Three Lakes is a small Northwoods town that runs on water. Twenty of the 28 lakes on the Eagle River and Three Lakes chain sit inside its borders, the Nicolet forest starts at the edge of downtown, and most of the things to do in Three Lakes follow from those two facts.
The rest is a short main street with more character than its size suggests: a winery in an old railroad depot, a movie theater in a World War II Quonset hut, a history museum spread across seven buildings, and a water ski show that has been running on Big Stone Lake since 1958. This is what to do, where it is, and when it is actually open.
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Start downtown with cranberry wine and cheese
The easiest first stop is the winery on Gogebic Street, a block off Superior Street, the town's main drag. Park once and you can walk to the rest of downtown from there.
A few blocks away on Anderson Street, the Cheese Market sells the cheese to go with it, plus charcuterie supplies, honey butter and local maple syrup. It keeps shop hours, Tuesday to Saturday from 10 to 5, so plan a Sunday picnic the day before.
If the winery gets you curious about the rest of the state, the wineries further south in Wisconsin grow grapes and make a very different style of wine. Three Lakes is fruit-wine country.
For gifts that are not wine, Little Dipper on Lake Drive is the small gift shop downtown, good for something to take home that is not a bottle.
Catch a movie or a show in a Quonset hut
The Three Lakes Center for the Arts is the town's theater, gallery and concert room in one curved metal building. It is the best rainy-day plan in town, and on a summer evening it is often the best plan, full stop.
The Center also runs several of the town's annual events, including Art on Main, Pumpkin Fest and Oktoberfest. Check its calendar before you come, because a good show sells out a room that small.
Learn the town's history in seven buildings
The Three Lakes Historical Museum on Huron Street tells the story of a logging town that turned into a resort town, and it does it across a whole cluster of buildings rather than one room.
The museum explains the town's name too. The railroad surveyors who laid the line north went around three lakes, Maple, Townline and Range Line, and the name stuck. The town was formally organized in 1881.
Watch the Aqua Devils on a summer evening
The Aqua Devils water ski show is the most Three Lakes thing you can do on a July night, and it costs nothing.
Big Stone is part of the chain, and 20 of the chain's 28 lakes are within reach of a boat launched in town. Pair the show with an early dinner on the water and you have the classic Three Lakes summer evening.
Get out on the chain
You do not need to own a boat to spend a day on the water here. Three outfits in town rent pontoons, fishing boats or personal watercraft, and they all sit on or near WI-32 and US-45.
Stone Harbor Marina on Big Stone Lake rents pontoons in summer and snowmobiles in winter and has a small general store with bait. Anchor Marine rents boats, pontoons and jet skis, and The Boat House on US-45 rents boats and sleds as well as selling them.
The chain's oddest attraction is about 6.7 miles north of downtown in a straight line, at the boundary with Eagle River. The Burnt Rollways boat hoist has been lifting boats between the two chains since 1911, and watching it work from the shore is worth the drive even if you have no boat to put on it.
Walk or ride the Three Eagle Trail
The Three Eagle Trail is a 12.7-mile crushed-limestone path that runs from downtown Three Lakes north to Eagle River, mostly along an old railroad grade.
There is a road gap in the middle and a choice of trailheads, and riding the Three Eagle Trail end to end is a long, easy day in the woods with coffee at one end and Eagle River at the other.
Cranberry country in the fall
Cranberries are a real crop in Three Lakes, and fall is when the marshes are flooded and harvested. The winery's cranberry wine is the easy way in, but you can also see where the berries come from.
James Lake Farms runs tours of its organic cranberry marsh. Tour days change with the harvest, so check with the farm before you build a day around it.
Fall color usually peaks in the Northwoods around late September and early October, and the back roads through the Nicolet forest east of town are the place to see it. Pick a cool, clear day and drive County X or the roads around the smaller lakes slowly.
Golf, then Saturday night at the dirt track
Big Stone Golf Course is a nine-hole course on Golf Course Loop, about 2.8 miles east of downtown in a straight line, with cart rentals and food service. It is relaxed and unfussy, and you can play nine or go round twice for eighteen.
It is loud, dusty and a lot of fun. Bring ear protection for children.
Three Lakes with kids
Most of what makes Three Lakes good for adults works for kids too, with a few easy wins.
The ski show is the obvious one, and it is free. The Three Eagle Trail is flat and car-free, so it suits young riders, and the stretch out of Don Burnside Park is a good short first ride. The speedway on Saturday nights has bleachers, a sandbox and a concession stand, which covers most of what a seven-year-old needs from an evening.
On a wet day, the Center for the Arts usually has a film on, and the museum's seven buildings give restless kids room to move. For a swim, the campground on Big Stone Lake has a sandy beach for its guests, and Hintz Cottages on the same lake has piers and swim rafts.
The town calendar through the year
Three Lakes has a handful of annual events that fill the town. The Fourth of July celebration fills the town in summer. September brings the North by Northwoods Music Crawl and Oktoberfest, and the Center for the Arts runs Pumpkin Fest in the fall, plus Art on Main.
Dates move from year to year, so check the Events tab for Three Lakes before you book. A weekend that lines up with one of these is busier, and lodging goes faster.
Where to eat and drink after
Downtown is compact enough to end the day on foot. The Brew Station pours regional craft beer with free popcorn, and lets kids and well-behaved dogs into its beer garden. Maple Lake Shinery is the other beer garden on Superior Street.
For a proper sit-down dinner, the Black Forest Pub & Grille has served German food in Three Lakes since 1934. It opens for dinner Wednesday through Sunday only, so plan around that.
The full picture, from breakfast diners to boat-up fish fries, is laid out in the restaurants in Three Lakes, by meal and by lake.
Winter in Three Lakes: sleds, skis and ice
Three Lakes does not close in winter. It changes. The lakes freeze, the snowmobile trails open, and the Three Eagle Trail's middle section gets groomed for skiing.
With 132 miles of state-funded trail and 54 more funded locally, snowmobiling out of Three Lakes is the main reason most winter visitors come, and two of the marinas in town switch from pontoons to sled rentals once there is snow.
Ice fishing is the other winter draw. If you go out on a lake, ask a bait shop or a local about ice conditions that week, and never assume a lake is safe because someone else is on it.
Day trips north
Eagle River is about 9.5 miles north-northwest in a straight line, with more shops and the other end of the trail.
Further up, about 22.8 miles north, Land O' Lakes sits on the Michigan line with its own lakes, a museum and a bike trail. On the way, the park at the source of the Wisconsin River is in Phelps, about 22.4 miles north.
In Phelps, Lac Vieux Desert is where the Wisconsin River begins, a small park at the edge of a big lake.
Plan your trip
Summer is the busy season, from mid-June when the ski show starts to Labor Day. September is quieter and still warm enough for the water. For month-by-month temperatures and snowfall, Three Lakes weather by season is worth checking before you pack.
Most places to stay are family-run cottage resorts on the lakes, with one motel in town and a campground on Big Stone Lake. Lodging in Three Lakes fills early for July, so book well ahead.
If you are still working out the map, Three Lakes sits where US-45 meets WI-32 in Oneida County, about 230 miles north of Milwaukee. You will want a car to get around once you are here.
Frequently asked questions
Published October 5, 2026
