5 Mackinac Island Hotels on an Island Without Cars

Mackinac Island banned motor vehicles in 1898 and has not lifted the ban since. The village board acted after early automobiles frightened the horses, and the prohibition still holds: no private cars, no taxis, no delivery vans. Freight moves by dray, people move by bicycle, horse-drawn carriage or on foot, and the ambulance and fire engine are the only motorised exceptions.

It has been that way for more than 125 years, which makes this small island in the straits between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan one of the very few places in the United States where an entire community simply opted out of the car.

The sound is the thing people notice first. Hooves on pavement, bicycle bells, the ferry horn, and nothing else.

The season is half the year

The island effectively closes. Ferries run from roughly May to October, most hotels and restaurants operate only within that window, and the Grand Hotel itself shuts for the winter. About 600 people stay on year-round, crossing to the mainland by ice bridge or small plane when the straits freeze.

If you are planning a visit outside the season, there is essentially nothing to plan.

Peak is July and August, when the ferries run full and the main street is busy with day trippers. June and September are the better months: the lilacs are out in June, the light is long, and the island empties considerably after Labor Day.

The island

It is about six kilometres across, and eighty percent of it is state park.

Main Street and the harbour hold the ferry docks, the fudge shops and most of the hotels.

The bluffs above the village are lined with Victorian summer cottages, several of them enormous.

M-185, the road around the perimeter, is the only state highway in America where motor vehicles are banned. It runs thirteen kilometres of flat shoreline and cycling it takes about an hour.

Fort Mackinac, on the hill, is an eighteenth-century British and American post looking down over the harbour.

The five below are grouped by position.

The bluff

Above the village, with the view.

Grand Hotel occupies a wooden building opened in 1887 with a front porch of 660 feet, commonly described as the longest in the world, and a formal evening dress code that has survived intact. Horse-drawn carriages meet the ferry. It is the reason most people come.

Mission Point Resort sits west of the village on a large lakeside site with lawns to the water, a pool and a more relaxed tone than the landmark on the hill.

Main Street and the harbour

In the village, on foot to the ferries.

Hotel Iroquois occupies a shingled building at the harbour point with a porch over the water and a long-standing bar that catches the sunset.

Island House Hotel sits on Main Street as the island's oldest operating hotel, with a verandah, a garden courtyard and the ferry docks a minute away.

The quiet end

Inn at Stonecliffe occupies a former private estate on the island's west bluff with a small room count, gardens and views across the straits to the bridge.

What we have left off

The bed and breakfasts across the village are excluded, and Mackinac has a great many of them in Victorian houses at lower rates. They are guest houses rather than hotels.

What to do

Cycle M-185 around the perimeter. Thirteen kilometres, flat, no traffic, and it is the single best thing on the island. Rentals are everywhere and an hour is enough.

Take a carriage tour if you would rather not pedal, and note that the island's horses are wintered on the mainland and brought back each spring.

Walk up to Arch Rock and Fort Holmes in the interior park, which most day visitors never reach.

See Fort Mackinac for the cannon firings and the view down over the harbour.

Eat fudge, which is the island's minor industry and genuinely good, and watch it being turned on marble slabs in the shop windows.

Practical notes

Ferries run from Mackinaw City and St Ignace, taking about twenty minutes, from roughly May to October. A small airstrip takes light aircraft year-round. Cars stay on the mainland in paid lots.

June and September are the best months. July and August are the peak. The Lilac Festival in early June is the island's biggest event.

Luggage is handled by dray from the dock to the hotel, which is part of the charm and means packing light is still sensible.

Questions people actually ask

Are cars really banned?

Since 1898, with exceptions only for emergency vehicles. Everything else is hoof, bicycle or foot.

Is the island open all year?

Effectively no. Ferries and most hotels run from about May to October.

Can you cycle round it?

Thirteen kilometres of flat, traffic-free shoreline, about an hour at a gentle pace.

How many nights?

Two. One night means you only see the island with the day trippers on it.

If you only book one

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