Mackinac Island has banned most motor vehicles since 1898, which is the single fact that shapes everything else about visiting. You arrive by ferry, you move by bicycle, on foot or behind a horse, and the eight mile road around the outside of the island is the only state highway in the country with no cars on it. The other thing to know before booking is that this is a hard seasonal destination: the fort, the museums and most of the shops run a summer season and close, and the trails stay open all year while almost nothing else does.
The top 14, ranked
Ranked from official sources: Mackinac State Historic Parks, the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau and each operator's own admission page, with the published adult price beside every pick.
- Top pick
1Best for first time visitors · #1 of 14
Fort Mackinac
Historic FortThe Bluffopen daily across a season running from early June into late October, closed the rest of the year$10 to $25Fourteen historic buildings sit on the bluff above the harbor, including the oldest building anywhere in Michigan. The view down over the town and Haldimand Bay is the one most visitors picture when they picture the island, and it comes with the ticket rather than as a separate climb.
Local tipOne ticket also covers the downtown museums, so treat the fort and the Market Street buildings as a single visit rather than two decisions.
- Top pick
2Best for walkers and cyclists · #2 of 14
Mackinac Island State Park
State ParkIsland interioropen around the clock, every day of the yearFreeThe park covers most of the island and holds 70.5 miles of signed trails and roads, along with Arch Rock, Sugar Loaf, Skull Cave and Fort Holmes. It is open every hour of every day of the year, which makes it the one thing here that does not shut down when the season ends.
Local tipNone of it is reachable by car. Plan around a bicycle, your own legs or a hired horse, and give the interior more time than the map suggests because the climbs are real.
- Top pick
3Best for families · #3 of 14
The shoreline loop on M-185
Cycling RouteIsland perimeteropen all year as a public road, though rentals follow the ferry seasonFreeThe road around the outside of the island runs 8.2 miles and takes most people between an hour and ninety minutes at a flat, unhurried pace. More than 1,500 rental bikes are available on the island, including tandems and child trailers, and the route is level the whole way around.
Local tipYou can bring your own bicycle across on the ferry instead of renting one, which is worth doing if you are staying more than a day.
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4Best for a first orientation · #4 of 14
Mackinac Island Carriage Tours
Guided TourMain Streetruns daily from early May into late October, with shorter daily hours at each end of the season$25 to $50The narrated horse drawn tour is the island's signature activity and covers ground that is hard to reach on foot in a single day. There are no fixed departure times; you buy a ticket and board the next carriage that pulls up.
Local tipHours contract sharply at the edges of the season, down to a late morning to early afternoon window in October, so go early in the day late in the year.
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#5Best for architecture · #5 of 14Grand Hotel
Historic HotelWest Bluffopen daily from spring into fall with hours that shift by month, and no hours published for winterTicketedThe hotel has served afternoon tea since 1887 and is part of Historic Hotels of America. Non guests are welcome but not free to wander in: the hotel sells a day visitor admission, which is unusual enough that it catches people out.
Local tipDay visitor admission does not include the pool, so budget separately if swimming is part of the plan.
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6Best for history · #6 of 14
Biddle House and the Mackinac Island Native American Museum
History MuseumMarket Streetopen daily for a short summer window from early June through late August$10 to $25The house was home to the merchants Agatha and Edward Biddle from around 1830, and the two galleries inside were built with tribal partners to tell Anishnaabek history on the island rather than around it.
Local tipIts season is markedly shorter than the fort's and ends in late August, so check this one's dates separately if it is the reason you are coming.
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7Best for families · #7 of 14
Original Mackinac Island Butterfly House and Insect World
ConservatoryMcGulpin Streetopen daily in season with longer hours between Memorial Day and Labor Day and shorter hours either side$10 to $25Over a thousand butterflies fly loose inside a glass conservatory planted with tropical flowers, and entomologists are on staff daily rather than just at weekends. It is the most reliable indoor stop on the island when the weather turns.
Local tipThere are two scheduled releases each day, one mid morning and one late afternoon, which are the moments worth timing a visit around.
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8Best for art · #8 of 14
The Richard and Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum
Art MuseumMain Streetopen daily from early June into early October, with shorter hours after Labor Day$10 to $25The collection runs to original photographs of the island from the mid nineteenth century onward, hand beaded Native American garments, and Great Lakes maps from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is a small museum that rewards an unhurried hour.
Local tipHours drop after Labor Day, so an afternoon visit is the safer plan if you are travelling in September.
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9Best for families · #9 of 14
Wings of Mackinac Butterfly Conservatory
ConservatoryCarriage Roadruns on a summer season schedule, with a separate winter contact line for the rest of the year$10 to $25The second of the island's two butterfly conservatories, with a chrysalis viewing area where you can watch the emergence rather than only the finished insect, and a river rock pathway laid around the outside of the building.
Local tipIt publishes a separate winter office number from its summer island line, which is the clearest signal that the conservatory itself is a warm weather operation.
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10Best for history · #10 of 14
American Fur Co. Store and Dr. Beaumont Museum
History MuseumFort and Market Streetsopen daily for a short summer window from early June through late AugustTicketedIn 1822 a gunshot wound to the voyageur Alexis St. Martin was treated in this building, and the experiments Dr. Beaumont ran through the wound that never fully closed produced the first direct observations of human digestion. It is a genuinely strange piece of medical history sitting on an ordinary street corner.
Local tipAn interpreter is stationed here every day in season, so the story is told in person rather than read off a panel.
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11Best for a sweet stop · #11 of 14
Original Murdick's Fudge
ConfectionerMain Streetthe island shop is open daily through the warm weather season, while only the online store runs year roundVariesFudge has been made on this street since 1887, and the tourism bureau puts the downtown shops' combined output at 10,000 pounds a day in season. The slabs are worked in the window on marble tables, so the making is as much of the visit as the buying.
