Bristol Renaissance Faire
- Dates
- Jul 11 to Sep 7, 2026
- Status
- Confirmed
- Venue
- 12550 120th Avenue, off I-94 at the IL/WI border
- Price
- $48
- Camping
- None on site
- Last checked
- Aug 22, 2026
The experience
What's special
The Bristol Renaissance Faire fills a 30-acre wooded site on the Illinois/Wisconsin state line each summer with 16 stages of continuous entertainment, a fully armored joust, Queen Elizabeth and her glittering court, and hundreds of performers working the streets between shows. Its layered offerings run from arts-and-crafts shopping and axe-throwing to RenQuest, an interactive quest game, plus theme weekends, a ticketed pub crawl, and a Friends of Faire VIP garden. Admission tickets are good for any operating day of the season rather than a fixed date, and the faire operates alongside sibling Renaissance faires in Southern California and New York.
What people love
Regulars plan a full day and often two loops of the grounds: the comedy stage acts are the most-recommended shows, the late-afternoon 'joust to the death' is a signature closer, and the food stalls have cult favorites - garlic mushrooms, cheese fritters, and pickles-on-a-stick come up again and again. People-watching and the costumed crowd are a big part of the appeal, and veterans advise arriving at opening, catching morning shows before the midafternoon crowd peak, and lining up 30-45 minutes early for popular stages. The loudest complaints are about money: admission, parking, drinks, and shopping add up quickly, performers work partly on tips passed after each show, and some long-time visitors feel prices have outpaced what is on offer and that mass-produced goods have crept in among the artisans. Afternoon crowds, food lines, and morning traffic on the two-lane approach roads round out the gripes.
Listen
No official playlist linked yet. Find Bristol Renaissance Faire on Spotify.
Lineup
Getting there
How do I get to Bristol Renaissance Faire?
By train 2
Metra's UP-N commuter line runs from Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center to its northern terminus at Kenosha station, from O'Hare, ride the CTA Blue Line downtown first. Weekend service on the Kenosha end of the line is limited, so check the timetable against faire hours before relying on it. The faire is about 11 miles west of Kenosha station, so finish by taxi or rideshare
Book / info →Amtrak's Hiawatha runs several daily round trips between Chicago Union Station and Milwaukee, with a station stop at Milwaukee Mitchell Airport itself and a Wisconsin stop at Sturtevant, the closest Amtrak station to the faire at roughly 15 miles north. From Sturtevant, finish by taxi or rideshare, there is no connecting transit toward the faire site
Book / info →By bus 1
Intercity coaches on the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor stop in Kenosha at the Metra station (13th Avenue downtown). Like the train, the stop is about 11 miles east of the faire, so plan a taxi or rideshare for the last leg
Book / info →Taxi & rideshare 1
The faire sits right off I-94 at the Illinois/Wisconsin line and is realistically reached from either O'Hare (ORD, about 50 miles south) or Milwaukee Mitchell (MKE, about 35 miles north). Rideshare is the only door-to-door option without a car, at O'Hare, app pickups use the designated ride-service zones; at Milwaukee Mitchell, pickups are outside baggage claim. Free passenger drop-off and pick-up at the faire is at the entrance next to the red barn
Book / info →🅿 Parking
On site parking available. Cost General lot $10; preferred lot near the front gate $20 (cash only); ADA parking $10; pre-purchased VIP parking $35, limited to 300 vehicles per day. Prepay via VIP parking only: pre-purchase through the faire's ticket provider (Leap/ShowClix) on the official tickets page. All parking is in mowed grass fields at the site, the general lot entrance is off the frontage road. Free passenger drop-off and pick-up is at the entrance next to the red barn. Arrive early on Saturdays: morning traffic backs up on the two-lane approach roads
🚙 Car hire
Compare car hire
A rental car is the most practical fly-in option: the faire is a highway-exit site with no transit link, every train or coach arrival still ends 11-15 miles short, and on-site parking is cheap and plentiful if you arrive early
Search car hire →Live price search coming soon.
Where
Venue
12550 120th Avenue, off I-94 at the IL/WI border
Camping & Accommodation
Where can I stay near Bristol Renaissance Faire?
Budget stays 1
7220 122nd Avenue, Kenosha, WI, 6 miles from the faire, on the faire's own hotel list
≈ $85-130 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Mid-range hotels 3
10601 120th Avenue, Pleasant Prairie, WI, 2.9 miles from the faire
≈ $110-180 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →11800 108th Street, Pleasant Prairie, WI, about a mile from the faire, next to Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets
≈ $110-170 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →7111 Washington Avenue, Racine, WI, 20 miles north, on the faire's own hotel list
≈ $130-190 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Airbnb & private camping
Rentals cluster in Kenosha's lakefront neighborhoods and around the Twin Lakes/Paddock Lake area west of the faire. The faire runs nine summer weekends between Chicago and Milwaukee, and nearby hotel rooms are at a premium on faire weekends, so lakeside rentals book ahead for July and August
Search Airbnb →There is no camping at the faire itself, but the faire's own lodging page points campers to nearby grounds including Happy Acres Kampground in Bristol (14 miles), Richard Bong State Recreation Area (18 miles), and Illinois Beach State Park (12 miles); Hipcamp lists additional private-land sites across southeast Wisconsin within a short drive
Search Hipcamp →Pricing
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