gerolamy

We are travelling to Harbor Springs for a junior golf tournament in two weeks at Boynes Highlands. Could anyone recomend any good restaurants or pubs, any good places with outdoor patios. Also how far is the drive from Harbor Sprs to Mackinac Island.Should we take the tunnel of trees scenic route one way.How long is the boat ride to the island.
thanks

Keith

My favorite Harbor Springs restaurant is The Pier http://www.staffords.com/harbor-spri...estaurant.html


Mackinaw City is about 30-40 minutes away. It takes over an hour by Scenic route number one. Longer if you decide to make stops at Leg's Inn, the Bliss general store, Thorne Swift Nature Preserve or other places that may catch your eye.

I highly recomend riding on #1, but it doesn't have to be on the way to (or from) the Straits.

The boat ride from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island is about 20 minutes.

Keith

gerolamy

Thanks Keith for the info. We will defintely try the pier for dinner. Would it be worth our while to drive to travserse city and back in a day, we would probably only have about six hours from start to finish as we have to be back to pick kids up from golf.

iceeu2

Hi gerolamy....I will top my recent trip report for you. Just pick and decifer what you need.

Keith was a great help to me when I was planning our wonderful vacation to Northern Michigan. He will definitely steer you in the right direction.

We ate dinner one night at Teddy Griffen's right at the entrance to Boyne Highlands and it was great! I would not make the one day drive to Traverse City (it's beautiful, but you are going to already be in just as beautiful of an area).

Definitely take the tunnel of trees route on your trip to Mackinac Island and stop at Leggs Inn on that route.

Lucky you......what a beautiful area you are going to.

Keith

Traverse City is about 1 1/2 hours away. I like TC and its surrounding area a lot, but with that amount of time would be tempted to visit Petoskey and Charlevoix instead of driving quite so far.

Petoskey is a nice little community on the other side of Little Traverse Bay from Harbor Springs. In addition to being the county seat, it has interesting stores & restaurants and a little history museum. Bay View on the north side of Petoskey is worth a drive through to see the many Victorian homes.

Then continue down to Horton's Bay (where Hemingway spent summers as a boy) and visit the General Store. This is a great area for wandering without a schedule and stopping where something catches your eye.

Continue through Boyne City, then either follow the south shore of Lake Charlevoix and take the tiny Ironton Ferry ($2.00) 100 yards across the south arm of the lake or drive around the arm through East Jordan. This is a great route to watch for water birds.

Then on to Charlevoix where you might visit Stafford?s Weathervane Restaurant (same people that have the Pier). It is on the Pine River and right next to the Charlevoix Memorial Bridge. Every half hour, US 31 shuts down when the bridge is raised and the larger boats move between Round Lake and Lake Michigan.

And on back to Harbor. Be sure and stop at one of the hundreds of roadside stands and buy some washed black cherries to nibble along the way.


Thanks for the kind words, iceeu2.

Keith

linaatoz

Harbour Springs is a great place! Stop by Tom's Mom's Cookies for the best cookies in the world. Also, Charlevoix is a very nice area. Keith could double as a personal planner, what awesome suggestions! He makes me want to pack my bags and head north right now.