25 Best Things to Do in Michigan This Summer (From Someone Who Does Them Every Year)

Last Updated: April 2026

I’ve spent every Michigan summer I can remember doing exactly what I’m about to describe, and I still haven’t run out of things to love about this state in June, July, and August. Michigan summer is its own thing — the light on Lake Michigan at 9 p.m., the first swim of the season in water so clear you can see the bottom at 10 feet, the smell of pine and campfire somewhere up north. Here’s my personal summer bucket list — the things I actually do, recommend to friends, and come back to every year.

📌 In a Nutshell

• Best for families: Sleeping Bear Dunes, Frankenmuth, Michigan’s Adventure in Muskegon, or any Great Lakes beach town.
• Best for outdoors lovers: Pictured Rocks kayaking, Tahquamenon Falls, Porcupine Mountains, or the Highbanks Trail near Oscoda.
• Best for road trips: The West Michigan Pike (New Buffalo to Ludington along Lake Michigan) or US-23 north along Lake Huron’s Sunrise Coast.
• Don’t miss in July: National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, Au Sable River Canoe Marathon in Oscoda, and the Detroit Fireworks over the river.
• Most underrated summer experience: Glass-bottom boat shipwreck tour in Alpena or Munising — surprising and genuinely memorable.

Spend a Day on a Michigan Beach

This is non-negotiable. A Michigan summer without a beach day is just summer. The four Great Lakes surrounding the state each have a completely different character — Lake Michigan’s aquamarine water and powder-sand dunes on the west coast, Lake Huron’s quieter Sunrise Coast on the east, Lake Superior’s cold clarity and dramatic shoreline in the UP. Pick one and commit, or spend a week hopping between them.

My Great Lakes picks: Silver Beach in St. Joseph, McCarty’s Cove in Marquette for the black rocks backdrop, and Oscoda Beach Park on Lake Huron for its ADA accessibility and the pier at sunrise. For inland lakes, Torch Lake’s Caribbean-blue water is the standard-setter, but Gull Lake in southwest Michigan and Glen Lake near Sleeping Bear are underrated. Check our full Michigan beach guide for the best beaches by region.

Climb the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is the one experience I’d put on every Michigan summer list regardless of who’s asking. The Dune Climb near Empire is the most accessible entry point — a steep sand hill that winds up to views of Lake Michigan that genuinely stop people mid-sentence. It’s harder than it looks and worth every step. The lake from the top of the dunes is a shade of blue that doesn’t look real until you’re standing in front of it.

Beyond the Dune Climb, the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive takes you to 12 overlooks with minimal walking, and the Pyramid Point trail is my favorite hike in the park — 2.6 miles to a perch 375 feet above the lake. Stop for lunch in Glen Arbor at Art’s Tavern before or after — the burger is as good as the views.

Kayak Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

You can hike the trails above Pictured Rocks and get beautiful views — but seeing the sandstone cliffs from the water is a completely different experience. At water level, you’re paddling through sea caves, under arches, and past mineral-streaked walls 200 feet tall that glow green and orange and red in the sunlight. It’s one of those experiences that’s hard to explain until you’ve done it.

Book a guided kayak tour from Munising for the best access to the most dramatic sections. See the full guide to kayaking Pictured Rocks for tour options, launch points, and what to expect on the water. If you want to see the cliffs without paddling, the Pictured Rocks Cruise from Munising is the next best thing.

Spend a Night on Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is Michigan’s most iconic summer destination and the one I recommend most to out-of-state visitors. No cars, no noise — just horse-drawn carriages, Victorian architecture, and one of the most charming downtowns in the Midwest. The fudge shops are legitimate and you should visit multiple of them. Fort Mackinac is worth two hours. Arch Rock is a short bike ride and genuinely dramatic.

The key is staying overnight — the island shifts completely once the day-trippers leave on the last ferry. The Pink Pony at the Chippewa Hotel is the classic evening stop. Take the ferry from Mackinaw City or St. Ignace — either works. See the full Mackinac Island guide for what to do, where to stay, and what to eat.

Take a Shipwreck Tour

This is one of the most underrated things you can do in Michigan in summer, and it surprises almost everyone who tries it. The Great Lakes hold thousands of shipwrecks — better preserved than ocean wrecks because the cold fresh water doesn’t corrode them the same way. Glass-bottom boat tours in Munising let you see them clearly from above; the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena has over 200 documented wrecks with guided tours.

The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena is free and excellent — worth a couple of hours even if you don’t do a boat tour. Certified divers can explore select wrecks up close. For more on Great Lakes shipwrecks and diving, visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point.

