Experience the best of Sturgeon Bay

Sturgeon Bay sits on the Door Peninsula, divided by the bay that gives it its name and joined by bridges. A ship canal dug in the nineteenth century gave lake ships a shortcut between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Shipyards on the waterfront still build and repair vessels, and the Door County Maritime Museum tells the story of the lake trade.

Potawatomi State Park lies on the bay's west shore, with a lookout tower over the water, and the coast farther north has Cave Point County Park, Peninsula State Park and the lighthouses of Cana Island and Eagle Bluff. The ferry to Washington Island and the harbours of Fish Creek and Ellison Bay lie farther up the peninsula.

Door County's cherry orchards bloom white in May, and cherries appear in pies, jams and juice in summer. Fish boils, where whitefish and potatoes are cooked in a kettle that boils over in a burst of flame, are the peninsula's tradition. Summer weekends crowd the villages, and autumn colour along the shore is quieter and just as good.