Parks in Milwaukee (and beyond)

Foundation Park (Martin Drive)

When we moved into Milwaukee in 2017, we were excited to explore all the fun parks, playgrounds, hiking spots and other hidden gems of the family-friendly variety. We did the usual wandering the neighborhood thing, and found the closest parks, which the kids still enjoy visiting multiple times per week, but I was interested in expanding our repertoire. As you do, I turned to Google for the best park recommendations in Milwaukee.

There are plenty of lists and recommendation posts out there, many of them claiming to feature little-known parks: “The 10 BEST Parks & Nature Attractions in Milwaukee”, “Our Favorite Milwaukee Area Parks to Enjoy With Kids”, “8 Under-the-Radar Milwaukee-area Parks You Need to Visit”, “The 8 Secret Parks of Milwaukee You’ve Never Heard of but Need to Visit”. These articles feature lots of great park options — some that we love — but they tend to repeat the same places, and stick to large, newly redone parks in more upscale areas of the county. They covered the best-known downtown parks, then generally jumped out to the suburbs to feature the cool, fancy parks.

Marcus DeBack Playground (Uptown)

My kids love Malone park and Kayla’s Playground as much as any, but they also value variety, diversity, and trying new things. And we kept happening upon awesome parks that never made the lists, that we’d never heard mentioned - parks that we didn’t have to drive twenty minutes to get to, parks nestled in each Milwaukee neighborhood that represented the diversity of our city and offered opportunities to make connections with this city’s roots as well as new friends. What I really wanted was a guide to all the parks in the area - not just the scenic ones, but those truly off-the-beaten path - at least MY beaten path of middle-class white privilege.

As I tend to do when what I want isn’t readily available, I decided to do the legwork myself. I did a lot more searching online, asking around, and zooming for green specks on Google maps. Everywhere we went, I keep an eye out for parks nearby. I have a running list on my phone of all the parks I hear about or see. I combed through websites for the school district, parks and rec department, county and city. I invited friends and playgroups to explore with me. And we just started going places. It’s a slow process, because you can only go to so many parks in a week (there are other things that also need attention, apparently), but we’ve been consistently puttering away at visiting more and more parks each month.

Juneau Playfield (Bluemound Heights)

After visiting dozens of parks, I figured it’s probably a good idea to keep a record to help me keep track of them, and hey, maybe others are looking for something similar, so I’m going to be working on a true, detailed, hopefully at some point comprehensive park guide for our city and the surrounding areas.

I’ll be sharing as much information as I can that feels helpful to our family - things like the availability of bathrooms, shade, and benches, parking options, nearby attractions, and type of equipment. Plus, of course, pictures! I love getting a good picture of a place before visiting!

I’ll attempt to organize posts with tags and categories so they’re easily searchable. Always open to feedback on how I can make things more accessible for readers!

Arlington Heights Park (Silver City)

Milwaukee Park Guide Google Map

Ever try to search for parks on Google when you’re out and about and looking for a nearby place to play? It’s hit or miss. Not all parks and playgrounds are on the maps, and not all are labelled as such. Sometimes the map fails to notify you of parks even when they are listed! And when you do find a park, how can you tell what facilities are available? Does it actually have a playground, or just green space? Are there bathrooms? Is there a place to hike or walk nearby? A wading pool or splash pad? A pond or creek?

Enter the Milwaukee Park Guide Google Map! This map has every park in Milwaukee county, as well as many other cool park-like locations, identified on the map and categorized.

Blue pins let you look at everything on the map uncategorized. Play around and see what’s in your area, or zoom in at nearby options when you’re out and about.

If you’re looking for playgrounds only, zoom in on the yellow swing pins!

Looking for a place to hike? Light green hiker pins will get you there.

Locations with a free, open-access wading pool or splash pad are marked with a teal swimmer.

Places with a pond, creek or other accessible water feature are marked with red waterfalls.

Want a green space to walk, run or just lounge in the sun? Dark green trees indicate green spots without any playground equipment.

Beaches are marked with dark orange umbrellas.

Nature centers you can find by the brown turtles.

Both indoor and outdoor public pay-to-enter pools and aquatic centers are marked with dark blue scuba divers.

And my miscellaneous category for fun non-park, kid-friendly attractions are identifiable with light orange painter’s palettes.

Looking for more detailed information on a park? Check out my Milwaukee Park Guide Reviews for in-depth looks at many of the area parks and attractions. Information included in reviews: bathroom access, parking locations, terrain details, availability of benches, picnic tables, covered pavilions, sports fields, interesting features of the playground or park, fun stuff nearby and more.

My focus is on Milwaukee County, but I am slowly working to expand to the neighboring suburban areas. If there’s a park or space you think I’m missing, or a mistake on the map, contact me to let me know and I will update as soon as I can!