Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island banned the automobile in 1898 and never looked back, and the result is an American time capsule in the straits between Lakes Michigan and Huron: everything moves by horse-drawn carriage, bicycle or foot, from luggage drays to the morning post. The ferry lands you in a harbor town of fudge shops - the island's famous export, cut on marble slabs in the windows - and Victorian storefronts, with the Grand Hotel's colossal white porch presiding from its hill as it has since 1887. Beyond town, most of the island is state park: the eight-mile shoreline road M-185 is the only state highway in the nation where cars are forbidden, and it loops past limestone Arch Rock perched 146 feet above turquoise Lake Huron water. Historic Fort Mackinac adds cannon salutes and parade-ground views over the straits.

What you actually see

• Arch Rock - the limestone arch high above Lake Huron's turquoise shallows.
• The M-185 loop - eight car-free shoreline miles by bicycle.
• The Grand Hotel porch - the vast 1887 colonnade above its gardens.
• Main Street's fudge shops - marble-slab theatre in every window.

When to go

June to early October is the season, with June's lilac bloom and festival a specialty; July and August bring the day-trip crowds. By late October the island folds up for winter and ferries thin.

Honest expectations

Summer middays belong to the day-trippers - the island transforms once the last ferry leaves, which is the argument for staying over despite steep room rates. The Grand Hotel charges non-guests for porch access and enforces evening dress codes, and everything on the island carries ferry-freight prices.

Nearby

Mackinaw City, St. Ignace and the Mackinac Bridge between the peninsulas.