7 Serene Towns In The Great Lakes For A Weekend Retreat
Petoskey holds a Victorian gaslight district above Little Traverse Bay. Bayfield runs ferries out to the Apostle Islands all summer. Grand Marais shoulders up to Superior National Forest on the wild side of Lake Superior. Ephraim sits on Eagle Harbor in Door County and runs the sunset crowd on the dock. These seven Great Lakes towns make the case for spending a weekend at lake level. Pick the lake first then pick the town.
Traverse City, Michigan
On the shores of Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay, Traverse City earns its reputation as the cherry capital of the Midwest and runs a serious wine and food scene around the orchards. Traverse City State Park sits on the East Bay shore with a swimming beach and quiet trails for an easy morning. The Bayshore Resort handles the lakeside stay with a private beach and downtown access.
Front Street downtown holds the boutiques, bookstores, and bakeries, and the Dennos Museum Center on the Northwestern Michigan College campus rotates contemporary and Inuit art exhibitions. The blend of orchard-country food and lakefront ease makes Traverse City the obvious weekend anchor on the upper Lake Michigan shore.
Petoskey, Michigan
About an hour up the coast from Traverse City, Petoskey runs a tighter and more Victorian downtown above Little Traverse Bay. The Gaslight District holds the local shops and restaurants under restored 19th-century facades, and Petoskey State Park just outside town gives access to the beach and the namesake Petoskey stones (fossilized coral, the Michigan state stone).
The Terrace Inn, a 1911 Bay View hotel a mile north of downtown, is the historic-stay option, with dining on site. The Petoskey Marina runs the day-boat traffic, and the Odawa Casino Resort handles the evening for visitors who want it. About 5,900 people live here year-round.
Grand Marais, Minnesota
Sitting on the wild shores of upper Lake Superior, Grand Marais is a tiny port town of about 1,400 people on Minnesota's North Shore. Superior National Forest sits at the edge of town with hiking trails and wildlife viewing across more than 3 million acres. Artists' Point, a rocky finger of land guarding the harbor, is the local sunset spot.
The East Bay Suites holds the lakefront lodging with private balconies over the harbor. The Grand Marais Art Colony, founded in 1947 and one of the oldest art colonies in the Upper Midwest, runs workshops and a gallery in town. North House Folk School next door teaches the traditional Scandinavian crafts the region was built on.
Saugatuck, Michigan
On the lower west Michigan coast where the Kalamazoo River meets Lake Michigan, Saugatuck has been an artist-colony town since the late 19th century. Oval Beach, ranked among the best Great Lakes beaches by national travel writers for decades, sits a short drive from downtown.
Saugatuck Dunes State Park covers about 1,000 acres of dunes and woods just north of town, with 13 miles of trails through coastal dunes that rise over 200 feet above the lake. The Saugatuck Center for the Arts in the old pie factory rotates exhibitions and runs a small theater season. The Wickwood Inn handles the boutique-stay option with a multi-course breakfast that the owner, a longtime cookbook author, oversees.
Bayfield, Wisconsin
Bayfield is a town of about 580 on the Lake Superior shore at the gateway to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The 22 islands offshore hold the famous sea caves, lighthouses, and old growth forest, accessible by tour boat or kayak from the town dock. Bayfield's apple and berry orchards on the high ground above town supply the Saturday morning Bayfield Farmers Market in season.
The Rittenhouse Inn occupies a Victorian-era mansion with a multi-course dining room that has anchored the town's restaurant scene for decades. The Bayfield Maritime Museum on the waterfront covers the schooner and fishing era, and the Madeline Island Ferry runs the 20-minute crossing to the largest of the Apostles most of the year, with the locally built windsled or the ice road bridging the few winter weeks when ice closes the ferry route.
Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio
On the southern shore of Lake Erie between Cleveland, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania, Geneva-on-the-Lake bills itself as Ohio's first summer resort and has been running carnival arcades, ice cream stands, and beach cottages since the 1860s. Geneva State Park sits at the end of the strip with a public beach, a 1.6-mile breakwater, and a marina.
Old Firehouse Winery on the main strip pours from grapes grown in the Lake Erie wine region and hosts live music in the warmer months. The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake is the modern lakefront stay, and the Geneva-on-the-Lake Golf Course handles the golf-weekend option.
Ephraim, Wisconsin
The smallest town on this list, Ephraim sits on Eagle Harbor on the Green Bay side of the Door Peninsula with about 345 year-round residents. Anderson Dock at the north end of town holds the Anderson's Store building, now a small gallery and a famous sunset platform over the harbor. The Ephraim Historical Foundation runs three preserved 19th-century buildings as a small museum complex.
The historic district along Water Street holds the shops, bakeries, and a few restaurants. Sailors can tie up at the Ephraim Yacht Club or the marina at Sister Bay a few miles up the peninsula. The Eagle Harbor Inn handles the overnight on the harbor side.
Seven Towns, Four Lakes
Each of these seven towns leans on a different lake and a different draw, from Petoskey's Victorian downtown to Bayfield's island ferries to the Anderson Dock sunset in Ephraim. Pick the one that fits the season, then trade the freeway for the lakefront for a long weekend.
