Looking for pretty waterfront hotel for weekend trip from Detroit
 

Husband and I are celebrating an anniversary in early September and are looking for a place to go within a 4 hour drive of Detroit. Canada would be okay, since we have passports. We'd like a hotel or resort with balconies where we could relax and look out over the water. We considered Mackinac Island, which would be about the max driving distance we want to do, but it's pretty booked up for our dates. Any other suggestions?

BTW, the dates are September 11-13, which we can't change since husband can't take time off work at that time of year. Thanks for any suggestions!

Stay in Mackinaw City or St. Ignace. Thy have many hotels with balconies or decks on the water.

There are the many towns along Lake Michigan, South Haven, Saugatuck, Grand Haven, Ludington, Traverse City and Petoskey, to name a few. You could also head to Put in Bay near Sandusky, Ohio.

The Bayshore in Traverse City has balconies right on the bay with lovely views all day and evening. It's a great location - close to downtown and right between both peninsulas for exploring, checking out the beautiful scenery and lighthouses, visiting the terrific farmers market, etc.

There are plenty of beautiful beaches along the shore of Lake Michigan near Holland. I would research hotels in that area - rather than spend a good chunk of your weekend time driving north up to Traverse City area (altho, I agree that it is beautiful up there). I just wouldn't want to spend what limited time I had behind the wheel of a car. JMO! Enjoy!

Thanks for the suggestions. We've pretty much given up on going away for the weekend. Anything that looks appealing is booked up and as husband reasonably points out, we're going to Europe only a few weeks later so we don't really need to go away that weekend :-)

We live in the Detroit area and were looking for a similar vacation spot. We decided on New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan. A search brought up the Marina Grand hotel and we got a marina front ground floor room. The rooms are condos which are vacation rentals. It was absolutely amazing! Loved the area. If you go, make sure to eat at Jackie's Cafe, five minutes away. Jackie Shen is a topnotch Chicago chef who relocated to the area and opened a little diner. Everything is housemade. I'd go back just to visit that restaurant again.

Here is my photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/1120703...eat=directlink

http://www.marinagrandresort.com
http://www.jackieshencafe.com/