The ultimate road trip guide to Wisconsin's Highway 10

US Highway 10 is one of Wisconsin's best-kept road trip secrets — a 293-mile ribbon of two-lane blacktop and divided freeway stretching from Lake Michigan's shore to the Mississippi River confluence, passing through 13 counties and touching nearly every flavor of the Badger State.

This east-west corridor links a WWII submarine tour and the birthplace of the ice cream sundae to the world's largest talking cow, nationally famous pie, and a bluff-top view where two of America's great rivers meet. For families, it delivers an embarrassment of riches: free zoos, cheese curd factories, crystal-clear spring-fed lakes, a scrap-metal dinosaur garden, and brewery tours that welcome all ages. The full drive takes roughly five hours without stops — but you'll want at least three days to do it justice.

Highway 10 traces much of the historic Yellowstone Trail, America's first transcontinental auto route (established 1912), and is officially designated the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Highway. The eastern half from Appleton to Marshfield runs as a modern four-lane freeway, while the western half from Marshfield to Prescott winds through rolling farmland and small towns on a scenic two-lane road — the kind of driving that makes a road trip feel like a road trip.

Getting your bearings: the route at a glance

The full Manitowoc-to-Prescott journey breaks naturally into six drivable segments. Families with limited time should prioritize the Stevens Point–to–Prescott western half, where attractions cluster more densely and the scenery shifts from pine forests to the dramatic Chippewa River valley and Mississippi bluffs.

Highway 10 intersects or briefly merges with I-43 near Manitowoc, I-41 near Appleton, I-39/US 51 near Stevens Point, and I-94/US 53 at Osseo. Gas and food are readily available in every major town, though the two-lane western stretches between Neillsville and Mondovi have longer gaps between services.

Highway 10 Wisconsin Road Trip

Manitowoc → Prescott  ·  293 miles  ·  19 stops  ·  3 days

All Stops Day 1 · Lake Michigan → Fox Valley Day 2 · Lakes, Breweries & Marshfield Day 3 · Osseo → Prescott

Lake Michigan to the Fox Valley

The eastern terminus sits at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, a Smithsonian affiliate where families can tour the USS Cobia, one of the most completely restored WWII submarines in America. Kids can climb through torpedo rooms and sleeping quarters; adventurous families can book an overnight stay aboard for $44 per person — billed as Wisconsin's coolest sleepover. Manitowoc built 28 submarines during World War II, and this museum tells that story vividly. Just down the street, a sidewalk plaque marks where a chunk of Sputnik IV crashed in 1962. The free Lincoln Park Zoo and the gorgeous Mariners Trail (a 7-mile paved lakefront path to Two Rivers) round out Manitowoc's family offerings.

Seven miles north in Two Rivers, the Historic Washington House claims to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae (1881), with an on-site replica parlor where you can order one for a few dollars — the only such claim backed by the National Register of Historic Places. The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum and Point Beach State Forest (3,000 acres of sandy Lake Michigan beach and wooded trails) make Two Rivers worth the short detour.

Heading west on Highway 10, several small towns deliver outsized charm. Kiel is home to Henning's Wisconsin Cheese, a fourth-generation family operation since 1914 where kids can watch cheddar being made through viewing windows and sample fresh warm curds daily. Master Cheesemaker Kerry Henning has crafted 12,000-pound wheels of cheddar for special events. In Brillion, the AriensCo Museum occupies the original 1933 factory building with 14,000 square feet of interactive STEM exhibits, including a life-sized snow globe and an "exploded" zero-turn mower with every piece suspended in midair — $5 adults, $3 students, and a TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice winner. Chilton surprises with Ledge View Nature Center, where guided tours explore natural solution caves in the Niagara Escarpment, and a 60-foot observation tower provides panoramic views. The Chilton Twilight Drive-In Theater is a classic family evening.

Appleton (population 75,000) is the largest city on the route and anchors the Fox Cities metro. The History Museum at the Castle houses a stellar interactive Houdini exhibit — Harry Houdini's family settled here when he was four, and he always called Appleton his hometown. Kids can try the Metamorphosis illusion and examine original straitjackets and handcuffs ($12 adults, $7 kids). The Building for Kids Children's Museum is excellent for younger children, and Hearthstone Historic House holds the distinction of being the world's first home lit by hydroelectricity (1882). A free downtown trolley loops through the riverfront district, and the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center has premiered more Broadway shows in Wisconsin than any other venue. For food, Home Burger Bar serves the cult-favorite "Big Dill" burger, and Beerntsen's Confectionery in Manitowoc (worth the detour or a stop on the way) has been making handmade chocolates for over 80 years.

