From going here as a kid, having my bachelorette party here, to now taking our kids, it truly is a place for everyone. I will say, taking our kids was my favorite trip there by far. I wanted to write up a little Door County Travel Guide for you guys in case you want to visit this beautiful place. This will be a family-focused travel guide since we took our 21 month old and 3 month old. Before we get into it let me share the logistics of when we went.
We were there Tuesday-Thursday and on our way up we stopped in Green Bay for lunch. We went to Hinterland which is right across from Lambeau in the “Title Town” district where there is a huge park for kids to play in, too. It ended up being about an hour away from where we stayed so it was the perfect for breaking-up the drive. Tuesday-Thursday was a great amount of time, we probably could’ve done one more day/night so next time we will try that! Okay, let’s get into it!
Where We Stayed:
Our number one priority when looking for places to stay was a multi bedroom condo/cottage. Being that our 3 month old is still sleeping in our room, we wanted a separate room for our toddler. It’s also really nice to have a separate living area where you and your spouse can hang out after the kids are down for bed. Otherwise you’re stuck sitting in the dark whispering to each other at 7pm (been there, done that).
We found the Alpine Valley Resort in Egg Harbor and thought it would be perfect for kids, which it was! They have a ton of little cottages you can choose from ranging from 1-3 bedrooms. We stayed in one called the Louisiana. It was 900 sq feet with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and very nice-sized living area. There was a couch, dining table, sink, cabinets for storage, and a mini fridge. We had more than enough space for both kids.
The resort is also RIGHT next to the Egg Harbor beach which was so convenient. They also have a restaurant called Burtons on the Bay which has amazing food, too. It was about a mile walk into downtown Egg Harbor which has a few restaurants, shopping, etc.!
I would definitely pick this resort to stay at again with kids, it was perfect. However, the only downside I’d say is that Egg Harbor is more “sleepy” than Fish Creek and Sister Bay (2 other towns in Door County). We often found ourselves getting in the car to drive to one of those towns instead of staying in Egg Harbor. Fish Creek is about 15 minutes away and Sister Bay about 30 minutes. So to pack up both kids and drive to one of these towns was kind of a pain. When we go back to Door County next year, I think we will try staying in Sister Bay since there is way more to do there!
Where We Ate:
Breakfast:
- White Gull Inn in Fish Creek. This is a MUST if you visit Door County. It’s a historic Inn but they are known for their breakfast – specifically the Door County Cherry Stuffed French Toast. This particular dish actually won Good Morning America’s Best Breastkfast Challenge, it’s unreal!
- Big Easy in Egg Harbor. WOW this was one of the best breakfast’s I’ve had in a while. I got the Big Easy Burrito with sausage, Tommy built his own breakfast sandwich with a bagel, and then we got Mia the breakfast quesadilla. The portions were MASSIVE so we definitely didn’t need to get a meal for her!
Lunch:
- Hinterland in Green Bay. As mentioned above, we had lunch at Hinterland on our way up and it was actually really good. I got a salad and Tommy got a chicken sandwich.
- Burtons on the Bay. For lunch on Wednesday, we ended up walking to our resorts restaurant to get take out because both kids were napping. We both got the steak sandwich.
Dinner:
- Burtons on the Bay (again) lol. It was so convenient having this restaurant right on the resort. You never know what type of mood kids are going to be in, so having this right there was so nice!
- Wild Tomato Pizza – Fish Creek (they also have one in Sister Bay). I feel like this restaurant is a MUST when visiting Door County. They have amazing wood fired pizza, who doesn’t like pizza!?
Ice Cream:
- Not Licked Yet – Fish Creek. This is actually custard but they have some really fun ice cream dishes, I think they also have burgers and such too. It’s right across the street from Wild Tomato so you could get pizza then ice cream! It’s also on a little creek or river where there were a TON of ducks around. People were buying popcorn then feeding it to the ducks, Mia spent 30 minutes watching them. There is also a playground that Mia played on for a long time, too.
Below I’ll note a few other really good restaurants that I’ve been to previously or were recommended to me since we really didn’t make it to too many different ones being that we were staying in Egg Harbor!
What We Did:
- Egg Harbor Beach: this was a great little beach right by our resort that was perfect to spend a few hours at. Mia had a blast playing in the sand and the water. *Bring water shoes for yourself and your kids because it’s SUPER rocky in the water!*
- Shopping in Fish Creek. We wanted to do Sister Bay as well but we didn’t make it there because the kids were NOT having their carseats LOL.
- The Farm in Sturgeon Bay. This is an absolute MUST with kids, Mia could’ve spent all day here. You can feed goats/lambs a bottle of milk which Mia had the time of her life doing. They let you buy bags of corn for $0.25 and you can feed it to goats, sheep, rams, pigs, cows, basically every farm animal you could think of. Couldn’t recommend this place more! *Make sure you bring cash/quarters with you because they don’t take cards for the milk/corn.*
- Live Music at Burtons on the Bay. Every Wednesday (in the summer I believe) the Alpine resort hosts live music right on the Bay. They set up a massive tent and people bring chairs and listen to the music. Mia ran around with some other kids that were there and had a blast.
That basically sums up everything we did in Door County. Like I said above, I think we could’ve done one more day there because we wanted to shop around in Sister Bay and eat at some of the restaurants there. I also wanted to share a list of other things I’d recommend doing or eating at that we didn’t make it to that you can check out!
Other Restaurants:
- Egg Harbor- Shipwrecked, One Barrel Brewing Co., Casey’s BBQ Smokehouse, Village Cafe, and Grumpy’s Ice Cream and Popcorn
- Fish Creek – Pelletier’s Restaurant. This place has a fish boil which are SO cool to see and the fish is amazing. I remember doing this growing up and thought it was so cool. Barringer’s Restaurant, Bayside Tavern, and Bayside Coffee.
- Sister Bay – Al Johnsons’s. A MUST if you are staying in Sister Bay. It’s famous for having goats on the roof, so cool to see! I wouldn’t say the food is that spectacular but it’s all about the experience haha!
- Bailey’s Harbor – PC Junction. I’ve never been here but a ton of people recommended it. Apparently they deliver your food to you on a little train and kids LOVE it.
Other Things to Do:
- Plum Loco Animal Farm in Egg Harbor – I think this is very similar to The Farm in Sturgeon Bay but I’ve personally never been.
- Door County Alpaca Ranch in Bailey’s Harbor. Again not a place I’ve been but it looks so cute!
- Sister Bay Beach. I remember going here as a kid and loving it but haven’t been back since
- Hiking in Peninsula State Park. I actually went camping here growing up and it’s so beautiful.
- Boat Rentals. There are a lot of companies that let you rent out boats for the day or for a few hours. We thought about doing this but that seemed like a lot of work with 2 kids under 2. We would’ve needed another set of hands I think haha.
- Not the most kid friendly but the Door County Trolley Tours are so fun. This is what we did for both mine and my sister in law’s bachelorette party. They can get a bit rowdy but they are such a blast!
Whew ok, that’s all I got for you! I hope this is helpful if you’re wanting to vacation to the beautiful Door County. This is for sure going to be an annual trip for us as a family. It holds such a special place in my heart and I can’t wait to make so many memories here with our kids.
Peace & Love,
