bus tours in milwaukee wisconsin

THE 5 BEST Milwaukee Bus Tours

Bus tours in milwaukee.

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• 4 hours to 1 day
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1. Milwaukee Tour

2. Discover Iconic Milwaukee Tour

3. Original Milwaukee Guided Brewery Tour with Lunch or Dinner

4. Sip of Milwaukee Guided Brewery Tour with Snack

5. 5 Day Tour On Lakes Superior Huron and Michigan

6. Lake Superior,Lake Huron,Lake Michigan 4-Day Tour from Chicago

7. 2-Hour Bus Tour in Milwaukee City

8. 2 Hours Private Tour of Milwaukee Marvels

9. Private Christmas Lights Tour of Milwaukee Magic

Keep the fun going with other experiences in the area.

Friesian Herd Tours, Workshops, Classes and Retreats in the Kettle Moraine area.

Downtown Kenosha Urban Art and Photography Walking Tour

Sheboygan Arts & Water Segway Tour w/ Private Tour Option

Lively Lake Geneva Scavenger Hunt

Geneva Lake Shore Path: Uncover 21 miles of stories on a self-guided audio tour

Sheboygan Showdown Scavenger Hunt

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• Milwaukee Tour
• 2-Hour Bus Tour in Milwaukee City
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• Original Milwaukee Guided Brewery Tour with Lunch or Dinner
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History, Food and Brewery Tours of Milwaukee

Featured Milwaukee City Tours

Iconic Milwaukee Tour

Milwaukee Brewery Tour

Milwaukee Wine Tasting and Chocolate Experience

Gift cards available for milwaukee tours, featured events in milwaukee.

The Irish Shuttle

Paddy’s Irish Crawl: A City Tours MKE St. Patrick’s Day Party

Milwaukee Ultimate Tailgate Tour

A fun, unique way to tour milwaukee.

Our City Tours MKE Fleet

We have a small fleet of cruisers that can hold up to 15 guests in total during our Tours in Milwaukee . These are fully electric cruisers, powered by Lithium batteries, that can travel up to 25mph.

A full charge can last up to 9 hours, and if we need a quick boost, the city has SUPER chargers that keep us running. We also have a 12-seat bus and can make arrangements with our partners to accommodate larger groups as needed; it’s ideal for our Custom Milwaukee Events and Corporate Experiences in MKE .

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Milwaukee City Tour

Great Overview of the City

Most Complete Milwaukee Tour

Learn About the History, the Architecture, & the Beer

Discover Milwaukee Like a Local

This tour provides an all-encompassing overview of Milwaukee for first-time visitors and longtime residents alike. Get a local’s perspective and become acquainted with all the diverse neighborhoods and must-visit attractions in a single morning or afternoon. This experience highlights all of the top sights of Milwaukee with comfortable bus transportation, allowing us to cover more ground!

Tour Highlights

Our tours run at a relaxed pace with stops every 10-15 minutes to explore, stretch, take photos, and uncover a new area of the city.

Comfortable, 14-seat passenger van with heating and air conditioning allows us to move around the city with ease, hitting all the major stops.

Comedic, local guide who is looking forward to sharing his home town’s history and modern vibrancy with you, and might just make you laugh in the process.

From downtown to the Museum Mile, through Lake Park, the Water Tower District, and much more. We will see it all!

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Trip details.

$40 per person

Departure time

Meeting point.

200 East Wells Street, Milwaukee City Hall . Look for the large gold sculpture at the corner of N Water Street and E Wells Street.

Availability

Varies, please view our calendar under the BOOK NOW page

Min 4, max 14

Walking involved in this tour is minimal and also optional. Our comfortable coach ensures that guests with mobility issues can also see all the Milwaukee sites!

• Historic and modern view of the city from a local’s perspective
• Transportation to all stops along the tour
• Numerous stops for photo opportunities
• A friendly guide to answer any questions you may have!

Not included

• Hotel pick-up or drop-off

What to bring

• Comfortable walking shoes
• Weather-appropriate clothing
• A sense of humor

About your guide

A Milwaukee local who is excited to share the history and local brews of his home with you!

Tour Overview

Our tour begins in historic downtown Milwaukee. We’ll view the stately City Hall building, completed in 1895, and the landmark Pabst Theater, (opens in a new tab) as we make our way down to the water. We will walk along the river and might even catch a glimpse of a bronze casting of a 70’s TV hero. As we start our driving portion of the tour, you will learn about Milwaukee’s history. From Native Americans to the French fur traders who founded the modern city, it is an interesting past. From our mini-coach, we’ll see Sculpture Milwaukee, (opens in a new tab) an outdoor exhibition that includes art from around the world!