The outdoor heart of Wisconsin: Waupaca, Stevens Point, and the Green Circle Trail

Waupaca Chain O'Lakes

Between Appleton and Stevens Point, Highway 10 runs as a fast four-lane freeway, but the exits lead to some of the trip's best outdoor experiences. Waupaca's Chain O' Lakes — 22 interconnected spring-fed lakes with distinctive blue-green marl-bottom water — is the region's premier family destination. The Chief Waupaca, an authentic double-decker sternwheeler, offers narrated 1.5-hour cruises from Clearwater Harbor. The Crystal River has water so clear you can count stones on the bottom; rent a canoe from Ding's Dock or tubes from Adventure Outfitters, which also runs glow-in-the-dark SUP tours at night. Scoopers Ice Cream (summer only, cash recommended) is a mandatory stop. Nearby Hartman Creek State Park has a 300-foot sand swimming beach, camping, and segments of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

In Amherst, the Tomorrow River delivers pristine spring-fed kayaking through red granite boulder gardens — Nature Treks in Stevens Point provides livery service for the 4.25-mile Nelsonville-to-Amherst paddle. Just east of Stevens Point, Central Waters Brewing Company is a nationally recognized craft brewery with free Friday and Saturday tours, a taproom, and a beer garden.

Stevens Point itself is an ideal overnight stop. The Stevens Point Brewery, founded in 1857, is the fifth-oldest continuously operating brewery in the United States — it once supplied beer to Union troops and was featured in the film The Great Outdoors. Tours run multiple days a week (reservations at 715-344-9310), and the all-ages taproom pours from 36 taps. The city's crown jewel is the Green Circle Trail, an award-winning 27-mile paved and boardwalk loop winding through forests, wetlands, and along the Wisconsin and Plover rivers. It connects 12 segments and links to the Schmeeckle Reserve (280 acres of trails, a nature center, free canoe and kayak rentals), the Stevens Point Sculpture Park, and multiple city parks. Downtown, Feltz Dairy Store lets you watch the entire curd-making process and buy Wisconsin's freshest cheese curds, while Ruby Coffee was named best coffeehouse in the state by Food & Wine.

Marshfield to Neillsville: free zoos, scrap-metal dinosaurs, and the world's largest talking cow

Wildwood Park & Zoo

West of Stevens Point, the character of the trip shifts. The freeway ends near Marshfield, and Highway 10 becomes a winding two-lane road through dairy country — slower driving, but richer in roadside Americana.

Just west of Stevens Point in Plover, the Food + Farm Exploration Center opened in 2024 to immediate acclaim, drawing over 57,000 visitors in its first year. This 50,000-square-foot interactive agricultural center features real tractor cabs with surround-screen video, a pretend grocery store with working registers, a play kitchen, and a mini food truck — families should allow two hours. Outside stands the World's Largest Potato Masher (38 feet, 11 inches tall, 7,500 pounds), a gloriously absurd selfie opportunity.

Marshfield (30 miles from Stevens Point, about 30 minutes) deserves a full afternoon. Wildwood Park & Zoo is free, open year-round, and genuinely impressive: twin Kodiak bears Munsey and Boda, cougars, gray wolves, bison, elk, bald eagles, and prairie dogs spread across 60 acres. The Large Animal Drive is accessible by car, making it stroller- and mobility-friendly. From November through December, the Rotary Winter Wonderland illuminates the park with over two million lights.

Four miles north of town, Jurustic Park is one of Wisconsin's most extraordinary hidden gems. Retired attorney Clyde Wynia (now in his mid-80s) has built roughly 1,000 whimsical metal creatures from salvaged scrap — dragons, dinosaurs, fantastical insects, and towering birds, some over 20 feet tall. Many are interactive, with handles and levers. Clyde often gives personal tours laced with puns and tall tales about his fictional "Iron Age" creatures dug from the nearby marsh. Admission is free (donations accepted), and the park draws about 15,000 visitors annually from 34 countries. A self-guided Downtown Jurustic Trail places donated sculptures throughout Marshfield's streets. Adjacent, Clyde's wife Nancy runs a Hobbit House studio selling hand-blown glass beads and fiber art. The city has approved a future plan to relocate sculptures to Wildwood Park when the Wynias retire — visit while Clyde is still giving tours.

