Mackinac Island - Naperville,IL

I recommend staying on the island- it can be fun and busy during the day and becomes completely different and relaxing at night. In the past, I've found that the Murray Inn & the Inn on Mackinac both have had good prices, if you want to stay "in town". For something quiet (but also family friendly), check out the Inn at Stonecliffe. It feels very private and has beautiful views of the lake and bridge with a giant lawn for kids to play on (plenty of lawn games are provided). You can rent bikes right at the Inn and they have an outdoor pool as well. Don't miss the Woods restaurant (next to the Inn at Stonecliffe). It has a set-up-yourself bowling lane off of the lounge. No one seems to ever use it and kids adore it!

If your kids are old enough to ride bikes then that is a must!! You can take your own but you have to pay extra to ferry them across. Most people just rent one when they are there and ride around the island. It's so beautiful because most of the road is right by the water. Make sure to buy some taffy and check out the fort! There are cool hiking trails too!

My suggestion is to stay on the Mackinaw City side, which is much less expensive and has more than a day's worth of activities, too. Then you can take the ferry over and spend the day doing the island's activities. When on Mackinac Island, biking around the entire island is a great family activity. You can stop along the way at beaches and ride at you family's pace. Of course, there are many, many touristy things to do there, and fudge and taffy to eat. In Mackinaw City, our children always enjoyed visiting the Bridge Museum that is located in the upstairs of a pizza parlor right downtown. We preferred the fort in Mackinaw City, too, Fort Michilimackinaw. Lots of photo ops with kids, good period enactors. There's a nice park right by the bridge, and of course, a trip over the bridge. A short drive to Cheboygan you'll find a working sawmill just as it would have been a couple hundred years ago. If you're driving, here are a couple recommends along the way: in Grayling visit Hardwick Pines, a state park that has the last virgin pines in the state. Very interesting, very beautiful and a place to work off a bit of energy along the way. Just north in Gaylord is the Call of the Wild museum that your whole family will enjoy. Animals and historical fur trading exhibits.
J.

Hi,
We went last summer and stayed at the Grand Hotel. It is crazy expensive but it was worth it. We wanted to have the full on experience of staying on the island. The restaurant at the hotel is like being on a cruise ship! We took the horse ride around the island. Toured the fort and the butterfly place. And of course shopping and eating!
Enjoy.
K.

we bought the family membership and that was cheaper then buying individual things since we also wanted to do one of the things on the mainland (the zip line at Mill something or other)

We LOVED out horse ride around the island, very worth it. We liked the fort and the butterfly place too.

For staying there, we did NOT like our hotel much, it had an indoor waterpark but it ended up that we paid MORE to stay at the hotel with it, but all the other hotels owned by the same company could just come over and use it if they wanted so it was super crowded and we felt cheated besides. HMMM...

the shops were neat, we aren't shopping people though, but they had a courtyard in the middle with a magician doing his thing when we were there and a playground a bit aways too. (mainland stuff)

all the hotels and most of the food places are owned by two different people ONLY

if you go into the Upper Pennisula then you should do the deer place and there is a good McDonald's up there with a play land. We went REALLY into the UP and saw waterfalls and Oswald's Beer Ranch in Newberry (worth the money and time, we fed a baby bear from my hand!! Picture is on my wall forever)

I can look up specifcs if you want, just have to find the notebook from that trip, if you want to see pics or anything private message me

I stay at Mission Point because they allow dogs. It's a beautiful hotel, has a pool, air conditioning,right by the water but it is a long walk into town (you can take a horse and buggy taxi). If you want to stay closer to town, Island House is across from the marina has a big porch, no pool. Iroquois is very nice, great restaurant, right on the water, no pool. Lakeview is nice for families. Close to town, has an inside pool, rooms are nice by Mackinac Island standards. There are also a lot of bed and breakfasts (but my husband won't do the B&B thing so I don't know enough to make recommendations). To do's with kids, bikes, horse riding, the Fort, a few other historic cottages like Beaumont house and Indian Dormitory. Lots of fudge and souvenir shops, a few nice shops. If you don't bike, take the tour to see a little bit on the other side of the island. Have fun!