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Short answer
Start with Mackinac Island for its car-free streets and hilltop Fort Mackinac, Saugatuck for its art galleries and Oval Beach, and Frankenmuth for its Bavarian heritage and covered bridge over the Cass River. Most towns on this list fill a relaxed day, while Mackinac Island, Traverse City and Munising deserve a weekend.
With shoreline on four of the five Great Lakes, Michigan is a state of harbor towns: a car-free island in the Straits, Dutch and Bavarian heritage towns, lumber-era main streets, Upper Peninsula copper towns and lighthouse-tipped piers where the sun sets over the water.
This guide ranks 45 of the best, from Mackinac Island to Port Austin, each home to fewer than 40,000 people at the 2020 census. Most fill a relaxed day, the Upper Peninsula towns reward a longer trip, and many pair up neatly on a shoreline drive.
Mackinac Island was America's second national park. Congress created Mackinac National Park in 1875, three years after Yellowstone, and handed it to the state in 1895, when it became Michigan's first state park.
M-185 is the only state highway in the nation where motor vehicles are banned. The road circles Mackinac Island, which outlawed cars in 1898, so traffic is on foot, by bike or by horse.
Pictured Rocks was the first national lakeshore in the United States, authorized by Congress in 1966 along the Lake Superior shore between Munising and Grand Marais.
Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, thanks to its shoreline on four of the five Great Lakes.
The Petoskey stone, Michigan's state stone, is a fossilized coral named after the town of Petoskey on Little Traverse Bay.
Traverse City calls itself the Cherry Capital of the World for the orchards around Grand Traverse Bay, and celebrates every summer with the National Cherry Festival.
Horses, bicycles and your own two feet are the only ways to get around Mackinac Island, a car-free island city in the Straits of Mackinac where motor vehicles have been banned since 1898. Ferries from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace land at a harbor lined with Victorian storefronts and fudge shops, while the whitewashed walls of Fort Mackinac look down from the bluff above.
Most of the island is protected as Mackinac Island State Park, so a bike ride on the road around its shoreline passes limestone landmarks like Arch Rock, wooded trails and quiet pebble beaches. Stay the night if you can: once the day-trippers leave, the island settles into the clip-clop of carriages, and many businesses close for the season from late fall to spring.
Saugatuck began as a lumber town and port on the Kalamazoo River before artists arrived in the late 19th century, and together with neighboring Douglas it still trades on that art-colony reputation. Galleries, boutiques and cafés fill a walkable downtown that runs down to a harbor full of sailboats and sightseeing boats.
Climb the stairs to the top of Mount Baldhead for a view across the dunes to Lake Michigan, then follow the sand down to Oval Beach, a broad, dune-backed beach with a reputation far beyond Michigan. In summer a small chain ferry carries walkers and cyclists across the river, a quirky shortcut that has become part of the town's character.
Frankenmuth, nicknamed Little Bavaria, was founded in 1845 by Lutheran missionaries from Franconia in Germany, and the town wears its heritage proudly in Bavarian-style buildings, German bakeries and the family-style chicken dinners it is famous for. Its name means "courage of the Franconians".
Walk across the Holz-Brücke, a wooden covered bridge over the Cass River, browse the cheese, fudge and gift shops on Main Street, and save time for Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, a sprawling Christmas store that draws visitors all year. Riverboat cruises in summer and festivals through the seasons keep the town busy from spring to the holidays.
Petoskey climbs a hillside above Little Traverse Bay, and its sunsets over the water are the stuff of Northern Michigan postcards. The historic Gaslight District holds bookshops, galleries and boutiques, while the waterfront park below has a marina, a breakwall walk and a stretch of rocky beach.
The town lends its name to the Petoskey stone, Michigan's fossilized-coral state stone, and hunting for them along the shoreline is a local pastime. Next door, the Victorian cottages of Bay View recall the area's summer-resort past, and a paved trail follows the bay around to Harbor Springs.
