Northeast Wisconsin Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

Northeast Wisconsin is in Wisconsin.

0°0′0″N 0°0′0″E

Map of Northeast Wisconsin

• 44.282222-88.4183331 Appleton - Largest city in the Fox Cities & at the top of Lake Winnebago
• 44.3483-87.82972 Denmark (Wisconsin) - small village between Manitowoc and Green Bay
• 43.8319-88.01753 Elkhart Lake - Lake community known for various activities
• 43.775139-88.4449064 Fond du Lac - City at the bottom of Lake Winnebago
• 44.513333-88.0158335 Green Bay - Largest city in the area with 107,000 residents.
• 44.423889-87.9861116 Ledgeview - Suburb of Green Bay
• 44.099042-87.681027 Manitowoc-Two Rivers - Twin cities known for maritime activities
• 45.1-87.6305568 Marinette - Lumber town on the Menominee River
• 44.024167-88.5611119 Oshkosh - Renown for aviation and home to EAA AirVenture.
• 43.749167-87.97666710 Plymouth - Known as "The Cheese Capital of the World" for producing 40% of cheese consumed in the United States
• 43.8658-88.835311 Ripon - college town known for the birthplace of the Republican Party
• 43.75-87.72512 Sheboygan - Mid size city of about 50,000 known as the "Malibu of the Midwest"
• 44.833611-87.37777813 Sturgeon Bay - Largest city in Door County & located halfway up the Door Peninsula.

The area has been inhabited by local Menominee and Ho-Chunks for numerous centuries before the area was discovered by Jean Nicolet in 1636, and given to the United States by the British Empire per the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Green Bay and nearby Bay Settlement are two of Wisconsin's oldest cities. The Fox River valley is home to many paper mill cities such as Appleton, Oshkosh, and Neenah while the lakeshore contains Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Sturgeon Bay and is more known for maritime commerce. Northwest of Marinette (another city with some maritime activity) and Oconto, logging and forestry are prevalent, with the infamous 1871 Peshtigo Fire killing roughly 1200-2500 people in Northeastern Wisconsin. Green Bay is also home to the Green Bay Packers, the smallest city in the United States to hold a football stadium.

Sturgeon Bay is also the largest city in a popular tourist destination, Door County, and is known for area cherry production too. Ripon is a small college town that is celebrated as the Birthplace of the Republican Party and Plymouth is known for it's cheese production.

There are two airports in Northeast Wisconsin that offer commercial airline flights.

• 44.492097-88.1274231 Green Bay–Austin Straubel International Airport. (GRB ^IATA) Serves the Green Bay and Door County areas of Northeast Wisconsin. It has flights with American, Delta, and United to four major hubs in the Midwest. (updated Mar 2018)
• 44.258056-88.5191672 Appleton International Airport (ATW). Terminal open 24/7; Airline counters and TSA Security typically opens at 4:00 each morning and closes after the last flight of the evening. (ATW ^IATA) Serves the Appleton and lower Green Bay areas as well as the rest of Northeast Wisconsin. It has flights with American, Delta, and United to four major hubs in the Midwest. Allegiant Air offers flights to Appleton from multiple destinations across the United States. (updated Mar 2018)

There are also public General Aviation airports in Manitowoc, Neenah, Fond du Lac, and Oshkosh that can be used if you chose to fly in with your own airplane.

There are multiple major highways that come into Northeastern Wisconsin. The most important highways are:

• I-41 and US 41 enter the area south of Fond du Lac and connects the city with the Fox Cities and Green Bay before heading northeast past Oconto and Marinette into the Upper Peninsula. I-41 ends on the northwest side of Green Bay.
• I-43 enters the area south of Sheboygan and connects it to Manitowoc and Green Bay before also ending on the northwest side of Green Bay. Going south will lead drivers towards Milwaukee
• US 8 Skirts the far northern area of the region, only connecting with US 141 in far northern Marinette County.
• US 10 in the area runs from west of Appleton, and connects the Fox Cities with Manitowoc before leaving Wisconsin on the S.S. Badger.
• US 141 connects Green Bay to Iron Mountain, and ultimately closer to Houghton.
• US 151 connects Fond du Lac and Manitowoc to Madison.
• WIS 29 connects Green Bay to Wausau and Eau Claire as an expressway to the west, and Kewaunee as a generic road to the east.

• S.S. Badger carferry departs in Manitowoc and ends in Ludington.

With all the highways mentioned, and countless more not mentioned, by far the most convenient way of getting around outside of cities is by car. That said, there are several trails within and connecting some cities, like the Fox River Trail around Green Bay, the Ice Age Trail in Sturgeon Bay, and the Mariner's Trail in Manitowoc-Two Rivers.

There are a number of museums, sports venues, and other sites in Appleton, Green Bay, and Oshkosh, such as the Trout Museum of Art in Downtown Appleton, Heritage Hill in suburban Green Bay, Neville Public Museum in downtown Green Bay, and the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh to name a few. In Neenah, you can visit the Bergstrom Mahler Glass museum. Also, Downtown Neenah has nice local shops.

In Green Bay, you can visit the Packers stadium, and go the botanical gardens, along with the nearby National Railroad Museum, and Bay Beach Amusement Park. Manitowoc and Sturgeon Bay contains maritime museums and the two also have a plethora of lighthouses to see.

The EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh is a world class air show.

• 44.26899-88.470331 Fox River Mall, 4301 West Wisconsin Ave. Appleton, ☏ +1 920-739-4100. M-Sa 10AM-9PM; Su 10AM-6PM. The primary shopping destination for visitors is the Fox River Mall, Wisconsin’s largest shopping mall with more than 180 retailers. The mall is located along the Interstate 41 corridor just west of Appleton, in Grand Chute. The Fox River Mall is anchored by Macy's, Sears, Target, JCPenney and the largest sporting goods store in Wisconsin, Scheel's All Sports. Many stores, restaurants, hotels and office buildings are located nearby. (updated May 2018)

In Wisconsin, the speed limit unless signed otherwise is 70 MPH on Freeways (correlates to 110 km/h), 65 MPH on Expressways (105 km/h), and 55 MPH on undivided two lane roads. As per most of the Midwest, people will tend to drive at 75-80 MPH on freeways and expressways and even 65-70 MPH on some two lane roads. While this is mostly not a problem considering some parts of the area are sparsely populated (though you should try to stick to the speed limit), excess speed poses a significant hazard during fog and other winter and weather related events. Case in point, Wisconsin's deadliest car accident happened on I-43 near Cedar Grove on October 10th, 2002 because of low visibility, killing 10 and injuring 36. US 141 near Pound also saw a significant crash on December 15th, 2021 when a service van was rear ended by a dump truck, causing the van to be hit by an oncoming train; the visibility was reported to be no more than 100 feet. No matter how fast you usually drive, Wisconsin is not much different from the United States when it comes to severe weather, and you should slow down when encountering weather. If the visibility is very poor, pull over when possible.

Wildlife (mainly deer) can also pose a hazard, especially during migration periods. If you come across a deer, do not swerve. In some cases, hitting the deer may actually increase your survival chances than swerving off the road. Apply Brakes, and then watch for more deer before you resume driving. If you hit deer, pull over safely when possible, call authorities and do not approach the deer as it can be more dangerous and unpredictable after being injured.

Though Green Bay has a slightly higher than average violent crime rate for mid-size cities of its kind, the area along with larger cities like Appleton, Oshkosh, and Sheboygan tend to be safe otherwise; the vast majority of crime in the area relates to property crime. As long as you lock your car and hide your valuables and avoid poorly lit areas at night, you should be pretty safe touring the area.