The fourth stop on our big Michigan Road Trip was Mackinac Island! I’ve wanted to visit Mackinac Island ever since my parents went and told me about this magical island where no cars are allowed, horses and carriages are everywhere, and there is a stable with my name on it – literally, Cindy’s Riding Stable! Then while researching our Michigan trip I saw pictures of this beautiful bike ride around the perimeter of Mackinac, with the forest on one side and crystal green waters on the other, and became obsessed with doing it despite being 6 months pregnant. So we went! In fact, we loved it so much we went back again the next year for 4 days (see that post here – link will be added when it’s posted)! This post is about our one day overnight trip to the island with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, I hope you find it helpful!

About Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is a very small 3.8-square-mile island just off the point where lower Michigan meets upper Michigan. The island is basically a preserved Victorian town with a busy summer tourism industry. There are no cars allowed on the island, so you must walk, bike, or go by horse! In fact, there are around 500 horses on the island in the summer and they pull everything from taxi carriages to trash wagons. (However, I did see a motor ambulance, so it’s good to know they have those for emergencies.) You can find the whole long history of Mackinac Island on any tourism website (see here or here) or wikipedia, so I’ll give you the brief bullet points:

  • Originally the area was inhabited by indigenous tribes who used it for fishing, gathering, and burial grounds.
  • In the 1600s the French-Canadians came with their missions and established fur trading.
  • In the 1700s the British took control and used it for fur trade and military, and built Fort Mackinac.
  • In the 1800s they built Fort George, later renamed Fort Holmes by the US, who soon acquired the entire straits area and established Mackinaw City. Fishing became the main industry and the island was used briefly in the Civil War.
  • In the late 1800s sport fishing became popular, and the new railroads and passenger ships allowed the island to become a popular tourist destination. Hotels and restaurants were built, the Grand Hotel was made, and the first fudge store opened.
  • In 1875 Mackinac was named the second National Park ever, 3 years after Yellowstone.
  • In 1895 it became Michigan’s first State Park. Development was restricted and requirements were set to preserve the island’s Victorian atmosphere, and in 1898 cars were banned due to scaring the horses.
  • In the 1900s the island became known for its tourism, historical structures, Victorian style, famous fudge, Lilac Festival, conference location and sailing races.

About The Name “Mackinac”

Mackinac Island, Mackinaw City, the Straits of Mackinac, the Mackinac Bridge – why are there so many different versions and how do you say them? Here’s how it goes, the best I can tell: the original inhabitants thought the island looked like a big turtle, so they named it “Mitchimakinak” (or the Ojibwe “Mishimikinaak”) which means “Big Turtle”. When the French-Canadians came, they transliterated the name into French as “Michilimackinac”, with the “c” on the end making the French “aw” sound, and applied the name to the whole area. When the US established Mackinaw City, they spelled the name like it sounded, perhaps to distinguish it from the island for postal carriers. The result: it’s always pronounced “mack-i-naw” no matter what. Unless you are talking about the bridge as “Big Mac,” in which case you do pronounce the “ack”! (For more see this article: A Quick Guide to Spelling and Pronunciation in the Straits Area)

When To Go To Mackinac Island

The island activities are open from May to October, but people do live there year-round and you can visit anytime as long as there is ferry access (or if the strait freezes over you can just walk!). In June-Aug the weather is nicest and the tourism the busiest. If you’re willing to be in cooler weather, the prices are better in May, Sept, and Oct. One source states the average temperatures as: May: 50-degree, June: 64-degree, July: 70-degree, August: 71-degree, September: 63-degree, October: 50-degree. When we went in early June it was perfect if not a little cool and there weren’t near as many tourists, but a ton of sandflies. When we went in August it was beautiful weather but definitely packed! However, if you stay overnight the island calms down when the day-visitors leave.