Munising sits on a sheltered bay of Lake Superior and serves as the western gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, where sandstone cliffs streaked with mineral colors rise straight from the water. The most popular way to see them is on a boat cruise from the town's waterfront, or by kayak with a guide on a calm day.
You don't have to go far for waterfalls: Munising Falls is on the edge of town, and more hide in the woods nearby. Offshore, Grand Island is a national recreation area for hiking and mountain biking, and glass-bottom boats reveal old shipwrecks in the clear, cold water of the bay.
South Haven grew up as a port at the mouth of the Black River, and in the early 1900s it became a resort town sometimes called "the Catskills of the Midwest". Today its harbor, beaches and red pierhead lighthouse are the main draw, with sandy beaches on either side of the river channel.
The Michigan Maritime Museum tells the story of Great Lakes boats beside the river, and the town is the western end of the Kal-Haven Trail, a long rail trail popular with cyclists. Botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey was born here and his childhood home is now a museum, while summer brings a blueberry festival celebrating the area's farms.
Traverse City, the largest city in Northern Michigan, sits at the head of Grand Traverse Bay and is nicknamed the Cherry Capital of the World for the orchards that surround the bay. Its walkable Front Street downtown, the beaches along West Bay and a lively food and arts scene make it an easy base for a few days.
Drive the Old Mission Peninsula past vineyards and orchards to the lighthouse near its tip, or head west to the dunes of Sleeping Bear. The National Cherry Festival fills the waterfront in early summer, and our guide to things to do in Traverse City covers the town in depth.
St. Joseph sits on a bluff where the St. Joseph River meets Lake Michigan, about 90 miles from Chicago, and its downtown looks straight out over the water. Steps lead down from the bluff to Silver Beach, a wide, sandy beach with a restored carousel and a splash fountain beside it.
Walk the north pier to the town's two lighthouses, joined by an elevated catwalk, for sunset views, then browse the shops and galleries along State Street. Locals call it St. Joe, and with Benton Harbor across the river it forms the area known as Michigan's "Twin Cities".
Charlevoix sits on a narrow strip of land between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix, with the short Pine River channel cutting through the middle of town. Boats wait for the drawbridge that lifts over the channel downtown, and a walk out the south pier leads to a red lighthouse at the harbor mouth.
The town's quirkiest sight is its collection of stone "mushroom houses", whimsical cottages with curving roofs built by self-taught designer Earl Young. Charlevoix is also the port for the ferry to Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan.
Marquette, the largest city in the Upper Peninsula, wraps around a harbor on Lake Superior where a hulking iron-ore dock still stands as a reminder of the mining trade that built it. A downtown of red sandstone buildings, the campus of Northern Michigan University and a red lighthouse on the point give it a lively, small-city feel.
Presque Isle Park, a rocky, wooded peninsula on the edge of town, is the place for sunsets, cliff views and a scenic loop drive, and the climb up Sugarloaf Mountain rewards you with a sweeping view of the lake. Trails for hiking, mountain biking and cross-country skiing start almost from downtown.
Harbor Springs faces Petoskey across Little Traverse Bay from a sheltered harbor often described as the deepest natural harbor on the Great Lakes. Its small downtown of shops and galleries runs down to a marina full of sailboats, and nearby historic summer-resort communities such as Wequetonsing hint at its long history as a summer retreat.
The town is also the start of the Tunnel of Trees, a narrow stretch of M-119 that winds north along the bluffs toward Cross Village under an arching canopy of hardwoods, at its finest in fall color. Beaches, a paved trail to Petoskey and nearby ski hills make it a year-round escape.
Ludington sits at the mouth of the Pere Marquette River on Lake Michigan, and its long Stearns Park beach and the breakwater out to the North Breakwater Light are made for sunset walks. The town is also the home port of the SS Badger, the car ferry that crosses Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in summer.
Just north of town, Ludington State Park packs dunes, inland lakes, canoe routes and a hike to the Big Sable Point Light into one much-loved park. Our guide to things to do in Ludington covers the town's beaches, trails and attractions in detail.