For food in Marshfield, Nutz Deep II has been voted Best Pizza for ten consecutive years (try the Mac 'N Cheese pizza), the Blue Heron BrewPub occupies a converted ice cream factory, and Nasonville Dairy sits directly on Highway 10 just west of town — four Master Cheesemakers produce what many consider Wisconsin's best fresh squeaky curds (arrive in the morning for maximum squeak). The World's Largest Round Barn (150 feet in diameter, built 1916) at the Marshfield Fairgrounds is worth a photo stop.

Continuing west, Granton offers another Highway 10 cheese stop at Lynn Dairy, a fourth-generation family operation processing 700,000 pounds of milk daily, with an observation window and retail shop.

Neillsville (55 miles from Stevens Point) is home to Chatty Belle, the World's Largest Talking Cow — a 16-foot-tall, 20-foot-long fiberglass Holstein standing right on Highway 10. Drop a quarter to hear her seasonal monologue (Christmas stories in winter, April Fools' jokes in spring). She originally starred in Wisconsin's 1964 New York World's Fair pavilion, and the futuristic former pavilion building next door now houses Pavilion Cheese and Gifts, selling Wisconsin cheese, cranberry products, fudge, and locally made Munson Bridge wine.

Four miles west, The Highground Veterans Memorial Park sits on 155 acres with over a dozen moving tributes spanning from WWI to the Gulf War, including the striking National Native American Vietnam Veterans Statue and an Earthen Dove Effigy Mound. The park is free, open 24/7, and reviewers regularly compare it to the memorials in Washington, D.C. Four miles of hiking trails traverse 500,000 visible acres of Wisconsin woodland. Nearby, the Reed School (two miles east of Neillsville on Highway 10) preserves a 1915 one-room schoolhouse frozen in 1939 — free admission, open weekends May through October.

Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls: the creative capital of western Wisconsin

Norske Nook Restaurants and Bakery

At Osseo, Highway 10 meets I-94, and two essential stops bracket this junction. First, Norske Nook has been baking nationally award-winning pies since 1973 — hand-rolled crusts filled with lingonberry sour cream, mile-high sour cream raisin meringue, peaches and cream, and dozens of rotating specials. The Swedish-style pancakes with lingonberry jam and the lefse meatball wrap are equally legendary. Open daily 8 AM–3 PM; arrive early because lines form even on weekdays. The restaurant has a Scandinavian gift shop and ships pies nationwide via Goldbelly.

From Osseo, a 20-minute drive north on I-94/US 53 reaches Eau Claire, which has emerged as one of the Midwest's most vibrant small cities. Downtown centers on the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers, connected by a network of pedestrian bridges with programmable LED lights. Pablo Center at the Confluence (opened 2018) houses a 1,200-seat theater and the Midwest's largest black box theater, hosting Broadway-caliber shows, children's theater, and concerts. Phoenix Park hosts the free Sounds Like Summer concert series (Thursday evenings all summer), and Haymarket Plaza features interactive fountains and fire features.

Carson Park is the family epicenter: a peninsula surrounded by Half Moon Lake that holds the iconic Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues, the Chippewa Valley Railroad (a quarter-scale working steam train offering rides along the lake, Sundays Memorial Day through Labor Day), the Wisconsin Logging Museum, and the Chippewa Valley Museum. The historic baseball stadium is where Hank Aaron played in 1952 before going pro; the Eau Claire Express (Northwoods League) now plays summer collegiate ball there — an outstanding family outing for a few dollars. The Eaux Claires Music Festival, co-founded by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, returns to Carson Park July 24–25, 2026 after an eight-year hiatus.

The Children's Museum of Eau Claire downtown offers water exploration, a ninja course, climbing areas, and toddler spaces. Beaver Creek Reserve (12 miles east) features 400 acres of trails, a solar-powered nature center, a butterfly house (July–September), and the Storybook Trail — a paved quarter-mile path with nature-themed story pages, perfect for toddlers. The Hobbs Observatory offers public stargazing on clear Saturday evenings May through October.

