Travel Planner: Kenosha, WI

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this opulent clubhouse is one of the last remaining Mediterranean resort-style buildings in the Midwest. The posh country club looks like something out of a Fitzgerald novel but situated near Lake Michigan and boasts a 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, beach, horse stables, art gallery, and meeting rooms. With magnificent crystal chandeliers, balconies, pillars, and vaulted ceiling, its ballrooms and grand lobby wows visitors, including President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who chose the center for their wedding reception. It is also the home of the South Shore Cultural School of the Arts. www.hydepark.org/parks/southshore/aboutsscc.htm. Admission: Free. Hours: Daily 8 am-10 pm.

The 500 acres of this estate offers multiple attractions: an impressive military history museum with immersive exhibits (including touch-screen videos and re-created battle scenes), sprawling grounds with formal gardens, and its own 27-hole public golf course with separate youth links. The centerpiece, however, is the Beaux Arts-style Col. Robert R. McCormick Museum. Built for the former Chicago Tribune

owner, the 35-room mansion features the Joseph Medill Library, the stately wood-paneled Freedom Hall, and an Art Deco movie theater in the basement. The hidden Prohibition-era bar alone is worth a visit—we won't ruin the surprise by revealing where it is. www.cantigny.org. Admission: $5 per car, $2 per car after 5 pm May-Oct., and after 4 pm Nov.-Apr; grounds and museum tours free. Hours: Grounds and gardens: Nov.-Apr., Mon.-Sun. 9 am-sunset; May-Oct., Mon.-Sun. 7 am-sunset; museums: Labor Day-Dec. 31 and Feb. 1-Memorial Day, Tues.-Sun. 10-4; Memorial Day-Labor Day, Tues.-Sun. 10-5; closed Jan.

An inn, this isn't. When it opened in 1927, the world's largest hotel had 3,000 rooms, an in-house hospital, ice rink, bowling alley, rooftop golf course, and theater. Through the years it has played host to Queen Elizabeth and 11 U.S. presidents. The hotel's long Renaissance lobby oozes elegance and today the hotel still boasts a whopping 1,544 accommodations. The Grand Ballroom, evocative of Versailles, remains a popular venue for swank events and is just part of the hotel's more than 234,000 square feet of exhibition space. www.hilton.com.

Milwaukee's grandest old hotel dates from 1893. The lobby's long, high barrel-vaulted ceiling puts you in a Victorian frame of mind from the moment you step in. Rooms are decorated with a Victorian flavor and some are odd shapes, reflecting the complications of pouring modern amenities into an old structure—but this actually adds to the charm. The Pfister is three blocks east of the lakefront. The penthouse-level bar Blu has a view of the skyline. An English tea is served in the fern-shaded dining room most afternoons. www.thepfisterhotel.com. 307 rooms, 82 suites. In-room: safe, Internet. In-hotel: restaurants, bars, golf course, pool, spa, business center, parking, some pets allowed. Credit cards accepted.