Southern

Southern Wisconsin covers the 20 counties along the southern tier of the state — Milwaukee at the eastern edge, Madison and the Capitol at the center, Wisconsin Dells north of Madison, and the Driftless Area along the Mississippi at the western end. The terrain ranges from the glaciated dairy country east of Madison to the deeply cut, unglaciated Driftless coulees of Vernon and Crawford counties along the river. Milwaukee anchors the largest metro with the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Lake Michigan lakefront. Madison in Dane County holds the State Capitol, the University of Wisconsin, and the four lakes that wrap the isthmus. Wisconsin Dells in Sauk County runs the waterpark-and-Wisconsin River resort corridor; Devil’s Lake State Park sits just south. The Driftless runs west through Richland Center, Spring Green (Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin), and Prairie du Chien. Trips here usually anchor on Madison or Milwaukee, with side trips to the Dells, the Driftless, or Lake Geneva in Walworth County for the resort weekend. Summer pulls the heaviest visitor traffic; fall in the Driftless coulees is the quieter, prettier season.