Heading back north towards our first stop, we will pass Milwaukee’s Museum Mile (opens in a new tab) on the trendy East Side. As you drive, your guide will point out Brady Street, (opens in a new tab) a unique neighborhood filled with bars, restaurants, and local shops. Our first stop is at the Black Cat Alley, (opens in a new tab) Milwaukee’s premier street art gallery. Back in the coach, we will enter the exclusive Water Tower District. Here, we’ll glimpse the homes of the beer barons and industrialists, including a house designed by Wisconsin’s own Frank Llyod Wright.

Our next stop comes at the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee’s expansive Lake Park. Take in the sweeping views of Lake Michigan as we drive along the lakeshore towards the Milwaukee Art Museum. (opens in a new tab)  The Milwaukee Art Museum, one of America’s largest museums, was featured in multiple Hollywood hits, including Bridesmaids!

Moving along, we will pass the Henry Maier Festival Grounds and the revitalized Third Ward. This former industrial district has come to life with restaurants, theaters, and the Milwaukee Public Market. (opens in a new tab) We’ll make a quick stop at the market for a restroom break and a chance to grab a snack or drink.

Heading back downtown, we’ll pass the iconic Pabst Brewing Company and Fiserv Forum Arena, (opens in a new tab) home of the Milwaukee Bucks. (opens in a new tab) Full of history, photos, and laughs, we make our way back to City Hall to conclude our tour and set you out to explore Milwaukee on your own.

Don’t Just Take Our Word For It!

Carrie d. | tripadvisor.

I’d call this tour an absolute must do when you arrive in Milwaukee! Thank you, Mike, for an amazing tour!

Debbie L. | TripAdvisor

Probably the best tour we’ve ever had! Mike is so knowledgeable of Milwaukee – he made us fall in love this city. He drove us to hidden gems that we would have never found on our own. We were able to get out and walk around. It was perfect!

M, M & A Bennett | Google Business Review

Mike was willing to meet us as we came into the city to give us an awesome tour. He took his time while we snapped pictures and enjoyed the views. He was very knowledgeable and made the tour fun.

Margaret Walker | Google Business Review

The untapped tours guide was fun, informative and I was pleasantly surprised about how many cool things Milwaukee had to offer! I would recommend this tour to everyone and will take it again if I get a chance!

Good Times Ahead

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Visitors Guide

Read great stories and find insider tips about Milwaukee

Want to learn about Milwaukee from local experts? These city tours offer a range of options, from organized bus excursions to hop-on/hop-off sightseeing tours, walking tours, and even spooky tours. Explore the city’s major attractions and along the way discover the quirky, unusual spots that make Milwaukee so unique. These tours help you get the most out of your visit!

Find More Tours

Amazing scavenger hunt adventure - milwaukee.

• Amazing Scavenger Hunt Adventure - Milwaukee
• Recurring daily

Distillery Tour

• Great Lakes Distillery, LLC

Forest Home Cemetery Tours

• Forest Home Cemetery & Arboretum
• Recurring monthly on the 1st weekend day

Ghost Tour 2.0

• Hangman Tours
• Recurring weekly on Sunday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
• Recurring weekly on Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Saturday Brewery Tours

• Pilot Project Brewing
• Recurring weekly on Saturday

Shakers Original Ghost Tour

Spaces & traces 2024 - mid-century milwaukee, the whoring 20s seasonal tour, tour: beer is famous - milwaukee made it so, pabst mansion behind-the-scenes tour.

• Pabst Mansion

Tour: Beer is famous - Milwaukee made it so

• Recurring weekly on Monday

Tour-a-Palooza

• Milwaukee Public Museum
• Recurring weekly on Thursday

We Want To See All The Fun You're Having. Share Your Adventure With Us!

Happy Times Extended Vacations

Extended vacations are 2 days or more and feature sightseeing, theatre, National Parks, shopping, local experiences and more. Home pickups will return on select trips starting in October of 2021. Home pickup are available in Dane, Jefferson, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine & Kenosha Counties in Wisconsin and in Lake County in Illinois.

