When a baby is born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, parents give them a name and a spot on the waiting list for season tickets for the Green Bay Packers.
Yes, football is king here. And the Lambeau Field Stadium tour is a must-do. But there are plenty more things to do that don’t involve pigskin. I sat in a “cocoon” at a brewery, sailed on Green Bay, hiked in a nature preserve and visited a winery where it’s possible we encountered their ghost.
I’m not a gambler, but strolled through the Oneida Casino and ate at a fantastic restaurant there.
Not necessarily a draw for tourists, Green Bay is also the Toilet Paper Capital of the World. The first splinter-free toilet paper was introduced here in 1935 and it’s the home of Northern Tissue. As one tourism official told me, “Everyone loves Green Bay because we’ve got toilet paper, cheese curds and the Packers.”
Start your trip with a stop at the brand-new Discover Green Bay Visitor Center. You can learn about Green Bay’s history, indigenous people, attractions and even play a game of Skee-Ball, which was patented and manufactured in a small town outside of Green Bay.
Here are more things to do in Green Bay.
Take a stadium tour at Lambeau Field
My dad got season tickets to the Atlanta Falcons in 1965 when they came to Atlanta and my parents were avid fans. Despite their best efforts, I never became a big fan of the game. But I did enjoy going on a Lambeau Field Stadium Tour.
Several types of tours are conducted year-round, sometimes up to 100 a day, according to our tour guide Mike McKenna. During our hour-long tour, he took us behind the scenes, which included going in locker rooms, the press area and some of the 174 suites.
“Our most asked question now? Where was Taylor Swift when the Packers played the Chiefs,” he told us.
We walked through the home tunnel and out onto the field where I could only picture what it must be like filled with Cheeseheads on game day.
Lambeau hosts 800 events a year, has 80,000 seats and is home to the coldest game ever played in the NFL. The Packers played the Cowboys in The Ice Bowl Game in December 1967 when it was 13 degrees below zero. You know you have devoted fans when they will sit in freeze-your-eyebrows cold weather wearing a foam wedge of cheese on their heads.
To get your own Cheesehead or any or thousands of other Green Bay items, head to the Green Bay Packers Pro Shop at the stadium. And don’t miss the 50-foot replica of the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the lobby.
Please see our related story: Mad About Madison: Dozens of Amazing Things to Do in Madison, Wisconsin
Dine, shop and play in Titletown
Across the street is Titletown, a 45-acre mixed-use development named for the 13 NFL World Championships the Packers have won. It includes Lodge Kohler Hotel, bars, restaurants, playground, theater, offices and a full-size football field.
There are activities year-round including yoga and Zumba classes and a night market every Thursday. In the winter there’s an ice-skating rink.
After strolling around, visiting the night market and listening to live music, we headed into dinner at Hinterland Brewery a large restaurant directly across from Lambeau Field that has an outdoor patio and windows overlooking Titletown.
Here is the place for handcrafted beer and menu items like steaks, sandwiches and wood-fired pizzas. I loved the fried Brussels sprouts petals appetizer and tuna poke bowl, both menu items I don’t think existed on a bar menu 10 years ago.
Relax with an adult beverage
When you want to kick back with a brew, you have plenty of options. Opened in 1996, Titletown Brewing was the first craft brewery in Green Bay and features the Sky Lounge, a rooftop bar with views of the Fox River.
Grab a Wisco Disco, an extra special bitter beer, IPA or hard cider at Stillmank Brewing Company.
Set on five acres, Cocoon Brewing has a huge outdoor area with five cocoons, tiny houses you can rent for a party or just to relax in with a group. We took a tour of a few of them, each uniquely decorated. One of them had a ‘70s vibe, decorated in bright oranges and album covers, giving me flashbacks to a crawl space area behind my older brother’s room where he could let his hippie flag fly freely. We hung out in a cocoon and shared one of the brewery’s fantastic pizzas made in a special oven imported from Italy.
With its woodwork and stained glass, Nicky’s Lionhead Tavern is reminiscent of a British pub. It serves burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads and that Wisconsin staple, cheese curds. My favorite was the chicken and andouille sausage gumbo that had quite a kick.