How Long To Stay In Mackinac Island

Here are some things I’ve noticed to help you make your decision about how long to visit Mackinac Island:

  • Day trip – many people the ferry in the morning and back at night and love it. You can easily see all the most popular sights in a day, especially if you take the carriage or bike instead of walking.
  • Overnight – the island is definitely touristy during the day from all the day-trippers so many recommend staying at least one night for the special experience of the island after the last ferry leaves. It’s less crowded, you can walk in the streets, you can get dinner and watch the sunset.
  • Several nights – if you have ambulation difficulties or little kids who take naps that make everything longer, it might be better to stay a few days if you want to really see everything. We had a hard time finding apartments or homes to stay only a few nights in, so I’d recommend searching for hotels, suites or BnBs.
  • Weeks or a month – most apartments, condos and houses I found can only be rented for 2 weeks or a month at a time, which sounds amazing, I’d love to stay for a month and have a slower pace of life!

Our first trip to Mackinac Island during our big Michigan Road trip, we stayed for one night in a hotel because with little kids and naps I didn’t think we could see everything in one day – plus I wanted to experience the island overnight! And I’m glad we did, it was so packed during the day that after the day-trippers left our evening was really relaxed and enjoyable.

One day was definitely enough to have an enjoyable experience and see all the main sights, but it left us wanting more, so our second trip we stayed for three nights in an apartment suite and were able to really see the whole island and do everything we wanted to! (See more about that trip here: Four Days On Mackinac Island With Little Kids.).

For some more tips about how longs things take when planning how long to stay, see this MackinacIsland.org article.

How To Get To Mackinac Island (and where to leave your campervan!)

The only way for the layperson to get to Mackinac Island is by ferry boat. As of the writing of this blog post, there are only two options: Shepler’s or Star Line. The ferries are basically the same. Both of them get good and bad reviews. Both depart from the mainland either north of the bridge in St. Ignace or south of the bridge in Mackinaw City. Both have arrival docks at the island right in downtown Mackinac – they are at opposite ends so one may be closer to your hotel than the other, but downtown is seriously so small that it’s not hard to walk to your hotel from wherever you land (but if you have physical difficulties you might want to take arrival location into consideration). And both companies provide safe parking areas to leave your car for the day or overnight, so they say, and their reviews affirm. In the end I decided to use Shepler’s because their good reviews were raving and I liked their long term parking best – it’s located right by the dock so we didn’t have to take a shuttle, and it’s fenced in on two sides with water on the others. It was easy to use and we felt safe leaving our campervan there.

Ferry tickets are for any date and time, so you can buy ahead without knowing exactly when you’ll go (and for a slight discount) – or you can buy them at the ticket booth when you get there. You don’t need reservations, they just say to arrive one hour before your desired departure time, which we found to be accurate. Each time we did not have much a wait and got on the ferry that was there, but we went early in the day and it looked like things got busier later on. (Same thing when we left the island the next morning). It takes about 20 minutes to ferry to the island, and some departures take a little side trip under the Mackinac Bridge which is pretty cool and only adds a few minutes (I was worried about that taking too long, but our boys loved the boat ride and were happy to be in the boat a little longer).

Where To Stay In Mackinac Island

There are so many options for where to stay on Mackinac Island! Whatever you choose, make sure to reserve early, like even the year before, because things fill up fast.

Hotels

The easiest places to find are hotels on the main street. They are all very similar, close to everything, and easy to get your luggage to from the ferry. If you are looking for hotels, these websites have the best lists:

We stayed at the Murray Hotel which was nice and in the middle of things, but very cramped with little kids. We couldn’t get the room dark at the their bedtime, they did not provide breakfast, and we did not like entering and exiting right onto the busy main street sidewalk with our stroller and little kid entourage – it felt like someone was going to get swept away!

BnBs, Apartments, Condos, Houses

Mackinac Island also has lots of BnBs, apartments, condos and houses, but they are a little harder to find because there is not one main website with all of them listed. When we returned to Mackinac Island the next year for 4 days, we stayed in an apartment suite and it worked much better than the hotel! For more about that experience, how to find these types of listings, and a list of ones that looked best for our family of 5, check out my post Four Days On Mackinac Island With Little Kids (link will be added when it’s posted).

