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A popular peninsula in eastern Wisconsin piercing Lake Michigan, Door County is blessed with 300 miles of shoreline easily explored by car, mostly on two-lane roads that never take you more

than a few miles from the water. On this four-day road trip — a memorable mix of coastal and countryside drives — make a scenic loop around this slender jewel, which is 70 miles long and

just 18 miles wide at its base. You’ll pass bucolic family farms and cherry orchards that intersperse cliff-hugging state parks, photogenic lighthouses and intimate resort towns with quaint

shops, farm-to-table dining and cozy inns. The county’s appeal defies its deterring namesake, “_Porte des Mortes_,” or “Death’s Door,” for the treacherous passage between its tip and

offshore Washington Island.  Door County Maritime Museum Stephen Saks Photography / Don Smetzer / Alamy Stock Photo ​DAY 1: GREEN BAY TO STURGEON BAY (70 MILES) Setting out northeast from

the city of Green Bay at the bottom of the peninsula, State Highway 57 mostly hugs Green Bay (an arm of Lake Michigan) and introduces the rolling farmland for which the region is famed.

About half an hour in, stop to taste (and savor) the signature 2-year-aged cheddar at Renard’s Artisan Cheese, made from locally sourced milk. Just before you reach Sturgeon Bay, the

county’s largest city (population 9,700), detour north 2½ miles on Park Drive to Potawatomi State Park, home of the eastern terminus of the Ice Age Trail, a 1,000-mile hiking path that winds

its way through the state, tracing the ice-sculpted landscape left behind 12,000 years ago when the glaciers retreated. On its first few miles, stretch your legs on a level, hard-packed,

former railroad bed along the Sturgeon Bay inlet, part of a channel that crosses the peninsula.  That channel helped establish Sturgeon Bay as the shipbuilding hub of Lake Michigan, one

subject of the Door County Maritime Museum in town. Take a guided tour of the 1919 tugboat _John Purves_ that formerly worked on the lake and served in Alaska during World War II with a

13-man crew (quarters are tight, and the tours include stairs to the engine room). ​Spring for a steak or walleye at Donny’s Glidden Lodge, a stone-and-wood-built classic supper club with

panoramic lake views about 12 miles northeast, mostly via State Highway 57.  ​WHERE TO STAY: In Sturgeon Bay, all 38 suites at the modestly priced Westwood Shores Waterfront Resort come with

a kitchen and gas log fireplace, providing residential comfort perfect for multigenerational travel. Another plus for families: swimming pools, indoor and (seasonally) outdoors.    

Wilson’s Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor James Schwabel / Alamy Stock Photo ​DAY 2: STURGEON BAY TO SISTER BAY (41 MILES)  Continuing along Door’s bayside, State Highway 42 and smaller

tributary lanes string together a series of small towns, beginning with Egg Harbor, roughly 17 miles north of Sturgeon Bay. There, the intriguing gift shop Chief Oshkosh Native American Arts

sells local and Indigenous crafts (various Native American tribes inhabited this land long before European settlers arrived). If you need a bite to eat, drop into MacReady Artisan Breads

for a loaf studded with Door County cherries, or stay for a Wisconsin cranberry chicken salad on homemade French bread. ​About 7 miles north, Fish Creek, an original timber and fishing

settlement, is another walkable town (most are invitingly level) with a bustling marina and shop-lined main street. Take in a guided tour of the Alexander Noble House Museum, an 1875 Greek

Revival farmhouse (the main floor is accessible to those in wheelchairs and walkers, but not the second). There you can pick up a copy of a self-guided tour to more than 20 historic

buildings in town (there’s also a free audio tour). The artistic seat of Door County, Fish Creek is home to several cultural attractions, including the popular Peninsula Players Theatre,

where an 87-year-old professional company performs June through October (with wheelchair-accessible seating).