Leland is a tiny village on a strip of land between Lake Leelanau and Lake Michigan, and its heart is Fishtown, a cluster of weathered fishing shanties, smokehouses and docks along the Leland River. Commercial fishing still goes on here, and other shanties hold shops selling smoked fish and local crafts.
From the harbor, ferries carry hikers and campers to North and South Manitou Islands, both part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and the wineries and orchards of the Leelanau Peninsula surround the village. Come for an afternoon in Fishtown, a sunset on the beach and a slower pace than the busier towns to the south.
Copper Harbor sits at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula and is the northernmost permanently populated community in Michigan, a speck of a town with fewer than 150 year-round residents. It marks the northern end of US 41 and the start of some of the Upper Peninsula's best adventures.
Tour the restored 1840s army post at Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, drive the switchbacks of Brockway Mountain Drive for views over Lake Superior, and ride the town's well-known mountain-bike trails. In summer a passenger ferry leaves the harbor for Isle Royale National Park, and in winter the town turns to snowmobiling.
Holland was founded by Dutch settlers in the 1840s, and the city celebrates that heritage every May with Tulip Time, when tulip beds burst into bloom along its streets and in its parks. At Windmill Island Gardens, De Zwaan, an 18th-century windmill brought over from the Netherlands in the 1960s, still grinds flour.
Downtown's 8th Street is lined with shops, cafés and restaurants, and Holland State Park has a broad beach facing the red lighthouse known as Big Red at the channel to Lake Michigan. Our guide to things to do in Holland has more on its gardens, beaches and Dutch attractions.
St. Ignace sits at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge, the first town most travelers reach in the Upper Peninsula, and is one of the two ferry ports for Mackinac Island. Its history reaches back to 1671, when French Jesuits founded a mission here, making it one of the oldest European settlements in Michigan.
The Museum of Ojibwa Culture tells the story of the Native peoples of the Straits, and a waterfront boardwalk looks out to the bridge and the island. Castle Rock, a limestone stack just north of town, has a staircase to the top and a broad view over the Straits.
Calumet was once the center of Michigan's copper mining industry, and the wealth that flowed from the mines built a downtown of grand red sandstone and brick buildings that now look oversized for a village of about 600 people. Much of the village is a National Historic Landmark District and home to a unit of Keweenaw National Historical Park.
Start at the park's visitor center downtown to learn the story of the Copper Country, then admire the restored Calumet Theatre, an opera house from the mining boom that still hosts performances. The surrounding Keweenaw is full of mine ruins, old company towns and scenic drives to explore.
Marshall has been called a "virtual textbook of 19th-century American architecture", and its historic district, one of the largest architecturally significant National Historic Landmark Districts in the nation, holds more than 850 buildings. Greek Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne homes line its tree-shaded streets, and a fountain in a traffic circle anchors the downtown.
The most eye-catching building is the Honolulu House, built in 1860 for Abner Pratt, who had served as U.S. consul in Hawaii, with a wraparound porch and tropical touches. Walk the streets with a historic-homes map, browse the antique shops and make a day of it on the way between Detroit and Chicago.
Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest city in Michigan, settled in 1668 on the St. Marys River, the link between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The Ontario city of the same name lies just across the river, connected by the International Bridge.
The big attraction is the Soo Locks, where giant lake freighters are raised and lowered between the two lakes; watch from the viewing platforms beside the locks or ride a tour boat through them. The museum ship Valley Camp, a retired freighter, and a stroll along the waterfront round out a visit.
Grand Haven sits where the Grand River meets Lake Michigan, and its signature walk follows a riverside boardwalk out to the south pier, where two red lighthouses are linked by an old catwalk. Grand Haven State Park, at the base of the pier, has a wide, sandy beach that fills up on summer weekends.