What To Do For One Day On Mackinac Island With Little Kids

Here’s what we did during our one day and one night trip to Mackinac Island with our little kids! I was surprised we fit in so much – by God’s grace everything went according to plan, we had no poop attacks or meltdowns, and the kids enjoyed what we did!

Drive The Mackinac Bridge

Known as “Big Mac” or “Mighty Mac”, this 4.9 mile suspension bridge connects Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. We camped south of the bridge near Mackinaw City at Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping, and in the morning drove over the bridge to the ferry launch in St. Ignace. I chose to do it this way because driving the bridge first thing in the morning got the kids excited, we were able to point out Mackinac Island, and then the ferry took us under the bridge we’d just driven over!

Take The Ferry

There’s really no other way to get to the island, so I’m glad the boys loved this! As I said earlier, it takes about 20 minutes and there’s two ferry line options (see above for info about each one). The ferries have a lower covered deck, and an upper uncovered deck – we have sat in both and liked the ride and views in both.

Once we arrived, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel – most hotels have a special storage room for the bags if you arrive before check in.

Rent Bikes

Right away we rented bikes. All the rental places charge basically the same price, so we just went to the one closest to our hotel. They offer several types of bikes: the 3-speed is the land cruiser kind with wide handles and a wider seat, which is arguably more comfortable but also has less speed adjustment options (aka is slower) and therefore harder to pull a kid trailer with. Unfortunately I didn’t know that so we got those, and needless to say, the next year we got the 7-speed mountain bike kind instead. We rented one kid trailer attachment for our two boys, which also had a storage section in the back for backpacks. Side note: I read somewhere that you can fit a baby car seat in the trailers, which we successfully did the next year. We used the bikes to ride the perimeter of the island, but you can use them to go anywhere else such as inland mountain biking or back through the neighborhoods to other historic sites. Note that it is a hill of an island, so the perimeter is flat, but anything inland is up or down hill!

Bike The Perimeter

This was our favorite activity of the day! The perimeter of Mackinac Island is about 8 miles and biking solo takes an hour or so, but with stops and little kids give yourself 2+ hours. On a sunny day it’s absolutely gorgeous with blue green water on one side, the forested hillside on the other, and a few viewpoint/activity stops on the way around (I’ve shared some below). It’s very flat and I saw people of all ages and capabilities biking it – even I, at 6 months pregnant, was able to do it!

You can go clockwise or counter-clockwise, I have heard both options are good! The west side of the island tends to get the winds from the west and it has British Landing with views of Mackinac Bridge and picnic tables. The east side of the island has the beautiful waters, Arch Rock, and the nature trail, and gets shadier as the day goes on.

We went around the island clockwise because we wanted to stop at Mission Point for lunch and then do Arch Rock before the kids napped in the trailers the rest of the way, however, we did hit the winds on the west side of the island, biking into them the whole ride home. For this reason some people choose to go counter-clockwise around the island, so that you’re somewhat sheltered and riding with the wind on the west side, and you get the windy part over with first. This direction you would get to British Landing first which would be a nice picnic spot (or get lunch at the little fast food resaurant there), then you’d do the less windy side back and could see Arch Rock near the end of the ride. A third option is to bike some of the way around, then take any of the little trailheads to bike the inner island, which is hilly but has some fun mountain bike trails.

Note: on our second visit to Mackinac the north tip of the island’s road had been washed out so we had to take Scott’s Shore Road across and it was BEAUTIFUL biking through the forest with the late spring flowers everywhere; from east to west it was a short uphill trek then easy slight downhill ride the whole way – I wouldn’t want to do it the other direction.

