<p>Hey everyone!</p>
<p>I'll be visiting UW next week as I'm considering going there for grad school. While in town, I will have a rental car and want to check out the whole city.</p>
<p>With that in mind..does anyone know of any "bad areas" (can be subjective I know) of town that I should stay away from?</p>
<p>Where are the particularly good areas?</p>
<p>Are there any neat parks I should check out?</p>
<p>Restaurant Recommendations?
* Yes, I like all types of food
* The average price for food around here is around $11 a plate, so I'd be willing (and happy) to spend less of course!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>How long will you be here? Where are you coming from? What types of things do you like to do? Do you like the artsy-berkeley-hipster-type, small-town suburban wisconsin charm, or are you more of mainstream midwestern chains type?</p>
<p>There’s too many options when you have a car and expand it outside of just the campus area (which already has too many options)! If you’re not from Wisconsin, you’ve got to try the Wisconsin breakfast lifestyle while you’re here. Mickey’s Dairy Bar, Original Pancake House, and The Eldorado all have incredible breakfasts. I’d recommend the Marquette neighborhood (Williamson St.) for dinners – such great small restaurants at a perfect price, tons of options. Ditch the car and explore campus-capitol-state street for a day – lunch to be had from all parts of the world. Take in the sights of the Arboretum (although it’s less pretty now with no leaves, no summer, and no snow). Explore picnic point, and the many UW campus buildings which are amazing for visitors (Chazen, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Union South, Memorial Union, etc). Honestly, the further outside of downtown you get, outside of the near east or near east sides, you’re just going to run into the same big box restaurants you’d find all over the U.S. So, unless you’re going to one of the cool neighborhoods like Schenk-Atwood, Marquette (Willy St.), or Monroe/Regent St, you really won’t want to go anywhere a car would require. </p>
<p>There really aren’t “bad” neighborhoods where your personal safety is at risk just by being there. Less desirable places to live pretty much along entirety of “The Beltline (US 12-18),” where crime can be higher, and some higher crime areas downtown at night, but common sense and your typical after-dark personal safety rules apply anywhere.</p>
<p>My two cents as former UW student who decided to stay here and call Madison home :)</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all of the detailed information!</p>
<p>I am only going to be in town for 2.5 days unfortunately so that’s why i was going to rent a car, trying to see everything I can in that time frame.</p>
<p>I’m currently living in Seattle, WA but am from Anchorage, AK. From what I can tell it seems like Madison might be a blend of both? (unique vibe of Seattle but much smaller…about the size of Anchorage). If it is…that’s great. I’m tired of living in such a big city.</p>
<p>Anyways thanks for all of the food recommendations and places to check out. I’ve looked up some of the restaurants you’ve mentioned and they all look good so far! I’ll have to look them all up.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip about the areas as well. At the very least I now have a starting point of areas to look for in a hotel vs avoid</p>
<p>To answer this questions: “Do you like the artsy-berkeley-hipster-type, small-town suburban wisconsin charm, or are you more of mainstream midwestern chains type?”</p>
<p>I’ve never been to the midwest, so I don’t know! But as a general rule, I like a little bit of both honestly…</p>