I just got back from spending a week at Gypsy Villa with four other families, and we had a great time. This is a classic mid-century Wisconsin cabin experience. If you're looking for luxury, or a contemporary resort experience, this is definitely not your place. Service: I would describe the service we received as very competent. It's a family run business, and they've been doing it for decades. The phone was answered when we needed it to be answered. The reservations were fulfilled without any issues. Dean, the manager, only has one additional person on staff, but he knows how to make it all work. It's a little eccentric, when compared to a more corporate resort experience, but that's how a family run hospitality business can be. Location: Staying on an island was really fun. No cars or roads obviously, and not even many foot trails. A lot of peace and quiet. A bit of planning is needed to get everything and everyone out to the island, but we saw it as an adventure. Our group is all about being on the water, so for us being on the Eagle River chain of lakes was amazing. We brought two wake/surf boats, and also rented two pontoon boats from Gypsy Villa. The pontoons were old, rudimentary, and noisy, but they always got us where we needed to go. The chain of lakes is bigger than our group could ever see in a week. We spent the majority of our days on Cranberry Lake busy with watersports, and took the pontoons out to dinner three times. It was great having dining options available by boat ride. Facilities: The cabins are all 50 to 60 years old, including the décor. They were clean and fully functional. Most in our group were fine with their beds, some weren't. We all had hot water. The kitchen appliances were dated, but they worked fine. I had hot coffee every morning. Plenty of cookware and utensils. The TVs are old, but we never turned them on anyway. Overall, we all enjoyed the funky cabins. We stayed in the Executive Cabin, and it was generally good. It has a big screen porch that we were able to seat 17 people in for dinner one rainy evening. An odd characteristic of the cabin was that the vaulted ceiling is open between the two downstairs bedrooms, with the wall only going up to 8 feet. My wife and I were in one room, and our teenage son was in the other. Weird. The only real complaint from our group about the facility was that there isn't a fire pit at every cabin. That really should be changed. Having a well designed fire pit next to the water at each cabin should not be too great of a risk to manage. The game room is a total time warp, with all the "video games" being from the 1980's. The pool table worked fine. Everything takes quarters. The kids hung out there when it rained a couple times, but it's not a destination. We used the tennis/basketball court every day for pickleball (we brought our own equipment). Overall: "Up North" resorts with cabins on the shoreline of a Wisconsin lake are from a bygone time. They're like the lodging version of a vintage supper club. It's an experience that's not for everyone, or even most people today. With fewer and fewer people spending their vacation time in places like this, these resorts are disappearing. What this means from a quality stand point is that they've typically not been updated in years, and won't stand up to contemporary resort expectations. But, it has a rustic charm that my friends and I grew up with, and we're really very happy we can still find it, and share it with our kids. Gypsy Villa has rustic charm in spades. At the end of the week everyone wanted to start planning our return next summer. read more

My husband and I and our two little girls recently stayed here for a long weekend. We had an incredible time. The lake was clean and beautiful. The town was charming and quaint. The cabin was clean and comfortable. Yes, the decor was a little vintage, but I can appreciate that style. Very private! So much lake shore to ourselves! Owners seemed very accommodating. Overall, we had a great time and would come again! read more

My boyfriend and I came up to the Eagle River area for a quick getaway. We were looking for somewhere rustic and isolated - the Gypsy Villa certainly lived up to those requirements. We stayed in one of the apartment suites. I was hoping for a cabin, but no one was staying in the other unit (or any of the others in the complex, from what I could tell). Since I only called the morning of our trip to make a reservation, I was in no position to be picky! The unit was dated but immaculately clean. Fully equipped kitchen, gas fireplace, tube TV, puzzles, and magazines from 2012 were among the amenities. The bed was not the most comfy but for one night it was fine. There was a binder full of local tourist info, plus plenty of rules for guests, and some interesting materials calling for the abolition of the IRS... One other negative was the whirlpool in the bedroom- when we used it, we noticed brown/rust colored bits in the bubbles...must have been some dirt in the jets or something. We are pretty adaptable folks and never expect perfection when we travel to the northwoods but that was a little gross. They only have a few units available year round, but I'd actually be open to returning during the summer. The price of your stay includes use of a fishing boat, and they have lodging on an island that they seem to own. Could be fun for a longer trip with the family. The owner was helpful with recommendations for restaurants and things to do. He and his dog were very nice. The location was beautiful too! Overall a good experience. read more

Old Wisconsin Charm.. Loved every moment I was there. Dean was very helpful and goes out of his way to meet our needs. We stayed on the Island in the Starfire. Very clean and "cute". We also rented a pontoon.It had plastic lawn chairs for seating which I knew before we came. We brought a folding lawn chair with a cushion,wife loved it. Hiking trails on the island and deer were common sight. I would suggest if your going to get serious on fishing to bring electronics. The chain is a very large body of water,,Loved it.We actually paid and stayed an extra day over our original booking. We shall return making this a every year getaway read more

Very disappointing experience and misleading website. This is not a "resort" that has the amenities they advertise. The "ultra modern" cottages are extremely outdated and not kept up with whatsoever. The coffee pot was broken, the propane was empty (no hot showers or use of the stove), very old beds and the shower leaked water from the faucet so it was like showering with a cold water bottle. Leaf piles everywhere outside that we had the pleasure of listening to a large tractor clean up our yard mid weekend. The activities advertised on the website were nowhere to be found and the game room was probably nice in the 80's. There are still some old arcade games in there but none that are newer than Atari. There are also a couple boats stored in there. The fish house did look nice for those that are cleaning fish. the biggest disappointment of the whole place is that they do not allow fires by the cottages. this should be stated up front and even when asked I was told there is a fire pit by the family games area. There is indeed a fire pit tucked behind a couple buildings and nowhere near the water. The outdoors games area looks like time forgot about it. the basketball court was run down with grass growing through the concrete and does not double as a tennis court as advertised. The horseshoe pit and other games are not maintained either. Dean, the owner was a very nice man but I believe he has the wrong idea of what families are looking for and charges a premium for the rentals based on location and not what the resort has to offer. Save your money and stay somewhere else that is honest and upfront about the amenities offered. read more

This place has a lot of potential. We spent 4 days and 3 nights on the island. However we feel it was not worth the hefty price. Everything had an up charge. We were told a pontoon comes with the rental, however on arrival we found out it was $63 dollars for gas. We also found out if we wanted a later for swimming it would be $25 to rent it. Needless to say, everything came with a price. On the boat there was a warning to keep it clean otherwise there would be a charge of $75. The cottages were very outdated - we got 5 channels on the tv and there wasn't a DVD player. The furniture and appliances were from the 70s. Although it was very clean - there is a list for you to do before checkout including vacuuming, sweeping, etc. On our first full day, our boat stopped working and our propane tank ran out of gas to heat the cottage. The weather was terrible so we really needed that! We did get it taken care of. We checked out the game room - very dirty and out dated. Also, it looked like the whirlpool advertised had not been working in awhile. The room was filled with random junk. Wifi was also advertised but there wasn't any. The lake is beautiful however we will not be returning to this resort. read more