Destination Drinking Trips

Destination Drinking trips focus around wineries, craft breweries, distilleries, and cocktails while visiting great destinations. They include Sip, Sip Hooray (wineries), Beercation (craft breweries), and AlcoHOLIDAYS (distilleries and unique cocktails – a mix of different types of spirits).

Cash-Out Casino Trips

Cash-Out on these casino day trips and mini vacations!

Sometimes all you need is a day away.

Daycations is also where you will find MKE Tour Experiences. Whether you are local or not, these tours are fun and give you the local experience all while learning about Milwaukee. Live life like a local with MKE Tour Experiences.

Schlemiel, Schlimazel MKE

This is the “MUST EXPERIENCE” Laverne & Shirley themed tour of Milwaukee!

Wisconsin Destination Experiences

Our Wisconsin Destination Experiences are available for individuals on published dates or for groups of 15 or more on your own exclusive date. We provide fun, creative itineraries as Wisconsin Destination specialists. We are happy to customize tours for groups of 15 or more people.

Copyright All rights reserved by Happy Times Tours & Experiences.

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Get ready to make some memories on an excursion with Lamers Tour & Travel

Enjoy the freedom and absolute joy that travel can deliever, without the hassle and worry that comes with planning your journey. Sit back, relax, and let us do the driving. Our amazing tour directors and drivers take care of everything, so all you have to do is enjoy the ride.

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Walking and Bus Food Tours

Milwaukee’s premier, original & award-winning tours, food tours - experience delicious milwaukee, tacos & tequila.

Join us as we showcase the hidden gems of Milwaukee's Latin Quarter. This diverse and vibrant community has so much to offer, including some of our favorite foods and beverages.

Pre-Prohibition Historic Bar Tour

Milwaukee's tavern history pre-dates prohibition in the United States. Dive into Milwaukee’s famous historic bars. Enjoy beer, cocktails and German pretzels with us on this narrated bus tour.

Milwaukee Bloody Mary Brunch Tour

Sunday Funday never tasted so good! Hop on this fast-paced tour as we brunch our way around Milwaukee! Explore Milwaukee’s bloody-good brunch scene via The Hop, Milwaukee’s streetcar.

Brady Street Lunch Tour

Enjoy lunch with a side of history as we stroll the ethnic enclave originally settled by Italian and Polish immigrants to learn their stories and sample the cuisine of eclectic Brady Street!

Around the Ward in 90 Minutes

Enjoy a Milwaukeean-led tour with stops inside historic buildings, a chance to see local art work, and a sweet ending with a small treat from one of our favorite spots.

Milwaukee Pizza Bus Tour

Did you know that Milwaukee is home to its very own style of pizza? Enjoy Milwaukee-style pizza and much more on the Pizza Bus with distinctly different stops of the most historic and delicious pies in town.

Tour Availability

From milwaukee, with love.

Our delicious gift boxes are spreading joy across the country.

12 Days of Mom

The special women we call mom deserve to be celebrated more than one day a year! Treat the special mom, daughter, aunt or mom friends in your life to a luxury product to pamper herself with. For 12 days she'll open a daily door to enjoy gifts like, coffee, dried lavender, handcrafted chocolates, luxurious shea butter balm and more! This custom designed, American-made box is the most unique way to say thank you for everything the moms in your life do while supporting 12 - 15 small businesses and food producers with your purchase.

Fudge Classics Flavor Sample Pack

Classic fudge from Milwaukee Fudge Company, each with a creamy taste reminiscent of a visit to an old fashioned fudge shop. Chocolate - 1/4 lbs Butter Pecan - 1/4 lbs Maple Walnut - 1/4 lbs Chocolate Turtle - 1/4 lbs

Everyone needs a little self care these days by way of a warm beverage, special treat or aroma therapy experience!  Give the gift of luxury with this pampering kit full of our favorite Wisconsin-made products. This box is the perfect way to support local businesses and give yourself or a friend a much deserved break.

Taste of Wisconsin Snacks

Send some of the most iconic foods from the state of Wisconsin directly to friends, family, clients - of yourself!. Perfect for your snack breaks or to send someone some Wisconsin love, this care package includes our favorite Wisconsin-made treats. When you say Wisconsin, you’ve said it all!

Chocolate Lovers Kit

Sample or share some of Milwaukee’s most delicious woman-owned chocolate shops with this package. Great for birthday gifts, employee appreciation, or simply for yourself.

