The Thumb

On the mitten of Michigan, all the way to the east, you'll find the Thumb. Here, beautiful lake views are amplified by the joy you get from eating unique cuisine influenced by major cities, other countries, and small-hometown cooking. Shopping in the region highlights local makers and entrepreneurs, and outdoor activities will fill your days with adrenaline (think biking, hiking, snowshoeing, swimming, and snowmobiling). The changing seasons make Michigan's Thumb perfect to visit year-round.

The Thumb has a long history of Indigenous residents, including the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, and Miami tribes. Europeans first came to the area for the fur trade, and that quickly turned into a vast lumbering industry due to all the forests that can be found not just in the Thumb, but throughout Michigan. As time went on, other industries came and went—most notably mining and automotive production—but also helped spread the word of Thumb communities, pulling in travelers from around the country.

Throughout the rest of the Midwest, locals tend to think of towns in the Thumb as places people go during the summer, to stay in their lake cottages and woodsy cabins, returning in the winter before the weather shifts to deep snowfall. Some destinations, like Frankenmuth, are holiday powerhouses and see an influx of visitors during the Christmas season. But to limit the Thumb to summer months only is to deny its wintry beauty. What once was an ideal place to swim becomes an icy spot to fish when the Saginaw River freezes over. Hiking and biking trails morph into snowshoeing and cross-country skiing routes. The frozen lakeshore adds an otherworldly look to what you once saw as sun and sand.

In the fall and spring, the Thumb is equally as enchanting, whether you're heading there to bird-watch and observe the birth of the region's endemic flora or hitting the road to see the magnificent autumn colors blazing on the trees just beyond the waterline.

Regardless of when you visit, Michigan's Thumb has a lot to offer that you wouldn't expect, from small-town hospitality matched with award-worthy food to unique local shops paired with a bevy of outdoor sporting opportunities in sand and sun and wind and snow.