Hagemeister Park was the first home of the Green Bay Packers and now a restaurant named after the park draws huge crowds for its extensive menu, 20 TVs, events and huge riverfront patio. In the winter you can hang out under a heated canopy or in a heated igloo. In the summers crowds flock here for Fridays on the Fox with live music, food, drinks and sunsets on the Fox River.
If wine is more your thing, head to von Stiehl Winery in Algoma, Wisconsin’s oldest licensed winery that now produces more than 90,000 galleries of wine a year.
It was founded in 1967 by Charles Stiehl and is now run by his two sons. His son Brad gave us a tour, which included their building across the street that was built in 1867, formerly operated as a brothel and rumored to have a resident ghost.
As we headed down the staircase from the top floor where the ladies entertained their guests, a large rectangular box leaning against the wall in the corner shifted, prompting speculation of ghostly activity.
About 45 minutes from Green Bay, Algoma is a lively town with a beach on Lake Michigan with plenty of shops and restaurants. And birders will want to head here as it’s a recognized Bird City.
We were told there’s a lighthouse, but unfortunately fog prevented us from seeing it during our visit.
Dine at a restaurant with cuisine inspired by the Oneida Nation
The Oneida Nation tribe has a reservation that was formed in 1838 and given to members of the tribe from New York. Today, the Oneida Nation has a population of around 25,000 and the Oneida Casino is a popular gaming and entertainment destination.
The best meal of my visit to Green Bay was dinner at one of the restaurants there, Cedar & Sage Grill House, which serves cuisine inspired by regional and indigenous ingredients.
After dinner we took a brief walk through the Oneida casino, which has more than 1,000 slot machines, bingo, poker and table games. Casinos aren’t my thing, but if you are into gambling you’ll enjoy a visit here. Or not, I guess, depending on how much money you make/lose.
Sail and paddle on the waterways
Although we had gray skies and windy conditions, we were able to go sailing for a little while on Green Bay with Green Bay Sail & Paddle. Two high school kids took us on a small catamaran around the bay, pointing out the retro-themed Bay Bridge Amusement Park, which has one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the country.
They told us school would be closed in April during the NFL Draft, partly because the city needs all the school buses to transport people, reinforcing the fact that hosting the NFL Draft is a big deal for Green Bay.
Sadly, we got rained out for our kayak trip on the Fox River, but did stop by Scott’s Sports where you’ll find everything you need to enjoy the outdoors in Green Bay. You can also rent camping gear and clothing.
Although we didn’t get to kayak through it, we walked along the Fox River in De Pere Riverwalk where we could see the lock system that was used from the late 1800s to the 1980s.
The paper industry is huge in Green Bay, with the highest concentration of pulp and paper mills in the world that were polluting the river, making it one of the most polluted in the country. After a massive cleanup effort, it’s been certified by the EPA. Pelicans returned to the river and dozens of them were fishing near the bridge.
Stroll through Osprey Point
Keep your eye out for wildlife as your wander down the hiking trails in Osprey Point, a 100-acre conservancy in the village of Bellevue where you may spot turkey, deer and sand cranes in addition to the osprey nests.
There’s also a playground, rain gardens, archery range and bee hives.
Attend an event or catch an exhibit at the Mulva Cultural Center
The modern 75,000-foot Mulva Cultural Center showcases traveling exhibitions like the Sharks exhibition created by the Australian museum. The Center also has programs like pulp painting workshops and shows films in its high-tech Samsung Onyx screen with 100 seats. The Center, which cost $100 million, opened in late 2023.
Where to stay in Green Bay
I loved my spacious room at the new Legacy Hotel. Located on Brett Favre Pass, it’s walking distance to Lambeau Field. The huge lobby room behind the front desk features lots of comfortable seating with live bands on Thursday night, and the bar has jazz on the weekends.
Cardinal’s Crest is the rooftop bar and lounge that features burgers, flatbreads and views of the city. You can grab breakfast at Press Coffee & Juice Bar. My last morning, I headed to Heritage Restaurant, the hotel’s bistro and supper club for a delicious breakfast of avocado with goat cheese and eggs.
The hotel also has free parking, fitness center and spa.
For more on Green Bay, please visit Discover Green Bay.
– Jan Schroder, Editor-in-Chief
All photos by Jan Schroder unless otherwise noted.