pammc

My family is looking to visit Michigan next summer for 2 weeks. I like to be on Lake Michigan and within walking distance to a cute town(ice cream shops etc.) My kids are 5 - 12. We would love any suggestions.

tpatricco

Saugatuck area is nice.

antmaril

Charlevoix is very nice. The town is on Lake Charlevoix. There are many accommodations within walking distance of Main Street. You could then drive from Charlevoix to Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Mackinaw City, etc.

TripleSecDelay

I second the vote for Sagatuck in West Michigan, not far from GR. Good for families, boating, etc. Definitely has ice cream and a great candy store whose name I cannot recall on a Sunday afternoon.

I always thought the town had been used in films. Do you have a limitation on /where/ around the lake?

pammc

We don't have any limitations. We want to be able to keep all our kids busy/entertained.

jlm_mi

What entertains them, beside ice cream? Petoskey is a very nice small town that draws a lot of tourists each summer. It's central, and you could day trip to Mackinac Island from there easily.

Cali

I love Harbor Springs but it is very pricey. My next choice would be Charlevoix which is also nice and Saugutuck is also great. In fact I like many of the small towns along Lake Michigan in MI - they have lots to offer. St Joseph, MI is down nearer Chicago (about 90 mi away) and it is a nice town too with a nice beach.

gbhost

There are several great Summer vacation spots in the Northern tip of the lower peninsula including Harbor Springs, Petoskey, Charlevoix and Traverse City. If you're looking for a bigger city feel with the most restaurants, shops and activities, choose Traverse City. From there you're only about 45 minutes or so from the spectacular Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

But if you want a little more small town feel I'd choose Petoskey. Plenty to do in this pretty little town and you're close to upscale Harbor Springs, the beautiful Tunnel of Trees drive and not too far away for a day trip to Mackinac Island.

snowrooster

I'd recommend Petosky as well, though if you want a real small town feel, go ahead and stay on Mackinac. There are no cars on the island so there will definitely be plenty of opportunity to take walks to places. I remember it being full of ice cream and candy shops!!

swalter518

I'd suggest South Haven-nice beaches, very family oriented, very walkable and you can easily visit Saugatuck. I personnaly love Harbor Country (New Buffalo, Union Pier, Lakeside, etc.) but it's not always walking friendly depending on where you stay.

JJ5

How upscale do you want to be?

Everybody will flame me, I know, but I'm not a Saugatuck fan. It's become extremely touristy and crowded. Think Sedona or St. Armaud's circle kind of wannabe shopping and the Lake Michigan yacht crowd. It is nice. It is CROWDED. Think Wisconsin Dells type of crowds and stepping on others every way you turn. It is WAY too over-priced for just "good" lodging. If you want a cute town with lots to do- almost any of the others would do as well. Petroskey and Charlevoix and others have a real town feel and are all terrific in their own ways. Traverse City is gorgeous and BIG-not a town in the sense of a country town. Someone on this board in the past said to avoid the Silver Lakes area. Don't- it has the best sand dunes and kids fun around. There is a Holiday Inn right on the water there with a huge children's park right next door. The water comes in as in a bay and is VERY shallow- kind of like a tide pool with huge wet sand flats. LOTS OF KIDS, and that is probably why the childless would not prefer it. It's also much "lower" scale and has a big campers' crowd too. You can walk to Mears and ice cream- very easily. You can rent sand buggies and go head first down sand dunes that are like mountains. Biggest adrenaline rush I can remember in my life. Spinal compressions can't take it anymore. They have a outfit that will take you on Jeeps tours through the Michigan forest where the biggest Boy Scout camp in the country is. Lots more. Restaurants are ok, but not gourmet.

One very good friend has a week every year in June with her entire extended family at a family resort called Sleepy Hollow. You have your own "cabin" or house. You walk to the sand beach (Lake Michigan) and have your own pool and kids activities are run non-stop. I think they may even take them to a farm or dairy to see the ice cream being made. It's near South Haven / St. Joseph. It's not cheap, but reasonable for an entire family reconnection.

Do you want Adult bars/ dancing etc. or just a very quiet place and nature? There is another place in Michigan that is inland and called Sunnybrook Farm. When my kids were small they thought they had gone to heaven the weeks we were there. They feed you every meal in a farmhouse, just like the Amish. The kids go on day trips every day and the adults have dances/ cards etc. at night. If you are very sociable and extraverted, it is a blast. Doesn't hurt to be a good volleyball or water polo player either. Just be warned that some of the cabins are REALLY rustic. You can get nice too. It's been a long while since I was there. I bet it is no longer family run as it once was.