Lunch at Mission Point’s Bistro On The Green

We left town biking counter-clockwise and quickly came to Mission Point’s restaurant Bistro On The Green, where we stopped for lunch. There was a little wait so we played on the beach nearby for a bit. They have lovely outdoor seating with a nice view of the harbor. The meal was pretty good and we were happy we stopped, it’s definitely worth the price for the atmosphere.

Arch Rock

Then we biked on a ways until we reached Arch Rock. There are actually several ways to get there – you can hike the inner roads and trails from town, you can take a carriage ride (it’s part of the tour), or you can do what we did and bike the flat perimeter trail to the base where you leave your bikes and hike up 207 stairs. The arch itself is beautiful on a sunny day and worth the hike, but it is pretty touristy. There are bathrooms there if you need them. To the left of Arch Rock are more stairs which lead up to Nicolet Watch Tower for another little viewpoint, and Tranquil Bluff Trail which we “adventure hiked” a little ways down with the kids (we wish we could have done more), then off-roaded it back to the main road and then the stairs back down to the bikes. (See a little map here).

The view of the bike path from up at Arch Rock:

The Beaches & Nature Trail

Continuing around the island from Arch Rock there are some rock-sand beaches that that our boys would have loved to play at, and a nature trail that’s very short and sweet (our friends attest). We would have stopped at these but this happened…

This was actually the plan, I hoped they both would nap for most of the bike ride but only the little one did, so we just kept biking. He was like this for almost two hours. We got so many laughs from people biking the other way who saw him!

British Landing

On the west side of the island is British Landing, a big beachy area with views of the Mackinac Bridge, picnic tables, a little takeout restaurant, nature center with some trailheads, and bathrooms. We did a little potty break and continued on our way.

Marquette Park

We ended our bike ride at Marquette Park, where we parked our bikes and actually brought the one with the trailer onto the grass because the little guy was still napping. We rested in the grass and watched the boats while we waited for him to wake up.

Marquette Park is just east of downtown, sloping up toward the fort, with beautiful green grass, lilac bushes, and views of the harbor. It is home to a statue of Father Jacque Marquette who was a Jesuit missionary and explorer from France, and a small birch bark missionary chapel that is a replica of the one build on the island in 1699 that early missionaries lived and worked in. On the far side is a playground but I didn’t see it at the time. There is plenty of good shade and grass for everyone. It was packed with people!

The view of the park from up at the fort, when there were less people there:

Buy Fudge

While we rested in the park, I took the opportunity to go buy some fudge and make that rest even tastier. Mackinac Island is known for its fudge. If you want to know why, check out MackinacIsland.org’s article “How Mackinac Island Became Fudge Capital of the World.” People will argue about which fudge is the best but I think they are all good and recommend trying a few different places for the heck of it.

When the little guy woke up we returned our bikes and checked into our hotel room. At this point we had some extra time before dinner (amazingly) so we visited Fort Mackinac.

Fort Mackinac

Fort Mackinac is just above Marquette Park with a steep ramp up that looks hard but isn’t too bad (there is another entrance on the other side you can get to by walking or carriage tour). Fort Mackinac is a former British and American military outpost built in the late 1700 and 1800s (for more history see this article). It has 14 original buildings including the Officers Stone Quarters, built in 1780 and the oldest building in the State of Michigan. Pretty much all the buildings are open and have exhibits on military trainings, battles, first aid, and family life. They also have reenactments of cannon and rifle firing and bugle music throughout the day. The buildings are quite well done and there is one with hands on kids exhibits that the boys liked.

Not gonna lie, the fort was cooler than I thought it would be and I was surprised our little kids loved it so much. They ran from building to building with their father while my pregnant self took a nap on the benches. The views from the Fort of the harbor and downtown are worth it, and the Fort Mackinac Tea House looked like a lovely place to eat except it’s only open until 4. I have heard of families getting hot chocolate there for snack time just to enjoy the view.

