A Milwaukee Visit? Input/Advice?

[redwing_al]

Hi Everyone.. Thought I would ask here... Wife and I are thinking of a short trip across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee and wondering if anyone has a hotel recommendation that would be either a walking distance to multiple brewery's or good food? I'm a cheap bastard, so a moderately priced hotel is what I'm after.

We are going to take the Lake Express from Muskegon, MI to Milwaukee and then maybe UBER cab to get around if needed.. We also want to take in a Baseball game too!

IN any case, I would like some advice on this visit~

 

[Yooper]

Hi Everyone.. Thought I would ask here... Wife and I are thinking of a short trip across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee and wondering if anyone has a hotel recommendation that would be either a walking distance to multiple brewery's or good food? I'm a cheap bastard, so a moderately priced hotel is what I'm after.

We are going to take the Lake Express from Muskegon, MI to Milwaukee and then maybe UBER cab to get around if needed.. We also want to take in a Baseball game too!

IN any case, I would like some advice on this visit~

The only walking area is really downtown (safe to walk, even late at night), but only a couple of places with great beer. There is Milwaukee Ale House, in the Third Ward (long walk, but easily doable), and Water Street Brewery (not too good, but food is good), and Rock Bottom. Lakefront isn't quite walking distance, but a close cab ride. There are multiple pubs and restaurants around downtown that are fun.

As far as 'moderately priced', you could try priceline or Hotwire and we've done that a lot. If you want to spurge, the Pfister is great. I've heard good things about Iron Horse, but never stayed there. Otherwise, it's the usual "Hyatt, Hilton, Residence Inn, Courtyard" type. Stay away from the Ramada- it's in a bad neighborhood across from the bus station (although, being cheap I have stayed there and just walked extremely quickly to get where I am going!).

If you get the chance, there is a boat brewery tour that is great fun. You board the boat at one of three stops, and they take you to three breweries on the river. River Walk Boat Tours is the name of the company.

For a Brewer's Game, if you want an easy way to go, go have breakfast (if a day game) or dinner at a place like McGinn's. You have decent beer, good bar food (much cheaper than the ball park!) and they drop you off and pick you up at the door. It was fairly cheap, less than parking at the ballpark, and good.

When we stayed at the Ambassador, they had a shuttle for ball games and to go to places downtown, but it's in a bad neighborhood so you have to go downtown or somewhere else to eat and drink. Otherwise, it's a high end (fancy!) place, with a gated parking lot and guard.

Lakefront beers are my favorite, and they used to have a Friday fish fry, complete with polka music. If they are still doing that, it'd be a great way to spend a Friday night.

 

[redwing_al]

Awesome! Do you a recommended area that I should look for a hotel?

 

[Airplanedoc]

Karl Ratzsch's Great German food

http://www.karlratzsch.com/

Milwaukee Art museum I'm not usually a art person but the museum is pretty awesome, check it out at noon.
http://mam.org/

Brats, sausages, and other goodies
http://www.usinger.com/

 

[redwing_al]

any recommendations on a hotel?

Karl Ratzsch's Great German food

http://www.karlratzsch.com/

Milwaukee Art museum I'm not usually a art person but the museum is pretty awesome, check it out at noon.
http://mam.org/

Brats, sausages, and other goodies
http://www.usinger.com/

 

[coolharry]

We always stayed at the Hampton inn downtown, but only because I used to work for a Hilton hotel and can still snag a discount occasionally. Its nice, but its downtown so its a bit pricey sometimes. Lakefront has an amazing tour, but I prefer Milwaukee brewing co's beers. We were just down there last weekend and found Brenner brewing co that had just opened that week. He had some pretty damn good beers right out of the gates. He's big into the local art scene too and has a gallery next door and features local artists for labels and such. Very cool place.

 

[JonM]

In addition to the great suggestions above, there's a bar in the Bay View neighborhood called Sugar Maple. They have 60 taps of nothing but awesome craft brews. Next door is Cafe Centraal where they specialize in Belgians and other European beers. (If you don't get to Bay View, Cafe Centraal is part of a restaurant group called The Lowlands Group. They have similar restaurants all over town.)

If you're downtown, I highly recommend a stop at the Rumpus Room on Water St. They have dynamite food, and one of their specialties is pairing that food with great craft beer. It is a little $$, though.

I don't have a whole lot of advice on hotels, but the breweries and good bars are going to be downtown/east side, so if you want cheap cab rides, look in those areas. Take a look at the County Clare. It is a boutique Irish place on the east side and everyone I know who has stayed there has loved it. The Iron Horse is awesome (and right across the river from the Harley-Davidson museum) but it ain't cheap.


EDIT: Yooper mentioned some hotels in some iffy areas. If you're looking at hotels downtown or on the east side, hotels that are east of the river are going to be in nice areas.

 

[phatspade]

I'm only adding because I enjoy doing a quick brew tour at Sprecher Brewery. Its low priced but all-you-can-drink soda if you dont care for their beer. Im not too familiar with hotels downtown.

 

[Clonefan94]

We always used to stay at the Hilton City Center in downtown. They used to have an indoor waterpark and we'd take the kids up there for a long weekend. It's not really dead center downtown, Right across from the Bradley center.

We used to always head over to Mader's German restaurant, as it's a close walk. They also had the Leinie's Lodge in the bottom of the hotel. I haven't been there for about 8 years though. So I don't know if anything is still the same. I know the waterpark is gone. The Leinie's Lodge could be cool if it's still there though, since Leinenkugel's beer line-up has increased pretty dramatically over the last couple of years.

The Hilton was always nice, although it's one of the old style hotels. At that time, it has a definite, 1920s feel. I thought the architecture was really cool, especially inside, but if you are into modern style hotels, this definitely isn't it.