Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is a car-free island in the Straits of Mackinac that you reach by passenger ferry from Mackinaw City or St. Ignace. Once you step off the boat, you get around on foot, by bike or behind a horse. One full day covers the classics (a ride around the island, Fort Mackinac, a carriage tour and a box of fudge), and a second day lets you slow down and see the interior of the state park.

How to get there

There is no bridge to the island. Two ferry lines carry passengers over from both sides of the Mackinac Bridge:

• Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry sails from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. Its season typically runs from late April through October. The direct crossing takes about 16 minutes, and its Mighty Mac departures detour under the bridge and take a little longer.
• Arnold Transit Company also sails from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. Its fast ferry season typically runs from late April through October, and it lists winter service from its St. Ignace dock, weather permitting.

Day visitors leave their cars in the ferry lots on the mainland, which charge for parking. Luggage rides free: the crew tags your bags, stores them separately and unloads them at the island dock. You can bring your own bike, but each bike, trailer or burley needs its own ticket.

In summer, boats leave about every half hour, and as often as every 15 minutes at the busiest times. In the slower months they run about hourly, so check the schedule for your port before you set out. Full details on both lines are in our ferry and rail guide.

You can also fly. Mackinac Island Airport takes private planes, charters and air taxis, but no airlines. Fresh Air Aviation, North Country Aviation and Northwoods Aviation fly in, and the airport is a horse-drawn taxi ride (book it ahead) or a walk or bike ride from downtown. There are no bike rentals at the airport. See getting here by air for the nearest airline airports.

How the horses and carriages work

There are no cars on Mackinac Island, and there have not been for more than a century. As many as 600 horses work here in peak season, pulling tour carriages, taxis and freight wagons. Here is how you use them:

• Carriage tours. Mackinac Island Carriage Tours runs the narrated public tour, which lasts about an hour and 45 minutes. Buy a ticket at the office on Main Street near the ferry docks and board the next carriage; the regular tour takes no reservations. You switch to a three-horse hitch at Surrey Hill (the tour skips this stop in fall), pause at Arch Rock, and can hop off at Fort Mackinac and catch a later carriage. You can also end the ride at Grand Hotel. Tours typically end in late October.
• Taxis. Taxis are horse-drawn and dispatched by phone, so you cannot wave one down. In summer they are listed as running around the clock. Pickups can take a while, so allow for it, and expect to tip in cash.
• Luggage. Some hotels collect your bags at the dock and deliver them to your room. At Grand Hotel, that can take up to three hours, so plan around it if you are dressing for dinner. If your lodging does not deliver, carry your bags, take a taxi, or pay a dock porter, who hauls them by bicycle.
• Drays. The flat horse-drawn wagons you see around town are drays. They deliver packages and supplies, pick up trash and do the island’s heavy hauling.
• Drive yourself or ride. Liveries rent buggies you drive yourself by the hour, and you can book a private carriage or ride a saddle horse through the state park.

Walking is the other option. Downtown is compact, and the island has more than 70 miles of roads and trails. On foot, stay on the sidewalk. On a bike or scooter, keep right, stay off the sidewalk and park only in marked areas.

Bike around the island

Biking the island’s shoreline is the classic Mackinac outing, and it suits almost anyone. M-185, Lake Shore Boulevard, circles the island for 8.2 miles. It has no motor traffic and is mostly level, with a few small hills, and a leisurely loop takes 60 to 90 minutes. Cannonball Oasis at British Landing, about halfway around, is a walk-up stand for cold drinks and snacks.

If you head inland instead, expect to climb. Garrison Road and British Landing Road cross the middle of the island, and Fort Holmes Road climbs to its highest point. You coast back down after each climb.

You can bring your own bike on the ferry or rent one in town. The rental shops are on Main Street, a short walk from the docks, and they work first-come, first-served. Two to know:

• Mackinac Island Bike Shop. Next to the Shepler’s dock. Rents Trek bikes, including tandems, kids’ bikes and trailers, and hands out free self-guided route maps for the attractions and the M-185 loop.
• Mackinac Cycle. At the Arnold dock on Main Street. Rents Trek bikes and lists a mobility center with scooters, wheelchairs and strollers; call ahead if you are counting on one. Helmet, lock and route map come with each rental.