Tour Michigan Wine Country

Michigan sits at the same latitude as Burgundy and Alsace, and the wine country in the northwest Lower Peninsula takes full advantage of that. Old Mission Peninsula outside Traverse City has some of the best views of any wine trail in the country — tasting rooms perched above Lake Michigan on both sides of the peninsula. Chateau Chantal, Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay, and Peninsula Cellars are my consistent picks.

Southwest Michigan’s Harbor Country has its own wine trail along the Lake Michigan Shore — Lemon Creek Winery, Dablon Vineyards, and Tabor Hill are standouts. See the full guide to Traverse City wineries for the best tasting rooms and how to plan a wine country weekend.

Stargaze at a Michigan Dark Sky Park

Headlands International Dark Sky Park near Mackinaw City is my go-to for summer stargazing — it’s minutes from the tourist crowds of Mackinaw City but the sky there at 11 p.m. on a clear night looks like nothing most people from a city have ever seen. The Milky Way is visible on good nights, and northern lights sightings happen here more than people expect.

Wilderness State Park nearby is another designated dark sky area. For the best northern lights chances in summer, head to the UP — Copper Harbor and the Keweenaw Peninsula are among the best spots in Michigan. See our full guide to seeing the northern lights in Michigan for where and when to look.

Hunt for Petoskey Stones and Lake Superior Agates

Rock hunting on Michigan’s shores is one of those activities that starts as a casual walk and turns into an obsession. The Petoskey stone — Michigan’s state stone, a fossilized coral with a distinctive honeycomb pattern — washes up on beaches all along Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. I find the most around Harbor Springs and Petoskey, especially after a storm when the water churns the bottom.

On Lake Superior’s UP shores, look for Yooperlites — rocks that glow neon orange under a UV light — and Lake Superior agates. Bring a UV flashlight for an evening Yooperlite hunt near Grand Marais or Munising. See the full Michigan rock hunting guide for the best beaches and what to look for.

Catch the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City

Michigan produces about 74% of the tart cherries grown in the United States, and Traverse City celebrates that every July with the National Cherry Festival — 150+ events over eight days in early July, including air shows, parades, live music, and the cherry pie-eating contest. I’ve been multiple times and it never gets old — the combination of the festival energy and Grand Traverse Bay in the background is hard to beat.

Book lodging months in advance — this is one of the most popular weeks in Michigan. See the full National Cherry Festival guide for what to expect and how to navigate the crowds. The Traverse City area is worth several days beyond the festival itself.

Hit a Michigan Water Park

For family trips with younger kids, Michigan’s water parks deliver. Michigan’s Adventure in Muskegon is the state’s largest amusement and water park — Shivering Timbers is one of the longest wooden roller coasters in the country, and the outdoor water park is massive. Zehnder’s Splash Village in Frankenmuth has an indoor water park that works in any weather. Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City is the resort option with full lodging and on-site dining. See the full guide to Michigan water parks for the complete list.

Photograph a Michigan Lighthouse

Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state — over 120 — and summer is when most of them are open for tours and climbing. Little Sable Point Lighthouse near Silver Lake Sand Dunes in west Michigan is the most photogenic one I’ve found — a tall pink tower on a remote stretch of beach with no development in sight. The Mackinac Bridge views from the Mackinaw City lighthouse are dramatic from the water.

Tawas Point Lighthouse in East Tawas has a Cape Cod quality and a beautiful sandy spit for rock hunting nearby. Marquette’s lighthouse on Lake Superior is dramatically set against dark water. For the full circuit, see our Lake Michigan lighthouses guide and our list of Michigan lighthouses you can spend the night in.

Drink a Craft Beer in Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids earned “Beer City USA” and still deserves the title. Founders Brewing Co. is the anchor — their All Day IPA is a Michigan institution — but the city has dozens of breweries worth exploring, from the Belgian-inspired Brewery Vivant in a former chapel to Mitten Brewing Company in a converted firehouse. A summer afternoon hopping between downtown taprooms with a patio seat at each is a genuinely good day.

Use our Michigan craft brewery guide to plan the route. While you’re in Grand Rapids, the Frederik Meijer Gardens and the Downtown Market are worth a stop.

Walk the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day

Once a year — Labor Day — the Mackinac Bridge opens to foot traffic and you can walk the 5 miles across one of the longest suspension bridges in the Western Hemisphere. The views of the Straits of Mackinac — where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron — are unlike anything you’ll see from a car window. This is a genuine Michigan bucket list item and the end-of-summer tradition I’d put on the list for anyone who’s lived in Michigan their whole life and never done it.

Plan ahead — it draws tens of thousands of walkers and shuttle logistics require timing. The Bridge Authority’s official site has all the details each year.