The town's long ties to the Coast Guard earned it the title of Coast Guard City, USA, and its summer festival honoring the service is a big local event. On summer evenings, the Musical Fountain on the far bank of the river puts on a show of water, light and music.
Grand Marais is a remote harbor village on Lake Superior and the eastern gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, at the far end of the scenic H-58 drive from Munising. Fewer than 250 people live here year-round, and the pace is set by the lake, the harbor and the long summer evenings.
Just west of town, the Grand Sable Dunes rise high above the lake; the Log Slide Overlook gives a dizzying view down a dune face where loggers once sent timber to the water, and a short trail leads to Sable Falls. Agate hunting on the beaches and the Au Sable Light Station are other favorite outings.
Muskegon is the most populous city on Lake Michigan's eastern shore and the largest town on this list, a former lumber boomtown with beaches and a working harbor. The homes of its lumber barons, the Hackley and Hume Houses, are restored showpieces of Victorian woodwork.
Pere Marquette Park is a wide public beach beside the channel lighthouse, and Muskegon State Park adds dunes, forest and winter luge and skating. Tour USS Silversides, a World War II submarine docked as a museum by the channel, or ride the fast ferry across the lake to Milwaukee in summer.
Hillsdale is a classic south-central Michigan college town and county seat, home to Hillsdale College, whose campus and arboretum sit on a rise above the downtown. The brick storefronts of its historic main street hold cafés, shops and the county courthouse square.
The surrounding county is a quiet land of small lakes and farmland, and Baw Beese Lake on the edge of town has a park and beach for summer afternoons. Hillsdale makes an easy, unhurried stop on a back-roads tour of Michigan's southern tier.
Tecumseh sits on the River Raisin about 25 miles south of Ann Arbor, and its historic downtown along Chicago Boulevard is a pleasant mix of specialty shops, galleries and cafés in 19th-century buildings. The downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and antique shops are part of its appeal.
Spend a few hours browsing, then head west into the Irish Hills, a rolling landscape of lakes and state recreation areas that is also home to Michigan International Speedway. Michigan State University's Hidden Lake Gardens, a short drive west, adds trails, a conservatory and seasonal color.
Houghton is the largest city in the Copper Country, spread along the Keweenaw Waterway across from Hancock and linked to it by the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. It is home to Michigan Technological University, whose students keep the hillside downtown lively.
Don't miss the university's A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, the official mineral museum of Michigan, with a dazzling collection of copper specimens and crystals. Houghton is also the departure point for the National Park Service ferry to Isle Royale, and in winter the campus is known for the giant snow statues of its Winter Carnival.
New Buffalo is the first Michigan town many visitors reach from Chicago, about 70 miles away, and its beach, marina and laid-back downtown have earned it the nickname "the Hamptons of the Midwest". It anchors Harbor Country, a string of lakeside communities in the state's far southwest corner.
Spend the day on the wide public beach at the harbor mouth, then explore the antique shops, galleries and farm stands of neighboring villages along the Red Arrow Highway. The wineries and breweries of the Lake Michigan Shore region are within easy reach inland.
Paradise is a tiny community on Whitefish Bay in the eastern Upper Peninsula, surrounded by state and national forest, and one of the two gateways to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The park's Upper Falls, more than 200 feet across with a drop of nearly 50 feet, pours amber, tannin-stained water through the woods and is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi.
North of town, the road ends at Whitefish Point, where the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum displays the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald beside a historic light station. Birdwatchers gather here during the spring and fall migrations, and summer brings a wild blueberry festival.
Empire is a small Lake Michigan village and the headquarters town of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, home to the park's main Philip A. Hart Visitor Center. It is the natural starting point for exploring the dunes, with a sandy village beach a few blocks from the center.
The Empire Bluff Trail climbs through beech-maple forest to a lookout high above the lake, and the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and the famous Dune Climb are a short drive north. Afterward, the village's handful of shops and cafés make a relaxed place to end a day in the dunes.
