Michigan Travel Guide
View from a hike in Glen Arbor
While I spend a lot of time traveling away from Michigan, there are definitely some spots in this state that I enjoy traveling to as well. I’ve lived here for almost a decade now, and although I’ve been reluctant to give Michigan any credit because of my undying loyalty to the East Coast…in all fairness, I can’t really deny the beauty of the Great Lakes and some of the charming towns and beautiful nature that can be found here.
I live in Ann Arbor, which is in the southeastern part of the state, and while this area is known for a number of things (mainly the University of Michigan, college football, and Zingerman’s), it’s not necessarily the most scenic part of the state—especially when compared to “Up North,” which is how Michiganders refer to Northern Michigan.
While there are some things worth exploring down in these parts (I’m thinking I’ll probably write up an Ann Arbor Guide at some point), all of my favorite Michigan spots are either up north or out west, so that’s what I’m going to focus on in this post.
So while I might not be a Michigan native, I think I’ve explored the mitten enough over the years to have built up a solid list of some of the good stuff this state has to offer. If you’re looking for a Michigan Travel Guide, this is my tried and true list of Pure Michigan favs.
Traverse City & the Leelanau Peninsula
The view from Pyramid Point
I love it up here so much. My first trip to the Traverse City area was before I lived in Michigan when my friend Jess and I passed through on a cross-country road trip back in ‘09. After weeks of driving through the desert, the mountains, and the plains, we both felt a sense of home (we’re native Cape Codders) when we reached the shores of Lake Michigan. We made tacos on a camp stove by Grand Traverse Bay, visited the world’s largest cherry pie, rolled down the 500 ft. sand dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes…and then illegally camped in the parking lot when we realized that all the campgrounds in the area were full. It was love at first sight and I have returned many, many times since then.
If you want a deep dive for what to do in the area, these two guides by locals are great: Megan Gilger’s Traverse City and Leelanau Travel Guide and the Northern Migration Field Guide | Leelanau. Here are a few of my personal favs:
Nature: Beautiful scenery abounds! I love to just drive up and down M22, taking in the views and dreaming about moving to a lake house, but there are plenty of great destinations worth stopping at. No visit to the area is complete without a trip to SIeeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (which will absolutely blow your mind if it’s your first trip to the Great Lakes) and be sure to do the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive as well (especially in the fall). If you’re looking to lay around in the sun and do some swimming, I love Esch Road Beach and Van’s Beach, and there are a ton of other options for beach-goers too; I still have more to explore in this department. For hiking, Pyramid Point Trail and Alligator Hill Trail are both great hikes with beautiful views, and Grand Traverse Lighthouse and Mission Point Lighthouse are fun to visit—because lighthouses on a lake? Who knew?
And while summer and fall up north are pure magic, Northern Michigan transforms into a winter wonderland after the first snowfall. We did a trip up north for my birthday last December and everything was so beautiful—I got to try snowshoeing for the first time too and absolutely loved it. If you’re into winter activities, there seems to be no shortage of things to do. There are even a number of ski resorts in the area that I can’t personally vouch for because I haven’t been, but I’ve heard great things from friends and family who have. Plus, a bunch of bars and restaurants put up those cute little outdoor igloos that you can hang out and eat in drink in so that’s always fun.
Food: Farm Club = Heaven (pictured below). It opened in the summer of 2020 and Dan and I instantly became obsessed and we go multiple times when we’re in town. It’s a gorgeous, modern building on a huge property with a beautiful market, restaurant, and bar indoors and tons of space to gather outside. If you only do one thing from this list, let this be it. The Little Fleet is a collection of food trucks (a great budget-friendly option) and there are a few fun bars on site too. For breakfast, 9 Bean Rows is a charming farmstead, cafe, and bakery that has amazing baked goods (get the apricot croissant!), Frenchies Famous is a cozy little spot that everyone always raves about (and for good reason), and Mundos Roasting & Co. in Sutton’s Bay is another notable newcomer to the local food scene. Grabbing a sandwich at the Village Cheese Shanty in Leland is an absolute must (make sure you get it on the pretzel bread too), and for a fancy date night, Trattoria Stella is a great Italian spot and The Riverside Inn is a classic in the area and right on the Leland River with nice views.
Drink: A lot of people don’t know this, but Michigan has a wine country—and it’s actually pretty decent. Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas sit on the 45th parallel, which also runs through Italy’s Piedmont Region and the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux in France; some of the world’s most famous wine regions. The reds aren’t necessarily notable, but the dry whites are great, and that just so happens to be my favorite type of wine.
I love wine tasting so I have a whole post dedicated to my favorite wineries in Northern Michigan that lists out all of my favs (I have tried many), but I will say that every single time we’re up north we make sure to at least visit Mawby and Tandem Ciders because they are my happy places in Michigan—and they both have great snacks too. Make sure to get the whitefish dip at Mawby and a pickled egg at Tandem. There are a bunch of breweries up north too but I honestly never make it to them because I’m always in wine mode. I can recommend Hop Lot Brewing Company in Suttons Bay though. They have good beer + food and an amazing outdoor space that’s perfectly nestled in the woods.
