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You can sleep in a 1930s lake resort, a retro roadside motel, a lodge with a redwood sauna or a first-come campsite on the lake where the Wisconsin River starts. Land O' Lakes lodging is small in number and wide in type, and where you book decides your trip more than it would in most towns.
That is because the town is long. Downtown sits at the east end on County B, Lac Vieux Desert is a few miles southeast, and the Cisco Chain is 9 to 11 miles west. Pick the end of town that matches what you came for, and you will spend your days on the water instead of in the car.
Downtown: walk to dinner
Two places put you on County B within walking distance of the Pine Cone, the pizza place and Brew's Pub: the town's historic lodge and a small motel.
The Gateway is the one place in town that works as well in winter as in summer, and its pool makes it the easy pick with kids when the lakes are cold.
Lake resorts: cabins on the water
The resorts are where Land O' Lakes started as a vacation town, and three of them still rent cabins on three very different lakes.
Sunrise sits less than a mile from the Wisconsin River's source, which makes it the natural base for a week on Lac Vieux Desert, with its musky fishing and big open water.
Bent's is the classic base for fishing and boating the Cisco Chain, with the whole 15-lake chain reachable from the cabin dock.
Camping and RV sites
Land O' Lakes has three very different places to camp: an adults-only RV resort, a family-run RV park on the highway and a national forest campground on Lac Vieux Desert.
The Land O' Lakes Nature RV Resort, about 2.4 miles south-southwest of downtown, is for adults only, with 25 full-hookup pull-through sites, many facing a pond. It sits on more than 200 acres with marked nature trails and two observation towers, and guests can use its kayaks, paddleboards and canoe for free. Firewood is free too, as is secure Wi-Fi, and there is trash pickup at each site daily. The owners have even built a small enchanted forest walk.
Borderline RV Park, on US-45 about 1.6 miles south of downtown, is the family option: full hookups, picnic tables and fire pits, a heated bathhouse, laundry and walking trails in the woods where turkeys and the occasional bear turn up. Reviewers note that a few sites sit close to the campground road with small fire pits, so ask for a site farther in.
The Lac Vieux Desert Campground is run by the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest on the lake's west shore, about 3.6 miles east-southeast of downtown. Its 31 wooded sites are first-come only, with no reservations, from early May to mid-October. Expect hand-pump water and vault toilets, with electricity coming to some sites, plus a swimming beach, a picnic shelter and a boat landing. Only four sites take a 35-foot rig.
There are no campgrounds directly on the Cisco Chain itself. If you want to camp near it, base yourself at one of these three and drive or boat in.
Vacation rentals
Most visitors to Land O' Lakes rent a private cabin or lake house, and that is where the bulk of the town's beds are. Rentals range from small cabins on snowmobile and ATV trails to big log homes with docks on the Cisco Chain and Big Portage Lake.
Book early for July and August and for the snowmobile weeks in January and February. Many owners rent only by the week in high summer. If your rental has a dock but no boat, a pontoon delivered to the nearest launch solves that without towing one up from home.
Winter stays
Land O' Lakes lodging does not shut down for winter, but the mix changes. The campgrounds close in fall, and the snowmobile crowd takes over the motel rooms and trailside cabins from January into March.
The Gateway Lodge is the comfortable pick in the cold: an indoor pool, a hot tub and a sauna, breakfast included, and dinner downstairs. The Bel-Air is the simple, cheaper bed for riders. Sunrise Lodge keeps its cabins open in winter and serves breakfast year-round. Many rental cabins sit right on the Frosty Snowmobile Club trail system, which grooms about 45 miles of trail and links into Michigan.
Book winter weekends as early as summer ones, especially around the Three Bear Sled Dog Race in early February.
Traveling with a dog
Several places here welcome dogs, but rules differ, so ask when you book. Sunrise Lodge allows dogs outside, the Nature RV Resort allows dogs, and many vacation rentals list themselves as pet-friendly. For dinner with the dog along, Melanie Mae's and Forest Lake Cafe both let dogs sit with you outside.
Which end of town to stay in
Match your base to the trip, and you will drive less.
For fishing and boating the Chain, stay west: Bent's Camp or a rental on Big Lake, West Bay or Mamie. For the Wisconsin River's source, musky water and camping, stay east on Lac Vieux Desert at Sunrise Lodge or the national forest campground. To walk to breakfast and dinner, stay downtown at the Gateway Lodge or the Bel-Air. For winter, stay downtown or anywhere on a groomed trail, since the trail system connects the town to Michigan.
Once you have picked, plan the days with the trails, lakes and supper clubs around town, and book dinner at the same time as the room.
Questions to ask before you book
A few questions save a lot of trouble up here. Ask whether a cabin includes linens and towels or whether you bring your own, which is common at older resorts. Ask whether the dock comes with a boat or only a slip. Ask about Wi-Fi if you need to work, since signal varies by lake, and ask whether the road in is plowed if you are coming in winter.
For the campground, the question is timing rather than terms: with no reservations at Lac Vieux Desert, a Thursday arrival gives you far better odds of a site than a Friday evening one in July.
Eating near your stay
Three of the places above feed you on site: the Gateway Restaurant downtown, the Sunrise Lodge dining room and the bar and kitchen at Bent's Camp. Everything else is in town or out County B, and Land O' Lakes restaurants cluster close enough that most cabins are within about 11 miles of a supper club.
If you cannot find a bed in town on a busy weekend, the nearest larger choice is a bed in Eagle River, about 17 miles south, where Eagle Waters Resort and Supper Club rents rustic lakeside rooms with a pool and boat docks.
Getting here
Land O' Lakes is on US-45 at the Michigan line. Rhinelander has the nearest commercial airport, about 38 miles south-southwest in a straight line. For roads, airports and how the town is laid out, see how to reach Land O' Lakes and find your way around it.
Frequently asked questions
Published August 31, 2026
