WI Dupes: Hidden gems that are just as cool as their more famous (& crowded) counterparts

You don’t need to head out of state to find amazing travel destinations. Here are some of the best travel dupes throughout Wisconsin.

There are plenty of amazing places to travel to around the world, but sometimes it seems that people always go to the same sites. From the Eiffel Tower to Yellowstone National Park, overtourism and large crowds are a continuous problem at some of the world’s most popular spots. That’s why it’s helpful to know some travel dupes — places that are just as scenic, fun, and engaging as some of the most popular places in the world.

Travel dupes are hidden gems that are, for the most part, more cost-effective and far less crowded than their more famous counterparts. Conveniently, there are plenty of travel dupes throughout Wisconsin.

From small villages that emulate European countries to majestic state parks that are just as beautiful as some overcrowded national parks, consider these travel dupes in Wisconsin before booking an expensive trip to an overcrowded site.

New Glarus

Dupe for: Switzerland

If you’ve never visited New Glarus, a small village in southwestern Wisconsin, you’ve most likely heard of it — especially if you’re a fan of Wisconsin-brewed beers. The village is well known for the New Glarus Brewing Company, which produces Spotted Cow, one of the most well-known beers throughout the state. But it’s also well-known for its similarity to Switzerland.

While New Glarus might lack the mountains and notable banks that the European country is famed for, they do share many similarities. In the 1800s, two men from Switzerland were sent out to find an ideal place in the United States for a group of Swiss settlers to make a home, and New Glarus was chosen because its valleys and hilltops reminded them of Switzerland. The village itself is named for the Swiss canton of Glarus, where the group left from. Now, visitors can immerse themselves in what life was like for the group at the Swiss Historical Village and Museum and then stop by Chalet Landhaus for authentic cheese fondue and four different types of schnitzel. In 1999, New Glarus was chosen as the home of the Swiss Center of North America, a cultural center and non-profit organization that highlights and preserves Swiss culture. 

Photo courtesy of New Glarus Chamber of Commerce.

Devil’s Lake State Park

Dupe for: Crater Lake National Park

S5975 Park Road, Baraboo

Compared to the West Coast of the country, there’s a definite lack of national parks throughout the Midwest — but thankfully, Wisconsin has plenty of stunning state parks to make up for it. One of the state’s most popular state parks is Devil’s Lake State Park, in Baraboo. At more than 9,000 acres, it’s also Wisconsin’s largest state park. Devil’s Lake State Park is well-known for its many hiking trails, which range from short, paved trails to more challenging climbs along the cliffs that surround the park’s main attraction: the lake, which reaches a maximum depth of 47 feet. The park costs $13 a day for Wisconsin residents and $16 for non-residents, and annual passes cost $28 for residents and $38 for non-residents.

The state park makes for an ideal dupe for larger national parks that are harder to reach from the Midwest, like Crater Lake National Park. The national park, located in southern Oregon, is situated in the Cascade Mountains. Its main attraction is the lake that it’s named for, Crater Lake, one of the deepest lakes in the world, that was formed in the caldera of a volcano. Just like Devil’s Lake State Park, the park has plenty of hiking trails and campgrounds but is mostly visited for its lake. 

Ice Age Trail

Dupe for: Appalachian Trail

Spanning more than 1,200 miles, the Ice Age Trail is a scenic trail, entirely located in Wisconsin, that nearly spans the length and the width of the entire state. The trail, which is part of the National Park Service, is an official National Scenic Trail and runs from St. Croix Falls, on the state’s border with Minnesota, to Sturgeon Bay, in Door County. The Ice Age Trail follows some of the most scenic routes within the state, where glacial ice carved out lakes, bluffs, and hills.

The Appalachian Trail, which runs for more than 2,190 miles from its northernmost point in Maine all the way down to Georgia, is one of the most popular hiking trails in the world. According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, more than three million people hike either all of the trail (or sections of it) every year. While not as popular, the Ice Age Trail still sees millions of hikers every year, attracting 2.3 million thru-hikers and section hikers annually. You don’t have to be an avid hiker to walk part of the Ice Age Trail — find a nearby section and go for a short walk, or for the more determined, take on the entire 1,200-mile trek in one go.

Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal

Dupe for: Panama Canal

Door County is a peninsula that separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula is approximately 70 miles long, and ships would have to travel around the entire peninsula if it weren’t for the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. The canal cuts through the peninsula, starting in Lake Michigan and ending in Sturgeon Bay, which connects to Green Bay. The canal, which is 1.3 miles long and contains no locks, can be seen at the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Nature Preserve, where visitors can also stop by a scenic, bright red lighthouse to watch the ships traveling through the canal pass by. 

Of course, the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal isn’t the most famous ship canal in the world — that would arguably be the Panama Canal, a 51-mile waterway that cuts through Panama and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Panama Canal first opened in 1914, and an expansion of it was completed in 2016. There are cruises that pass through the Panama Canal, but it can also be visited by land, primarily at the Miraflores Visitor Center.

Photo courtesy of Fondycardinals/CC BY-SA 4.0

Matz Farmstead Ruins

Dupe for: Tintern Abbey

8312 WI-19, Cross Plains

It’s expected to come across ruins in places like Rome, or Egypt, but there’s some to be found in Wisconsin as well. The Matz Farmstead Ruins are the more than 160-year-old remains of settler Freidrich Matz’s farmstead in Cross Plains. Matz built the stone home after returning from the Civil War, but the house burned down in 1949, with its stone walls being the only still-existing remnants of the former farmstead. The Matz Farmstead Ruins are located in the Dane County Halfway Prairie Wildlife Area. 

