Milwaukee

Milwaukee's beaches face Lake Michigan, a freshwater sea with no salt and no tide. Bradford Beach, below the bluffs on the East Side, is the summer centre of it, with sand volleyball courts, rentable cabanas and a crowd that turns up on warm weekends. Smaller stretches such as McKinley and South Shore sit along the same lakefront.

The catch is the water. In a good August it reaches about 20°C, but an offshore wind can push cold water up from the depths and drop it sharply overnight, and the swimming season runs only from late June to early September. Many visitors enjoy the sand and dip their feet rather than swim. Treat the beach as a pleasant summer afternoon, not a reason to come.

Eating in Milwaukee follows the habits of the Upper Midwest and its German, Polish and Serbian immigrants. The Friday fish fry is a weekly ritual in taverns, churches and supper clubs: battered cod or perch with rye bread, coleslaw and potato pancakes. Frozen custard stands, bratwurst, cheese curds and the brandy old fashioned all belong to the local repertoire, and the supper club, with relish trays and prime rib in a wood-panelled room, is worth trying once.

Beer is the city's oldest trade, from the historic brewery buildings to many small taprooms in Walker's Point and the Third Ward. The Milwaukee Public Market is a good place to graze, and the South Side has strong Mexican cooking. Fine dining exists but is a small tier.

The image most visitors leave with is the Milwaukee Art Museum, whose white Santiago Calatrava pavilion on the lakefront opens and closes its wing-like sunscreen like a bird. Inside is a broad collection with good American decorative arts and folk art. The Harley-Davidson Museum, in the Menomonee Valley, tells the story of the motorcycle maker founded here and draws enthusiasts from far away.

The rest is a city of brewing-era wealth: the Pabst Mansion, the domed Basilica of St Josaphat built by Polish parishioners, the cream-brick warehouses of the Historic Third Ward and the Victorian streets around Brady Street. The Milwaukee Public Museum covers natural history and the city's past. It adds up to two or three good days rather than a sightseeing marathon.

Wisconsin drinks seriously, and Milwaukee has a corner tavern on what feels like every block, many with old brewery signs, a pool table and a long bar of regulars. That neighbourhood tavern is the most distinctive night out. Water Street downtown is the loud, student-and-sports-crowd strip, Brady Street mixes dive bars with cocktail places, and Walker's Point and the Third Ward hold craft-beer taprooms, wine bars and the city's main LGBTQ bars.

Clubbing is limited, and bars close at about 2am, a little later at weekends. Summer evenings are the liveliest, when patios and beer gardens fill and game nights spill out around the stadium and arena. In winter the scene moves indoors and quietens.

Lake Michigan defines the outdoors here. The lakefront is lined with parkland for most of the city's length, with Lake Park and its bluffs and ravines laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the lake itself looks like an open sea on clear days. The Oak Leaf Trail and Hank Aaron State Trail make long, flat cycling routes, and the Milwaukee River can be paddled by kayak through the centre.

The Kettle Moraine State Forest, about an hour away, has glacial hills, lakes and hiking trails, and it is the best escape inland. The landscape is gentle rather than dramatic, and winters are long and cold, so most outdoor life happens from May to October.

The great day trip is Chicago, about an hour and a half by train, with its architecture, museums and lakefront all within walking distance of Union Station. In the other direction, Madison, the state capital on its isthmus between two lakes, makes an easy outing by car or bus.

Closer in, Cedarburg keeps a main street of 19th-century stone mills and shops, Racine has Frank Lloyd Wright's SC Johnson buildings, and Kohler is a planned company village known for its gardens and design. Lake Geneva, with lakeside mansions seen from the shore path, and the German-flavoured towns along the lakeshore round it out. Beyond those, the countryside is farmland.

Milwaukee is an easy, unhurried city with children. The Milwaukee County Zoo is large and well regarded, Discovery World on the lakefront mixes science exhibits with freshwater aquariums, and the Betty Brinn Children's Museum suits younger children. The Mitchell Park Domes, three glass conservatories with desert, tropical and seasonal displays, are a good escape in cold weather.

Summer is the best time, with the lakefront parks, Bradford Beach, a baseball game and the long run of ethnic festivals at the lakeside festival grounds. Driving and parking are straightforward and people are friendly, though from November to March the cold limits what families will want to do outdoors.

Downtown, the Third Ward and the lakefront are compact and pleasant to walk, and the Riverwalk links much of the centre along the Milwaukee River. A short streetcar line, The Hop, runs through downtown and the Third Ward, and bus routes reach the East Side, the zoo and the suburbs.

Beyond the core the city is spread out and built for driving, with no metro or commuter rail inside it. Most visitors use a car or ride-hailing for the zoo, the Harley-Davidson Museum or anything outside the centre, and parking is easy to find. Bike-share and the lakefront trails work well in summer, less so in snow.

Shopping is modest and local. The Historic Third Ward is the best area to browse, with independent boutiques, home and design shops and galleries in old warehouses, and the Milwaukee Public Market sells Wisconsin cheese, sausage and food gifts. Brady Street and the East Side add vintage and record shops.

For big brands, residents drive to suburban malls. Visitors tend to leave with cheese, local beer, Harley-Davidson gear or Brewers merchandise rather than fashion. Nobody plans a trip here to shop.

For an American city, Milwaukee is fairly gentle on the wallet. Hotel rooms cost well below what the coastal cities charge, taverns and fish fries are reasonably priced, and many parks, the lakefront and festivals cost little or nothing. Beer in a neighbourhood bar is cheap by national standards.

It is still priced like the United States: sit-down meals come with tax and an expected tip, and summer weekends with big festivals or games push hotel rates up sharply. Hiring a car adds to the bill for anyone going beyond the centre.

Milwaukee has a full set of resident companies for a city its size: the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in the Bradley Symphony Center, the Florentine Opera, the Milwaukee Ballet, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and the Skylight Music Theatre for musicals and light opera. The Pabst Theater, an ornate 1895 opera house, hosts touring bands and comedians, and the Marcus Center takes touring Broadway shows.

The headline is Summerfest, a huge music festival held each summer on the lakefront festival grounds, with hundreds of acts across many stages over several weeks. The same grounds host the city's ethnic festivals, with plenty of live music. Outside summer the programme is solid but local in scale.

There is no bathing culture in Milwaukee, and wellness means hotel and day spas rather than anything the city is known for. The pace is relaxed, though, and a walk along the lakefront or the Riverwalk is the most restorative thing on offer. For a proper spa day, visitors drive about an hour north to the resort village of Kohler. Anyone who wants rest more than taverns and festivals will find this a quiet but limited choice.