From the top (L to R): Tandem Ciders, Bowers Harbor Vinayards, Dan enjoying some wine at Blustone Vineyards, out back at Hop Lot Brewing Company, and a cute little leaning barn that I spotted driving around Suttons Bay
Stay: I don’t have a tried and true place that I always stay at, but there is a great Airbnb scene in the Traverse City area with a ton of solid options. Definitely book as far in advance as you can though (I’m talking at least 6 months) because places fill up early. I definitely recommend staying at The Yurt at Spruce Hill Farm if you’re into stuff like that (it’s a working goat farm and the hosts have amazing goat cheese waiting for you when you check in), my girlfriends and I have stayed at this spot a few times that is walking distance to downtown Traverse City, and I loved staying at the Wayfarer Treehouse one year for my birthday with some friends of ours. If you’re more of a hotel person, The Leland Lodge is really cute and in one of my favorite little towns on the peninsula, Leland.
And learn from my mistake, do not stay at a place called “Little Betsie’s” if you see it come up on Airbnb. Just don’t. Ask me to tell you the story next time I see you if you haven’t heard it yet.
Me in front of the yurt at Spruce Hill Farm
The Upper Peninsula
While I drove through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (that far-north part of the state that’s attached to Wisconsin and separated from mainland MI by Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) on my afore mentioned cross-country trek, I had never really spent a significant amount of time there until this past summer. I just love the Leelanau Peninsula so much that I always default to heading that way for up north adventures, but after years and years of hearing everyone sing the UP’s praises, I decided to switch it up last summer and finally explore the area—and it was amazing.
I ❤️ the UP.
If you’re a nature-vacation person, the UP is heaven. Lake Superior is stunning, there are waterfalls everywhere, incredible hikes galore, and while some areas can get crowded during tourist season, the majority of the UP feels like a secret, secluded getaway that hasn’t been discovered yet. It’s basically the middle of nowhere—in the best way possible.
We stayed in Marquette (which I definitely recommend as a home base) and did a bunch of exploring around that area. These are my favorite things we did:
Sunset Point in Marquette
Nature: As I mentioned, the nature in the UP is unreal. Marquette is a cute little college town right on Lake Superior, and on our first night in town we caught the sunset at Sunset Point (aptly named) in Presque Isle Park which was lovely. You can camp out on the rocks and get perfect sunset views, so bring a blanket and a picnic for the full experience. You don’t have to venture far from town for more great nature either. Between Sugarloaf Mountain, Little Presque Isle (which, note, is different from Presque Isle Park), and Hogback Mountain, there is plenty to do within a short drive.
And the waterfalls! I have never seen so many waterfalls in my life. Dead River Falls was amazing and such a wild hike through gnarled tree roots to get to the falls; I had really never seen anything like it before. Little Garlic Falls and Yellow Dog River Falls were nice, off-the-beaten-path trails that were both beautiful and practically empty, and it’s not near Marquette, but we did stop at Tahquamenon Falls on our way back downstate, which is the UP’s largest and most popular waterfall. It was a bit more touristed (kind of like a smaller version of Niagara Falls) but still worth seeing.
From the top (L to R): Scenes from hiking along Little Presque Isle, the mighty Tahquamenon Falls, me in front of Yellow Dog River Falls, and a few of the beautiful Lake Superior beaches
My favorite area we visited in the UP though was Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which absolutely blew my mind (oh, and I somehow managed to forget my camera that day so I pretty much have no pictures of how epically stunning it was). It is a must if you’re planning a trip to the UP. Located in Munising, it’s a little less than an hour's drive from Marquette, so it’s easy to do as a day-trip. We did a 10+ mile hike through Chapel Beach (hiking to a beach? Ok) and Mosquito Falls and it was honestly one of the best hikes of my entire life. The views were spectacular the entire time and it was challenging but without being too difficult. The parking lot was full and cars were backed up quite a ways when we got there, so we considered giving up and turning around like a lot of people were doing, but I’m so glad we didn’t. We ended up parking about a mile down the road and just walking to the trailhead, which totally sucked on the way back when we were exhausted, but the hike was so good that it was 100% worth the added inconvenience. For the non-hikers interested in exploring the park, there are boat tours that offer really incredible views of the cliffs that are arguably better than what you’d see on foot.
Lakenenland Sculpture Park: I’m giving this place it’s own section because it was a trip highlight for me. Located on M28 in Marquette, Lakenenland Sculpture park is a 37-acre outdoor sculpture park featuring over 100 quirky, scrap-metal sculptures made by the park’s owner, Tom Lakenenland. We stumbled on it randomly and I’m so glad we did because it was a delight to walk through. It’s always open, free to the public, and roadside America at its finest.