If you want an alone on the beach type of vacation, there are tons of B&B's that would fit your bill too. Michigan is even better inland. But to find what's on the big LAKE google www.michigan.org

Pappy

Have you checked out Longwood? It's supposed to be fun.

swalter518

Depending on how far north you want to go, another good website to check out is swmichigan.org.

cassidy2002

Leland, Glen Arbor....You could stay at the Homestead (resort) and be close to all kind of cute towns & also Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. I'm not sure if the Homestead is right on Lake Michigan or not, but it's close. Another option is to rent a cute cabin for a couple of weeks. Check out www.leelanau.com for rental/tourist info. I am really biased to this area because I grew up vacationing there in the summer.

The other suggestions were great too!!

ChrisS

Another vote for Glen Arbor here! (cassidy 2002 got here before I could)

Glen Arbor is great: you could be on Lake Michigan or Glen Lake (a beautiful inland lake good for boating), lots of beach, and a very cute little town with restaurants, shops (Cherry Republic is the best!), ice cream, art galleries, the cutest little bookstore (you can play chess on the back porch), and lots more. It's a great area for biking, boating, hiking, driving, antiquing, and such. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is right nearby, and you can take a ferry out to the Manitou Islands.

Glen Arbor is one of my favorite places on earth (I summered there as a young kid, went to camp there, and have gone back in recent years). The Homestead is the big resort on Lake Michigan a mile or two out of town. You might also Google for Glen Arbor or Glen Lake rentals, and some natives rent their houses for the summer.

Have fun!

SoccerMomN14

Petoskey gets my vote. Lots to do during the summer, great places to walk to, lots of places to get ice cream and one of the very best book stores I have ever been in.
You would be close to Harbor Springs and could do Mackinac Island and Traverse City.

JJ5

Now you did it! Next spring or summer I am going to have to get off of my lake (Big Fish) and get North a bit to see Glen Arbor.

So little time, so many great places in Michigan.

JJ5

Chicgal, there was a time when I was a kid- that Sagatuck was country. They used to have a big pavilion there that my mom and dad went to for ballroom dancing. It was outside by the boat docks. We could get our own little rented boat in there. LOL now! This was in the 1950's. Right now it is private yacht club territory and not country at all. My significant other had a laugh attack there several years ago, because a shopkeeper in violet silk would not let him touch or adjust a blouse on a hanger that he had turned a bit to look at for me. The man rushed over to "display" the blouse for him instead. Not something he is used to. My guy is a very dignified and groomed silver bearded fox of 57. And he hates shopping. This didn't help.
We left there that day because you couldn't even walk and restaurants looked like they were very overworked.

You are right about the pricing. Off of Lake Michigan on any one of the inland lakes - a small house is over $1000 a week in summer. Some on Diamond Lake or Magician are $1500 or more. Also the prime months fill way ahead- so you must book early. We went to a darling B&B called Pebble House (near Union/ South Haven ) and I know that they are mostly "filled" up by March or April ahead of time.

Two or three years ago, we went on a tour out of a Sagatuck dock that took you over the lake front dunes. He showed us the formerly forested areas where they cut down all the trees to rebuild after the Chicago fire of 1871. It was very interesting. It is a huge sand dune for miles now, as trees never grew back. Also shore is migrating on that side into the lake. We also visited a dock North of that area where they build two or three million dollar yachts. They only build two a year and to specific order. We watched one that was ready to be launched get its finishing touches.

I'll have to remember your parking strategy, if I go back. ALONE- I'm sure.

swalter518

JJ5, I'm with you on Saugatuck-too much of a "scene" for me, which is also a downfall of Harbor Country but we just hit it for dinner or for an afternoon as we can "commute" there. I don't believe that South Haven is as pricey as the Saugatuck/Douglas area or some of the areas near Traverse City--certainly not cheap but not as bad and depending on where you are travelling from, not as far.

mum1345

Ludington, Pentwater, Frankfort, Onekama, Manistee are great choices. Cute lakefront towns - some of my personal favorites in lower Michigan.

Silver Lake is a lot of fun to visit for kids and the young-at-heart. I wouldn't want to stay there for 2 weeks but there are some great choices close by (Pentwater, etc). I'd definitely recommend the dune rides - lots of fun!

I live in west Michigan and while it is fun to visit the lakefront towns on the south west corner of the state, they do cater to the Chicago crowd. You don't get the true flavor of Michigan in that area of the state. Similarly you'll find that Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Charlevoix tend to also be rather upscale, catering to city folk. If that is what you like - you'll love it. Myself, I prefer small, unassuming towns and nature.