Local tipFree samples are standard at the downtown shops, so you can taste across several before committing to a box.
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12Best for golf · #12 of 14
Wawashkamo Golf Club
Golf CourseBritish Landing Roadopen for a short summer season from late May into early September$50 plusThe course is laid across the battlefield where American soldiers died in a failed 1814 attempt to retake the island from the British. It runs as a registered public charity rather than a private club, and the layout has barely been touched since it opened.
Local tipTee times are booked by telephone through the golf shop rather than online, so call ahead rather than turning up.
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13Best for an evening out · #13 of 14
Pink Pony Bar and Grill
Live Music VenueMain Streetopen through the seasonal visitor season, with no published winter datesVariesThe harbor front bar inside the Chippewa Hotel has been named one of the ten best places in the country for outdoor dining by The Daily Meal, and it is where the island's live music actually happens after the day boats leave.
Local tipMusic nights are scheduled rather than nightly, so check the venue calendar before building an evening around it.
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14Best for children · #14 of 14
Visiting the carriage horses
Family ActivityDowntown and Surrey Hillstied to the general visitor season, with no standing hours published on the overview pageVariesThe horses are working infrastructure here, not decoration, and the operators let visitors into the barns to meet them. Two museums on the island show antique carriages alongside the ones still in daily service.
Local tipThe carriage tour is the island's most popular single activity, so if your visit is short, book that first and treat the barns as the follow up.
Where things cluster
The island is small enough to cross on foot, but it stacks vertically: the ferries and the shops sit at water level, the fort and the grand cottages sit on the bluff directly above, and the trails and rock formations fill the wooded interior behind both.
- Downtown Mackinac, Main Street and Market StreetThe harbor front core where the ferries land, packed with fudge shops, restaurants and the three Market Street museums, all inside a few walkable blocks.
- The Bluff and the West BluffThe high ground directly above town, holding Fort Mackinac and the run of historic cottages that leads west along the shore to Grand Hotel.
- The state park interiorThe wooded middle of the island, with Arch Rock, Sugar Loaf, Skull Cave and Fort Holmes reachable only on foot, by bicycle or by horse.
- East Bluff and the Mission Point lakeshoreA quieter shoreline stretch about fifteen minutes on foot from downtown, anchored by Mission Point and its lawns down to the water.
Make it a day
The fort, then the loop
Take an early ferry and go straight up to Fort Mackinac while the day boats are still arriving, then come down through the Market Street museums on the same ticket. Rent a bicycle after lunch and ride the eight mile shoreline loop, which is flat the whole way and puts you back at the docks with time to spare. If the weather turns, swap the ride for one of the two butterfly conservatories.
Downtown first, then the interior
Give the first day to the fort, the downtown museums and a carriage tour, which between them cover the island's history and give you a working map of the place. Spend the second day inland on the state park trails, climbing to Arch Rock and Fort Holmes, and come back down the far side through British Landing. Staying over is what makes the island work, because the day boats leave in the late afternoon and the town becomes a different, quieter place once they do.
Map
Best time to visit
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Early June through September is the only window when the island is fully open. The fort runs from early June into late October, but the Biddle House and the Beaumont Museum close in late August and the art museum closes in early October, so the number of open doors drops steadily through the fall. Winter is a different destination altogether: the state park trails stay open around the clock all year, while the ferries run only as ice allows and most hotels, shops and restaurants close for the season.
Staying over? Compare hotels in Mackinac Island at Expedia.
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Mackinac Island things to do FAQ
The car ban, the ferry, the cost and the season, answered before you book.
Are there cars on Mackinac Island?
No. Personal motor vehicles are not permitted, and have not been since the 1890s. Visitors leave cars on the mainland, cross by passenger ferry, and get around on foot, by bicycle, or by horse drawn carriage and taxi. It is the reason the island feels the way it does, and it is worth planning luggage around.
How do you get to Mackinac Island?
By ferry. Shepler's and Arnold Transit run passenger ferries from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace roughly every thirty minutes in season, and the crossing takes fifteen to twenty minutes. There is no bridge to the island. Fast ferry service runs from late April into the end of October, while the classic ferry runs only through the peak summer months.
How much does it cost to visit Mackinac Island?
The island itself is free to walk and the state park charges nothing, so the cost is in the ferry, the accommodation and the individual attractions. Fort Mackinac is $17.50 for an adult, the downtown museums are $10.75 each, and a sightseeing carriage tour is $46. Neither ferry operator publishes its fare as static text on its own site, so check current rates when you book.
Is Mackinac Island open in winter?
Partly. Mackinac Island State Park is open twenty four hours a day, every day of the year, so the trails and the rock formations stay accessible. Almost everything else closes: the fort, the museums and most shops and hotels run a summer season, and ferry service continues only as long as the ice allows. The tourism bureau publishes a short list of the businesses that stay open all year.
How long do you need on Mackinac Island?
One full day covers the fort, the downtown museums and the eight mile shoreline loop. Two days is better, because it lets you reach the interior trails, Arch Rock and Fort Holmes without rushing, and because the town changes character once the day boats leave in the afternoon.
Can you bike around Mackinac Island?
Yes, and it is the standard way to see it. The shoreline road runs 8.2 miles around the outside of the island, takes sixty to ninety minutes at an easy pace, and is flat the whole way. More than 1,500 rental bicycles are available on the island, including tandems and child trailers, and you can also bring your own across on the ferry.
Keep planning
Use these nearby guides to build the mainland half of a Mackinac Island trip.
Image credits. Hero: P. Hughes / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. 5 Grand Hotel: Hdeon1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.