While not as imposing or ancient, the stone farmstead ruins are reminiscent of Tintern Abbey, an abbey in Monmouthshire, Wales, that was first constructed in the 12th century. According to the Welsh government, Tintern Abbey fell into disrepair in the 1500s and was visited by 47,000 people in 2021. 

Door County

Dupe for: Cape Cod

Door County, a county that lies on the peninsula that separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan, is one of the most popular tourist destinations within Wisconsin. Between its charming towns like Fish Creek and Sister Bay, its numerous beaches and abundance of state parks, it’s easy to see why the beloved peninsula sees more than 2.5 million visitors each year. 

But it’s not as much as other overcrowded beach destinations, like Cape Cod, which saw 4 million visitors in 2022. While both peninsulas have charming islands off of their shores, are packed with lighthouses, beaches and charming towns, Door County sees far less foot traffic, and is significantly more accessible to Wisconsin residents.

Elroy-Sparta Bike Tunnels

Dupe for: Norwegian bike tunnels

One of the most popular bike trails in Wisconsin, the Elroy-Sparta State Trail runs for 32.5 miles. One of the standout features of the trail is its tunnels. The tunnels were formerly used by trains when they were first constructed in the 1870s but are now dedicated bike tunnels. The Elroy-Sparta State Trail passes through three of the former railroad tunnels, which are closed from Nov. 1 through April 30. The two shorter tunnels are each a quarter-mile long, while the longest tunnel, which is between the village of Norwalk and the city of Sparta, is .75 miles long.

Bike tunnels can be found in other parts of the world, including Norway, where Fyllingsdalstunnelen opened last year. The Norwegian tunnel is in Bergen, in the southwestern part of the European country, and is more than 1.8 miles long. 

House on the Rock

Dupe for: Winchester Mystery House

5754 WI-23, Spring Green

With staircases that lead to nowhere, trap doors and interior-barred windows, the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif. is one of the most unique homes that’s open for tours within the country. But it’s not the only unconventional home in the United States — House on the Rock, in Spring Green, is also a unique gem that’s worth a tour.

The house, which was first opened as an attraction in 1959, has numerous rooms that are each designed distinct from one another, as well as a series of attractions, including the world’s largest indoor carousel, which has 269 animals. Visitors can choose between three different tours of the house: a traditional tour, a Christmas-themed tour, which runs from mid-November through the end of December, and a “Dark Side” haunted tour, which runs on select dates in October. 

Photo courtesy of Tracey/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Wingspread

Dupe for: Fallingwater

33 E 4 Mile Road, Wind Point 

While Frank Lloyd Wright is known for his work throughout the country (and world!), the famed architect made his home in Wisconsin. The state is home to more than 40 of Wright’s works, including Wingspread, a home in Wind Point that was built for Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr., the former president of S.C. Johnson. The house, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989, is notable for its four different wings, as well as the 30-foot chimney in the center of the home. Visitors can take a free tour of the home but have to make a reservation online first.

Frank Lloyd Wright fans or architecture admirers can visit several of the architect’s buildings in Wisconsin, including the Hillside Home School in Spring Green and the Unitarian Meeting House in Shorewood Hills. But one of his most famous works that’s open to tours is Fallingwater, a historic home designed by the architect in Mill Run, Penn. The Pennsylvania home was built between 1936 and 1939, and is known for its implementation of organic architecture, where the house is integrated into its natural setting, including a waterfall that descends from the house itself. Tours of Fallingwater are available, and they cost $36 per person.

Cave of the Mounds

Dupe for: Mammoth Cave National Park

2975 Cave of the Mounds Road, Blue Mounds

Cave of the Mounds, in Blue Mounds, is a site hundreds of millions of years in the making. The limestone rock that forms the Wisconsin cave first started being carved more than 488 million years ago, when North America was covered in shallow seas. The cave itself is much younger — it started forming approximately one million years ago. In 1987, the cave was designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service and the United States Department of the Interior. Now, it’s one of the best locations in Wisconsin to explore a cave. 

Cave of the Mounds is open every day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and visitors can either take a self-guided or a traditional tour of the cave. Entrance to the cave costs $23.99 for anyone over the age of 13 and $14.99 for children between the ages of 4 and 12. Children under the age of 4 can enter for free.

Photo courtesy of Cave of the Mounds National Natural Landmark.

Covered Bridge in Cedarburg

Dupe for: The Bridges of Madison County in Iowa

The bridges of Madison County, Iowa, may have been made popular in the 1992 novel, “The Bridges of Madison County,” and the 1995 film based on it, but the historic bridges have been around for far longer. While there used to be 19 bridges throughout the county, six historic bridges remain, with the oldest, the Cutler-Donahoe Bridge, dating back to 1870. Visitors can stop at Madison County’s Visitor Center for a map that highlights all of the county’s covered bridges. The county also offers personal, guided tours of the bridges. The tours, which cost $50 for up to five people, are two hours long and include information on the construction and history of the bridges, as well as the history of the movie “The Bridges of Madison County.”

But travelers don’t have to go to a different state to see historic covered bridges. The city of Cedarburg has its own historic and scenic covered bridge. Built in 1876, the bridge, which used to be called the Red Bridge, is one of the last covered bridges remaining in Wisconsin and is now only used for pedestrian traffic. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.