Baraboo is a small Wisconsin town with more character than its size suggests. The Ringling brothers began their circus here, and the old winter quarters are now Circus World, one of the Midwest's best oddball museums.
The town also sits beside serious landscape. Devil's Lake State Park protects quartzite bluffs, wooded trails, beaches, and some of the best rock climbing in the region. The broader Baraboo Hills feel older and rougher than much of southern Wisconsin.
Baraboo works as a day trip from Madison or as a quieter base than Wisconsin Dells. Come for the circus history, add cranes or ancient effigy mounds, and leave enough time for a walk above the lake.