Walk Main Street

After the fort we walked downtown main street on our way to dinner. Although it’s only several blocks long, Mackinac Island’s downtown main street (aka Lakeshore Drive) is jam packed with little tourist stores, boutiques, restaurants, fudge shops and more.  It’s super cute with its Victorian architecture and flower baskets everywhere! I wish we’d had more time to explore it, as I was surprised how many of the stores actually looked cute and not just touristy, and that the boys actually wanted to go in a few (those with toys), but we had to get some dinner in us so we only window shopped. However, most of the shops were open until 7 or 8 so on the way back we went into a book store and bought “The Legend of Mackinac Island” to read before bedtime.

Downtown itself is small enough your little kids can easily walk it with you, and ours did because we didn’t bring a stroller in the campervan, but I remember wishing we had the stroller because our 2 year old was tired after running all over the fort, plus it’s easier to keep track of him in the crowd if he’s strapped in. Here’s what downtown looks like when it’s not busy in the morning:

There is another street just north behind Lakeshore Drive called Market Street that is worth walking down as well. It is equally cute but much less crowded, and contains more historical sites than shops. I would have preferred to stay at one of the hotels on this cute street instead! Here we are at my namesake riding barn on Market Street:

Eat At The Gate House

The Gate House is a Grand Hotel restaurant located east of downtown about halfway up Cadotte Ave to The Grand. It’s kind of off the beaten path so it doesn’t feel as crowded. We did not make reservations but got seated quickly, as it is quite big (however, we also were eating early because of the kids). We really liked it – first off because the food was pretty good and they had a nice kids menu, and second because it had a nice outdoor patio with a little view of the Grand Hotel (and since we didn’t get to visit the hotel this time, it was nice to at least see it from afar) and a view of the road so we got to watch all the horses go by. It was totally worth the walk!

Read “The Legend of Mackinac Island”

On the walk home we stopped at a bookstore and bought the book “The Legend of Mackinac Island” by Kathy-jo Wargin. We’d read another one of her books for Sleeping Bear Dunes which the boys really liked, so I was happy to find this one on the island. It’s a sweet tale with beautiful illustrations. We read it before bed and the boys really liked it, and as read it over and over the rest of the trip and at home it helped them remember our time there. (Affiliate link below)

Stay Overnight

Then the kids took baths and went to bed! I already mentioned this earlier, but the main reasons we decided to stay overnight on the island was because everything takes longer with little kids and I wanted the full Mackinac experience. We’re glad we did because it was special to experience the island once the day trippers left – everything calmed down, it was quieter, we could walk down the middle of main street without being run over, we saw the sunset… and it would have been a whirlwind if we hadn’t stayed overnight. Also, our campervan doesn’t have a bathtub (and the kids don’t like campground showers yet), so I made sure we had a hotel room with a tub every few nights so they could get clean!

Get Coffee (and Breakfast) at the Lucky Bean Coffee House

The next morning we regretted we hadn’t made sure to stay in a hotel with complimentary breakfast, but oh well, we were glad to discover Lucky Bean Coffee House on Market Street! The drinks and food were very good, but it was a very long wait. However, we liked them so much that on our next visit we went almost every morning!

Runners Up

There were so many more things we wish we could have done on Mackinac Island that we decided to go back the next year for several more days to fit it all in! So instead of listing all my “runners up” activities here, I’ll just refer you to my blog post Four Days On Mackinac Island With Little Kids with its list of activities and runners up.

Resources

Here were my favorite resources when researching the island and planning what to do with little kids:

Conclusion

We loved Mackinac Island and wish we could have spent more time there! But we already had plans to continue on our big Michigan road trip further north.

Click here for more ideas of what to do on Mackinac Island: Four Days On Mackinac Island With Little Kids!

Click here for the next post on this trip: Camping at Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan with Little Kids.

Click here for the previous post on this trip: Michigan Scenic Drive Route 31 and M-119 Tunnel of Trees from Sleeping Bear Dunes to Mackinaw with Little Kids.