Road Trip the West Michigan Pike

The West Michigan Pike — running roughly 200 miles along Lake Michigan from New Buffalo to Ludington — is one of the great American summer road trips that most people outside Michigan have never heard of. Every few miles there’s a beach town worth stopping in: New Buffalo, St. Joseph, South Haven, Saugatuck, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Ludington. Each has a distinct character and you could spend a full day in any of them.

The amusement parks and county fairs along the way add summer-road-trip energy. The Lake Michigan sunsets from any of these towns are extraordinary — go in the evening and stay until the sky goes dark.

Camp Somewhere in Northern Michigan

Michigan has 103 state parks and over a million acres of national forest, and summer camping here is its own tradition. The northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula are where I’d send anyone who wants to actually feel like they’re up north — Pictured Rocks, Porcupine Mountains, Tahquamenon Falls, and the Huron-Manistee National Forest all have excellent campgrounds. If you want waterfront sites, book as soon as the reservation window opens — four months out for most Michigan state parks, and spots fill within hours in summer.

For a thorough breakdown by region, see our Upper Peninsula guide — it covers the best campgrounds alongside the best activities for each area.

Spend a Morning at Belle Isle in Detroit

Belle Isle is the most surprising urban park I know — a 982-acre island in the Detroit River with a conservatory, a nature center, a lighthouse, and views of the Detroit skyline that look like a postcard. On a summer morning before the crowds arrive, it’s one of the most peaceful spots in southeast Michigan. The Anna Whitcomb Scripps Conservatory is beautiful and free. The paved trails along the water are excellent for cycling.

Pair it with the rest of Detroit — the Eastern Market on a Saturday morning, the Motown Museum, a game at Comerica Park. See the full Belle Isle guide for hours, parking, and what to see.

Go to the Ann Arbor Art Fair

The Ann Arbor Art Fair in late July is the largest juried outdoor art fair in the country — nearly 1,000 artists spread across 30 blocks of downtown, which itself is already one of the most walkable and enjoyable downtowns in Michigan. I’ve been going for years and still find things I haven’t seen before. The food, the street energy, and the quality of the work on display make it worth the trip from anywhere in the state.

Get there early — it gets very crowded by midday in peak summer heat. Combine it with a visit to Ann Arbor proper: Zingerman’s Deli for lunch, the UM Natural History Museum, and a walk through the campus in summer is worth an hour of your time.

Explore Dutch Heritage in Holland, Michigan

Holland is worth visiting any time of summer, but if you can catch the late-tulip stragglers in early June, even better. Windmill Island Gardens has a working 250-year-old Dutch windmill — the only authentic working Dutch windmill in the United States — and the grounds are beautifully maintained with tulips, a carousel, and a canal. Holland State Park has the iconic Big Red Lighthouse and is one of the most ADA-accessible beaches in West Michigan.

Holland is an easy add-on to a Grand Haven day — they’re 30 minutes apart on US-31, both with great beaches and walkable downtowns.

More Michigan Summer Bucket List Ideas

A few more that belong on any Michigan summer list:

• Tour the Mushroom Houses in Charlevoix — Earl Young’s hobbit-like stone cottages are one of Michigan’s most genuinely unusual sights.
• Ride the Mountain Slide at Crystal Mountain — the alpine slide is a summer staple for families in northwest Michigan.
• Drive the Tunnel of Trees (M-119) from Harbor Springs to Cross Village — 20 miles of canopy-covered road above Lake Michigan, best in late afternoon light.
• Kayak the Au Sable River near Oscoda — a blue-ribbon trout stream through the Huron-Manistee National Forest with excellent paddling for all skill levels.
• Tour Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn — genuinely world-class history museums worth a full day.
• Watch a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park — the park has a Ferris wheel, great food options, and one of the best stadium atmospheres in the AL.
• Catch a minor league baseball game — the West Michigan Whitecaps or Lansing Lugnuts are excellent summer evenings for families.
• See a waterfall in the Upper Peninsula — Michigan has over 300 waterfalls, nearly all in the UP. Tahquamenon, Miners Falls, and Bond Falls are the top three.
• Escape to a Michigan island — South Manitou Island off the Leelanau Peninsula is stunning and far less crowded than Mackinac. Drummond Island in the eastern UP is accessible by ferry and worth a weekend.

Plan Your Michigan Summer

The list above is genuinely only the beginning — Michigan’s summer is long enough and varied enough that you could spend every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day doing something different. Start with the thing that sounds most like you, and let the state surprise you with what comes next.

For more help planning:

• Michigan Bucket List — all-season activities worth doing at least once
• Best Places to Visit in Michigan — destination-by-destination guide organized by trip type
• Michigan National Parks — Sleeping Bear, Pictured Rocks, Isle Royale, and more
• Michigan Beach Guide — the best beaches on every Great Lake, with practical info for each

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