Ultimate Wisconsin Snack Box

Send a break to colleagues, or delve in and enjoy while watching the biggest games of the year with a curated selection of our favorite Wisconsin snacks. From salty to sweet this selection of Wisconsin-made products will satisfy everyone's snacking desires.

Give the Gift of Milwaukee's Best Sights and Flavors

Give your friends, family or team a fun and lasting memory! Our gift cards can be used for Milwaukee Food Tours, in addition to our sister companies, Milwaukee City Tours and Milwaukee Bus Rentals. It’s an experience perfect for birthdays, holidays, weddings, anniversaries, company gifts, or any occasion. 

Private Tours for Your Group

Milwaukee food & city tours offers private tours for groups of all sizes - we've accommodated groups up to 300., corporate >, family >, bachelorette >, group travel >, milwaukee city tours, travel deliciously, magic of poland christmas markets, what our guests are saying, 115+ reviews, 550+ reviews, 320+ reviews, bloody mary brunch tour, "one of the best tours i've been on in a long time", theresa's team, your milwaukee insiders.

Led by Theresa Nemetz, a Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA), an alumna of Future Milwaukee, a 40 Under Forty by the Milwaukee Business Journal, our team has a passion for Milwaukee and all it has to offer. We pride ourselves on being local insiders, and will have you discovering the sights and savoring the flavors of Milwaukee’s most historic neighborhoods and delicious eateries. We are proud of the commentary often provided by our tour attendees, “I’ve lived here my entire life and never explored Milwaukee like I did today.” We invite you to immerse yourself into our culture in a fun and intimate way by experiencing one of our Milwaukee Food & City Tours.

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Experience the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival Aboard the Jingle Bus

The Warming House at The Avenue

There will be plenty of activities to enjoy with the family before and after your Jingle Bus tour at the Warming House. Free treats will be available, as well as hundreds of children’s books with the Friends of Milwaukee Public Library book cart, available for a voluntary donation benefiting the Milwaukee Public Library. The 3rd Street Market Hall, adjacent to the Warming House offers many food options and free games like shuffleboard, bags, Jenga, and classic Nintendo video games. Parking is available at the Interstate Parking garage at The Avenue for only $3, with validation available at the information booth inside the Warming House.

Sights to see at the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival presented by Johnson Financial Group

With over 500,000 lights, you won't have trouble finding holiday cheer all over downtown during the Holiday Lights Festival. Three parks are lit up with interactive displays. 

Pere Marquette Park is “Christmas Chalet,” decorated as Santa’s country getaway. “Community Spirit Park” at Cathedral Square Park presented by Madison Medical Affiliates and Milwaukee County Parks is a collaboration between local schools and organizations with over 90 decorated trees. “Santa’s Celebration Square Powered by We Energies” at Zeidler Union Square is presented by We Energies Foundation and Milwaukee County Parks. You’ll find the perfect spot for a photo op to create memories with family and friends in Zeidler Union Square. Between the parks, you’ll find more holiday lights along Wisconsin Avenue with dazzling chandeliers lighting the streets.

For more information about the Jingle Bus or to book your tour, click here .

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Traveling Ireland by bus. With a dozen banjo players. And jokes. What could be better?

Ireland – The conference room at the Old Ground Hotel was crowded with newly assembled musicians and traveling tourists - and 17-year-old musician Flynn Whitmore was a bit nervous. One of the most respected tenor banjo players in Ireland, Enda Scahill , had just played a finger-flying, knee-bobbing jig with other well-known traditional Irish musicians at the meet-and-greet session and Scahill invited the music students to leave their seats and come up and play.

“I didn’t want to play,” said Whitmore. “But … Enda told me to get my banjo. So, I did.”

That first day, we were strangers. But just a few days later, Whitmore would venture out onto a jagged fang of the Cliffs of Moher, hundreds of feet above the sea spray of the Atlantic Ocean, to draw notes out of his four-string in the whipping wind while the rest of us tourists and newfound fans marveled at how much his confidence had grown.

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This was no ordinary bus tour through Ireland. This was a mashup of a dozen banjo-playing musicians of all levels and abilities, mixed in with an audience of music-loving tourists, all packing together the same bus to explore the Emerald Isle together, one note, Guinness and Irish joke at a time.

'I hear the biggest city in Ireland is growing. It’s Dublin.'

So how did I end up on this bus − swaying and bobbing through the narrow lanes that separate endless farms of sheep and cows − with a dozen banjo players?

