Nathan and I had the best weekend in Lake Geneva, WI a couple weekends ago! We haven’t had much time for traveling this summer since we got married, attended several other weddings out of town, and worked on remodeling our home. It was nice to be home, but we sure had the travel bug!
We have wanted to visit Lake Geneva since we moved to Chicago a few years ago. Everyone said it was their favorite weekend getaway away from the city, and when we looked it up we were dying to go! People described it as a small beach town with lots of locally owned gift shops and really good food. We were sold just when they mentioned good food! We never had the chance to go while we lived in the city, but when we were looking for somewhere to go for a fall weekend trip a couple months ago and realized Lake Geneva was only 3 1/2 hours away from Decatur, IL we made the decision pretty quickly that it was time to finally make the trip! Hope you guys enjoy my guide to the perfect 3 day weekend in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin!
Where We Stayed
The Humble BNB – This Bed and Breakfast is just two blocks away from Downtown Lake Geneva, making it the perfect location to stay so you can walk to all the fun restaurants, shops, and the beach! The owners Elizabeth and Jeff, and their sweet dog, Zues, were the most wonderful hosts. We stayed in the “Queen Bee” room and it was very cozy and had a ton of charm! Elizabeth and Jeff are very knowledgeable on the area and gave us plenty of recommendations and ideas for things to do.
We stayed at the Humble BnB for 2 nights and each morning they fixed the most amazing breakfast. I’m not talking just some scrambled eggs and bacon, they made us a restaurant quality breakfast each morning, and it’s all included in the price of your stay! It was so nice to wake up and not have to plan where we would be eating breakfast at or wait at a restaurant. It was also nice to meet the other people staying at the BnB and get to know them while we ate!
As if breakfast wasn’t enough, every evening when we got back from the days activities Elizabeth and Jeff had a plate of fresh baked cookies (which were amazing) and a meat and cheese tray out for us. It was such a nice touch and so unexpected! They really go above and beyond for their guests and we can’t wait to go back and stay with them again.
Day 1
We arrived to he Humble BnB Friday afternoon around 4PM. The hosts weren’t home so we did self check in. It was so easy! We settled our things and then walked downtown. It was so nice being just 2 blocks away!
We walked around downtown for a bit just to take in the sights of the town and the lake before we went to dinner. We had dinner at Barrique, which was a super cute wine and bistro bar on the lake. We decided on this restaurant for the views and the Friday night wine and seafood specials!
The meal at Barrique was incredible and the perfect way to start off our weekend! Nathan tested out the craft beers while I had a wine flight. It’s an international wine bar so they had wine from allover the world. I settled on tasting a few from Italy and New Zealand. They all were so good! For an appetizer we ordered a meat and cheese board, it was delicious! The meat and cheeses were imported and tasted so fresh. Truly some of the best I’ve had! For dinner we ordered and split the lobster roll, shrimp tacos, and 1 lb. of crab legs. You could taste how fresh the seafood was. We ate until we were absolutely stuffed! It was so so good. If you are a seafood lover, we definitely recommend it! After dinner we were so full we were asleep by 9pm, lol!
lobster roll 
shrimp tacos 
crab legs
Day 2
Saturday we slept in a bit and woke up to the amazing smell of bacon sizzling downstairs. There’s really just nothing better! We had an amazing breakfast then headed out to go for a walk. First we had to stop and get coffee, so we stopped in Avant Cycle Cafe which is this super cool coffee shop inside a bicycle shop. Their coffee was awesome! After we grabbed coffee we walked along the Shore Path. It was such a pretty walk. We had the lake on one side where you could see a line of beautiful fall trees changing colors and on the other side there were these huge gorgeous historic lake front homes. The Shore Path is about 26 miles, but we only walked probably 2 miles of it. It was neat to read about all of the history of Lake Geneva as we walked. If you go to Lake Geneva walking the Shore Path is a must!
After we went for a walk we decided to do some shopping downtown. There were so many cute locally owned shops! Everything from clothing boutiques, gift stores, home decor, souvenir, high end, and everything in-between. A few of our favorites were Clearwater Outdoor, Marigold, Haberdapper, and Fleming’s. Marigold was my favorite! They had the most adorable and unique seasonal gift ideas. It was a hostess gift heaven! I also went in to an awesome luxury consignment shop and walked away with a Tory Burch cardigan and J.Crew blazer for just $50! Nathan really liked Haberdapper. If you’re local to Decatur it is very similar to The Brass Horn (high end mens clothing).
We had the most amazing lunch at Flat Iron Tap. It’s a gourmet burger joint with a large craft beer and wine selection. Nathan loved the Spotted Cow beer! We got the Wisconsin cheese curds for an appetizer and honestly I’ve never tasted anything better in my life. They served it with a jalapeño ranch and we were both in cheese HEAVEN. I got the Cheesehead burger and Nathan got the Black n Bleu. We didn’t speak the entire time we ate, it was that good. We highly recommend it and plan on going back on our next visit!
Since we were so stuffed after lunch we knew we needed to stop and get some coffee before heading to the apple barn orchard. Everyone recommended that we try Boxed and Burlap, so that’s what we did! We had to drive there, but it was on the way to the apple barn so we didn’t mind. If you have to make a special trip to go here…do it! It’s just a little shack on the side of the highway, but has the coziest vibe inside with tall windows and comfy couches. We just wanted to curl up in there! I had an iced caramel macchiato and it was incredible.
Of course it started pouring down rain so that kind of messed up our plans to go apple picking at the Apple Barn Orchard and Winery, but we still went and just hangout inside the winery. It was a really neat place! They had a little bakery inside, lots of picked apples and other homemade goodies to buy, and of course, wine! Since it’s an apple orchard the winery had a lot of dessert wines, which I love for after dinner! I left with a bottle of Honey Apple Crisp Harvest wine and a Blackberry wine. I can’t wait to open them for the holidays!
For dinner, we went to the #1 rated nice dinner spot in Lake Geneva, Medusa Grill and Bistro. Y’all. This was some of the best food i’ve had in my life (better than the cheese curds). It’s wood fired Mediterranean steak and seafood and tasted just as good as it sounds! It’s very small and intimate so you’ll definitely need a reservation here. Nathan and I shared the scallops, ribeye, and garlic mashed potatoes. We weren’t starving so we didn’t order as much as we normally would have! The food was cooked perfectly and came out amazing. We had never had wood fired steak and seafood before, so we weren’t sure what to expect, but it was so good we still talk about it! We will definitely go back.
scallops 
ribeye 
mashed potatoes
Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast, and headed home. It was a quick trip, but it was worth the drive! It’s such a unique town as it’s small yet there’s so much to do, things to see, and amazing food to eat. It’s basically every cute town you’ve ever seen in a Hallmark movie! I’m so glad we went and we can’t wait to go back again soon!
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