There are several other shops along Main Street, and Grand Hotel and Mission Point rent bikes too.

A few rules matter. E-bikes are banned in the state park and the city unless authorized, with a permit exception for people with a mobility disability using a Class I pedal-assist bike or a Class II e-tricycle. Training wheels are not allowed on Main Street, Market Street or Cadotte Avenue below Grand Hotel. Do not lock your bike to fixed objects or leave it on the sidewalk.

Try the fudge

Fudge and Mackinac Island have gone together for nearly 150 years. More than a dozen downtown shops make it in plain view: cooked in copper kettles, poured onto marble slabs, then worked by hand until it sets. In peak season the shops turn out about 10,000 pounds a day, and island visitors have earned the nickname “fudgies.”

Most shops sit within a few blocks of each other on Main Street and hand out samples, so you can compare before you buy. The long-standing names:

• Original Murdick’s Fudge. Dates itself to 1887 and still uses copper kettles and marble slabs. On Main Street.
• Ryba’s Fudge Shops. A four-generation family business that came to the island in 1960, with several island shops and gluten-free and vegan options.
• Joann’s Fudge. Two Main Street shops on the island, near the Arnold and Shepler’s docks.

The Murray Hotel also has its own fudge shop on Main Street. If you are on the island in October, the Fall Fudge Festival adds free samples and demonstrations. Island shops close for the winter in late October, but Murdick’s, Ryba’s and Joann’s all sell online.

Where to eat

Most of the island’s restaurants are downtown, close to the docks. For a quick, casual meal:

• The Chuckwagon. The burger place island guides mention most: a tiny cowboy-themed diner on Main Street, across from the Shepler’s dock. It has served breakfast and lunch for about 60 years, and the draw is a third-pound burger on a pretzel bun. It is small, so expect to wait at busy times.
• Pink Pony. The bar and grill at the Chippewa Hotel, with a harbor-view patio and upper deck. A lively stop for burgers, whitefish dip and a drink on the water.
• Mighty Mac Hamburgers. Another quick burger counter on Main Street, handy for a fast lunch before the ferry.
• Mustang Lounge. A historic tavern on Astor Street, popular with locals for burgers, wings and pizza. One of the few places that lists year-round hours.
• Doud’s Market. A family-run grocery in business since 1884, good for deli sandwiches and picnic supplies.

For a meal with a view:

• Fort Mackinac Tea Room. Lunch on the bluff inside the fort, looking over the harbor. You need fort admission.
• Carriage House at Hotel Iroquois. The island’s dressier waterfront dining room, with American cooking built on Michigan ingredients such as whitefish. Book ahead.
• Grand Hotel. Lunch, afternoon tea and evening dining, covered in the Grand Hotel section below.

Where to stay

Staying overnight lets you see the island before the first ferries arrive and after the last ones leave. Almost everything is within walking distance of the docks.

• Grand Hotel. The island’s landmark, built in 1887 up the hill from downtown, with its famous long front porch, afternoon tea and its own golf course. Its listed season runs from early May to the third week of October, and an evening dress code applies.
• Lake View Hotel. On Main Street across from the ferry docks, dating to 1858, with a rocking-chair porch and an indoor pool.
• Chippewa Hotel Waterfront. Beside the marina on Main Street, home of the Pink Pony.
• Murray Hotel. A family-owned 1880s hotel in the middle of Main Street, across from a ferry dock.
• Hotel Iroquois. On the water at the quieter west end of downtown, with gardens and the Carriage House dining room.
• Island House Hotel. East of downtown across from the marina, with roots going back to 1852.
• Cloghaun Bed and Breakfast. An 1880s Victorian house on Market Street, still run by the founding family, with eleven rooms and a full breakfast.
• Mission Point Resort. On the Lake Huron shore on the island’s sunrise side, with a big lawn, a spa and some dog-friendly rooms. A good fit for families.

Nearly all of these list seasons that end in late October, so check dates before you book. If island rooms are full or over budget, stay in Mackinaw City and take the ferry over for the day.

Can you visit Grand Hotel if you are not staying there?

Yes. Non-guests buy an admission ticket, online or at the Admissions Desk at the east entrance. It covers the grounds, a self-guided tour and the front porch, and it lets you shop the hotel’s stores and have the Grand Luncheon in the Main Dining Room or take afternoon tea in the Parlor. It does not include the pool. Children 5 and under get in free. Check current admission on the hotel’s admissions page.

