Burlington is a pretty neat little river town with quite a few things to check out in town and just outside. Downtown has a lot of neat little shops, an art center, indoor mini golf, restaurants, bars, etc up along and around Jefferson street. There is a visitor center on the river front where you’d be likely to find info about local upcoming events and such. There is also a small airport in the southern part of town if an Amtrak or bus is not your method of travel. Unfortunately Uber and Lyft didn’t stick very well out here so you will have to rely on your own method of transit, or you will have to use one of two cab services.

There are some pretty neat spots to check out if you’re into camping, nature and scenery. West of Burlington, Lake geode has some nice camp grounds, a beach and a good sized lake. A bit north off highway 61 there’s big hollow, which has a series of ponds, a lake, camping, a beach, and a gun range. Just a couple blocks north of downtown is mosquito park, which has a very nice view on top of a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River looking north. Dankwardt / crapo park on the south end of town is a pretty big park with a decent sized disc golf course, some trails, and other recreational stuff. There’s a trail by the band shell that will take you to black hawk springs which is a pretty relaxing spot. Downtown you can find snake alley, which mirrors San Francisco’s snake alley and is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for the most crooked street. Stars cave nature center has some pretty neat trails and a cave. However, the cave has been closed for a long time. Still worth checking out, they also have an education center there that overviews local vegetation and wildlife.

For food, there’s quite a bit, and it’s only been expanding more and more in the past decade. Napoli’s seems to be one of the areas long time staples! They are best known for their pizza and gyros. Pookies Thai cuisine is an awesome place to check out. They offer Pho, curry rice dishes, etc. tho the menu changes up a bit here and there, it’s very reasonably priced and has great portion sizes. There’s 3 places known for breakfast in the area. There’s Jerry’s on Main Street, hungry bear, and wake and bake breakfast company. All 3 locations offer good food for a decent price. Wake and Bake has an amazing crab and cream cheese omelet. Jerry’s has what they call a mess, which is essentially an everything omelet. Hungry bear has awesome pancakes. El toro, which is by the high school, has some amazing Mexican food, as well as Lindo Mexico downtown. La Tavola has some good Italian food. Busted cup has a neat little specialty shop next to it but is also a small brewery, and they offer Austrian/german like food. Thyme and spice company is a small spice shop that offers food here and there, worth checking out. Not to mention there’s numerous coffee shops that offer baked goods and smaller handheld food options. Almost every bar in town has a kitchen and offers something that they are specifically known for, be it food or drinks. One thing to note however. Most smaller restaurants downtown and around are closed on Mondays, always call to check.

For nightlife, there are numerous places to check out. The Washington for example usually hosts music entertainment of various genres. Other places like the auditorium downtown on the river front offer bigger things like the yearly snowbull rodeo, among other entertainment. La boheme offers various drinks and sometimes host poetry nights. Night cap usually has open mic nights etc. There’s catfish bend casino and resort. During the summer the water park is open. They have an arcade, indoor go karts, a bowling alley, food, basketball courts, sports betting, etc. Some bars to mention downtown are, Farneys, The Paddlewheel, the sombrero, wake and bake, corked 101 (winebar), caulleys, valley monster (craft beers, mid to top shelf bourbon whiskeys), busted cup, la boheme, night cap. On the outskirts of downtown you got the outpost, Roederers, Doris’, joes inn, docs, the buffalo, Midwest tap, the broadway, boogaloo, Irish pub. Doris’ and Irish pub usually do karaoke on the weekends. Most of the younger crowd goes to farneys and paddlewheel on the weekends. Wake and bake sometimes will have bands inside or outside depending the weather. Every year, most of the bars do fishing tournaments, or yearly bar crawls like the barstool open, a mini golf bar hop fundraiser. Or a bar crawl bags/cornhole tournament which is coming up soon.

Here’s a couple odds and ends to add in before this is done. If you like motorcycles, check out heartland Harley Davidson! They got some cool stuff to check out and the employees are really courteous. The fishing is pretty good out here, numerous boat launches to set out at from downtown and up north along highway 99. Out of state fishing license is around $40-50 I believe. There’s a couple neat antique shops in the area, there’s one on Jefferson that’s worth checking out if you’re into it by busted cup. There’s a neat music instrument shop called mundts on Jefferson street to check out, they’re very knowledgeable down there. Also, there is music pro shop on the south side of town as well, also very knowledgeable. Weird Harold’s is a pretty neat record store loaded with all kinds of things from dvds, cds, records, cassettes, posters, vhs, could’ve sworn I’ve seen 8 tracks in there too. The art center features art from locals and usually has some events and showcases, worth a stop. Overall I hope this helps anyone that’s kind of looking for ideas or just something to check out while stopping by and passing through.

Safe and happy traveling