Wild Atlantic Music Tours is a travel company that provides the uncommon experience of exploring Ireland with star musicians leading the way, quite literally on the same bus with tourists. Sometimes it’s a fiddler or a guitarist . Sometimes it’s a band . The point is to experience Ireland through its best storytellers and musicians, and to observe and appreciate the history of this mystical country through the music. Wild Atlantic Music Tours takes its buses to big cities like Galway as well as remote villages with little more than a church, a soccer pitch and a pub. Guides Eddie King and Robert Hanrahan are like Irish cousins showing us the best places to eat, drink and tune out our worries with a harp, a bodhrán and a banjo.

This particular Wild Atlantic Music Tour − in October, 2023 − was the first of its kind featuring Scahill, the former front man for the popular CeltGrass band We Banjo 3 which, during its decade-long run, drew thousands of fans to its performances at Milwaukee Irish Fest . Scahill had experience in these tours, going on them with We Banjo 3 years ago; last year, he was ready to do one on his own, especially for other banjo players and music-minded tourists.

I don’t play the banjo. And I didn’t know anyone − other than Scahill, a little bit. But I was determined to go. In 2016 my cousin invited me to visit Irish Fest for the first time and I joined her, mortified, in the fifth row at the Harley-Davidson stage of a We Banjo 3 concert, embarrassed to make eye contact with the performers. This was not my scene. I listen to hip-hop, K-pop, dance, R&B. Banjos? I was sure I'd hate it.

But We Banjo 3 just brought so much energy to the stage and their versatility between cover and original music was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Their sound was big and pure and danceable and I loved them, and so did Milwaukee, and Wisconsin − so much so that in 2018 I wrote two stories about We Banjo 3, and that’s when I first talked to Scahill.

More: Milwaukee's Irish Fest feels like home for Galway's We Banjo 3

More: Irish Fest regular We Banjo 3 uses music to shine a light on mental health

Right before the pandemic I took one of those DNA tests that confirmed my German-Polish Milwaukee South Side roots, but there was a surprise: Holy eejit, I’m Irish, too! Not a lot, but I vowed to embrace the shamrock enthusiastically. In 2023, with We Banjo 3 on hiatus, Scahill had focused on his solo work, his Irish music podcast Inside the Banjoverse and a new passion. He started teaching banjo-playing students all over the world on his banjo-lesson Patreon account . A Wild Atlantic Music Tour just made sense (and he's doing another right now).

That bus took us all along the middle-west coast of Ireland, with visits to the Aran Islands, Doolin, the Cliffs of Moher, Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, the Burren and the international and charming city of Galway. We learned to walk with the sun for good luck at the temple on the Inis Oirr, that County Clare is the home of traditional Irish music, that Doolin has both pine and palm trees, that the Burren in spring has both Alpine and Mediterranean flowers , and that and some scenes from The Banshees of Inisherin were shot in a perfect tiny old smokehouse with a low roof and uneven floors.

'He’s Scottish - he’s not allowed to ask for water at a bar. They’ll take his passport.'

We tourists came from all over and so did the banjo students: Ireland, Scotland, the U.S. Young Flynn, whom we all adopted, is from Australia. And yet even with all the beauty of exploring Ireland's patchwork green countryside and pursuing the end of every rainbow, incredibly, Scahill managed to get more than a dozen performers to join our musical motley crew on tour. They are all renowned musicians who left us mesmerized:

Mark Donnellan (fiddle), Brian Donnellan (concertina), Aodán Coyne (guitar and vocals); Micheal Ó hAlmhain (whistle), Eoin O'Neill (bouzouki), Manus Maguire (fiddle); Sorcha Costello (fiddle), Diarmuid Ó Meachair (melodeon, accordion); Christy Barry (flute, spoons), James Devitt (fiddle); John Carty (fiddle, banjo), Fredda Hatton (harp, concertina), Julie Langan (fiddle); Liz Kane (fiddle), Mirella Murray (piano, accordion); Brian McGrath (banjo), Mick Conneely (fiddle), Damien Quinn (bodhran).

These musicians, along with the bus tour banjo students, played master classes in the morning, or sets in the afternoon at pubs, or full concerts at night. Some were private concerts just for us; others drew packed crowds, like at the Crane Bar . That meant that music filled several hours of the day. And every session got better than the last as the group got more comfortable playing in public and playing together.

'Do you know how to have $1 million after 10 years playing the banjo? Start with $2 million.'

