Baileys Harbor
The quiet side's main town, facing Lake Michigan instead of Green Bay — which means morning sun, cooler air, and the county's best natural areas: Ridges Sanctuary, Cana Island lighthouse, and Anclam Beach. Less shopping, more nature. Some of us think that's the point.
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Activities & Outdoors
6 places
Bars & Pubs
9 places
Food & Drink
20 places
Restaurants
10 places
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4 places
Baileys Harbor guides
Best Restaurants in Baileys Harbor
Chives is the pick for a special dinner in Baileys Harbor — a farm-to-table kitchen growing much of its own produce for dishes like duck frites with cherry port sauce. But the town's range now runs the full table: an 1886 marina-view pub known for its Friday fish fry, a sunset-lit boathouse dining room, a 24-hour-fermented sourdough pizza spot, a lobster boil on Highway 57, and a train-themed family restaurant with a play yard out back.
Things to Do in Baileys Harbor
Baileys Harbor's best day pairs a nature walk at the Ridges Sanctuary with a climb up Cana Island Lighthouse, then winds down with dinner at Door County Brewing. All three sit within a few minutes of the village, so it's an easy day to build without much driving.
All places in Baileys Harbor
45th Parallel Door County
The 45th parallel really does run through Baileys Harbor, and this tasting room takes its name from the line. It is the Door County outpost of New Richmond's grain-to-glass 45th Parallel Distillery, pouring craft cocktails and spirit tastings on a dog-friendly patio, with bottles to buy on the way out.
AC Tap
The kitchen runs until 2 a.m. every day, which in a county where most kitchens close early makes it one of the rare places to eat after midnight. Order the garlic parmesan wings: former Packers running back AJ Dillon has been ordering them here for years.
Anclam Park & Beach
The town beach at the south edge of Baileys Harbor: a sandy, shallow stretch that's easy for little kids, with a playground, picnic tables and grills, and restrooms. Walk out the jetty for the view back over the harbor — a fine sunset spot and an easy place to slide a kayak in. Free, and rarely crowded.
Baileys 57
A gas station with Door County's largest walk-in beer cave and a deli counter worth a stop on its own: Boar's Head sandwiches made to order, homemade pizza by the slice, and a rotating lunch special.
Björklunden (Boynton Chapel)
A hand-built stave-style chapel on a Lawrence University lakeshore estate — modeled on a Norwegian stavkirke, with 41 hand-painted frescoes inside. Public tours run a couple of afternoons a week in summer for a few dollars; it's one of the more unexpected things to see in Door County.
Blue Ox Bar
A roadhouse bar in an 1887 building that's been slinging burgers, homemade chili, and Wednesday BBQ ribs since 1975. Inside there's eclectic vintage decor and a rotating local beer list, plus Joe's HarBar for summer drinks on the porch.
Cana Island Lighthouse
A lighthouse that earns the detour. Depending on water levels you may ride a hay wagon across the causeway, which is half the fun.
Chives
Baileys Harbor's fine-dining anchor on the quiet side, built around a farm-to-table menu that grows much of its own produce: think escargot, duck frites with cherry port sauce, and steak frites done a few different ways.
Coyote Roadhouse
Order the onion rings: a heaping loaf of thin, delicately fried strands. This pub and grill sits on the north end of Kangaroo Lake with an everybody-knows-your-name feel, a lake-view deck, and a Friday fish fry.
Door County Brewing Co. & Music Hall
The best room in the county for live music, and the Polka King Porter holds its own anywhere.
Door Shakespeare
Professional classical theater performed outdoors in the Björklunden garden in Baileys Harbor — a summer season of Shakespeare and the occasional Wilde, staged under the trees near Lake Michigan. Bring a cushion and the bug spray; it's one of the loveliest ways to spend a warm evening up here.
Gatsby's Grille
A relaxed grille on the Maxwelton Braes golf course grounds, best known locally for its Friday fish fry, spinach artichoke dip, and a patio that looks out over the fairways.
Harbor Custard & Provisions
The custard is the reason to stop: made fresh in-house every day, with vanilla and chocolate always on and a rotating case of Baron's Gelato from Sheboygan if you want to branch out. True to the second half of the name, there's a bakery case and grab-and-go picnic supplies, run by the Harbor Fish Market & Grille crew next door.
