Fine isn’t always famous. In fact, finding world-class vacations can call for journeys of faith. “Let’s give unknown a try” is my 2011 travel mantra.

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is my new favorite. Sacred lake waters, speeding cars, superb chefs, luxurious bedding, artistic shopkeepers and unflagging cooperation shape this many-layered, friendly community.

Three long-lasting resorts in a village of 1,206 people triggered my curiosity in a quest to discover destinations with an enduring spirit.

Families thrive here, fourth generation innkeepers and new-friend groupings of residents claiming kin as they build businesses with one another.

The art is as fresh as the produce at The Feed Mill Market because Two Fish Gallery owner Pat Robison creates a stunning sign with colored chalk early every morning describing that day’s new herbs, fruits and veggies.

Potters and grocers partner in Elkhart Lake and chefs eat in each other’s dining rooms. Resort owners bend an elbow together in the Stop-Inn Tavern and merchants shop in neighborhood stores.

All the time, everywhere I browsed and stayed for four nights, local people seemed to know—and like!—one another. Now that sets a tone for happy visiting.

Not to worry about those speeding cars; they’re confined to Road America, known as the fastest permanent road racing circuit in the world, four miles from town.

 It’s the history of open road racing that marks the village with historic Hard Left signs from the 1950, ’51 and ’52 open road sports car races here.

Check out the summer vintage car event at Siebkens Resort in the village.

Walking is the way to enjoy Elkhart Lake. With 1.3 square miles to its name, everything’s accessible. And with the abundance of fine food, strolling the block or two from resort to restaurant helps prepare for the next meal.

Resort names take some practice to remember: Osthoff, Siebkens and Victorian Village. Families mattered to the owners when each opened in 1885, 1916 and 1872, respectively, and still do today with an abundance of summertime beach and lake activities and winter special events, especially the German-styled Christmas market.  

That’s the one I tried, and heartily recommend.

The lake is Wisconsin’s deepest at 120 feet, first formed by glaciers and now fed by blue-green clear water springs. Enjoy the obvious: cedar tree views across the water, sandy beaches, canoes and kayaks, sailboats and water skis.

Barefoot Tiki Bar at Victorian Village Resort overlooks the lake and connects everybody with everybody—-guests, locals, natives and newcomers.

Too chilly on my December visit for any of that except the big views and calming contemplations, but I accessed the lake waters in leather pouches and meditation spaces in Aspira The Spa at the Osthoff Resort.

Wisdom of the first people living here blends with intensive training for spa staff, forming treatments reflecting those who honored this lake as sacred, so I learned from General Manager Lola Roeh.

   The Native American medicine wheel inspired the design of the meditation room, with water in the center and perfect balance of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

 Treatments are everything expected in a spa, plus some. Those leather pouches? They hold warmed waters from the lake considered sacred as part of a muscle-relaxing massage.

I opted to detox myself with 25 minutes underwater for my first baineotherapy bath in a chromatub.

Sure, I had to ask what that meant but I do order up the unknown frequently. Deep-water tub, easy to stretch all of me out, shoulders under too. Tiny lights in colors responding to energy centers in the body; take the full spectrum or choose the colors to match your chakra needs, if you know such a thing.

Air jets—230 tiny ones—gave me underwater deep tissue massage and the assurance my lymphatic system drained out some unnecessary stuff.   

I think the depth and breadth I discovered in Aspira The Spa typifies Osthoff Resort where it is located, and Elkhart Lake community as a whole.

 Familiar, comfortable luxuries and special treats for a holiday with ever so much more to access if you want to.  That’s the case in each resort, and throughout the little village.

 The AAA Four Diamond Osthoff where I stayed is all big suites and each has a whirlpool tub and a shower. Kitchens too, mini or full. Remember the potter who chalks pretty signs at the Feed Mill? Get some fresh groceries and eat in. Even fresh herbs are packaged for just a cooking or two. No haul-it-home burden with these groceries.

    Rebuilt in 1995, this is the Elkhart Lake resort with the elegance of newness and the grandeur envisioned by founder Otto Osthoff in 1885. I helped myself to a bit of his German Austrian roots at the Christmas market, where artisans from the Czech Republic, Russia, Austria and Germany sold hand-carved nutcrackers and nesting dolls, glass ornaments painted from the inside, elaborately painted wooden Santas and much more.

