La Crosse Wi is very fun weekend getaway for families, girlfriends, and couples. If you’re looking for a city with delicious food, lovely accommodations, and fun outdoor activities for adults and kids, consider Lacrosse! You won’t be disappointed.

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Spend a Fun Family Weekend Getaway in La Crosse WI

La Crosse, Wisconsin is perfectly situated in the Driftless Area of Western Wisconsin along the Mississippi River. A three and half hour drive from my home in Eastern Iowa, it’s also two and half hours from Minneapolis, three hours from Milwaukee, and four hours from Chicago. One of the things I love most about travel blogging is the ability to explore lovely cities and La Crosse is one city we really enjoyed visiting this spring.

The drive to La Crosse from Eastern Iowa is absolutely stunning. If you can, I highly recommend a drive up the Great River Road Scenic Byway. It meanders through quaint Iowa towns all along the Mississippi River and is absolutely stunning. We saw fun sights along the way like the Hula-hoop Tree in Jones County!

It’s also a great ride on motorcycles I learned from my father-in-law, an avid motorcycle explorer. I sometimes take the Mississippi River for granted since I live 15 miles away from it and see it on an almost daily basis, but it is a beautiful sight to behold and this trip reminded me that!

Family Friendly Things to Do in La Crosse

If your family likes active adventures, La Crosse offers up lots of options. From bike riding to boating, to hiking and exploring, your family will find something to make everyone in your family happy! Keeping kids happy outside {and off electronics} is a not so secret goal of mine – and you can do that in La Crosse. No problemo!

Our family loved biking on the Great River State Trail through La Crosse and Onlaska. This gorgeous mixed-use trail along the Mississippi River is easy biking on well-maintained paths. Make sure to stop in at the Great River Landing so your kids can play in the music park and swing in the giant swings! If you don’t want to haul your bikes from home, rent them from area shops! You can also sign up for guided tours like the one we took.

The Ghosts of Historic La Crosse Walking Tour

We enjoyed walking through downtown La Crosse at dusk learning about some of the haunts and shadier secrets of the area. Now I will disclose that the adults enjoyed this walking tour more than the kids, but the kids had fun too. We even asked several restaurant workers about the stories we heard on the walking tour and every story was corroborated! Since we have our own mischievous barn ghost, we really enjoyed this hour long stroll. Learn more here.

Boat rentals from Island Outdoors

Take a turn on the water with a kayak, canoe, or hydro-bike rental! Even though the weather was bad, we enjoyed going out for a quick 30 minutes on the river. My kids were a little disappointed they didn’t get to try out the hydro-bikes, but we did enjoy the canoes and kayaks in the rain. Had the weather been nicer, I’m sure we would have had to fight quite a bit get the kids out of the water. Check out Island Outdoors for all the deets!

Downtown Shops in La Crosse

We’re suckers for quaint downtown shops and La Crosse does not disappoint. My personal favorite was Duluth Trading Company. I could have stayed there all day! My younger kids loved the independent book store Pearl Street Books and my eldest daughter (the pianist) was in heaven at Leithold Music – such a neat old store with room after room of pianos and more!

Other things my kids would really enjoy doing include the Children’s Museum of La Crosse, taking a pizza dinner cruise on the La Crosse Queen, and playing in the arcade and more at Shenanigans Entertainment Center and Sports Bar. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time on this trip, but I hope we are able to make it back and experience more of the fun things that La Crosse has to offer!

Enjoy this silly little video we made about some of our favorite things in La Crosse! 

 

Where to Stay in La Crosse WI

There are lots of great options for places to stay in La Crosse. We opted to glamp in a lovely cabin not too far from La Crosse at the Neoshonic Lakeside Camp & Resort. We loved our little cabin and the campsite offered many kid friendly amenities including playgrounds, swimming pools, guided activities, and more!

Read about our wonderful Wisconsin Cabin at Neoshonic Lake Campgrounds here.

If you’re looking for other options, my friend Nicky from Little Family Adventure stayed at this amazing B & B in La Crosse called The Castle La Crosse. Read about her adventures at the B & B here. And my friend Kim from Two Kids and a Coupon stayed at the AmericInn La Crosse with her family. Her family enjoyed the water slides and more. You read about her adventures here.

What to eat & drink in La Crosse

From delicious coffee to craft beer to wood fired pizza and homemade ice cream, you’ll find the perfect restaurant in La Crosse WI. We enjoyed a wood fired pizza dinner and drinks on the roof of the lovely Charmant Hotel, spinning the bike tire for a brew at the Bodega, eating appetizers at the Red Pines Bar & Grill on the River, and eating ice cream at the Pearl Ice Cream Parlor. Find even more delicious La Crosse restaurants in this post.

We enjoyed our time in La Crosse Wi and the FAM trip to the Driftless Sports Convergence. Thank you Explore La Crosse for the fun filled weekend. What are you waiting for? Book your La Crosse weeekend getaway now and go explore.

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