Door County has 300 miles of shoreline, more than any other county in the continental United States. It has 11 lighthouses, five state parks, two world-class theater companies, and more independently owned restaurants, shops, and galleries per square mile than almost anywhere in the Midwest. It also has a way of changing people that is genuinely hard to explain unless you have felt it yourself.

I am Brian, and this is The Best of Door County. My wife Kelly and I have been coming to Door County since we started dating in 1995. We got engaged here. We honeymooned here. We owned a place here. And whenever we have a long weekend, we are here.

I built this site because I love this place. Door County deserves a resource that is honest, specific, locally rooted, and actually useful, something written by someone who knows the difference between the fish boils, knows which restaurants close for the season in October and which ones stay open, and knows that the best parking at Peninsula State Park fills by mid-morning on a Saturday in July. That is what I am trying to build here.

The site covers every community from Sturgeon Bay to Washington Island, every major attraction, every state park, and the festivals, restaurants, lodging options, and things to do that make a Door County trip genuinely worth planning around.

The business directory lists more than 1,000 local businesses organized by town and category.

The events calendar provides daily activities and options to take your trip from good to great.

The travel guides are written the way a knowledgeable local would write them, without jargon, without filler, and without anything that could only have been written by someone who has never actually been here.

I also write a weekly newsletter called The Best of Door County Weekly, which goes out every week with Door County news, local stories, real estate updates, event recommendations, and whatever else is worth knowing about the county that week. As of October 2026, more than 4,600 people read it every week. If you want a little piece of Door County in your inbox every week, you can subscribe below.

This is a one-person operation built on real affection for an extraordinary place. I play the short course at Peninsula State Park Golf Course in the summer, eat breakfast at Julie’s, and stop at Sacred Grounds in Ephraim whenever I can justify it. I have been coming to Door County long enough to have watched it change and stayed long enough to know what makes it worth protecting. That perspective is in everything I write here.

Welcome to The Best of Door County. I hope it helps you plan a trip that makes me feel like I do when I’m here.