Eau Claire's brewing scene is anchored by Lazy Monk Brewing (Czech and German lagers in a family- and dog-friendly bier hall overlooking the Chippewa River) and The Brewing Projekt (experimental IPAs and sours, rooftop patio, food trucks). For food, Olson's Ice Cream at Haymarket Landing is legendary, The Lakely at the Oxbow Hotel serves farm-to-table comfort food with lawn games and fire pits, and The Nucleus near the UW-Eau Claire campus is beloved for lemon ricotta pancakes.

Fifteen minutes north, Chippewa Falls delivers the Leinenkugel Brewery — founded in 1867, it's the seventh-oldest brewery in the country and still run by the sixth generation of the Leinenkugel family. The Leinie Lodge was voted #2 Best Brewery Tour in America by USA Today in 2024; the free Legacy Tour runs every half hour, and the taproom pours 15+ beers including taproom exclusives. Kids enjoy the lodge museum and gift shop while parents taste. The beer garden patio along Duncan Creek is dog-friendly.

Irvine Park & Zoo in Chippewa Falls is free, 318 acres, and features tigers, bears, bison, cougars, and a Red Barn Petting Zoo in summer. The park includes a pioneer Norwegian log home, a one-room 1903 schoolhouse, and a natural cave with springs. From Thanksgiving through New Year's, the Christmas Village lights up with 100,000+ lights and over 100 displays — a major regional tradition. Nearby, Lake Wissota State Park offers a 285-foot swimming beach, 17 miles of hiking trails, camping, and excellent fishing on a 6,300-acre lake. LaGranders Drive-In on the lake road serves custard and root beer floats from May through September, with gazebo dining and wooden swings — pure Wisconsin.

West to the rivers: Durand, Ellsworth, Prescott

West of Osseo, Highway 10 resumes as a scenic two-lane road winding through the driftless hills of Trempealeau, Buffalo, Pepin, and Pierce counties. This is some of Wisconsin's most beautiful driving — rolling dairy farms, forested ridgelines, and river valleys.

Mondovi anchors Buffalo County with Mirror Lake Park (playground, picnic areas, fishing pier) and the Buffalo River State Trail, a 36-mile multi-use path through farm country, woods, and marshland. Together Farms hosts burger nights with live music and farm animals — a uniquely charming family dining experience.

Durand, the Pepin County seat, sits dramatically on the Chippewa River beneath sandstone bluffs. The Chippewa River State Trail runs 30 miles north to Eau Claire, and the Tiffany Bottoms State Natural Area — the largest contiguous floodplain forest in the upper Midwest at 13,000 acres — offers canoeing and bald eagle watching. From Durand, a 15-mile detour south on Highway 25 reaches Lake Pepin and the Great River Road. The village of Pepin is the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder — the Little House Wayside has a replica log cabin on the original Ingalls family land (free, open year-round), and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum operates May through October. Tiny Stockholm is a gem of art galleries, and the Stockholm Pie Company bakes pies rivaling Norske Nook. This Lake Pepin detour takes about 40 minutes each way but rewards families with kids who love the Little House books.

Ellsworth (15 miles east of Prescott, directly on Highway 10) proudly calls itself the Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin. The Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery produces 170,000–180,000 pounds of cheese curds daily and sells fresh squeaky curds starting at 11 AM, seven days a week, alongside 250+ Wisconsin cheeses, fudge, and soft-serve ice cream. The annual Cheese Curd Festival (late June, roughly 30,000 attendees) features hand-battered deep-fried curds, the locally invented cinnamon sugar dessert curd, and a cheese curd eating contest.

The journey ends at Prescott, where the St. Croix River meets the Mississippi — one of America's great river confluences. Freedom Park occupies a 4-acre perch atop a 100-foot sandstone bluff with viewing decks, spotting scopes for eagle watching, native prairie gardens, and the Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center (free admission, a National Park Service partner site). The park draws over 250,000 visitors and serves as the northern gateway to Wisconsin's Great River Road (Highway 35), a 250-mile National Scenic Byway running south along the Mississippi. It's a fitting, dramatic endpoint for a cross-state journey.

Worth-the-detour side trips along the I-94 corridor

Several beloved Wisconsin destinations cluster along I-94 south of Osseo. They aren't on Highway 10, but families building a multi-day itinerary may want to weave them in.

