Fish Creek
The center of gravity for a Door County vacation: the main entrance to Peninsula State Park, the densest cluster of restaurants and shops, and summer theater at Northern Sky and Peninsula Players nearby. Parking fills fast on a July Saturday — arrive before 10am or plan to walk.
Browse Fish Creek
Activities & Outdoors
8 places
Bars & Pubs
4 places
Breakfast & Brunch
7 places
Food & Drink
27 places
Markets & Provisions
4 places
Restaurants
15 places
Shopping
9 places
Fish Creek guides
Peninsula State Park: The Complete Guide
Peninsula State Park is a 3,700-acre park between Fish Creek and Ephraim, and the way to understand it is the one-way loop road that strings together Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Nicolet Beach, Eagle Tower, and miles of shoreline trail. Budget a couple of hours for a quick loop, a full day to hit three or four stops, or an overnight if you're camping — one vehicle sticker covers everything regardless. It's open (and worth visiting) year-round, including for winter trail use.
The Best Restaurants in Fish Creek
White Gull Inn is our first call for Fish Creek dining, with a candlelight fish boil that anchors the historic inn's dining room, but the whole strip near Peninsula State Park's entrance is worth the walk. It's a walkable run of casual and classic spots — a family-run chowder kitchen, a wood-fired pizza patio, a late-night tavern, and an easygoing nightly fish boil all within a few minutes on foot. Park once early in the day — summer spots near downtown fill fast.
All places in Fish Creek
Alexander's of Door County
A classic Wisconsin supper club on Highway 42 with a full bar and an in-house pastry chef: hand-cut Angus steaks, roasted cherry duck, and a rack of lamb, in a room that fills up fast on date nights.
Barringer's Restaurant
Jacob Barringer built this Fish Creek building in 1910 as an ice cream parlor for his daughters; it's a steakhouse and supper club now. Expect dry-aged Delmonico ribeye, Chesapeake crab cakes, and a Lake Perch fry in the old dining room, with a bar that runs indoors and out. Open Wednesday through Sunday, and weekend dinners book up.
Bayside Coffee
Order the housemade cold brew and a fresh croissant, then carry them out to the patio. This is Fish Creek's only waterfront cafe, run by the family behind Bayside Tavern and pouring Colectivo coffee from a historic cottage across from Clark Park.
Bayside Tavern
A Fish Creek mainstay, and one of the few kitchens open late, whatever the month.
Blue Horse Beach Cafe
A coffee and breakfast spot across from the beach in Fish Creek: an easy pairing with beach time.
Bridge Up North at The Cherry Hut
A Bridge Up Brewing taproom built into the Door County Cherry Hut, the rare stop that hands you a craft beer and a Door County cherry pie from the same farm market. Owners Trent Snyder and Jason Estes revived the old Ray's Cherry Hut just south of Fish Creek and set the taps beside the pie case, with a patio out back running to more than an acre of green space and five fire tables. Order the Knee High cream ale and carry a slice out to the fire.
CUT
Fish Creek's splurge steakhouse, new in 2025. The wood fire turns out a thick dry-aged ribeye and a 36-ounce Booth Creek wagyu tomahawk, alongside caviar service, oysters, and cedar-plank Chilean sea bass. Ask for the second-floor balcony over Main Street; the 3-to-5 happy hour is the sane way in.
DC Chocolate Design Cafe
A husband-and-wife chocolate shop that grew out of Cole and Kara's home kitchen in 2018 and opened this Fish Creek cafe counter in 2021. Order one of Kara's hand-painted truffles from her own recipes (the Door County Cherry Cream) and pair it with coffee roasted by Isely.
Dippy's Ice Cream Shop
Huge scoops of Wisconsin-made Chocolate Shoppe ice cream, dished from the center of Founder's Square for more than thirty years. Order the Door County Cherry.
Donuts By Design
Build your own donut here: pick the base, a filling, a frosting, and three toppings (more if you want them). This Fish Creek shop makes them fresh and hands them over warm, so the fun of choosing pays off on the first bite.