Suttons Bay is a pretty village on a sheltered inlet of Grand Traverse Bay, on the east side of the Leelanau Peninsula. Its walkable main street is lined with galleries, boutiques and cafés, along with a vintage movie theater, and a small marina and beach sit just steps away.
The village is a hub of Leelanau wine country, with tasting rooms scattered through the rolling hills nearby, and the paved Leelanau Trail links it to Traverse City for cyclists. Visit in summer for the waterfront, or in fall when the orchards and vineyards turn gold.
Frankfort sits at the mouth of the Betsie River on Lake Michigan, with a pier leading out to a lighthouse, a broad public beach and a compact downtown just behind the sand. Across Betsie Bay, the village of Elberta and its high bluffs make a fine spot to watch the sun go down.
A few miles north, the Point Betsie Lighthouse is a favorite with photographers, and the southern edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is close by. Inland, the Benzie County hills hold lakes, orchards and scenic drives.
Mount Pleasant is the home of Central Michigan University, and the students who nearly double its population during the school year give the downtown a lively, college-town feel. The city is also closely tied to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Nation, and part of it lies within the Isabella Indian Reservation.
The tribe's Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways is the place to learn about the history and traditions of the Anishinabek people of the Great Lakes, and the Chippewa River winds through a chain of city parks and trails. Football Saturdays, campus arts events and a summer powwow fill the calendar.
Alpena sits at the head of Thunder Bay on Lake Huron, and offshore lies Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which protects dozens of historically significant shipwrecks. The sanctuary's Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center on the river brings the wrecks to life with exhibits and a replica wooden schooner.
To see the shipwrecks for yourself, take a glass-bottom boat tour over wrecks in the bay, or paddle above the shallow ones by kayak. The city also has a walkable downtown, a lakeside bike path and the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan.
Escanaba, known locally as Esky, is a port city on Little Bay de Noc and the third-largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Its long waterfront park leads to the Sand Point Lighthouse, a restored 1860s light that is now a museum, and the downtown stretches along Ludington Street.
In late summer the Upper Peninsula State Fair takes over the fairgrounds, and the city makes a good base for day trips to Fayette Historic State Park, an iron-smelting ghost town on the Garden Peninsula, and to Kitch-iti-kipi, the crystal-clear spring at Palms Book State Park.
Gaylord styles itself as an "alpine village", and many of its downtown buildings carry Tyrolean-style touches, from chalet rooflines to painted trim. The surrounding hills hold one of the Midwest's biggest concentrations of golf and ski resorts, thanks to heavy snowfall and mild summers.
The area's other big draw is wildlife: the nearby Pigeon River Country State Forest is home to one of the largest free-roaming elk herds east of the Mississippi, and September evenings are the time to watch and hear the bulls. Lakes, trails and snowmobile routes make it a four-season base for Northern Michigan.
Newberry is the only incorporated community in Luce County and the southern gateway to Tahquamenon Falls, about 25 miles to the northeast. The state legislature named it the Moose Capital of Michigan, and moose are sometimes spotted in the forests and wetlands around town.
Use the village as a base for the falls, the Tahquamenon Logging Museum just north of town and the vast Seney National Wildlife Refuge to the west. In winter, a web of snowmobile trails radiates out through the woods.
Cheboygan sits at the mouth of the Cheboygan River on Lake Huron, the northernmost city in the Lower Peninsula, and its river is the outlet of the Inland Waterway, a chain of rivers and lakes that boaters can follow for miles inland. The historic downtown is anchored by the restored Cheboygan Opera House.
Walk the riverfront, watch boats pass through the lock, and visit the lighthouse ruins and beach at Cheboygan State Park east of town. A ferry runs to quiet Bois Blanc Island, and Mackinaw City is a short drive west.
Cadillac, named for Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the French founder of Detroit, sits between Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell, two lakes joined by the Clam Lake Canal. A lakeside boardwalk and park follow the shore of Lake Cadillac right from downtown.
