run from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Why do Devil's Lake's parking lots fill before 9 a.m.?

Devil's Lake State Park, near Baraboo, draws over 2.5 million visitors a year, which the DNR calls the most of any Wisconsin state park. From May to October its lots often fill before 9 a.m. on weekends and holidays, and entry may then be restricted for a while. The DNR suggests coming from Monday to Thursday, early or late in the day.

The park's 500-foot quartzite bluffs stand over a 360-acre lake, with nearly 30 miles of trails and a stretch of the Ice Age Trail. The busiest spots are the two shore picnic areas and the East Bluff, West Bluff, Tumbled Rocks, Balanced Rock and Devil's Doorway trails. Buy the sticker beforehand and try the Steinke Basin and Roznos Meadow lots.

Devil's Lake is part of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, so it honours certain federal entrance passes. An America the Beautiful holder pays no sticker here. The park is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the North Shore Visitor Center keeps 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from 1 November 2026.

How high is Eagle Tower in Door County's Peninsula State Park?

Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park, at Fish Creek in Door County, is 60 feet high. Its top deck stands 253 feet above the waters of Green Bay. Visitors climb 100 steps or take an 850-foot accessible canopy walk. The tower opens from about 1 May to 31 October and stays shut in mid-winter.

The present tower, the third on the site, opened in 2021 at a cost of $3.5 million. The park itself is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. all year, with eight miles of shoreline and over 460 campsites. It needs the same state park sticker as Devil's Lake.

Eagle Bluff Light Station, built in 1868, stands inside the park. The Door County Historical Society shows it from mid-May to mid-October, for a fee the DNR's page does not state. Sturgeon Bay is about 26 miles from the park by our routing.

Do you need to book a Wisconsin Capitol tour?

The Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison runs free guided tours, and a group of fewer than 10 people needs no reservation. Tours start at the information desk in the rotunda at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. and 1, 2 and 3 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday they run at 1, 2 and 3 p.m.

A tour lasts about 45 to 50 minutes, with an extra 4 p.m. weekday tour from Memorial Day to Labor Day. None run on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year's Day. The outdoor observation deck opens from mid-April through December, weather permitting.

When do the Milwaukee Art Museum's wings open?

The Milwaukee Art Museum's wings, the Burke Brise Soleil on top of its Quadracci Pavilion, open with the museum and flap at noon when the wind allows. The museum's two pages describe the rest of the day differently: one says they close with the museum, the other at 10 p.m. Lights shine on the wings every night until 10 p.m.

Adult admission costs $27, and children aged 12 and under go free. The museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday and opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the other days, until 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Why do visitors from abroad reach Wisconsin through O'Hare?

Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport flies nonstop to 38 destinations, all in the US, Mexico and the Caribbean. A visitor from Europe or Asia therefore connects at a US hub or lands at Chicago O'Hare in Illinois. O'Hare is about 86 miles from Milwaukee by road.

Amtrak's Hiawatha runs from Chicago Union Station to Milwaukee seven times a day each way, six on Sunday, in 1 hour 29 minutes. It also stops at a station by Milwaukee's airport, linked to the terminal by a free shuttle. For the Apostle Islands, Minneapolis–St. Paul is the nearer gateway: Bayfield is about 235 miles from Minneapolis against 372 from Milwaukee.

The distances are our own routing, without traffic or roadworks. Our guide to renting a car in the USA covers the drive north from either airport.

Why is Milwaukee's sales tax 7.9%?

Milwaukee's sales tax is 7.9% because three rates stack inside the city: Wisconsin's 5%, Milwaukee County's 0.9% and the City of Milwaukee's own 2%. The county and city rates both started on 1 January 2024. Milwaukee is the only municipality in Wisconsin with a city sales tax. Madison, Green Bay, Door County and Bayfield charge 5.5%, the state rate plus the 0.5% that most counties add.

A hotel room in the City of Milwaukee also pays a 3% basic room tax and a 7% additional room tax. The state publishes no all-in total for a Milwaukee room. The city's own room-tax page could not be read, and whether the 2% city sales tax applies to rooms is not stated. Meals and drinks in the county add 0.5%, and a rental car 3%.

Some resort towns add a "premier resort area" tax on top: 1.25% in Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton, and 0.5% in Bayfield, Ephraim and Sister Bay. Sturgeon Bay joined them at 0.5% on 1 July 2026. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.

How much colder is Bayfield than Milwaukee in January?

Bayfield, on the Lake Superior shore, averages a January high of 22°F against 31°F in Milwaukee, and its nights fall to about 7°F. Bayfield sees only about two days a year above 90°F.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows; the Bayfield station sits about 6 miles north of the town. Milwaukee averages 48.7 inches of snow a year, Madison 51.8 and Green Bay 55.6. NOAA's provisional figure for the Bayfield station is about 106 inches. The Apostle Islands are busiest in August, with 67,640 visits in 2025, and draw under 5,500 a month from November to April.

All of Wisconsin is on Central Time, and its clocks went back an hour on 1 November 2026.