When my sister’s 30th birthday came around, I knew exactly how she would want to celebrate: a girls’ weekend getaway with her three best friends and me — her little sister. Of all our favorite things to do together, eating, drinking, and shopping top the list. While there is a long list of places you could go to indulge in tasty food and pamper yourself, few destinations offer the same calm pace, cute shops, and savory delights found in Green County, Wisconsin.
Located under an hour south of our hometown of Madison, Green County is known for its charming communities, outstanding cheese and beer, and embracing its Swiss heritage. In Monroe and New Glarus, we found quaint towns with friendly people, excellent shopping, outdoor patios with live music, fabulous food, and our new favorite cocktails.
Since we were traveling from Madison, our Green County girls weekend began with a quick road trip. Just 50 minutes later we were pulling up to our adorable accommodations for the weekend, Reiderhouse.
A darling retro home straight out of the 1950s, Reiderhouse has enough charm to make you want to never leave, yet its proximity to downtown Monroe gives you every reason to. Only a 10-minute walk to downtown, it was the perfect home base to do some serious shopping, dining, and drinking. Five bedrooms gave us more than enough space to relax and the enclosed patio was the perfect place to kick up our feet and play cards after a long, lovely day in Monroe.
The small city of Monroe is known as “the Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA” but it could just as easily be known for having one of the most charming downtowns in the country. Known for its Swiss roots, many of the buildings in Monroe were designed in a charming Swiss chalet architecture style.
We began our day fueling up with a good old-fashioned diner breakfast at Amy’s Corner Cafe. Between homemade cinnamon rolls, plate-sized pancakes, crispy bacon, fluffy omelets, and huge scramble skillets, our table left full, fueled, and happy.
Amy’s is only a block away from the Historic Courthouse Square, which is also known as Main Street Monroe. A gathering place for the community since 1891, Courthouse Square is aptly named after the beautiful brick courthouse and 120-foot clock tower in its center. The city streets surrounding the square were already bustling with patrons when we arrived and it’s no surprise why — the shopping in Monroe is outstanding.
One of our favorite stops was the Busy Bee, a local florist and home goods shop. The small storefront is brimming with healthy houseplants, seasonal flower arrangements, cute cards, colorful artwork, clothing, gifts, and so much more. Another favorite for our group was JoAnne’s Dress Shop. Owned by Monroe local JoAnne Leuenberger, the store has been in business since 1999. We found so many gorgeous pieces here and my sister even happened upon the perfect dress to wear to her upcoming bridal shower.
At Urban Spa and Boutique, we discovered adorable clothing, candles, jewelry, home décor, natural ingredient makeup, and more. The spa and boutique also offers manicures and styling services. We were there to shop, but if a spa day is on your agenda there are several other spas in the area for small group mani-pedis.
I highly recommend a stop at Zodica Perfumery. The store creates small-batch perfumes inspired by the twelve zodiac signs. We all sampled each other’s signs and smelled the different collections, ultimately leaving with our own signature celestial scents.
My sister loves to cook, so I knew we had to stop in Artful Gourmet. This cute and quirky little store has every kitchen utensil one could need and then some. Pasta making supplies, tea, coffee, sauces, eco-friendly kitchen storage, gadgets, cookware, and local food items.
By afternoon we had shopped up a serious appetite. Being in the cheese capital of the United States, we needed something cheesy and delicious for lunch. Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern is where we found it. The tavern and store opened in 1931, making it Wisconsin’s oldest cheese store. Our meals were made with thick slices of fresh cheese, topped with salami and thin sliced red onions, and served between two slices of soft marble rye bread. It was so delicious and incredibly fresh that we all ended up leaving with a bag full of cheese and meats to bring home.
After lunch, we were ready for happy hour. Luckily, Minhas Craft Brewery & Distillery was just a few blocks away. Minhas is the oldest brewery in the Midwest and the second-oldest brewery in the nation. We opted for a distillery tour through the beautiful 100-year-old brick building, where we learned how to make moonshine, what horchata is, why white whiskey is so special, what makes the best gin, and even got to try our hand at mixing a few cocktails.
Our day ended with a fabulous dinner and even better drinks, like a mango old fashioned, from Suisse Haus Food and Spirits. We devoured our made-from-scratch pizzas and had one too many cocktails on the fantastic outdoor patio before making our way back to our Airbnb with full bellies and big smiles.
We chose to explore New Glarus on our second day so that we could have a full day of sampling and discovering the little village known as “America’s Little Switzerland.” New Glarus may be a small town, but there is no shortage of reasons to visit.
at Puempel’s Olde Tavern for its infamous weekend Bloody Mary Bar. In addition to amazing bloodys, we fell in love with the friendly staff and historic building. After our drinks, we went to find a full brunch at Tofflers Pub and Grill. We ate and enjoyed chatting with locals on the huge back patio. Half our group couldn’t resist the lunch menu, particularly the rotating daily mac and cheese menu. Our meal was so delicious we even considered coming back for dinner!
round two of shopping. We all found a special something at Hutch and Hide, a modern mom and pop shop with cute farmhouse home décor and gifts. We loved Railroad Street Boutique, a women’s clothing store with something for everyone. It’s sister store, Brenda’s Blumenladen, was also one of our favorite stops. This happy and colorful home and garden store has fresh flowers, garden décor, candles, gifts, and so much more.
was to New Glarus Brewing. Arguably one of the most well-known breweries in the state, New Glarus is famous for its Spotted Cow ale and incredible Swiss beer garden. We enjoyed beers and a few hands of cards on the huge stone patio overlooking the village. The beer garden alone is worth the trip!
at Kristi’s Bistro. The menu is so large and delicious that we ended up ordering several dishes and eating family-style. Pineapple whiskey sours and blackberry old fashioned became our new go-to’s. We sang happy birthday, then promptly devoured an order of peanut butter chocolate chip and a cheesecake peach blueberry cobbler. I’d come back just for the drinks and dessert!
