Car Hire Madison - Mini guide to Madison

One of the most beautifully set cities in the US, Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, is a stimulating, youthful metropolis with a handful of interesting museums.

The sumptuous white granite State Capitol sits benignly on a hill at the centre of the isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona, surrounded by shady trees, lawns and park benches. Capitol Square itself is the site of a fun farmers' market every Saturday between May and October. Madison Civic Center hosts a professional repertory theatre, an art museum, concerts and touring shows.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Unitarian Meeting House is definitely worth a look, with its sweeping, dramatically curved ceiling and triangle motif. Alternatively, the lakeside Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, also designed by Wright, expands on the architectural highlights of the State Capitol building just a few blocks away.

The huge University of Wisconsin (average enrolment 46,000) is Madison’s spirited, liberal-thinking, beating heart, now mellowed since its protest heyday in the late 1960s. Capitol and campus are connected by State Street - eight tree-lined, pedestrianised blocks of restaurants, cafés, lively bars and trendy stores.

Williamson Street, on the city's near-east side a few blocks from Monona Terrace, happily evinces its countercultural community roots, best observed on a leisurely stroll.

The major suburbs in Madison are: Blooming Grove, Burke, Fitchburg, Maple Bluff, McFarland, Mendota, Middleton, Monona, Shorewood Hills and Westport.