Things to do in Madison

Landmark · The isthmus, centre of the city

The Wisconsin State Capitol on its square, with a granite dome that a long-standing height limit keeps as the tallest thing in sight — and on Saturday mornings a producer-only farmers market that circles the whole ring, counter-clockwise, by unbreakable convention.

Local tip: Walk it the right way round or you will be the person swimming upstream. Get there before nine, buy a spicy cheese bread, and note that the market is the single best place in Madison to meet people — vendors and shoppers both. In winter it moves indoors and stays worth going to.

Culture · Lakeshore, UW-Madison campus

A terrace of green, orange and yellow sunburst chairs on the shore of Lake Mendota, with beer, live music and the best sunset in the city — open to the public, not just to students.

Local tip: This is Madison's real living room and everybody uses it. Non-members can buy food and drink; a Union membership gets you more. Rent a sailboat or a kayak from Hoofers next door, or just take a chair and watch the lake — that is what everyone else is doing.

Nature · Atwood, near Lake Monona

Sixteen acres of outdoor gardens on the near-east side plus a glass conservatory of tropical planting, and a gilded Thai pavilion that is the only one of its kind in the continental United States.

Local tip: The outdoor gardens are free, which almost nobody realises, and the conservatory ticket is small. Go in January when the Bolz Conservatory is 26°C and full of orchids while it is −15°C outside; it is the best twenty dollars you will spend in a Madison winter.

Nature · South-west of the isthmus, on Lake Wingra

Twelve hundred acres of restored prairie, oak savanna and wetland — including Curtis Prairie, the oldest ecological restoration in the world, begun in the 1930s under Aldo Leopold.

Local tip: Free, open dawn to dusk, and genuinely a piece of scientific history rather than just a park. Go in late July when the prairie is at full height, or in May for the lilac collection at Longenecker. The Ho-Nee-Um boardwalk on Lake Wingra is the quiet corner.

Neighborhood · Between Capitol Square and the UW campus

Eight pedestrianised blocks connecting the Capitol to the university — bookshops, record shops, restaurants, buskers and the Overture Center and Chazen Museum along the way.

Local tip: The most useful walk in Madison, because it stitches the two halves of the city's identity together. The Chazen is free and is a much better art museum than a university town has any right to. Avoid the street entirely on a home football Saturday unless that is the point.

Nature · Around Lake Monona and out to the south-west

A largely off-road twelve-mile circuit of Lake Monona linking into a regional trail network that runs on old rail corridors right out of the county.

Local tip: Madison is consistently rated among the best American cities for cycling and this is why — you can cross the city end to end almost entirely off-road. Do the Monona loop anti-clockwise for the skyline view coming back along the north shore, and note the paths are ploughed in winter, which is a policy decision the city takes seriously.