Door Community Auditorium
Door County's big room: a year-round performing-arts center in Fish Creek that brings in touring music and theater you wouldn't expect this far north, and hosts the Peninsula Music Festival's symphony series each August. When you want a proper night out — a concert, a touring show — check here first.
Door County Confectionery (Fish Creek)
The original Door County Confectionery opened in Fish Creek in 1972 and still hand-crafts its fudge and chocolates more than fifty years on. Order the fudge; chocolate walnut is the long-running classic.
Eagle Bluff Lighthouse
The easy add-on if you're already at Peninsula State Park for the beach or the bike trail: fold in the lighthouse tour rather than treating it as its own trip.
Edge of Park Bike & Moped Rentals
Bikes and mopeds a few steps from a Peninsula State Park trailhead in Fish Creek — the easy way onto the park's trails without hauling your own. Bike rentals come with a helmet, lock, and trail map; mopeds you can reserve ahead.
Edgewood Orchard Galleries
The county's grande dame of galleries, family-run since 1969 in a restored 1918 fruit barn off Peninsula Players Road. More than 150 artists fill the rooms — painting, sculpture, glass, ceramics, jewelry — and the feature show changes monthly, so it rewards repeat visits. Wander the sculpture garden on the grounds before you leave.
Fish Creek Bakery & Coffee Shop
A family-run bakery, coffee bar, and gourmet gift shop under one roof in the center of Fish Creek, baking from scratch each morning. Ask what came out of the oven most recently.
Fish Creek Scenic Boat Tours
Narrated sightseeing cruises off the Fish Creek town dock on a 69-passenger boat, gliding past Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, the Peninsula State Park shoreline, and the cottages of "Millionaire's Row." The sunset cruise adds live music; there are fireworks runs on holiday weekends.
Hands On Art Studio
Come make something. On a farmstead off Peninsula Players Road you can throw a pot, fuse glass, cut mosaic, paint canvas, or torch metal — no experience needed, staff walk you through it. It's the rainy-afternoon plan and the date-night plan both; just start your project by 3:30 so it can fire or dry. Some Friday evenings run as adult (21+) nights.
Helioterra Wines
The wines are Anne Ebenreiter Hubatch's work: a Sheboygan native who studied geology at UW-Madison, moved to Oregon, and launched Helioterra there in 2009, sourcing grapes from growers across the Pacific Northwest instead of owning vineyards. Her Fish Creek tasting room at the Top of the Hill Shops pours those Oregon wines by the flight, with a second, easier-going label called Whoa Nelly for everyday drinking.
Hill Street
A year-round bar in downtown Fish Creek with two of them, one inside and one outside, plus weekly live music. The kitchen keeps it casual and a little playful, sending out the Kurgan burger and a Fluffernutter before switching to late-night food nightly from 9 to midnight.
Hyline Orchard
The old-school U-pick: rows of Montmorency trees, pails, a scale, and not much else. Picking, undiluted.
Julie's Park Cafe & Motel
The simplest possible pick if Peninsula State Park is the whole point of the trip: a small motel right at the park entrance.
Kettle Black Fish Boil
Half the point is the boil-over: the kettle, the flame, the whoosh, then dinner. That's boneless whitefish (or a Cajun version with shrimp and lobster tail), cornbread, and cherry pie, right on the Fish Creek harbor. Seatings are 5:30 and 7:30, Tuesday through Saturday, by reservation, and it's worth getting there early for the show.
Lautenbach's Orchard Country Winery & Market
The most convenient real-deal cherry stop: tastings, a solid market, and U-pick rows in late July without driving to the far north end.
LOFT
An outdoor-only restaurant on two levels above Main Street, with roll-down walls and heaters for cold weather. Whitefish gnocchi and Korean wings from a menu that leans more adventurous than most of Fish Creek.
Nor Door Sport & Cyclery
Right by the Fish Creek entrance to Peninsula State Park, which makes it the obvious place to grab a bike before riding the Sunset Trail. They rent everything from kids' bikes and tag-alongs to tandems and e-bikes, do repairs with a quick turnaround, and switch to cross-country skis, snowshoes, and sledding tubes once the snow flies.