    Laurie Stecker and Lisa Sadiq keep the dream of their great grandparents Herman and Laura alive as the fourth generation owners of Siebkens Resort.   

    “It’s changed quite a lot, and some things not so much,” says Laurie, and to me that’s the charm. 

    Cozy reception area, like a grandmother’s parlor. Handsome cupboards, hall trees, clocks, hutches and drop leaf tables in the dining room. Sleek, modern hotel rooms and condominiums with verandahs and balconies plus some bed-and-breakfast type rooms with quilts and antiques.

    This Elkhart Lake mystique of many options in a little village kept unfolding throughout my four days.

    Victorian Village Resort overflows with wildflowers in blooming season I was told. If gardening matches laughter, hugging and love of grandchildren displayed by owners Judy and Kenny Salzwedel in my winter visit, I’m ready for a bouquet.

    Cheerful place this is, reflecting the couple who restored vintage buildings they purchased ten years ago.  Judy’s pencil sketch of her four much loved grandchildren covers the menu in Back Porch Bistro, Victorian Village’s restaurant with Chef Zeke Fitzgerald preferring local fish, veggies and artisanal cheeses, plus baking bread daily.

Choices to make here too with 49 hotel type rooms in the Victorian Inn, 12 condos in the Lakeside Suites and a dozen luxury condos in the Grand Victorian Lady.   

    All have access to 600 feet of private sandy beach and a spacious rolling green front lawn.  And, since this is Elkhart Lake, another surprise: a theater presenting shows since the 1890s.

    Expect concerts in the winter and musical reviews on Wednesday and Thursday in the summer.

    Expect also to eat very well year-round.  Warm weather lures crowds for fun in the lake but the eight eateries I tried in December were brimming with customers so someone clearly knows how to maintain quality in what might have been an off season.

    Roast butternut squash soup warmed me at Back Porch Bistro and then as a bisque at Lola’s on the Lake in the Osthoff Resort. Wisconsin chevre and golden beets topped a salad for me at Lola’s.

    So good I returned for a dinner of pork belly with apple ginger braised cabbage as a crispy starter and grass fed local Berkshire pork.

    Pan-fried walleye and sautéed Brussel sprouts served in original art — pottery from Two Fish Gallery– satisfied my palate at the Bistro and I’ll confess to snitching a taste of truffled risotto. Superb all of it.

    Three sisters and a brother own the Paddock Club, originally a gambling place, last raided in 1938, and they have photos on the walls to prove it.

    No flavor gamble here based on my tasty dinner including Sartori cheeses from nearby Plimouth. Porcini mushroom and veal ragu, steamed snapper in Savoy cabbage with truffle butter, rosemary rack of lamb with blackberry balsamic sauce prepared my taste buds for vanilla panna cotta for desert.

    Look for owner Lynn Shovan at Lake Street Café; she’s shaped the personality and the menu for 11 years. Seared duck breast and an Australian Shiraz followed my German potato soup.

    Two personalities in this café: front door side bold and lively with a bar the length of the room, pool table and plenty of family energy.  Those in the know realize there’s another side with white linen cloths, sophisticated wine room and the kind of quiet to hear your dinner-mate’s conversation.

    Have a grilled cheese sandwich on the linen side if you like, or sesame seared tuna on the game side.

 Elkhart Lake options again.

Osthoff’s original owner would be pleased with the restaurant named for him—Otto’s. My baked berry pancake was a light, airy soufflé, affair culled from what the resort’s general manager Lola Roeh calls a “lost recipes” cookbook, drawing on Wisconsin Native American traditions.

Eating local is interesting, and dominant, in Elkhart Lake.  

    And then there’s the cooking school at Osthoff Resort, L’ecole de la Maison with workshops and one or two day courses. Come over when I roast a goose with clementines and Madeira Sauce, preceded by roasted beet salad, accompanied with braised Swiss chard and potatoes Duchess, all learned in my five-hour class.  

    Christmas destination for sure, and clearly all year long.