Start from 20 curated places around Apostle Islands, WI, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Landmark Restaurant at Old Rittenhouse Inn
A Victorian mansion dining room where the menu leans on regional Wisconsin ingredients — lake trout, wild mushrooms, local orchard fruit — prepared with real care and a French tilt. It is the dressiest room in Bayfield and the one place where lingering over multiple courses makes sense. Brunch on weekends draws locals who skip it on weekday mornings.
The Bayfield Inn Restaurant
Waterfront dining in a casual room where the picture windows face the Apostle Islands and the menu centers on Lake Superior whitefish. The drunken mussels and the smoked lake trout are the things to order; the view does the rest of the work. A reliable dinner spot when you want something better than bar food but not as formal as Rittenhouse.
Trails & outdoors
Meyers Beach Sea Caves via Lakeshore Trail
A 4.3-mile out-and-back above the Lake Superior shoreline, delivering views down into the red sandstone sea caves from the cliff edge and passing through stands of second-growth northern hardwood. The cave overlooks are the payoff and come within the first couple of miles. In winter the same trail turns icy and, in cold spells, the caves below take on ice formations — bring traction devices.
Big Bay State Park Bay View and Woods Trail Loop
A 3.1-mile loop on Madeline Island that covers sandstone bluff views, a mile of sand beach, and forested paths through birch and maple above the shoreline. It is the most complete short trail in the archipelago for seeing multiple habitats in one walk. The boardwalk section along the lagoon is easy enough for most fitness levels and gives calm-water reflections in the morning.
Things to do
Trek & Trail
The longest-running outfitter in Bayfield for sea kayak tours and rentals, operating on Washington Avenue for over 30 years with NPS authorization to guide in the national lakeshore. Their half-day and full-day cave tours run to the mainland sea caves at Meyers Beach and, for stronger paddlers, out to the islands. Equipment is lake-worthy with sit-in kayaks and skirts for Lake Superior conditions.
Whitecap Kayak
A small-group-focused outfitter based south of Bayfield that keeps tours intimate — usually six or fewer paddlers — and adapts routes to conditions and group comfort level. They're NPS-authorized and particularly good for first-time sea kayakers who want more guide attention than a larger operation provides. The Meyers Beach cave tours are their signature run.
Landmarks & sights
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Visitor Center
The starting point for planning any time in the park — rangers here know current sea conditions, which islands have open campsites, and when the ferry schedule shifts. The exhibits give solid context on the Ojibwe history of the archipelago and the commercial fishing era. Pick up a park map and check the tide boards before heading anywhere near the caves.
Madeline Island Ferry Line
A 20-minute crossing from the Bayfield dock drops you on Madeline Island, the only inhabited island in the archipelago and a different pace than the mainland. La Pointe has a small historical museum, a few restaurants, and roads to cycle. In winter when the lake freezes solid, they run an ice road and a wind-powered sled — one of the more unusual crossings in the Midwest.