We got history lessons, too, on the music and the instruments. Barry explained that jigs were different than barn dances and peasant music, that music and dancing were the religion of their grandparents and that musicians played for the dancers.

“That’s what got your energy up was the dancing,” said Barry, brilliant blue eyes shining.

Ireland’s Young Musician of the year in 2022, Diarmuid Ó Meachair grew up with Irish as his first language and sang an Irish language song about a man who loves drink alcohol. Sorcha Costello brought the crowd to a standstill with her fiddle, and a massive line of new fans formed to buy both of their CDs, just to support these young talented people and music. (Never mind that most of us customers don’t own a CD player.)

And on the cross routes in between the pubs and sites, bus life on Wild Atlantic Music was never boring or confining, and the guides never dragged out a ride, as most were between 1-2 hours. In fact, the bus provided stress-free downtime to hear Enda, Rob and Eddie outdo each other with Irish stories and Dad jokes, or just close the eyes and rest. The view of the Wild Atlantic Way, one of the world's longest coastal drives, must be seen in person; no camera will ever do it justice.

We were all moved by the tour, the history, the culture, the love of a country that has taken in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But it might have changed one young man's life.

'Tá áthas orm' - means, 'I am happy,' in Irish

Do you believe in destiny? Whitmore is Australian, but his parents chose to name him Flynn, an Irish name; they gave him the middle name, Mackenzie, which is Scottish. Crazier still, it was just a few years ago that Flynn took up banjo − in rebellion. His mom Bronwyn was determined to make music part of his education. The Woodford Folk Festival is a 45-minute drive from their home, and she plays the harp; dad plays the digeridoo.

So, Flynn’s first choice was drums. “Mum said, 'something with notes,'” said Flynn.

Flynn’s second choice was electric guitar. “'Something acoustic,' said mum."

“Funnily enough, I then picked ‘banjo’ − just because I knew we wouldn't be able to find a banjo teacher. It was a complete joke,” said Flynn.

But the scarcity of Irish traditional music in Australia wasn't a problem. After seeing The East Pointers at Woodford, Flynn came across Scahill’s banjo video lessons on Patreon and took off with it. His talent, drive and enthusiasm for the music became apparent within minutes of meeting young Flynn. Everyone on tour was telling Flynn he’ll be performing on stages in no time.

But playing 'Mouse in the Kitchen' with new friends on tour is one thing for Flynn. When Whitmore met Carty , he was awestruck.

“I didn’t want to whip out my banjo − I just respect him so much.”

Whitmore was content to play as much as he wanted, but also sit back and appreciate the music as a fan, too.

'I tried work. But I found it took up the whole day'

Scahill wanted his bus tour to be a one-of-a-kind experience. After he endured the pandemic, which shut down We Banjo 3's touring for more than a year, he had had enough of that (like the rest of us). His home country of Ireland is a treasure and being here is a privilege. So, more than anything, Scahill wanted his banjo students, who play songs with titles and lyrics that reference Irish cities, towns and people, to come with him, tour Ireland, and actually play in those towns, and meet those people.

“When they come to Ireland, and are playing with the best musicians in the country, the whole purpose of the tour is immersive and it's inclusive,” said Scahill. “You don’t have to be at a 'level'; or worry if you’re not good, or enough you’ll get pushed aside.”

It doesn't mean he's grooming professionals, necessarily. He wanted immersion, and that goes both ways. Scahill started performing – on stage – at the age of 10 and his career has taken him on months-long tours all over the world, often to sold-out theaters or packed festivals. With all his musical connections, he was sure to invite guest musicians to join the tour, and the students, because he knew they would have fun playing with, and embracing, banjo students students and hobbyists. There's not much room for ego on this bus.

Perhaps the best part of the tour was listening to Scahill talk about the challenges of being a musician, of dealing with success, and fallouts; of dealing with critics, and comparisons. He's achieved a lot in his career, but also seems bolstered by getting back to the roots of music, by teaching others how to play. A side benefit was for the other tourists like me, who don't play, but now better appreciate the banjo and the music overall.

Maybe young Flynn will be on stage one day; maybe not.

“I want him to figure it out himself, which he will,” said Scahill.

But Flynn's passion for the banjo, for being around music-minded people, for hiking in Ireland's woods − and crawling out on its precarious cliffs − rekindled the wanderlust in all of us.

Lori Nickel is a sports columnist with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Traveling Ireland by bus. With a dozen banjo players. And jokes. What could be better?