Everything worth doing.Within 20 minutes.

Lake Geneva's only combined winery and distillery, on Sheridan Springs Road — wine and spirits made on-site, a patio with live music Friday and Saturday evenings, and a gift shop for the drive-home bottle. Closed midweek in the off-season; check the current schedule before making the trip out from downtown.

The only true waterfront restaurant on Geneva Lake, at Gage Marine's Williams Bay docks since 2012 — casual American food, a sandy lakefront beach you can eat with your toes in, and firepits running into the evening. Boozy weekend brunch draws a crowd; the covered canopy seating is the move if a July afternoon turns to rain.

Fontana's lakefront anchor, part of the larger Gordy's Marine complex on the lake's west end — dock at one of three piers or use the boat valet, then eat lunch or dinner with the whole lake in view. Gordy's Surf Shack runs a seasonal deli-and-ice-cream counter alongside it June through August; the upstairs Cobalt Lounge books out for private parties.

The Geneva Inn's dining room since 1990, panoramic lake views from a room built for a wine list and a slow dinner rather than a boat-day lunch. Sunday brunch and a genuine wine cellar set it apart from the marina-adjacent crowd; reserve ahead for a table with the view rather than the bar.

Craft beer in a converted historic church a few blocks from the lake, sharing the building with the Lake Geneva Culinary School — stained glass over the taproom, beers named for Wisconsin landmarks and inventions. Opened mid-pandemic in 2020 and built a following fast. Closed Tuesdays.

A 21-mile footpath tracing the entire shoreline, originally a Potawatomi travel route and preserved by early settlers' decree that the first twenty feet off the water stay public. The path runs directly across the lawns of the estates that made this the Gilded Age's Midwest answer to Newport — packed dirt, limestone walkways, and footbridges the whole way. Plan 8 to 10 hours for the full loop; most visitors walk a section rather than the whole thing.

The only state park inside Lake Geneva's town limits, two miles south of downtown — a swimming beach, five miles of hiking trail, and a 100-site wooded campground that fills most weekends spring through summer with Illinois day-trippers. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing keep it in use through winter.

Six hundred feet of sandy public beach on Wrigley Drive, right in downtown Lake Geneva, with a boardwalk, a beach house, and the historic Riviera Ballroom next door. Lifeguarded through the summer season (late May through Labor Day), admission charged during the day. The walk-to-the-water option for anyone staying downtown without a private dock.

Fourth-generation family farm on Walworth Road, open daily with sweet corn regulars specifically drive out for, plus a corn maze and pumpkin patch that turn a produce run into a fall afternoon. On-site bakery turns out fresh donuts and kettle corn on weekends. Ten minutes south of Fontana.

Thursdays at Horticultural Hall, a 1911 landmark built for the estate gardeners who once worked the Shore Path mansions — produce, cheese, honey, cut flowers, and live music through the season. Runs early May through late October, 8 to 1; go before 10 for the best of the produce tables.

The lake's oldest marine operation, running since 1873 out of Williams Bay — new and used boat sales, service, storage, a boat club, and in/out valet, plus the Lake Geneva Cruise Line under the same ownership. The default full-service marina for anyone keeping a boat here for the season rather than trailering in for the day.

Seventy-plus years renting on the lake's west end, exclusively Cobalt boats plus Malibu ski boats with drivers for lessons — a ski/wakeboard/surf school runs alongside the rental counter. Standard and Platinum boat clubs sit between a straight rental and ownership for a repeat-visit family. Open seven days, 9 to 5.

A working mail route since 1916, still delivering to 75 lakeside homes by having a mail jumper leap off the moving boat onto each dock rather than stopping. The company itself dates to 1873, running eight vintage boats out of the Riviera Docks; the fully narrated tour covers Williams Bay, Fontana, and the Wrigley Estate's shoreline. May through October, with Santa cruises in late November and December.

The world's largest refracting telescope — a 40-inch lens under an 1897 dome designed by Frederick Law Olmsted's firm, on fifty acres overlooking the lake in Williams Bay. Edwin Hubble and Carl Sagan both worked here; Einstein visited. Closed for several years after the University of Chicago stepped back, reopened for public tours in 2022 under the nonprofit Yerkes Future Foundation.