Michigan is a top destination for active travelers thanks to its Great Lakes coastline, scenic biking, hiking, wine country and landmarks like Sleeping Bear Dunes and Mackinac Island. Backroads explores them all on new Michigan adventures.
Last holiday season, my husband and I were talking about where we should go for our summer vacation when I casually suggested Michigan. He gave me the look.
“Michigan?”
I understood his reaction. Most travelers don’t think of Michigan as an outdoor mecca. But I’d been collecting mental notes about Michigan for years. A friend talked about her family’s cottage “Up North” like it was a place everyone should know. Another called after a trip to Traverse City and gushed about her time there, noting the “life-changing” chicken shawarma. I’d marveled at the gorgeous turquoise waters and sandy beaches of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It has its own burgeoning wine country—five recognized areas, actually—historic fishing villages and a car-free island, Mackinac, where bikes and carriage rides are the fastest forms of exploration.
Michigan, I’d decided, was a place worth knowing. And when we visited this summer, we fell in love with it. We couldn’t believe we’d overlooked it for years.
Easy Pleasures
Ask a Michigander where to spend a perfect day and you’ll get so much enthusiastic feedback; nobody is interested in keeping their favorite places a secret. Before long, we had quite the list: pull over for pie at Good Hart General Store in the eponymous resort town; bike the M22, a 116-mile scenic route from Manistee to Traverse City; spend at least a day hiking (and swimming, depending on the time of year) at Sleeping Bear Dunes; and don’t miss Mackinac Island—especially its fudge.
As the recommendations piled up, two very different active itineraries began to take shape. The first: a getaway with my husband that included long shoreline bike rides and a glass of Riesling overlooking Grand Traverse Bay. The second: a family adventure, full of hiking, kayaking, pizza-making overlooking Lake Huron and harbor-town strolls.
Backroads has had its eye on Michigan for some time and recently created two distinctive trips available to book now for 2027: a Multi-Adventure Tour for Families with Kids & Teens and a Biking Tour for Couples, Friends & Solos, with first departures scheduled for late June and early September, respectively.
Here are just a few of the reasons Michigan has been winning over visitors like me for decades.
Three Great Lakes: Michigan, Huron & Erie
My husband and I had heard the Great Lakes were big. We just didn’t expect them to feel quite so oceanic.
As we stood on the shores of Lake Michigan, on the state’s west side, and later Lake Huron, on its east (we didn’t make it to Lake Erie, in the state’s southeast), the term “inland sea” started to feel less poetic and more accurate. The blue horizon stretched uninterrupted into the distance and, on many stretches of shoreline, the opposite shore was nowhere to be seen. (Even with my birding binoculars, which of course I kept handy.)
Michigan is home to an additional 11,000-plus inland lakes and, fun fact, no point in the state is more than about 85 miles from a Great Lake. Ask for directions and there’s a decent chance you’ll hear them given in relation to a lake, bay or shoreline.
It didn’t take us long to realize how much these lakes make northern Michigan so special. The cooling lake effect helps vineyards and cherry orchards thrive. They have shaped a beautiful coastline of dunes, bluffs and wetlands (home to the striking purple gallinule). We happily rode winding roads hugging the shoreline, stopping at harbor towns so charming that they kept us for lunch... and then dinner. They also explain the 1,020 photos I came home with.
Up North
Michiganders have many things to say about this region, which encompasses the upper Lower Peninsula and all of the Upper Peninsula, also referred to as the Yoop (and its residents, Yoopers). Mention it to a waiter in Traverse City or a kayak guide on Boardman Lake, and you’ll hear about a favorite inlet, family cottage or lovely little town they’ve been visiting for decades.
Up North unfolds one memorable stop at a time: a drive along M22, a morning overlooking Sleeping Bear Dunes (some of which can be 450 feet tall) and the 15-minute ferry ride to Mackinac Island. Cherry stands appear alongside the road. Paved trails weave through forests and past vineyards. Boats drift in and out of protected harbors. The pace slows the way you hope it will on a vacation.
