Seven places to stay, from a 1923 downtown tower to pool-and-breakfast chain hotels.
A hotel in Fond du Lac, WI is mostly a choice between two kinds of evening. One ends in an eight-story brick tower on North Main Street, with a lobby bar on site and a room that looks nothing like the one you have at home. The other ends in a modern chain room a couple of miles south, with an indoor pool, an early breakfast and a parking space outside the door. Both are good answers, and this guide walks through seven of them.
The city sits on the shore of Lake Winnebago, so many visitors arrive for the water, a fishing weekend, a tournament or a family event, and want somewhere simple to sleep. Start with the things to do around Fond du Lac if you are still deciding what the trip is for, then come back here to match a bed to the plan.
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Hotel Retlaw: the 1920s tower downtown
Hotel Retlaw is the stay reviewers call memorable, and its history is part of the draw. It was built for Milwaukee hotelier Walter Schroeder, and the name is his first name spelled backward. The Milwaukee firm Tullgren and Son designed the Neoclassical Revival building, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since September 7, 1984.
The hotel opened with 265 rooms, was cut to 138 over the decades, and closed in December 2015 after financial trouble. A $25 million restoration followed, aimed at bringing the building back to its 1923 look and trimming it to 127 rooms and suites. The hotel's own site lists Superior King rooms from about 270 square feet, Deluxe Kings with two wingback chairs, and one-bedroom suites with two bathrooms.
Reviewers keep returning to the details. One describes a king suite with a television that pops up from the foot of the bed, another liked the robes, and several praise the front desk. One reviewer notes that the adjacent parking garage is the place to leave the car, using the fourth floor and above, and that you walk into the hotel through an indoor area lit with Edison bulbs. The dining room is called Table One, and the hotel also runs a Lobby Bar and One Main Cafe.
The honest limit is price and age: this is a historic building, so expect character before square footage. If you want a standard chain room, look further south.
West of downtown: Best Nights Hotel and Hampton Inn
Best Nights Hotel is the closest of the chain-style options to downtown, about 1.3 miles west of Hotel Retlaw. Its description mentions high-speed Wi-Fi, morning coffee and free parking, along with accessible room layouts. One reviewer found it quiet inside while sitting on a main street, and liked that restaurants and bars are within walking distance. Another liked that ground-floor room doors open onto a hallway the front desk can see. A different guest was unhappy about a cancellation fee, so read the cancellation terms before you book.
Hampton Inn lies about 0.6 miles from Best Nights, and about 1.7 miles from Hotel Retlaw. Two reviewers mention sports trips here. A parent staying for a basketball tournament said breakfast starts at 6am, which matters when games begin early, and that the pool has a basketball hoop. Others praise the coffee that is available around the clock and say the hotel is close to the highway and not far from the lakeside park. One business traveler reported a warm room on a hot night, so ask for a quick check of the air conditioning at the desk.
The southern cluster: four hotels within a short walk of each other
Four hotels sit within about 0.6 miles of one another on the south side of town, which makes this the easy place to compare prices.
Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn Express & Suites are neighbors on Holiday Lane, at numbers 77 and 55.
Sleep Inn & Suites is on South Pioneer Road, and Country Inn & Suites is on Merwin Way.
All four are about 2 miles from Hotel Retlaw in a straight line.
Holiday Inn Express offers a free hot breakfast, an indoor heated pool and a gym. Reviewers call it modern and clean, and one praised a spacious king suite. One guest was disappointed that the electric vehicle chargers on the website were not working, so call ahead if that matters.
Country Inn & Suites lists an indoor pool, a gym and complimentary breakfast. Guests praise the staff, including an early check-in that was arranged for one reviewer, and one called the free hot breakfast pretty nice. Several others describe the rooms as dated or worn, so this one rewards a look at recent photos.
Comfort Inn describes an indoor pool, free breakfast, free Wi-Fi and a shuttle service. Reviews are mixed. Front desk staff earn praise and one guest liked the pool area, but three reviewers describe damp or dirty rooms, so treat it as a budget stop and ask about your room on arrival.
Sleep Inn & Suites at 682 South Pioneer Road has brief reviews that split between praise for a modern room and complaints about remodeling that did not match expectations, so confirm the current state of the property before you commit.
Other lodging in town
The town has more beds than these seven. Radisson Hotel and Conference Center and Days Inn by Wyndham are also listed as hotels in Fond du Lac. Booking sites list a few more chain properties, and vacation rentals near the lake come up as well, so check current availability on the property's own page.
Choosing by trip
For a weekend with history and a drink downstairs, book Hotel Retlaw. For a family that wants a pool and an early breakfast, the Hampton Inn and the Holiday Inn Express are the safer bets going by what reviewers write. For a short budget stop, Best Nights and Comfort Inn sit at the low-frills end, and Best Nights has the more reassuring reviews.
Plan ahead for Walleye Weekend, the city's largest family festival, which fills Lakeside Park with music and food. Recent editions have fallen in early June, so it is sensible to look at rooms well in advance. The park also holds a lighthouse built in 1933, which has a free observation deck reached by a wooden staircase when it is open in season.
Whichever bed you choose, the lake is the reason many people come. Pick between the tower downtown and the pool near the highway, and the rest of the weekend follows from that opening evening.
Frequently asked questions
Published September 28, 2026
