Like so many, my wife and I were ready for a respite from our COVID-19 exile. Two nights at the…read moreelegant Hamilton House was just what the doctor ordered! Built in the 1860s and a stop on the Underground Railroad, the spacious, high-ceilinged HH exudes history and charm. Innkeeper and owner Gloria Buley greeted us warmly; I like to think I could see her smile through the surgical mask she was wearing. Our well-appointed room had a comfy king bed and a recently remodeled en suite. The wardrobe contained two plush bathrobes; a small table held bottles of Perrier, chocolates, fresh flowers, and two surgical masks. Like our room, the inn's common areas are immaculate and tastefully furnished with period antiques and Oriental rugs. Our two breakfasts were highlights! Gloria's a CIA culinary school grad and it shows. Fresh-squeezed OJ, omelettes, French toast, baked apples, sausages, Canadian bacon--whew, I don't eat nearly this well at home. Breakfast was also a chance to get to know Gloria. A recent transplant from Woodstock, NY, she purchased the Hamilton House weeks before the coronavirus shut down the world. I'd be down in the dumps, but Gloria seems indefatigable and is using the time to, among other things, install a garden walk that will pay homage to the nearby Birge Fountain, circa 1903. We're already looking forward to our next visit! A tip: One of Wisconsin's best supper clubs, the Duck Inn in Delavan, is a 15-minute drive from the HH.

My brother and his wife treated me to a weekend at the Hamilton Inn. (They had stayed there a year…read moreago and raved about it - for good reason!) This gorgeous 1861 mansion is exquisite, perfect down to the last detail. The multi-course breakfasts, created by innkeeper (and Culinary Institute-trained chef) Gloria, were off-the-charts delicious and kept my belly full til dinnertime, even after a day spent hiking the gorgeous Kettle Moraine. I slept deeply on the luxurious comfy bed, but I'd eat saltine crackers and sleep on a cot to hear Gloria's stories! Gloria has a talent for being present but never intrusive. She'll give you a house tour with fascinating tidbits (from John Belushi to the Underground Railroad!) but ask about her journey from Woodstock NY to Whitewater WI for a rollicking story with a happy ending!

We have stayed there about once per year or every other year for Id say going on 10 years now. Its…read morea very clean really nice facility and lodging for you and your horse. The people even trailered us to new trails that had recently been added the last time we stayed with them! They are fun good people and we thoroughly enjoyed them and the awesome trails of Kettle! You can even ride into town from their place!

My husband and I came here to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary and they were having a deal…read more(buy 1 night, get 1 night FREE), who can pass that up? Lol. We stayed in the Oxford cabin and ended up paying $271 for 2 nights. Still an awesome bed and breakfast, friendly staff, delicious complimentary cheese and wine of your choice. Small issue, it was lots of ants this visit. Maybe because it was warmer this visit, but they were everywhere. Besides that, great trip. Of course, we'll be back, we LOVE it here.

Love this place. Mu husband and I came here to celebrate our anniversary. It was our second visit,…read morebut the first one was nearly 10 years ago. Place has been maintained beautifully. Fantastic location and definitely walkable to downtown Lake Geneva, although if you have mobility issues, maybe not. Friendly staff, special little touches, and cozy cabins! We promised ourselves that we will not wait this long next time.

We booked a weekend stay at Ye Old Manor House for a belated anniversary weekend and because I had…read morean event in the area. The owners, Karen and John are lovely people! They are always available should you need anything. Most likely you won't need much because they have anticipated everything you could need and have done so with detail and care. We arrived later in the evening and they helped us find restaurants we could get delivery from since we were tired and didn't want to go out after the long drive. They greeted us with a complimentary brownie upon arrival. We slept well, much more comfortably than I usually do in hotels or stays away from home. You get a choice of many delicious breakfast items to choose from. They serve all kinds of food including vegan. They have their own veggie garden and use many homegrown veggies and herbs in their dishes. We had a tasty vegan frittata one morning and a tofu scramble the next. Served with vegan sausages, breakfast potatoes, fruit salad and unlimited coffee or tea. Other guests chose bacon, waffles, and eggs, etc. There's a Keurig machine, an ice maker and fresh water available 24/7 as well as a fridge with soft drinks. There is a gorgeous pool there! Unfortunately I forgot my swimsuit so we didn't try it but we will next time for sure. Other guests had a lot of enjoyment there. The grounds are lovely with gardens, seating areas and an outdoor fireplace. There's also a basketball hoop. Not only are the accommodations comfortable and homey, the owners are warm and friendly and we had wonderful conversations with them and fellow guests. We actually spent a couple hours lingering after breakfast because we all enjoyed the conversation so much! We admired their beautiful art on the walls as well. This is clearly more than a B&B for Karen and John, this is a dream come true and a definite passion project. They truly put their heart and soul into this property and it shows and is felt. We will definitely be back and will bring our kids as well. This place is a gem.

