Visiting Milwaukee 4th of July Weekend (Oakland, Lincoln: sale, to rent, hotels)

[zdx]

My gf and I (we're both 24) are going to spend our 4th of July weekend there. Currently We're looking at hotels that are cheap and close to the bars and young social scene in Milwaukee. Summerfest is also on our radar as well. We are going to be pretty active that weekend haha. What do the locales suggest we stay at and what sites should we visit? Where will the fireworks take place?

[svicious22]

Big fireworks are at Veterans Park along the lake on 7/3, I think at 9 PM. Summerfest has smaller fireworks some nights as well. Pfister or Hotel Metro are best located hotels but generally pricey, I'd start there and try to find something halfway close. Better to stay east of the river than west, especially for summerfest. Consult yelp.com to find the bars if you don't already know where they are; there are around half a dozen areas with a concentration of bars in close proximity, including 3 or so strips semi-walkable from the aforementioned hotels. If you like beer, take a brewery tour, Lakefront, Sprecher and Miller are all good. The Milwaukee Lakefront is worth a visit, a good way to see it is to rent a bike and ride the bike path near Lincoln Memorial Drive and/or Lake Drive North.

[adr3naline]

Many local pubs have free shuttles to and from Summerfest, so if you stay withing proximity you won't have to pay the premium to reserve a hotel closer to Summerfest.

Main drags for bars are North Ave (between Prospect and Oakland), Water St, and Brady St. Smaller bars around Cathedral Square. Youngest crowd (21-24) will be North Ave...but all these locations will be filled with 20-somethings.

[Coldwake]

Originally Posted by zdx

My gf and I (we're both 24) are going to spend our 4th of July weekend there. Currently We're looking at hotels that are cheap and close to the bars and young social scene in Milwaukee. Summerfest is also on our radar as well. We are going to be pretty active that weekend haha. What do the locales suggest we stay at and what sites should we visit? Where will the fireworks take place?

Finding a cheap hotel downtown isn't easy at any point, but with Summerfest going on it becomes even worse. Doing a quick search of hotels.com though showed a few sale prices on the Hyatt and Aloft for around $160 a night that weekend. You can find cheaper, but for the $20-30 difference you might as well get the good location. These will both put you near Old World 3rd street and Water street which are both great for nightlife. (Old World 3rd will be a slightly older crowd vs water street which is mainly college age bar goers)

Summerfest is walk-able from that area I suppose... but you might as well take a shuttle from the hotel or a nearby bar. Lots of the bars have them. You could always try and rent a bublr bike too. Bublr Bikes | Bike Share in Milwaukee those are cheap... and it's a nice activity to do during the day when you're not at Summerfest. Take a bike ride down to the lake.

If you're looking for other things. The lakefront is nice, hopefully it'll be warm enough to hit up Bradford Beach. Otherwise you can do the usual... Harley Musuem, Milwaukee Art Museum, Brewery tours, etc. These are all a short walk or bublr bike ride (or maybe a cab/uber?) away.

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