The M22
We heard so many enthusiastic recommendations about the M22 prior to our trip that we knew it would be a highlight long before we rode it. By then we’d seen the hats, the bumper stickers, and received enough glowing endorsements to know this wasn’t just another scenic highway. It hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline, winding past vineyards, cherry orchards, beach towns and sweeping views that make it easy to understand why locals love it so much.
Another scenic route in northern Michigan is the M119, famous for its 20-mile Tunnel of Trees, which follows the shoreline between Harbor Springs and Cross Village. Hardwood forests arch overhead. Glimpses of blue water appear between the branches. Small communities still are home to general stores.
It struck me that long before scenic routes became a tourism strategy, travelers were likely taking the long way through Northern Michigan simply because roads like these were too beautiful to rush.
We did take the advice to stop at Good Hart General Store for pie—and then stopped again at another pie shop just up the road.
Wine Country
I didn’t have Michigan on my list of places to visit for wine. But the Great Lakes create an ideal climate for vineyards and cherry orchards (the state produces a large quantity of cherry wine). Ride through the Leelanau or Old Mission Peninsulas, and you’ll quickly understand why locals insist you save time for a winery—or three. The incredible views of shimmering waters you’ll enjoy en route are just another bonus. One minute you’re pedaling quiet roads with Grand Traverse Bay sparkling just beyond the vines; the next you’re pulling into a tasting room.
My husband, who doesn’t drink wine, said that taking in the scenery was just fine without the pairing.
Sleeping Bear Dunes
This expansive national lakeshore was one of those places I thought I understood from photos. But it was only when I’d hiked to the top of one that I realized no picture could quite capture the scale of it—or the experience of looking at what feels like an ocean and remembering it’s actually a lake.
The dunes rise hundreds of feet above Lake Michigan, and somehow the water below manages to look even bluer from that elevation. I now understand why this is one of the state’s most photographed places. I certainly did my part.
On Backroads’ Biking Trip, you’ll experience Sleeping Bear Dunes from some of the area’s most picturesque roads, with plenty of opportunities to stop, stretch your legs and soak it all in. On the Family Multi-Adventure Trip, there’s time to linger a little longer to hike among the dunes and wander the shoreline.
Fishtown & Walloon Lake
Plenty of waterfront towns overdo an attempt to look historic. We could tell right away: Fishtown, in the tiny town of Leland (population 400), isn’t pretending.
Weathered fishing shanties perch above the water, and commercial fishing boats still head out onto Lake Michigan. While you can wander through smokehouses, galleries and shops, this isn’t a place that reinvented itself for tourism. Ninety miles northeast is Walloon Lake, where a young Ernest Hemingway spent many childhood summers. He returned to northern Michigan again and again in his writing and called it one of the places with “the best sky.“ Today it’s a popular resort destination.
Mackinac Island
Most places eventually surrendered to the automobile. Mackinac Island politely declined, which visiting bikers can certainly appreciate.
The island banned cars in 1898 (long before most Americans owned one), and more than a century later the soundtrack is still bicycle bells, horse hooves and the noise of the ferry arriving at the dock. My husband enjoyed the soundtrack of me saying, “Ooo! Horses!” every five seconds. After that novelty faded, I was conscious of how much my shoulders had relaxed. You don’t realize just how much mental space traffic noise occupies until it disappears.
So… Michigan?
If the Great Lakes State isn’t on your list yet, it’s time to reconsider.
We still laugh about how quickly we changed our tune once we arrived. Somewhere between the Riesling, the pie, the dunes and the horses, we were captivated. And now Michigan finds its way into the conversation every time we start talking about where to go next.
Interested in the details of Backroads’ two 2027 Michigan trips? Check them out here:
Michigan Biking—Mackinac Island, Wine Country & Great Lake Beauty
Michigan Multi-Adventure—Lakeside Bike Paths, Beaches & Mackinac Island
