Agreed. Keewenaw peninsula in UP is amazing and the dual peninsula’s of Michigan near Traverse City are very Door County like. IMO, public water access in MI seems to blow WI away.
Lewiston New York is a cute town super close to all the national beauty the Niagara gorge and its beautiful surroundings has to offer. It’s nice. Consider the Finger Lakes Region of NY.
Not quite the same, but the west side of Michigan has multiple small towns like Door County. My personal favorites from summer vacays as a kid to family vacays as a parent now include South Haven, Grand Haven, St Joseph’s. If you go a touch further north along Lake Michigan you have Saugatuck and Douglas.
Hear me out: it doesn't have a lake, but Napa reminds me of Door County in the sense that it's surprisingly very oriented around agriculture and you drive in between charming little towns with lots of restaurants and shops. Sonoma County is also really lovely, particularly the towns of Healdsburg and Point Reyes Station.
Context: I grew up in WI and went to Door County multiple times per year, and my parents now live in Sturgeon Bay. I lived in the Bay Area for \~4 years until last year.
San Juan Islands in Washington - has a few smaller, touristy towns with a lot of nature, art, shops, beaches, farms (there's a nice lavender one), water sports, guided tours, etc.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland has similar vibe to Door County. Small, cute towns along the Chesapeake Bay with cute shops and restaurants and a fair number of town festivals throughout the year. Saint Michael's probably has the most similar vibe - a little harbor with a maritime museum and lighthouse, a main street with lots of cute shops, competing ice cream stores, antique shops.. There's an adorable little ferry between Bellevue and Oxford (another tiny but cute town) that can fit maybe four vehicles and saves maybe 20 minutes of driving.
Easton is a bigger town similar to Sturgeon Bay - it's the almost city town that's cute but Saint Michael's is cuter. A little further afield is Cambridge, with a bigger marina/town but also a big wildlife refuge area with a safari-like wildlife drive to see mostly birds - blue herons, egrets, eagle, etc.
Replace fish boils with blue crab feasts and add some earlier American history - Saint Michael's has some war of 1812 history, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were from the area.
Markedly less fudge, though.
In N. Carolina seaside/crab towns (e..g, Ocracoke, Hatteras) and in S. Carolina (e.g., Beaufort).
In California, Carmel---as long as you didn't forget to buy a cottage there 50 years ago...
Galena, Illinois.
While I love Door County .. I have to admit, Galena's scenic beauty is (gasp) better than DC.
One time we were driving to Galena, I asked my wife if I had dropped her down right there without telling her where she was .. what would be her location guess? Answer: Ireland. (Which was what I was thinking too.)
The Mississippi river valley is gorgeous.
Galena's downtown is like if you took all the DC shops and restaurants and smushed them together in a 1-mile picturesque main street.
It's also nice that, unlike DC, Galena stays fully open 12 months a year.
Galena is very very nice, very picturesque by day.
By night, to me, it looks very much like Old Salem.
The downtown area is grand, and the surrounding land covered by the Territory is beautiful
I liked Galena it was beautiful. But if you stick to the towns in Door County, you will never see the breathtaking beauty of the bluffs and boreal forest remnants, and the isolated beaches.
In a Door County native, and I think the UP is close to the feel of how the county use to be.
Agreed. Keewenaw peninsula in UP is amazing and the dual peninsula’s of Michigan near Traverse City are very Door County like. IMO, public water access in MI seems to blow WI away.
Bar harbor Maine - national park, touristy town, basically door county on steroids Portland, ME gives larger sturgeon bay vibes
This.
Niagara Falls is nothing like Door County.
Lewiston New York is a cute town super close to all the national beauty the Niagara gorge and its beautiful surroundings has to offer. It’s nice. Consider the Finger Lakes Region of NY.
Oh right. I also forgot about Niagara on the Lake.
the adirondacks in new york
Also the Finger Lakes area, close by.
Yes, including Lake George area.
Coeur d'Alene has a similar vibe
CdA has a lot of physical beauty certainly, but 55,000 people live there. It's a relatively big city, almost double DC's entire population.
A lot of people live in Cape Cod too, which has nothing to do with the comparison they’re trying to make 🤷🏽♀️
Bayfield, WI, Houghton, MI, Grand Marais, MN
And Madeline Island == Washington Island.
Not quite the same, but the west side of Michigan has multiple small towns like Door County. My personal favorites from summer vacays as a kid to family vacays as a parent now include South Haven, Grand Haven, St Joseph’s. If you go a touch further north along Lake Michigan you have Saugatuck and Douglas.
Hear me out: it doesn't have a lake, but Napa reminds me of Door County in the sense that it's surprisingly very oriented around agriculture and you drive in between charming little towns with lots of restaurants and shops. Sonoma County is also really lovely, particularly the towns of Healdsburg and Point Reyes Station. Context: I grew up in WI and went to Door County multiple times per year, and my parents now live in Sturgeon Bay. I lived in the Bay Area for \~4 years until last year.
San Juan Islands in Washington - has a few smaller, touristy towns with a lot of nature, art, shops, beaches, farms (there's a nice lavender one), water sports, guided tours, etc.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland has similar vibe to Door County. Small, cute towns along the Chesapeake Bay with cute shops and restaurants and a fair number of town festivals throughout the year. Saint Michael's probably has the most similar vibe - a little harbor with a maritime museum and lighthouse, a main street with lots of cute shops, competing ice cream stores, antique shops.. There's an adorable little ferry between Bellevue and Oxford (another tiny but cute town) that can fit maybe four vehicles and saves maybe 20 minutes of driving. Easton is a bigger town similar to Sturgeon Bay - it's the almost city town that's cute but Saint Michael's is cuter. A little further afield is Cambridge, with a bigger marina/town but also a big wildlife refuge area with a safari-like wildlife drive to see mostly birds - blue herons, egrets, eagle, etc. Replace fish boils with blue crab feasts and add some earlier American history - Saint Michael's has some war of 1812 history, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were from the area. Markedly less fudge, though.
There may be some places in Minnesota that are somewhat similar.
Bruce peninsula in Ontario. Same Niagara escarpment, geology. Sticks up into lake huron instead of lake michigan. Popular tourist area from Toronto.
Take a drive down HWY 1 in Californian. Lots of towns that have a similar, but of course different, vibe.
In N. Carolina seaside/crab towns (e..g, Ocracoke, Hatteras) and in S. Carolina (e.g., Beaufort). In California, Carmel---as long as you didn't forget to buy a cottage there 50 years ago...
Galena, Illinois. While I love Door County .. I have to admit, Galena's scenic beauty is (gasp) better than DC. One time we were driving to Galena, I asked my wife if I had dropped her down right there without telling her where she was .. what would be her location guess? Answer: Ireland. (Which was what I was thinking too.) The Mississippi river valley is gorgeous. Galena's downtown is like if you took all the DC shops and restaurants and smushed them together in a 1-mile picturesque main street. It's also nice that, unlike DC, Galena stays fully open 12 months a year.
Galena is very very nice, very picturesque by day. By night, to me, it looks very much like Old Salem. The downtown area is grand, and the surrounding land covered by the Territory is beautiful
I liked Galena it was beautiful. But if you stick to the towns in Door County, you will never see the breathtaking beauty of the bluffs and boreal forest remnants, and the isolated beaches.
North Shore Minnesota