If you’re seeking a great vacation spot for the whole family, Michigan’s top-notch hotels and resorts will help you out. Across the state, you’ll discover overnight spots that provide plenty of kid-friendly entertainment, but also accommodate the interest of Mom and Dad! From cozy lodges, to lively resorts, to upscale hotels, everyone in the family will find something to enjoy at these great spots.
Imagine the look on your kids' faces when you tell them you're going to a place where it's Christmas all year to stay in a lodge that looks like it was pulled out of a fairytale. That's exactly what you get with Frankenmuth's Bavarian Inn Lodge. With four indoor pools, an 18-hole miniature golf course, an arcade, and a “children's village,” there's no shortage of things to do here and you haven't even left the hotel. Family karaoke and sing-alongs featuring “Willy the Dragon” round out the event.
Elk Rapids' White Birch Lodge, which is roughly feet away from Elk Lake, offers an exciting variety of activities for families, particularly in terms of water sports on Elk Lake. Featuring wakeboarding, tennis, sailing, volleyball and more, there are opportunities aplenty for exciting fun with the family. Throw in family-style meals that run the gamut from prime rib and fried shrimp to complete buffet meals, and you've got just about everything you and your family could ask for under one roof.
For those who find hotel living a little too predictable, why not stay in a house instead? Trout Creek Condominium Resort in Harbor Springs offers that kind of proposition. Choose from one, two, three, and five-bedroom options complete with all the fixtures like full kitchen and fireplace. Enjoy heated pools, tennis courts, fishing ponds, and all the room to wander around that Michigan can boast. Throw in an array of sights within driving distance and Trout Creek Condominium Resort will make a fine home base away from home.
Traverse City's Great Wolf Lodge is easily one of the best places for family vacationing around. Start with two separate water parks, one indoors and one outdoors. Then step up to an array of kids' activities like the Compass Quest and MagiQuest operations, the half-size bowling alley, the make-your-own teddy bear pavilion and an arcade. Once all that's starting to lose its luster, remember you're in Traverse City, and realize all that entails. That's a vacation so full you may well need another vacation after that vacation.
Granted, on Mackinac Island, the Grand Hotel tends to get a lot of the attention. But not too far away is Mission Point Resort, a 2016 Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Award winning hotel that's terrific for a family getaway. How terrific? How about we start with children under 12 eat free at Mission Point restaurants. How about a complimentary kids' club, or even just room enough to fly kites? How about a complete family package that includes meals, bike rentals and more? That should be enough to spell family vacation for most anyone.
The Aloft Detroit at the David Whitney hotel in Detroit will offer an exciting experience. The Aloft Detroit will provide some of the most colorful rooms around in a location that's hard to pass up. Living high in the air in the midst of one of the biggest cities around is, for many, the definition of adventure, and having the whole city laid out before you is just icing on the cake.
Saugatuck's Starlite Resort goes for the retro vibe in a big way, so if you ever wanted to get a taste of what beach resort life back in, say, the 1950s was like, you'll be surprisingly close to the answer right here. Boasting “retro modern” décor and backed up by six full acres of possibilities for yard games and a host of other options—plus of course access to the Saugatuck/Douglas area and all that entails—the Starlite Resort should prove a bright idea.
If you've got outdoorsy kids, then Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville will be just the place to take said kids. Start with side events like the Family Carnival held on July 3 with fireworks over the mountain and expand outward to a much more general array of options including the Crystal Coaster Alpine Slide—think a slightly tamer luge—and a series of family adventures and kids' crafts and you've got the makings of one exciting family vacation.
For a hotel that looks kind of like a step into a possible future, try Holland's City Flats Hotel. With locations in Grand Rapids and Port Huron also available, CityFlats Hotel looks to provide an upscale, exciting experience that even manages to keep environmentalism in mind. With build your own pizzas on tap and a location right in downtown Holland, there's a lot of great possibilities afoot for the family to enjoy.
Located between Marquette and Munising—given that Marquette is home to the only children's museum in Michigan, that should automatically qualify this one for family-friendly status—the Seacoast Resort will offer a variety of different room choices along with its other variety as well. Whether you're staying in a beachfront cottage or a lakeshore loft, you'll have options aplenty here. Throw in the fact that the Seacoast is right on the Hiawatha Water Trail, which means top-notch kayaking, and the whole concept takes on new life.
The Grand Hotel is truly nothing short of grand. A majestic porch that spans 660 feet across the facade of the structure—the largest front porch in the world! Mackinac Island doesn’t allow any motor vehicles so it takes away all the noisiness of cars. During your visit, go swimming, try out horseback riding, play lawn games in the Tea Garden, and don’t forget to book a Mackinac Island Carriage Tour.