This is a lovely b&b! The charming rooms are comfy (I stayed in the Rising Sun). The numerous…read morereading nooks are cozy and replete with books. The gourmet breakfast is really tasty and served on china with real silver utensils. The gardens are delightful. The innkeepers are friendly and welcoming. There are wonderful original pictures and tapestries adorning the walls and interesting sculptures intermixed with the antique furnishings. There are so many windows that reveal the lovely views nestled in this very private estate. So many places to sit on patios outside, too. The entire property has a welcoming vibe so you really do feel relaxed and at home here. My stay was awesome and I will be returning.

I had a procedure done at the hospital across the street and after that I didn't want to travel far…read moreso I booked Staybridge suites I have a beautiful room with great amenities. I was able to rest peacefully. They had a full kitchen. The customer service was fantastic.. I was very impressed with this hotel and I highly recommend from one night to a week or two. It is the place to stay. If having a procedure done, they do give a discount.

Had a great stay. Facilities were all really nice. Good pool. Breakfast was tasty.read more

Camp Wandawega is a flawlessly re-created 1950′s summer camp. At $250 a night (plus a $60 airbnb…read moreservice fee), you can step back in time. Located in Elkhorn, WI about 90 minutes from where I currently live, on the way there, I drove by the place I used to camp as a kid and by towns I have met my parents in to go antiquing. Where many of the sites on the way were well-known to me, pulling into the camp site was familiar because it was like driving to the set of Moonrise Kingdom. Really, it was like plopping into any Wes Anderson movie. I could very clearly imagine children with their names emblazoned on sleeping bags and wooden tennis rackets being used as swords by campers. When I first arrived, I was early (although the reservation said there was a flexible check-in time). The cleaning lady was arriving in two hours, so I read outside for a while of (what would be) my cabin. The breeze was nice and my book was distracting, but then I started paying attention to a couple who were dipping their feet into the lake at the end of the dock while eating oranges AND drinking orange juice (?!?). That is commitment to Vitamin C, if I ever saw one. Once I moved past my internal giggle at the scurvy-free couple, I glanced at my phone and saw that time had slowed to a crawl. How can a morning at home go so fast and an hour at camp go so slowly? It is like that scene in The Jerk where he says the first day seemed like a week. Camp Wandawega is quite quiet, except for the crazy chipmunks. Sometimes, you can hear the muted, but distinctive click of the flagpole outside. Often, I caught myself looking to see if the crinkle of leaves or branch breaking was a person, but it was almost always a chipmunk (or, not to be out done, squirrels). If the chipmunks weren't there or if flags didn't move, I would have thought I was frozen by some witch's autumn spell. Overall, it seemed like it shouldn't all be there- the details. It felt like it all should have been swept away in a flood or be permanently planted in someone's dream, not surviving as well-preserved as it all is. There is no internet that I could connect to. I didn't need air conditioning or heat, but they are a window cooling unit and a floor heater respectively; nothing major to protect you from the elements. You are here to be (at least, a little) outside. There is a rope swing and open-air showers. There are old bikes and bird houses. The traditional camp colors of burnt red, forest green, and stark white are everywhere. Uneven stairs and rocky hills force your attention even while you walk casually around. The camp was at one point a brothel. Well, it was a speak easy, a distribution center for organized crime, a brothel, a lake resort and a church camp before the current owners bought it and renovated it to its current state. While at Camp Wandawega, what I felt was a constant pang of that very specific camp feeling. The anxiety before arriving your first time. The waiting of ONE MORE YEAR before your next camp experience always seeming like forever. The addiction in the autonomy and the freedom of no parents or siblings. You just being who you are. Someone good at archery. Someone who loves sitting on a dock. Someone who swings in a hammock. Someone who naps. Someone who hikes. While there, I got invited to a fire on the beach by one couple. At another point, a couple taking engagement photos came by to use the canoes. Untroubled people came and went. Some times a fish would come up to ripple the water in their hunger. The lily pads provided a little buffer from the reflection of the sun. There was the constant smell of a fire burning somewhere. What I recommend doing while at Camp Wandawega: -Eat PB&J. You can go into town for food, but why bother? -Sneak iced coffee or coffee grounds and a French press into the communal kitchen. -You don't really have to sneak, but sneaking around seems very camp-y. -Take a nap. Or several. -Read the books at the end of the bed (A Very Modest Cottage and Found, Free & Flea) by Tereasa Surratt. They will provide more information on the renovation of the property and the care of one of the cottages specifically. -Go on a walk around the whole site. You will find tipis (or teepees) and other fun finds. Just bring your hiking boots. -Canoe. (Language side note: canoe is a noun and a verb. English is so quirky.) -Sit with the liquor of your choice by a fire or just sit by the lake for a while. -Go on a bike ride. -Take pictures. You can't really take a bad one. During my time here, the bees were about. Flies and ants, too. Twice, a spider dropped down (seemingly from the sky) onto the book I was reading. Also, I am 99.9% sure there was a raccoon outside of my cabin door one night. Camp Wandawega is a natural and authentic place which makes it an ultimate place to reflect and assess. Yes, you have to constantly check your wine for bugs, but that is part of the magic of being fully present, isn't it?