Harbor Fish Market & Grille
A seafood restaurant and market on Highway 57 in Baileys Harbor, known for a lobster boil alongside walleye and other lake fish, with outdoor seating and lake views. The pick if lobster over an open fire sounds better than the traditional whitefish boil.
Inland
A sourdough pizza restaurant from a team with Wickman House roots: 24-hour fermented crust, a smoked whitefish pie, and a dine-in-only, no-reservations approach that keeps the focus on the food.
Koepsel's Meadow Lane Antiques
The county's most serious antiques stop, on the Koepsel's farm-market grounds south of Baileys Harbor: original-surface furniture, Great Lakes duck decoys and fishing lures, Scandinavian pieces, and folk art, curated by Melissa and Dennis Koepsel. Worth a slow browse.
Lake Fire Winery
Door County's only lakeside winery, set on the Lake Michigan shore in Baileys Harbor where the patio and lawn run down to the water. The pours come from the Joppe family's sister label, Forgotten Fire Winery in Peshtigo, alongside ciders pressed from Seaquist Orchards apples. Settle in with a flight and a charcuterie board on the grass, or carry in your own picnic from a local spot nearby.
Lakeshore Adventures
The clear-bottom Shipwreck Tour is the one to book: paddling directly over 1800s wooden schooner wrecks in under 15 feet of water, with a stop at the 1820s Bird Cage Lighthouse. Baileys Harbor has more than a dozen accessible shipwrecks, and this is the easiest way to see them without a dive certification.
Maxwelton Braes Golf Course
Golf has been played on these fairways since 1929, which makes Maxwelton Braes one of the older courses in the state — an easygoing, walkable 18 (par 70) just south of Baileys Harbor, with a lodge and a snack bar at the turn.
PC Junction
A train-themed family restaurant running since 1998, where a working model train delivers food to the table and an outdoor play area with swings and go-cars keeps kids busy. Homemade soups and an award-winning chili are the reasons the adults keep coming back.
Roost + Banter
A coffee-and-breakfast cafe right in downtown Baileys Harbor, open from 7am daily. The easy call for an early start before a day on the water or the trails.
Stone's Throw Winery
A Tuscan-style winery on County Road E in Baileys Harbor, with a sculpture garden, bocce courts, and the Vino!Vino! wine and tapas bar. The distinction: owner Russell Turco makes wine from 100% California grapes, trucked 2,500 miles in refrigerated trucks from small West Coast vineyards, reaching the winery in about 36 hours and crushed on arrival. It's an idea he began planning back in 1993.
Sway Bakery
Sway is a Baileys Harbor brewery from former Hacienda brewer Matt Sampson, and its morning window is a scratch bakery built around regeneratively grown Midwestern grain. Head baker Jackie's cinnamon rolls are the one to order, and the counter runs Wednesday through Sunday only until 11:30am, when the kitchen takes over.
Sway Brewing + Blending
A two-story brewery and scratch bakery that starts the day with coffee and house-made pastries, then shifts to beer and street-food-style plates by afternoon in a beer garden built for lingering.
The Baileys Harbor Cornerstone Pub
A pub in an 1886 former hardware store overlooking the Baileys Harbor marina, built around one of the county's longest-running Friday fish fry traditions: perch, walleye, and whitefish alongside nightly specials like Saturday prime rib.
The Ridges Sanctuary
The quiet side at its best: flat boardwalk loops, rare wildflowers, and trails that stay peaceful even in the middle of July.
The Thirsty Cow Taphouse
Door County's only self-pour taphouse: 25 rotating Wisconsin taps you pour yourself, paired with The Boss Bovine burger and Cowabunga Curds in a dog-friendly space with live music and trivia nights.
Toft Point State Natural Area
The county's best-kept hiking secret, mostly because it doesn't have marked trails in the usual sense: you're walking old roads and paths out to a wave-cut dolomite shoreline through one of the state's most botanically diverse sites. Flat, easy, and almost always empty.
Top Deck Restaurant & Bar at Gordon Lodge
A restored boathouse on North Bay at Gordon Lodge, with steak bites, crab cakes, and Door County cherry salads on the deck as the sun goes down over the water. One of the better sunset dinner settings on this side of the peninsula.