Disclosure: this trip includes a paid partnership with Visit Sun Prairie. I was compensated for my time photographing their murals. The Hilton Garden Inn also hosted my stay. All food, gas and other travel expenses were my responsibility.

Sun Prairie, Wisconsin is an art lovers dream…and for good reason! They’re known for being the birthplace of renouned artist Georgia O’Keeffe, the American modernist painter. This charming city is home to around 37,000 people, just a few miles from Madison, WI and they have fully embraced their artistic heritage, supporting public art through their annual mural fest each year.

Where to Stay

The Hilton Garden Inn worked with the Sun Prairie tourism bureau to cover my lodging for the weekend and I’m so grateful! I had a really nice room on the 5th floor, with a huge King size bed and ample work space. I had a mishap/brain blip and left home without my overnight bag and my husband didn’t notice until I’d already made it to Chicago, which is three hours from home.

Thankfully, the hotel was next to a Target and I was able to easily get a few things I needed (like clothes!) for the two nights in Sun Prairie.

There are also several restaurants, a Costco, movie theater and other shopping so it’s really conveniently located to other ameniminties if you need something! Travel time to downtown Sun Prairie, where all the local shops and art is mostly located will take about 10 minutes.

What I Ate

Meals were not provided by the destination, so I was free to pick and choose whatever my heart desired! I did a little crowd sourcing in the Midwest Travel Network Facebook group and The Traveling Cheesehead, who actually lives in Sun Prairie but is currently on a Route 66 road trip so we were not able to meet up.

Meze Mediterranean – voted best Mediterranean several times by area magazines, this quaint cafe is located close to downtown Sun Prairie. The food was fresh and they have a variety of Mediterranean, Greek, Turkish and Italian food. I ordered the stuffed grape leaves and the chicken shawarma platter. Loved their yogurt sauce and how flavorful everything was!

Grace Coffee Company was conveniently located right next to my hotel, so I stopped in there for avocado toast and a matcha latte. It’s such a cute coffee shop and it was busy! I enjoyed both of the things that I ordered and it was a great way to start my morning.

For a little afternoon pick-me-up, I stopped in Beans ‘n’ Cream Coffee on the square in downtown Sun Prairie. There’s a lot of construction going on in that area, making it a little hard to get to the businesses, so I thought I’d give them some love. I also picked up a falafel wrap – it was ok and so was my coffee. I don’t know that I would run back here as service was also kind of slow and they were slammed. But it was fine!

Sun Prairie is pretty close to Madison, so my last evening there, I decided to head that way to see the state capital and was in search of cheese curds. I found The Old Fashioned, a dynamite bar serving up fantastic burgers and delicious curds. I also tried a Shrub, which is a locally made non-alcoholic drink that tasted like a sprite with cherry.

What to Do?

If you’re an art lover, Sun Prairie is a must visit for you!

Check out the Georgia O’Keeffe walking tour and the Art Walking Tour. While many of the stops are clustered together, if you want to complete both of them, you will need a car as some require driving a little bit to get to. Georgia O’Keeffe’s tour has a nice audio guide along with quite a bit of history that you can read, so you can browse that one on you mobile device fairly easily if that’s more your speed.

Sun Prairie also has an amazing mural scene! For the last two years, they’ve hosted a Mural Fest where you can watch the artists at work. All of the 2025 murals are on one wall, making them easy to visit! The 2026 murals, which I partnered with Visit Sun Prairie to highlight, are all within a few miles of each other and many are easily walkable if you park downtown.

Here are a few of my favorites from the murals around town!

Thanks for joining me on my mural adventure in Sun Prairie, WI! Have you been? What’s your favorite city to visit with a great art scene? Let me know in the comments.