Mitchell State Park sits on the canal between the lakes, and the Manistee National Forest surrounds the town with trails, rivers and campgrounds. Cadillac is also a hub for winter sports, from snowmobiling and ice fishing to cross-country skiing, and the start of a long rail trail heading south toward Grand Rapids.
Chelsea is a small city about 15 miles west of Ann Arbor with a lively, walkable downtown and a strong arts scene. Its best-known institution is the Purple Rose Theatre Company, founded in 1991 by actor and Chelsea native Jeff Daniels, which stages plays in a converted garage downtown.
The clock tower of a former factory rises over the main street, and the nearby Waterloo and Pinckney Recreation Areas offer lakes and long trails. Pair a play with dinner downtown, or make Chelsea an easy add-on to a visit to Ann Arbor.
Lexington is a quiet harbor village on the Lake Huron shore of Michigan's Thumb, about a half-hour drive north of Port Huron. Its main street is lined with historic storefronts holding boutiques, galleries and bakeries, and a protected marina and lakeside park sit at the foot of town.
Walk the harbor breakwall for big views over Lake Huron, catch a show at the village theater in a restored Victorian building, and stay for the free summer concerts by the harbor. Continue north along the shore to the lighthouse at Port Sanilac and the beaches of the Thumb.
Mackinaw City sits at the very tip of the Lower Peninsula at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge, and it is the main mainland jumping-off point for ferries to Mackinac Island. Don't confuse the two: this is the busy mainland village, with fudge shops, motels and souvenir stores lining its streets.
It has plenty of history of its own at Colonial Michilimackinac, a reconstructed 18th-century fort and fur-trading village, and at the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse beside the bridge. West of town, the Headlands International Dark Sky Park draws stargazers to its shoreline.
Tawas City is the county seat of Iosco County on Tawas Bay, a sheltered curve of Lake Huron, and its twin town of East Tawas sits just up the shore. Together they offer sandy beaches, a waterfront park and pier, and easygoing small-town main streets.
The highlight is Tawas Point State Park, where a long sandy spit hooks into the lake and the Tawas Point Lighthouse stands among the dunes; it is a magnet for birdwatchers during migration. Inland, the Huron National Forest and the River Road Scenic Byway along the Au Sable River are within easy reach.
Manistee sits on a strip of land between Manistee Lake and Lake Michigan, with the Manistee River running through the middle of town to the big lake. Its downtown is full of Victorian buildings from the lumber era, when the timber trade made the town prosper, and a riverwalk follows the water toward the beach.
The restored Ramsdell Theatre, an opera house from the early 1900s, still hosts performances, and the North Pierhead Light at the end of a long catwalk is a sunset favorite. Beaches, salmon fishing and the Manistee National Forest round out the appeal.
Hancock rises steeply from the Keweenaw Waterway opposite Houghton, the two towns joined by the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, and it is known as a cultural capital for Finnish Americans. The Finnish American Heritage Center keeps that heritage alive, and Finnish-language street signs add to the town's character.
On the hill above town, the Quincy Mine, part of Keweenaw National Historical Park, shows off a giant steam hoist and offers underground tours of an old copper mine. Hancock is also one of the snowiest cities in the country, so winter visitors come for skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling.
Pentwater is a small resort village where Pentwater Lake meets Lake Michigan through a narrow channel, with a busy marina and a walkable downtown of shops and ice-cream stands. Its village green hosts band concerts on summer evenings.
Charles Mears State Park sits right at the end of the channel, with a sandy beach and a short climb up Old Baldy dune for the view, and the towering dunes of Silver Lake State Park are a short drive south. Come for sunsets on the pier and the slower pace of a classic Lake Michigan beach town.
Port Austin sits at the very tip of Michigan's Thumb, where Lake Huron opens up around a small harbor, a sandy beach and a compact downtown. Sunsets over the water and a summer farmers market draw weekenders from across the state.