• Black River Falls (30 miles south of Osseo, ~28 min): The Black River State Forest covers 68,000 acres, and Wazee Lake — a former iron mine quarry and one of Wisconsin's deepest lakes at 350 feet — has crystal-clear swimming. Sand Creek Brewing has a family-friendly taproom downtown. Ho-Chunk Nation cultural heritage is woven throughout the area.

• Warrens (47 miles south of Osseo): The Warrens Cranberry Festival is the world's largest cranberry festival, attracting 145,000+ visitors over three days the last full weekend of September (2026 dates: September 25–27). Year-round, the Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center has interactive exhibits and cranberry ice cream.

• Tomah (59 miles south of Osseo): The free Tomah Area Historical Museum houses the Gasoline Alley Collection — original artwork and memorabilia from Frank King's pioneering comic strip, created by a Tomah native in 1918. Tomah is also an active Amtrak Empire Builder stop on the Chicago–Seattle route.

• Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (50–60 miles south of Highway 10): This 43,696-acre refuge is famous as the nesting site for the reintroduced eastern population of endangered whooping cranes and hosts the world's largest population of Karner blue butterflies. The modern visitor center is free, family-friendly, and features boardwalk trails and a two-story observation tower. Well worth a dedicated half-day side trip for nature-loving families.

Cheese, pies, and Old Fashioneds: the essential food trail

Wisconsin's identity runs through its food, and Highway 10 delivers a concentrated tasting tour. The cheese stops alone justify the trip: Henning's Wisconsin Cheese (Kiel), Weyauwega Star Dairy (Weyauwega), Feltz Dairy Store (Stevens Point), Nasonville Dairy (Marshfield), Lynn Dairy (Granton), and Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery (Ellsworth) create a virtual cheese curd highway. The universal tip: buy curds in the morning for maximum squeak.

The brewery trail runs parallel: Stevens Point Brewery (1857), Central Waters (Amherst), Leinenkugel's (Chippewa Falls), Lazy Monk and The Brewing Projekt (Eau Claire). All welcome families in their taprooms or on tours.

For supper clubs — that quintessentially Wisconsin institution of Old Fashioneds, relish trays, and prime rib — look for the Sky Club in Plover (which claims to have invented the salad bar in 1950), Buck-A-Neer in Marshfield, Van Abel's of Hollandtown near Appleton (operating since 1848, with an on-site arcade for kids), and Wissota High Shores on Lake Wissota near Chippewa Falls.

When to go: fall cranberries and summer concerts

Late September is the single best weekend for this trip. The Warrens Cranberry Festival (September 25–27, 2026) and La Crosse Oktoberfest (September 24–27) overlap, cranberry marshes flood red for harvest, and fall color begins its slow burn through central Wisconsin (peaking mid-October in most Highway 10 counties). The air is crisp, crowds thin between festivals, and every farm stand overflows with apples and pumpkins.

Summer (late June through August) is ideal for families prioritizing outdoor recreation — Chain O' Lakes boat tours, Lake Wissota swimming, river tubing, and the free Sounds Like Summer concerts in Eau Claire's Phoenix Park. The Eaux Claires Music Festival returns July 24–25, 2026, and the Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival falls in late June. The Eau Claire Express plays collegiate baseball at Carson Park all summer.

Winter brings Wildwood Zoo's two-million-light Rotary Winter Wonderland in Marshfield and Irvine Park's Christmas Village in Chippewa Falls, but the two-lane western sections of Highway 10 can see significant snow and ice — check WisDOT conditions before traveling. Spring offers sturgeon spawning on the Wolf River near New London and Shiocton, plus the renewal of the SS Badger ferry service in May.

Conclusion

Highway 10 is not Wisconsin's most famous drive, but it may be its most rewarding. The route stitches together the state's full narrative — Great Lakes maritime heritage, immigrant cheesemaking traditions, university-town culture, driftless-area beauty, and the grand Mississippi — without the crowds of Door County or the Dells. The western half especially surprises: Jurustic Park is unlike anything else in the Midwest, Eau Claire has quietly become one of America's most creative small cities, and the St. Croix–Mississippi confluence at Prescott is a landscape that stays with you. The smartest approach is a three-day westbound itinerary: night one in Stevens Point or Waupaca, night two in Eau Claire or Chippewa Falls, arriving at Prescott's Freedom Park on day three with a cooler full of cheese curds and a box of Norske Nook pie on the back seat. Few road trips pack this much genuine Wisconsin character into 293 miles.