My husband and I are taking a trip to Mackinac Island in September 2011. This will be our first trip without our son. Does anyone have any suggestions on things to do/see or places to stay? Thanks.
Are you staying on the Island or on the mainland? If on the mainland, I suggest taking the ferry over to the Island....lots of things to do..bike rentals, horse riding, horse and carriage rides. It just soooo beautiful there and September is the best time to visit. Have a great time!!! =)
Mackinac Island is great. Don't miss items include a carriage ride, the butterfly houses, and if you like history Fort Mackinac. The Grand Hotel also has a walking tour that you can take.
Also, if you have a lot of time on your trip, don't limit yourself to Mackinac, there are a lot of interesting things in that area to see. Across the bridge in Mackinaw City is shopping, Colonial Michilimackinac, and a boat museum. Traverse City is also not that far of a drive. In the Upper Penninsula, it's about an hour to Oswalds Bear Ranch (a great place to interact with black bears), Tahquahmenon Falls, Lake Superior. St. Ignace also has some nice shopping, Castle Rock, and various 'touristy' attractions that can be fun. You can find info on all of these items online, both at their own websites and at michigan.org. Have a great trip!
Mackinac is beautiful. The ferry from St Ignace is about $25 ish. You are also about an hour and a half from Traverse City. Lots of fun.
I would Google it and choose a couple of absolute to do's, like the horse trails then go back with your son.
Dress in layers UP Mi can get cold in Sept.
I like Mission Point because it's kind of a casual resort with pool, nice restaurant, they have a dinner theater,too.. but you will need to bike, walk or take a horse and carriage into town - it's a little off the beaten path. The Grand Hotel is probably fancier and more expensive but a little easier to get to. I like to have a lunch there. They also have a nice golf course. The Lakeview Hotel has an indoor pool. There are several cute bed and breakfast places, too.There are a lot of tours and activities - you can rent bikes, rent horses, rent a private horse and carriage or take a carriage tour. If you aren't sportsy enough to consider biking around or horseback riding, at least take the carriage tour, it's a little dull but the drivers tell you a lot of history and you get to see "the other side" of the island. There's a little downtown area for shopping and lots of good restaurants. Live music at many of the little bars at night. I love to have one nice dinner at the Iroquois Hotel. I love Joanne's Fudge - best on the Island. I always use Shepler's Ferry and ask for covered, secured parking. Oh and watch your step - although they are cleaning up all the time, there's still horse poop in the streets! You will hear the clip clop of the horse's hooves and the street cleaning early every morning. Have fun!
My best advice, make sure you check out what things that are there that you want to do, see how much they cost, and make sure you have the money to do it. When I was in 4th grade we went with our school but our parents got to come too. Everything that we did was included so we had a wonderful time as I remember. When I was 16 I went back with my family and we didn't prepare for all the things that cost money to participate in. We ended up being a little disappointed that we didn't prepare for that. However, there are many great things to do like visiting the butterfly house, renting bikes to ride around the island, shop the little stores, take a carriage ride around the island etc. Have fun and good luck!
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I would suggest staying on the mainland, in Mackinac City. It's much cheaper. Summer of 2009 we found a deal online that included our hotel in Mackinac City (and it was an awesome room), ferry tickets to the island, carriage ride tour around the island, tickets to the Butterfly Conservatory, and tickets to Fort Mackinac. I think for 4 of us it was only around $400 for all that fun! The carriage ride is the best way to learn about the island. Carriage drivers are extremely knowledgable about the history of the island, and generally pretty comical. Lots of good shopping and dining in Mackinac City as well... plenty to occupy your time!
About 2-3 hours away is Marquette. Beautiful downtown area, right on Lake Superior. Fun shopping, great restaurants, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. This is our favorite vacation spot!
You'll be able to see the whole island. you can rent bikes to ride around, stop and see the butterfly house. take time to stop in the shops, have fudge!
The Grand Hotel is amazing, pricy, but amazing. the food there is great, the rooms are nice. Some rooms are a bit small, but it's neat to walk around all the hallways and hope to get little peeks in the room while they're being cleaned. no two rooms are exactly the same.
have fun!
Go online. I am sure the Chamber of Commerce has a website, and all the info you need will be there.
have fun!! :-)