AMAZING. This is an awesome place with rich history dating back nearly 100 years ago. The tree…read morehouse is soooo cool, there are many options as far as areas you can stay in. Teepees, old Army tents, the old "dormitories," and small cabins. We were here for a wedding over the weekend (which is rare from what I hear), and the place was recently renovated (in the last 5-7 years or so). This is a very rustic place with a historical feel. In the 1920's during the prohibition years, it was a speakeasy (my favorite part of their history), but there is much more. To learn more about the history check out, www.wandawega.com. This place is also a very well kept secret. I grew up less than 10 miles away from Wandawega, but had only heard of the lake not the "Camp" or "Resort." This place is meticulously decorated, clean, historical, rustic and all-around awesome.

My husband and I have stayed here on two separate occasions now, just a couple weeks apart. The…read morefirst time was just for 1 night & the second time was for 2 nights. We didn't experience any issues, aside from the hallway being cold and the smell of gas because the wicked winter weather kept blowing out their system's pilot. No issues in the room - we were comfortable. Staff was friendly, breakfast was good, the place was clean.

Clean, and convenient. Breakfast available, free parking and next to a Starbucks! Beds and pillows…read morewere comfy. Room came with microwave and mini fridge! Huge plus!! Has a gym and a pool...

A beautiful location on the Fox River. Stop in during River…read moreRhythms and enjoy drink on the deck.

Very clean and quiet hotel. Reasonable prices and located with 10 min from Lake Geneva.read more

The GM of this property is wonderful. Very nice person. We'll definitely be staying here again if…read morewe're in that area also FYI, they have a saltwater pool not chlorine so great on your eyes he told me.

Maxwell Mansion is a wedding venue, motel and a cocktail bar. I was here mostly for the cocktail…read morebar, but I did get a tour of the mansion and grounds. The mansion was built in 1856, making it the first mansion in Lake Geneva. The estate has been completely redone but charming details were kept. Along with a mansion where you can book a room, Maxwell also includes beautiful gardens, lounges, outdoor fireplaces, a heated pool, croquet and bocce ball. There is also a separate area in the back with motel rooms. Like I said, I was there for a lil' drink. There's a bar inside the mansion (Apothecary Bar) with all kinds of medical and druggist paraphernalia, with the space being a tribute to Dr. Philip Maxwell. But it's the speakeasy, which is accessible outside in the front of the house, that you'll want to visit. Ask for the password inside the mansion, and they will let you into a dark, below-ground bar. It's all decorated in prohibitionist flyers, and even the bartenders are dressed up in period costumes. It's a really cool and unique bar in Lake Geneva.

We went to both the apothecary bar and the speakeasy. We did not spend the night. I don't see that…read moreYelp has a separate page for the food/drink places. Focusing the review on the apothecary bar. You need to know the password to get in the speakeasy. A few days after we visited the speakeasy, we went in to try the apothecary bar to get some food and drink. A friendly helpful bartender, explained all their creative cocktails, shared the pub food that they offered, and answered questions. We ordered a flatbread pizza and a spinach artichoke dip as well as a couple of cocktails. They served us at a table where we sat on a couch in a room just across the hall and were quite comfortable. There are other rooms where you can go - not much seating in the actual apothecary bar.