Northern Sky Theater
Musicals under the pines: unashamedly wholesome, with writing sharp enough to win over the skeptics in your group.
Not Licked Yet Frozen Custard
A Fish Creek summer ritual. Expect a line on warm July evenings. The seasonal flavor board rewards repeat visits.
On Deck Clothing Company
A homegrown Door County apparel staple since the mid-1980s, with the flagship on Fish Creek's Main Street and shops in Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay too. Casual clothing for men and women plus their own branded Door County lines — the reliable stop when the weather turns and you need a layer.
Pelletier's Restaurant & Fish Boil
The easiest fish boil to just show up to: multiple boils a night in summer, right in the middle of town, kids welcome.
Peninsula Players Theatre
Broadway-caliber casts, a pre-show garden stroll, and a bonfire at intermission. Book the late-June through October season early.
Peninsula State Park
The single best thing in Door County. If you do one outdoor thing, bike the Sunset Trail; if you do two, add Eagle Tower at golden hour.
Sara's Artisan Gelato
Order a scoop of the Amarena cherry gelato for its juicy tartness. This seasonal Fish Creek scoop shop rotates through 50-plus flavors, made with real fruit, pure nut pastes, and sauces done from scratch using authentic Italian recipes and hand-measured batches.
Shiny Moon Cafe
Climb the stairs above the Fish Creek Market for the duck confit hash with banana peppers and a rotating single-origin drip. The cafe comes from Angie and John McMahon, who started Door County Brewing Co. in Baileys Harbor before turning to breakfast and lunch.
Skyway Drive-In Theatre
A genuine 1950 drive-in still running nightly double features on Highway 42 between Fish Creek and Ephraim — pull in, tune the radio, and work through footlong hot dogs and real-butter popcorn from the snack bar. One of the last of its kind in Wisconsin, and a great warm-night plan with kids.
Sweetie Pies
Order the cherry pie. The cherries come from nearby Hyline Orchard, folded into a hand-crimped butter crust with real fruit and no gooey filler. You can buy it by the slice, so there's no need to commit to a whole one.
The Cherry Hut
A roadside cherry stand on Highway 42 that traces back to Ray's Cherry Hut in the 1950s and reopened under new owners in 2021. Grab a Door County cherry pie, baked fresh each morning, or the Cherry-Chocolate Chiffon Pie built on Montmorency cherries and a chocolate cookie crust.
The Cookery
Order the whitefish chowder. Forty-plus years in and it's still the benchmark.
The English Inn
Beef Wellington served nightly as a "Knightly Feature," a cherry spinach salad worth ordering on its own, and mounted armored figures watching over the dining room: this is Door County supper club with a costume-party sense of humor about itself.
The Peninsula Bookman
Peter Sloma's new, used, and rare bookshop in Fish Creek — 20,000-some titles with a deep bench of Door County, Great Lakes, and Wisconsin history, plus old maps and postcards. Bring books to trade for store credit; there's a second shop up in Sister Bay.
TR Pottery
Tony and Renée Gebauer's working studio and gallery off Kita Road in Fish Creek, where Tony throws every piece by hand — functional stoneware in both electric-kiln and wood-fired lines, all food- and dishwasher-safe. If you want a Door County mug you'll actually reach for every morning, start here.
Welcker's Lounge
Steve and Lisa Devroy turned an 1889 building that once crossed the Green Bay ice by horse team into a 1920s speakeasy, with staff in period dress and an original grand piano still anchoring the room. Order the Wisconsin Old Fashioned during the 3-to-5 happy hour, or the Fresh Catch Pretzel that arrives on a hook.
White Gull Inn
The definitive Door County fish boil, and their cherry-stuffed French toast won Good Morning America's best-breakfast title for a reason.
Wild Tomato Wood-Fired Pizza
Get anything with the house sausage, and expect a wait in July.