9 Overlooked Towns In The Great Lakes Worth Visiting

Every famous stop on the Great Lakes sits a short drive from a quieter town on the same water. The Pictured Rocks crowds fill Munising, while far fewer people make it to Grand Marais, 50 miles east at the far end of the same park. The pattern repeats all down the lakes: a well-known name, and a few miles off, a town most people drive right past.

Each of these nine is worth the detour. Algoma is 20 miles short of Door County, and Frankfort is just down the shore from Sleeping Bear Dunes. From Lake Superior to Lake Ontario, every town has its own reason to stop: a rock in Lake Huron you can reach only by water, a lighthouse with a keeper's apartment you can book for the night, and a candlelit ski race across a frozen bay.

Ashland, Wisconsin

Up to 1,000 candles in ice luminaries line the route of Book Across the Bay, a 10-kilometer ski and snowshoe race over frozen Chequamegon Bay that finishes in Ashland, about half an hour south of Bayfield. It is a point-to-point race. School buses carry skiers and snowshoers of all ages and abilities north to the start in Washburn, and the whole field then skis back across the ice to a finish-line party in Ashland. The race is run each February.

Twenty-one murals are on view around Ashland all year. The town's artesian wells flow around the clock, with one in Prentice Park, beside a walking trail and playground, and another in Maslowski Park, where the Lake Superior beach is shallow and sandy enough to wade.

Grand Marais, Michigan

In Grand Marais, the gateway at the east end of Pictured Rocks, a museum sits inside a 16-foot pickle barrel. The Pickle Barrel House was once used as a cottage, and it has been restored to look the way it did then, with a display garden of historic irises on the grounds. It opens from 1 to 4 p.m. daily in July and August and on weekends in June and September. The protected harbor has a swimming beach, and Agate Beach is where people go to watch the sun set over Lake Superior.

From the Sable Falls parking lot, the walk down the stairs and on to a rock and sand beach on Lake Superior is about 0.4 miles round trip. Farther west on H-58, past the Grand Sable Dunes, the Log Slide overlook faces east over the Grand Sable Banks, 300 feet above Lake Superior and the tallest feature in the lakeshore. About 12 miles from town, after a mile-and-a-half walk on the North Country Trail, the Au Sable Light Station offers free summer climbs to the top of its lighthouse, first-come, first-served between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Manistique, Michigan

A raft carries visitors across Michigan's largest freshwater spring, about 15 minutes from Manistique, on the Upper Peninsula's Lake Michigan shore. The spring, Kitch-iti-kipi, is in Palms Book State Park, and its water holds at a constant 45 degrees. Riders move the self-propelled observation raft across the pool themselves, any time from 8 a.m. until dusk, and in winter the trip in is made on skis or snowshoes. Back in Manistique, the Manistique Boardwalk follows Lake Michigan for nearly 2 miles of wheelchair-accessible wooden pathway, with a fishing pier along the way. The Farmer and Artisan Market sets up on Wednesdays from late May to late October, and every July, food and craft vendors fill downtown for Folk Fest.

Algoma, Wisconsin

By bike, Door County is within reach of Algoma. The town sits on Lake Michigan's Wisconsin shore about 20 miles south of Sturgeon Bay, and the 48-mile Ahnapee State Trail runs through town and on north to Sturgeon Bay.

On the waterfront, a half-mile boardwalk runs from the Algoma Marina along Crescent Beach, a large sand beach right downtown, to the Algoma Visitor Center. Both ends are accessible. Swimmers and pickup volleyball players spread out along the sand.

Salmon and trout charters fish Lake Michigan out of Algoma, and some, like Big Daddy Charters, run from June through October. Von Stiehl Winery, Wisconsin's oldest licensed winery, holds daily tastings of brandy-fortified fruit wines along with dry reds and whites. On summer Thursday nights, concerts are held in Heritage Park.

