Start from 17 curated places around New Glarus, WI, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Glarner Stube
The name translates roughly to 'New Glarus's living room,' and the long wooden bar and dozen tables live up to it — Swiss cowbells in the window, cuckoo clocks on the walls, and schnitzel on the plate. Portions are generous and come with two sides; the cheese fondue and the roesti (Swiss fried potato cakes) are the moves to make. A solid lineup of New Glarus beers pours from the taps.
Canter Inn
Set inside a restored 1902 Queen Anne Victorian, this is the most ambitious kitchen in town — seasonal Green County produce, local dairy, and Swiss heritage woven into contemporary small plates and tasting menus. The menu changes frequently and leans on what's growing and grazing nearby, so there's no predicting exactly what you'll find. Reservations are essential and seats fill weeks out.
Trails & outdoors
Sugar River State Trail
Twenty-four miles of former railroad corridor running from New Glarus south to Brodhead on a flat crushed-limestone surface, crossing fourteen trestle bridges over the Sugar River and its tributaries. The gradient is nearly zero — it's an old rail bed — which makes it approachable for all fitness levels, from casual riders to families with young kids. The first segment south to Monticello (6.5 miles) passes through the most scenic stretches of shaded forest and farmland.
Havenridge Nature Trail
The longest single trail inside New Glarus Woods State Park at 4.2 miles, looping through mature hardwood forests, restored prairie, and meadows that shift character as you move between canopy and open sky. The path is wide and well-marked with trail maps at intersections, but the surface is natural — packed dirt with tree roots and occasional loose rock — so it rewards proper footwear. Wildlife sightings (deer, wild turkeys, woodpeckers) are reliable.
Things to do
Wilhelm Tell Festival
Every Labor Day weekend since 1938, more than 200 New Glarus residents have staged Friedrich Schiller's play about the Swiss folk hero — in German and in English on alternating performances — with live goats, cows, and horses sharing the stage with the cast in period costume. The Friday evening Laternenzug (candlelit lantern parade through downtown) is the most atmospheric event of the weekend. This is not a tourist re-enactment; the cast is the community.
New Glarus Brewing Company Biergarten
The terraced outdoor biergarten at New Glarus Brewing is the most pleasant place in the village to spend a slow afternoon — wooden tables, rolling farmland views, and a pour list that covers the full brewery catalog including seasonal and limited releases unavailable anywhere else. The campus is meticulously maintained and the Swiss-inspired architecture makes it feel like it was transplanted from somewhere much farther away.
Landmarks & sights
New Glarus Brewing Company
The brewery behind Spotted Cow — Wisconsin's cult-favorite farmhouse ale — sits on a hillside campus you can only visit if you're in-state, which makes the trip feel earned. Grab a flight in the timber-and-stone tasting room or settle into the terraced biergarten with views over the rolling Green County countryside. The self-guided tour loops through impressive stainless tanks and a cellar stacked with oak barrels.
Swiss Historical Village & Museum
Fourteen authentic 19th-century structures — a log church, one-room schoolhouse, print shop, and cheese factory among them — document the founding Swiss settlers who arrived from the canton of Glarus in 1845. Knowledgeable volunteer guides bring each building to life with stories that go well beyond the posted placards. The cheese factory exhibit alone explains why Green County still anchors Wisconsin's dairy identity.