For information on Madison attractions, restaurants, and shopping, please see: http://visitdowntownmadison.com/
Madison is the location for many statewide, national, sporting, and conference events. Consequently, hotel rooms near the Capitol and campus are not available on many dates throughout the year. When IceCube plans week-long meetings and expects many visitors, the project office will try to reserve blocks of rooms in nearby hotels. Please obtain reservation information from your host/ contact. Suburban hotels are more likely to be available on the busiest dates and some have shuttle service. Do not expect to get a room on very short notice. Also, room rates vary depending on availability. Hotels generally set aside few rooms at state or federal rates. On some popular dates, no special rates are available. Plan ahead and work with your IceCube host.
If you plan to stay in Madison for one or more months but less than a year, your choices are severely limited. Only two sources of furnished, short stay apartments exist near the university, and they seldom have vacancies during the academic year. Even hotels that offer monthly rates cannot guarantee an uninterrupted period, because they tend to be fully booked-on football weekends, for example. Some of the campus hotels close for holiday periods. If you have a car, you have more options in suburban suite-type hotels. Occasionally, University Houses will have unfurnished space available for short-term stays. Before you make final plans to come to Madison ask your IceCube host to verify the availability of affordable housing.
Graduate students and post-docs/visiting scholars with families usually can find housing at Eagle Heights or University Houses, respectively. These are unfurnished apartments on the campus with bus service and high-speed internet. http://www.housing.wisc.edu/. Families leaving, usually at the end of a semester, often have public sales of their furnishings and household goods.
In addition, Madison currently has a surplus of private apartments. Near the campus, the lease period is one-year from Aug. 15. Sublets generally are available in the spring and summer. Several apartment complexes, with more flexible leasing intervals and on bus routes two or more miles from campus, are popular with families and students. Unfurnished apartments are the norm. The Campus Information and Visitor's Center's web site maintains a housing listing service as well as general information about renting in Madison. http://housing.civc.wisc.edu/