The area's star attraction is Turnip Rock, a top-heavy rock stack that can only be reached by water, usually on a kayak trip of about seven miles round trip from town. Nearby, Port Crescent State Park adds dunes, a long beach and a dark sky preserve for stargazing.
Free Things to Do in These Michigan Towns
Many of the best moments on this list cost nothing. Walk the piers out to the lighthouses at Grand Haven, St. Joseph, Charlevoix and Manistee, hunt for Petoskey stones on the beaches around Petoskey, and watch giant freighters rise and fall at the Soo Locks viewing platforms in Sault Ste. Marie.
Stroll the historic streets of Marshall and Calumet, wander the fishing shanties of Fishtown in Leland, catch a summer show at the Musical Fountain in Grand Haven, and climb to the top of Mount Baldhead above Saugatuck for a view over Lake Michigan.
Michigan is a big state split in two by the Straits of Mackinac, so the easiest way to see these towns is to pick one shoreline and follow it. In the southwest, New Buffalo, St. Joseph, South Haven, Saugatuck and Holland line up along Lake Michigan within easy reach of Chicago, and Grand Haven, Muskegon, Pentwater and Ludington continue the beach-town run north.
Farther up, Frankfort, Empire, Leland and Suttons Bay circle the Sleeping Bear Dunes and the Leelanau Peninsula around Traverse City, and the Lake Michigan shore continues through Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs to Mackinaw City.
Cross the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace, take the ferry to Mackinac Island, then head into the Upper Peninsula: Sault Ste. Marie and Paradise in the east, Newberry and Grand Marais in the middle, Munising and Marquette on Lake Superior, and Houghton, Hancock, Calumet and Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw at the far end.
On the Lake Huron side, Lexington, Port Austin, Tawas City, Alpena and Cheboygan follow the sunrise shore, while Frankenmuth, Marshall, Tecumseh and Chelsea are easy outings from Detroit or Ann Arbor. Summer is peak season along the lakes, fall color is spectacular across the north, and many Upper Peninsula and island businesses close from late fall to spring, when snowmobiles and skiers take over.
FAQ: Visiting the Best Small Towns in Michigan
What is the best small town in Michigan?
Mackinac Island is the best small town in Michigan for most visitors, with its car-free streets, horse-drawn carriages, Fort Mackinac and fudge shops on the Straits of Mackinac. Saugatuck follows for its art galleries and Oval Beach, then Frankenmuth for its Bavarian heritage, Petoskey for its Little Traverse Bay sunsets and Munising for the cliffs of Pictured Rocks.
Which small towns in Michigan are best for a beach trip?
The Lake Michigan shore is lined with beach towns: Saugatuck's Oval Beach, South Haven's pier beaches, Grand Haven State Park and Holland State Park in the southwest, and Ludington, Frankfort and Pentwater farther north. Along Lake Huron, Tawas City and Port Austin have sandy beaches, and Empire sits beside the dunes of Sleeping Bear.
What are the best small towns in Michigan's Upper Peninsula?
Munising and Grand Marais bookend Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Marquette is the region's lively Lake Superior hub, and Sault Ste. Marie is home to the Soo Locks. Copper Harbor, Calumet, Houghton and Hancock explore the copper-mining Keweenaw Peninsula, while Paradise and Newberry are the gateways to Tahquamenon Falls.
When is the best time to visit small towns in Michigan?
Summer is the classic season for beaches, ferries, festivals and island trips, and late September into October brings fall color, especially along the Tunnel of Trees near Harbor Springs and across the Upper Peninsula. May brings Tulip Time to Holland. Many Mackinac Island and Upper Peninsula businesses close from late fall to spring, when snow sports take over.
How many days do you need to visit a small town in Michigan?
Most towns on this list fill a relaxed day, and many pair up easily with a neighbor along the same shoreline. Mackinac Island, Traverse City and Munising deserve a weekend to see properly, while a week lets you link a whole region, such as the Lake Michigan beach towns or the Upper Peninsula from the Straits to the Keweenaw.