Frankfort, Michigan

Overnight guests can sleep in the keeper's apartment at Point Betsie Lighthouse, across Lake Michigan on the shore between Sleeping Bear Dunes and Frankfort. Day visitors get a short climb, just 34 steps to the top of the tower, on tours of about 20 minutes that cost $5 for adults and $2 for children. The lighthouse opens from mid-May to mid-October and closes on Tuesdays, and the Life Saving Station on the grounds has a free exhibit.

Across Betsie Bay in Elberta, the 0.8-mile trail at Elberta Dunes South Natural Area gives views over Lake Michigan and the Betsie Valley, and the 22-mile Betsie Valley Trail starts in Frankfort and Elberta. Frankfort's main public beach is right downtown, with a playground, a dog run, and an accessible walkway out to the pier.

Port Austin, Michigan

Kayak trips to Turnip Rock, a rock off Port Austin reachable only by water, start at $40 at Port Austin Kayak, on East Spring Street. The town is on Lake Huron, at the tip of Michigan's Thumb. The paddle follows the Turnip Rock water trail for about 7 miles out and back, past Thumbnail Point, cliffs, and sea caves, and takes three to four hours. The shop advises paddlers on conditions and when to launch, and Bird Creek Park is the other put-in.

Port Crescent State Park, near town, has 3 miles of sandy Lake Huron shoreline and a dark sky preserve. Offshore, the Port Austin Reef Light reopened for tours in July 2026 after three years of restoration, with Saturday trips limited to six guests and closed to children under 12. Every Saturday from late May through mid-October, more than 50 vendors set up at the Port Austin Farmers Market.

Huron, Ohio

A spring morning in Huron, just east of Sandusky on Lake Erie's Ohio shore, can start at Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve, near town, where a trail runs a mile from the parking lot north to the Lake Erie shoreline. Warblers and other migrants pass through in spring. More than 300 species visit the preserve, and snowy owls and piping plovers are among the rare sightings.

Anglers fish the mile-long Huron pier, out to the Huron Lighthouse, in every season. In summer, concerts are held at the Huron Boat Basin Amphitheater on the Huron River, and the Huron River Fest in July includes fireworks. Nickel Plate Beach, one of the area's largest public swimming beaches, has a shack where you can rent paddleboards, kayaks, and beach gear.

Sodus Point, New York

Across Sodus Bay from the village of Sodus Point, about a 20-minute drive along Lake Ontario's south shore, the Bluff Trail at Chimney Bluffs State Park follows the tops of the chimney-like bluffs. The same bluffs can also be seen from the rocky beach below them, and the park's trails add up to 4.6 miles. The park is open all year, from dawn to dusk.

Sodus Point itself is about 45 minutes east of Rochester. The Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum, on North Ontario Street, has a tower with a view toward Chimney Bluffs. Captain Jack's Goodtime Tavern serves beer from more than 30 taps, and Sodus Point Beach Park is on the lake.

Cape Vincent, New York

Cape Vincent sits at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, 15 miles from Clayton in the Thousand Islands. Less than 3 miles west of the village, Tibbetts Point Lighthouse marks the spot where the lake meets the St. Lawrence River. The tower is closed to the public, but the grounds are open 24 hours a day, all year, and the light still shines through its fourth-order Fresnel lens.

The French Festival, with its parade, is held on the second Saturday in July, near Bastille Day. In the village, Ship Watcher's Wednesdays are held at Pennywise or East End parks, and the aquarium at the Cape Vincent Fisheries Research Station displays the fish species of the lake and the river.

Most of the lighthouse tours and fishing charters on these shores run from late spring into October, and by November the Au Sable climbs and the Point Betsie tours are done for the year. A few of these towns have a second season. In Ashland, half an hour from Bayfield, the ski race across the frozen bay is run in February, and the town's artesian wells flow all winter. Near Manistique, the way in to Kitch-iti-kipi becomes a ski or snowshoe trip. Fifteen miles from Clayton, the grounds at Tibbetts Point stay open around the clock. Chimney Bluffs stays open through the winter for snowshoers and cross-country skiers, and since its $5 vehicle fee is collected only from April through October, parking at the bluffs in January costs nothing.