Plan Your Visit

As of 2015. Hours, prices and phone numbers on this page are kept as the original site listed them (captured July 8, 2015). Check current information with each attraction before you go.

Your visit to Wisconsin's Schooner Coast can last one full day, easily stretch into two or even fill a long weekend. How long you stay along our shores is up to you.

The Schooner Coast includes the port towns of Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Kewaunee, Algoma and Sturgeon Bay. Each offers unique maritime attractions and natural waters, plus authentic Wisconsin gems. Click on each town for general information.

Directions

Most attractions and sights along the Schooner Coast are located on or near Hwy. 42...

Attraction Hours & Admissions

Schooner Coast Lighthouses

A number of the lighthouses along the Schooner Coast can be viewed close up. At any time, you can walk out to the Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse, Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse, Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse and Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Lighthouse...

Maritime Museums & a Historic Village

See, touch and feel the Schooner Coast's deep maritime roots with a visit to three different locations that capture the area's olden days...

State Forest & Park

Enjoy the varied and natural beauty of the Schooner Coast - from wide sand beaches to rugged limestone cliffs to forested terrain...

Ships and boats come in all shapes and sizes and perform many different duties. The Schooner Coast includes a car ferry that was originally built to transport railroad freight cars, but now carries passengers in superior accommodations, and a tugboat that served during WWII and later helped construct many Great Lakes' harbors...

Wisconsin Gems

The Schooner Coast is full of genuine Wisconsin character. Stop by a fish market, cheese shop or supper club to get a real taste of the coast.

Added in 2026

The five towns are the same ones the original page listed, and the road between them has not moved: Highway 42 along the lake from Manitowoc to Algoma, then on to Sturgeon Bay. A few things worth knowing before you go, checked in November 2026:

The Ahnapee State Trail, a former rail line, runs 48 level miles through Kewaunee and Door counties, and about 17 miles of it between Algoma and Sturgeon Bay is shared with the Ice Age Trail (Wikipedia). It is the easy way to ride the northern end of the coast.
Point Beach State Forest, north of Two Rivers, covers about 2,903 acres with six miles of Lake Michigan shore (Wikipedia). The state forest and park page covers it and Potawatomi.
Rawley Point Light inside the forest stands 111 feet, the tallest lighthouse on the Wisconsin shore (Wikipedia).
The S.S. Badger sails from May to October and keeps Michigan's Eastern Time, an hour ahead of Wisconsin, so check which clock a departure refers to (Wikipedia). Details on the carferry and tug page.
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum, 75 Maritime Drive in Manitowoc, offers overnight stays aboard its World War II submarine (museum site).

For a ready-made route, the three-day itinerary strings the same stops together.

Questions visitors ask

How many days do you need for the Schooner Coast?

The original site suggested one full day, easily two, or a long weekend. Two days is comfortable for the museums in Manitowoc and Sturgeon Bay plus the lighthouses between them; a third day adds Point Beach and Potawatomi State Park.

Can you see the coast by bike?

Partly. The Ahnapee State Trail covers 48 level miles in Kewaunee and Door counties, including the stretch from Algoma to Sturgeon Bay, and Point Beach State Forest has its own bike trail north of Two Rivers.

Which time zone does the coast use?

Central Time, like the rest of Wisconsin. The one exception visitors trip over is the S.S. Badger, which publishes its schedule in Eastern (Michigan) Time.

Is it worth going outside summer?

Yes, if you pick your season. October brings the salmon run and the DNR fish facility open houses, and early December brings Christmas Tree Ship Day at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Many attractions keep shorter hours off season, so check before you drive.

Original text restored from the Wayback Machine capture of July 8, 2015. Typos and dead links were tidied; nothing else in the original section was rewritten. How this archive works.