The hotel has a dress code. Before 6:30 PM, casual resort clothes are fine, but no midriff-baring tops, sweatpants, cut-off shorts, sleeveless shirts or clothing with inappropriate language or graphics. After 6:30 PM, evening attire is required in the main public rooms, including the front porch: think suits, dresses, skirts, or a sport coat and tie, and no denim or shorts.

The hotel lists its season as early May to the third week of October. A narrated carriage tour can drop you at the hotel, and downtown is a short walk downhill.

What to do in one day

Take an early ferry and stay until the evening boats. A full first day:

1. Bike the M-185 loop in the morning, before the shore road gets busy. Rent on Main Street or bring your own bike.
2. Stop at British Landing about halfway, then look up at Arch Rock from the shore road on the east side.
3. Grab lunch downtown. A burger at the Chuckwagon or the Pink Pony patio.
4. Tour Fort Mackinac on the bluff. Fourteen restored buildings, costumed guides, and rifle and cannon firings through the day in season. Your ticket also covers the Historic Downtown Mackinac sites.
5. See Grand Hotel with an admission ticket, or skip it and work your way down Main Street sampling fudge.
6. Take a box of fudge home on the ferry.

If biking is not your thing, swap the loop for the carriage tour, which covers Arch Rock, Fort Mackinac and the road past Grand Hotel.

What to do in two days

With a night on the island, you can split the busy sights from the quieter ones.

Day one: Arrive, drop your bags, and take the carriage tour to get your bearings. Get off at Fort Mackinac and spend the afternoon there. Have dinner downtown, then walk the waterfront in the evening.

Day two: Bike the M-185 loop early. In the afternoon, explore Mackinac Island State Park inland: ride or walk up Garrison or British Landing Road, try the British Landing Nature Trail or the short Brown’s Brook trail, and coast back down to town. Fit in Grand Hotel’s porch or afternoon tea, then pick up fudge before the ferry.

On the mainland side, Colonial Michilimackinac sits in Mackinaw City at the foot of the Mackinac Bridge, and makes a good half-day before or after the island.

Note that several state park sites, including the Fort Holmes blockhouse and the Visitor’s Center, were closed through 2026 and are scheduled to reopen in May 2027; check before you plan around them. The trails and the park itself stay open.

Best time to go

Summer is peak season: warm, busy and fully open. The busiest weekends are Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day and the Lilac Festival, a ten-day celebration of the island’s lilacs in early June. Its second weekend, with the horse-drawn Grand Parade, is the busiest of all, so book lodging early.

The shoulder seasons are the sweet spot if you want fewer people:

• Late April and May. Businesses reopen, crowds are lighter and lodging deals are common, but expect cool, wet and windy days early on.
• September and October. Crowds thin, the leaves turn and most businesses list hours through October. There are end-of-season sales, the Fall Fudge Festival and a Halloween weekend with the Great Turtle Marathon and Half-Marathon.

We’d pick September for a first visit: the island is still open, and you will share it with far fewer people.

Is it open in winter?

Yes, but it is a different trip. The island is open all year, but the main season runs May through October, and nearly every hotel, fudge shop, bike rental and the carriage tours close in late October. Winter is quiet and mostly local.

Getting there takes more planning:

• Ferry. Arnold Transit lists winter service from St. Ignace while the ice allows. Shepler’s season ends October 31.
• Air. Fresh Air Aviation, North Country Aviation and Northwoods Aviation list year-round flights, and reservations are required. Once ice closes the Straits, flying is the only way in, and bad weather can ground flights for days.
• Taxis. Horse-drawn taxis list shorter winter hours. Book after-hours rides by 4 PM the day before.

A handful of places list winter hours. Mustang Lounge and Doud’s Market list year-round hours, and Pontiac Lodge and Village Inn Suites are among the few lodgings that list winter stays. The state park trails are open all year, for winter walks, cross-country skiing and fat-tire biking, and the island holds a Christmas Bazaar weekend in early December and a Great Turtle Drop on New Year’s Eve.

If you go, book your flight and room before anything else, and confirm what is open for your dates with the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau.

Hours, schedules, seasons and policies change, so check with each business before you go.