Day trip to Madison, need some ideas (Monroe: university, restaurants)

[KHill 818]

I am going to Madison for some business and have two questions. One is where my wife like might to go for a few hours while I'm busy. Shopping, coffee shops, bookstores are the type of things she likes. Just sort of looking for a general area.


The second would be a good place to have dinner later. No real requirements here other than no place where we would feel out of place in jeans. We would prefer somewhere that was not a chain that we can go to in any city. Type of food is open.


Thanks.

[Megan1967]

It depends on the type of shopping your wife likes to do. Monroe Street has a nice selection of small unique specialty stores. the only problem is, the 2 commercial areas on Monroe Street are separated by a pretty good distance, not really walkable. Will she have access to a car? There is always State Street, which has aa number interesting little stores, but it isn't as good as it used to be. If she likes mall shopping there are 2 on the Westside that are kind of nice - Greenway station and West Towne mall.

You can go just about any place in jeans in Madison as long as you're neat and clean. foodfightInc.com lists a number of good restaurants.

[7G9C4J2]

I'm not much of a shopper, though State Street used to be a lot of fun. There are fewer independent shops now, though, so it doesn't have quite the same vibe. Lots of university students there, too, which can be fun if you're in the mood for people-watching.

My late father used to really like Hilldale Mall for browsing. It's pretty upscale (which is why he liked it), though I find it a bit snooty, to be honest. They did a major overhaul there in the past couple of years, and it's pretty spiffy.

Of Megan's two suggestions, I'd recommend Greenway Station over West Towne Mall. West Towne is nice enough, but there isn't really anything special or unusual about it; you could believe that you're in pretty much any big mall anywhere in America. Greenway Station is an outdoor shopping area, very nicely laid out, and it feels more like a town center. Pretty nice shops there, too, though most are the big national chains as opposed to local businesses.

For restaurant recommendations, I'd point you to this thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/madis...t-madison.html for a whole host of recommendations. Do read through to the end, as some of the places mentioned in the first couple of pages have closed since the thread was started, but you can get a really good idea of what Madison has to offer in the way of independent local restaurants.

Have fun and safe travels!

[dmiller91]

For an out of town visitor I would definitely recommend State Street. On the one end is the capitol, and on the other is the university, including union terrace. There are plenty of coffee shops along the way and lots of cool shops.

Greenway is the kind of mall you find in any city: Loft, JJill, those sorts of stores. Hilldale is just an upscale and fairly small mall, again, not unlike what you would find anywhere.

The place I would want to walk and see if I were a visitor is State Street.

(moved here 25 plus years ago...)

[r_k]

I agree with the State Street suggestion, though it is dominated by students and student-oriented businesses. Other options are either too small or too mall-like (which may not be a bad thing if the weather is cold. State Street, Monroe Stree, Greenway Station are all outdoors).

[Ragnar]

You could nail both the shopping and the restaurant within the State Street / Capitol area. If I was only visiting for a day, that's where I would be.

Check out the restaurant thread MWB linked. It has a lot of great suggestions in it!