Food & Drink: I should note that we visited the UP during the pandemic so we didn’t eat out nearly as much as we normally do on vacation and we ended up preparing the bulk of our meals at our VRBO. That being said, there’s one food in particular that the area is known for (and that you’ll see signs for everywhere) that I made sure we sought out: pasties. A “one-handed meal” that was a popular lunch for the UP’s miners in the 1800s, it’s basically a personal-size meat pie. Because I’m a vegetarian, I did a little research and found out that Muldoon’s Pasties & Gifts in Munising makes a veggie version, so that’s where we went. Dan got the beef pasty and I got the vegetable one, and they were both delicious and so huge that it took us a few meals to work through them. We got an apple pasty for dessert too, because following up a savory pie with a sweet one only makes sense, right?
Another staple in the UP is Blackrocks Brewery in Marquette which we stopped at after one of our hikes (post-hike beer is the best beer). They have a great outdoor space, good beers, and I impulse bought a sweatshirt that I have zero regrets about. A shoutout to Ore Dock Brewing Company too which we also enjoyed visiting.
And man, we passed so many amazing little backwoods dive bars that I am 100% coming back for in post-pandemic times.
Other Things to Note: If you’re driving to the UP from lower Michigan, you’ll have to cross the Mackinac Bridge…which is an experience in and of itself. At 5 miles long, it’s one of the longest suspension bridges in North America, it sways in the wind, and if the weather is really treacherous, it will shut down until conditions are safe again. If it really freaks you out, they do offer a Driver Assistance Program where a Mackinac Bridge Authority employee will drive you and your car across. I wouldn’t worry though, it’s a very safe bridge and only 2 cars have fallen off since the bridge opened in 1957.
When we were deciding where to stay, I found that the Airbnb scene wasn’t all that great and that VRBO seemed to have better options so that’s what we ended up booking through. There are plenty of hotels in the UP too, but renting a house felt more in line with the type of vacation we were looking for and it was nice to be able to cook so we didn’t have to eat out for every meal.
Black flies can be really bad in the UP. We were there Labor Day week and luckily didn’t encounter any, but they’re typically around in the spring and early summer and can be quite a nuisance. Definitely consider that when you’re planning your trip as you may want to bring head nets and cover up when hiking because their bites can be really painful and last for weeks.
Oh, and lastly, Yoopers (UP locals) have a great accent, enjoy.
The entrance to our VRBO in Marquette—which was less rustic than it looks, but there was definitely a giant (unlocked) gun cabinet right by the front door.
Saugatuck
Being far away from the ocean is one of the toughest parts about living in the Midwest for me. I grew up in a beach town and had never lived more than 20 minutes from the water until I moved out here, and I’m not going to lie, being landlocked really bums me out in the summer.
Luckily the Great Lakes aren’t too far away and they’re a pretty decent stand-in for the actual beach (I do miss that salty air though). It was a big priority for me to find the best beaches within driving distance of Ann Arbor when we moved here, and after much trial and error, in my opinion Oval Beach in Saugatuck is hands down the winner. I love the town of Saugatuck too. It’s cute to walk around, has good restaurants, fun bars, great little shops, art galleries, and antique stores, and a lot of things about it remind me of home so I instantly felt a connection to it the first time we visited.
The picturesque sundeck at the Lake Shore Resort in Saugatuck
It’s about a 2.5-hour drive from Ann Arbor so a bit of a hike for a day trip but still doable and we typically make the trek a few times a summer. Because Saugatuck is a tourist destination, there are plenty of hotels and motels to choose from when we want to stay overnight too. We’ve stayed at Captain’s Quarters Motel and Resort which is cute, cheap, and just a short drive to the beach, but if you really want to treat yourself, the Lake Shore Resort is heaven and the perfect combination of hipster and bougie with amazing amenities like a picturesque sundeck overlooking Lake Michigan with steps down to a private beach, outdoor yoga classes, cruiser bikes to ride around on, hiking trails, and more. We loved our time here so much and I kept jokingly calling it “The Mediterranean of Michigan” because it really felt like we were transported far, far away…in the best way possible. I wrote a full post dedicated to our stay at the Lake Shore Resort that you can read here.
Before heading to the beach, we always get lunch at Farmhouse Deli & Pantry (everything is great here but their egg salad and vegan bahn mi sandwiches are especially delicious), and we’ve also enjoyed Pennyroyal Cafe and Provisions, Everyday People Cafe, and Saugatuck Brewing Company for beers and bar food.
Runner-up beach towns are South Haven and New Buffalo…but Saugatuck is my #1.
Sunset at Oval Beach in Saugatuck
There are still a bunch of places on my Michigan travel to-do list too, so I will keep adding to this Michigan Travel Guide post as I continue to explore.
