Madeline Island
Things to See and Do

Madeine Island Fun Places to Eat and have your favorite beverage

Grandpa Tony's is a favorite for ice cream and pizza, but they also have sandwiches and beer, plus a great upper deck with a view of of the lake.

Across the street from Tony's is the The Beach Club on the waterfront as the name suggests. We dined there two times during our recent trip. On our first visit we tried two dining specialties we often use as a benchmark for Lake Superior dining places: Whitefish Sandwich and a Swiss & Mushroom Burger baskets (with chips and cole slaw).

Both dishes got good marks. The Whitefish was flakey and not "fishy" tasting, grilled just right, and served hot on a sourdough bun. The burger was also served hot as well, meaty & tasty, and a good portion size. Wait service was quick and attentive. Friendly bartender served up pints of South Shore Brewery's Oatmeal Porter and Nut Brown Ale.

The next day Friday, we sampled the Beach Club's Friday Fish Fry and enjoyed dining outside on the lakeside deck. Your choices were either Lake Superior Lake Trout or Whitefish, lightly breaded. Came with large serving of fries and cole slaw. As the previous day, the Whitefish was excellent, tasty and served hot. The Beach Club also gets high marks for value. You'd expect prices on the Island to be higher than average. This was not the case at the Beach Club. The Whitefish Fish Fry was $11.50 and 16 ounce tap of craft beer was $4.50, no more than the average you'd find around Lake Superior (prices from 2015). Reviews online from Google Plus, Yelp, and TripAdvisor agree with our favorable assessment.

Not to be missed for the island visitor is stop for a cold beverage, at decent prices too, is Tom's Burned Down Cafe. A crazy, outdoor mish-mash of old trailers, tents, all sorts of junk, pieces of lumber thrown together to create a unique and fun "beach dive bar" that belongs on the waterfront but happens to be a block away.

Besides the crazy pieces of junk forming the habitat and landscaping, Tom's is also littered with pithy wit and wisdom decorating the place.

The Bell Street Gallery provides an interesting blend of an artist gallery, a wine and craft beer bar, and a musical entertainment venue.

More Madeline Island Restaurant Reviews & Links & Things to see and do.

Historic La Pointe, Wisconsin

The town Gazebo greets you as you get off the Ferry. Madeline Island has been home to Native Americans for centuries and an outpost off and on by European fur traders and voyageurs's since 1659. It was officially incorporated as a village in 1834. > > >

< < < While it was a gray, overcast day, these flowers in front of this downtown house brightened up our arrival.

The Old LaPointe Inn dates back to 1870 > > >

< < < The Library, originally Bay View School, dates back to 1872.

The Post Office began life in 1900 as the dining room addition to the original Old Mission Inn (1832) > > >

Ojibway Memorial Cemetary

Note the unusual grave covers

Riding the Madeline Island Ferry

Most visitors to the island take the ferry from Bayfield as passengers or with their vehicles. On a nice day, you can enjoy panoramic views from the ships upper deck.

The SUV left of center is first in line for the next Madeline Island Ferry trip. The parked cars are those of people who are riding the ferry over without their vehicles.

While taking your car or RV to the island is a neat experience, you can see quite a lot by walking around town. If you want to go further around the island, you can rent a bike.

"ARVY" - our Winnebago Rialta - enjoyed a smooth ride across the 2.6 mile stretch of Lake Superior from Bayfield to LaPointe. We were half-way across before I realized we had left the dock!

And with Jo at the Helm, ARVY successfully disembarks from the ferry. The Two Black Pointed Ears behind Jo belong to Hans - der German Shepherd - who is supervising the operation. > > >

As soon as the ice is out, the Madeline Island Ferry begins running 4 times a day from Bayfield to the village of La Pointe. After May 7th, its schedule increases to 11 daily trips, in June and July even more frequent. The island Windsled provides service to the island when the bay freezes over.

Madeline Island Camping

Big Bay State Park - Madeline Island

In 2009 we visited the campground in August mid-week. With no advance reservation we were out of luck for staying overnight but we were able to enjoy the park for a few hours. On a later visit we lucked out and nabbed a walk-in site. But we'd recommend reservations because this is a popular park. (See our profile on Madeline Island's Big Bay State Park).

Update: Just learned the the Big Bay Township Park has made a number of improvements, including adding RV sites with electric hookups, flush toilets, showers, and other improvements. We stayed there in June, 2015. What an improvement!

See our profile of Madeline Island Big Bay Township Campground here.

If you plan to camp on the mainland, check out our recommendations on Bayfield Area Camping.