La Crosse, Wisconsin
La Crosse, Wisconsin, is both a river city and a college town, two factors that shape and define the city’s identity. La Crosse is the largest city along Wisconsin’s stretch of the Great River Road, which follows the curves of the Mississippi River and gives travelers “amazing views,” especially in the fall, said Ben Morgan, director of group sales and sports services for Explore La Crosse.
The city fronts a stretch of the river that is tangled with peninsulas, islands and sandbars.
The historic Riverside Park in downtown opened in 1911 and serves as a community gathering place, a docking station for riverboats and the grounds for festivals and events. The park is also home to the Riverside International Friendship Gardens, a collection of gardens representing landscapes from around the globe.
The La Crosse Queen docks at Riverside Park, and the 149-passenger paddle wheeler runs daily sightseeing cruises, as well as regular dinner and brunch outings. The company will also customize river excursions for groups, with options such as wine tastings with fine dining or pizza-and-beer cruises, Morgan said.
The annual Riverfest takes place in Riverside Park and features food, entertainment and rivercentric events, such as water-skiing shows, over-the-river fireworks and the River Vault, a pole-vaulting competition right at the river’s edge.
French Island is a hub for water activities, and groups can rent kayaks, canoes and paddleboards from Island Outdoors. The Days Inn and Conference Center sits on French Island, and the AmericInn by Wyndham fronts the Black River, which separates La Crosse from the island. The Radisson Hotel La Crosse, the city’s convention center hotel, sits on the banks of the Mississippi.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus isn’t far from the river, and groups can explore downtown with La Crosse Segway Tours or see the city during a historic trolley tour that departs from Riverside Park. Groups also love checking out antique cars at Dahl Auto Museum and new and vintage instruments at Dave’s Guitar Shop.
Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois
“When we ask people why they’re coming to the Quad Cities, the Mississippi River is still the No. 1 reason we get,” said Jessica Waytenick, public relations and marketing manager for the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau. “They’re coming to be on the river, to be near the river, to see the river.”
The Quad Cities straddle the Mississippi with Davenport and Bettendorf on the Iowa side and the cities of Moline, East Moline and Rock Island on the Illinois side.
In recent years, the river cities have welcomed new investment, including the Element Moline hotel in downtown Moline. A new, dual-branded Hyatt House/Hyatt Place is slated to open in late summer on East Moline’s riverfront as part of an $80 million mixed-use development.
In Bettendorf, the 500-plus-room Isle Casino Hotel recently built a brand-new casino between its two towers, one of which completed a multimillion-dollar renovation in 2015. The new land-based casino replaced the former riverboat casino, only 223 feet from the river. In addition to gaming, the casino hotel has a “robust event calendar” with concerts and events like chef-led cooking classes, Waytenick said.
Arsenal Island is an active U.S. Army facility and popular tourist destination. There, the Mississippi River Visitors Center sits on a lock and dam, so guests can learn about the system as they watch barge traffic pass through. Groups can also tour the Rock Island Arsenal Museum and the 1833 Col. Davenport House.
Celebration River Cruises offers sightseeing trips and themed cruises aboard its 750-passenger paddle-wheel riverboat, the Celebration Belle. The Riverboat Twilight also offers 90-minute sightseeing cruises, as well as one- and two-day excursions from LeClaire to Dubuque, where guests stay overnight at the Grand Harbor Resort.
The open-air Channel Cat Water Taxi ferries passengers across the river to various landings in Davenport, Bettendorf and Moline, and one $8 ticket is good for an entire day of hop-on/hop-off access.
The new Bix Beiderbecke Museum in downtown Davenport shares the life of the famous 1920s jazz musician. The free museum is on the lower level of River Music Experience, a live-music venue where groups can either catch a concert at night or arrange for a daytime presentation of “Roots Music,” a special program about the music that traveled up and down the Mississippi River.
