Michigan Upper Peninsula Road Trip Itinerary (Best Stops + Map)

Last updated on April 25, 2026

We went on our Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip with very few expectations. We heard this region of the United States was super underrated and packed with beauty and adventure. Boy, were they right!

During our Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip, we found ourselves kayaking on a National Lakeshore, camping in dense forests, having lunch near spectacular waterfalls, visiting charming towns, and even rowing across a natural spring. We could not believe what we had been missing all these years!

The Upper Peninsula, or U.P. for short, blew us away. Thankfully, with the help of this summer Michigan Upper Peninsular road trip itinerary, it can blow you away too.

Michigan Upper Peninsula Road Trip Route Overview

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula isn’t on many travelers’ bucket lists. This remote region, above Michigan’s “Mitt,” is home to less than 300,000 people year-round but is filled with stunning landscapes, serene lakeshores, and dense forests – making it the perfect place for a summer road trip.

This Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip itinerary will take you to the top sights of the U.P., sharing tips on where to stay, what to eat, and what to do in each destination.

The best time to go on an Upper Peninsula road trip

The U.P. is considered one of the coldest and snowiest places in the United States. Spring comes late, and summer passes quickly. June is typically when you can start exploring comfortably, but it will likely still be cool in the evenings.

Month	Avg. High °F (°C)	Avg. Low °F (°C)
June	71.4°F (21.8°C)	50.5°F (10.2°C)
July	77.2°F (25.1°C)	55.5°F (13.0°C)
August	75.6°F (24.2°C)	54.6°F (12.5°C)
September	67.7°F (19.8°C)	47.2°F (8.4°C)

🪰 If you’re coming in late May to early July, be warned of blackfly season. These flies are big and have a nasty bite. They are not deterred by bug spray and can even bite through clothes! We saw videos of people traveling during this time. They couldn’t walk from their vehicles to the viewpoint without being attacked by black flies.

Summer is the ideal time to camp here, but the UP is also popular in fall for it’s incredible fall foilage. Fall ends early, though with most campgrounds closing the first week or two of October, so plan for a late September visit for peak foilage.

We did our Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip in late July and early August, and the weather was perfect. We didn’t have to deal with blackflies, and it wasn’t too cold yet. It is peak tourist season for this region, so be ready for crowds, particularly in iconic spots like Mackinac Island and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Where to Start and End Your Michigan Upper Peninsula Road Trip

If you’re flying to Michigan and renting a car for your Upper Peninsula road trip, search for flights to Pellston Regional Airport. This is the closest airport to the U.P., but tickets will likely be expensive because of how small the airport is.

🚙 We drove up Michigan’s western shore from Grand Rapids, which is a much larger and likely cheaper airport to fly into. Detroit is another option with a massive international airport.

If you have more time than money and want to extend your trip, I highly encourage flying into one of these two airports and driving up. Driving from Grand Rapids or Detroit will take around 4 to 5 hours in total, and both airports have rental car companies you can easily rent from.

Since the UP is a peninsula, its land connection is on the northwestern side of Wisconsin. We recommend starting in Michigan and flying back to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Search for an “open-jaw” flight that arrives and departs from different airports when booking.

Also, make sure your car rental company knows you’ll be dropping off in a different location. Sometimes there is a surcharge for this.

How Many Days Do You Need for a UP Road Trip?

As full-time RVers, we had the luxury of traveling more slowly for this trip. We dedicated 4 weeks to our Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip and honestly wish we had longer! However, 11 to 14 days is ideal for those with limited vacation time, but still want to enjoy the U.P. fully.

If that’s still too long, this trip can be done in as little as 8 to 10 days if you cut out Bond Falls, Porcupine Mountains, and the Keweenaw Peninsula. However, you’re missing some of the most beautiful parts of this region by doing that.

Play

Two weeks will give you plenty of time between your long drives to hike, eat delicious food, take a dip in the lake, and learn about this region’s unique history. It also gives you time to coordinate driving to and from the larger cities if you’re flying in.

Quick reference Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip itinerary

Day 1: Drive 5 hours from Detroit or Grand Rapids to St. Ignace.
Day 2: Stay in St. Ignace and take a day trip by ferry to Mackinac Island.
Option to stay another night on Mackinac Island.
Day 3: Drive 2 hours 30 minutes to Soo Locks and Whitefish Point.
Stay in Paradise or Tahquamenon Falls.
Day 4: Explore Tahquamenon Falls and stay overnight.
Day 5: Drive 1 and 45 minutes to Kitch-it-Kipi Spring and then another 1 hour to Munising.
Day 6 & 7: Explore Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore.
Day 8: Drive 45 minutes to Marquette. Enjoy the “city life” and stay overnight.
Day 9: Drive 1 and 45 minutes to Bond Falls. Then drive another hour to Houghton (stay overnight).
Day 10 & 11: Drive an hour up the Keweenaw Peninsula. Visit the Jam Pot, Ft. Wilkins State Park, and a waterfall if you are interested.
Day 12 & 13: Drive 2 hours 30 minutes to the Porcupine Mountains.
Day 14: Drive ~4 hours to Green Bay for your departure flight (stay overnight if necessary).

Tips about Michigan Upper Peninsula RV camping

If you plan to camp in the Michigan State Parks as we did, make reservations in advance. Summer is the peak season for camping, and these spots will be booked out. We checked regularly for cancellations and managed to secure anywhere from two to five nights at the state parks.

If you don’t want to have to check for cancellations constantly, you can let Arvie book your spot for you. Arvie is an online RV camping booking tool that allows you to search and book spots at thousands of campgrounds across the country. If there is no availability, you can create a sold-out search (SOS) with your desired dates, camping preferences, and rig size.

If something pops up that meets that criteria, Arvie will automatically book it for you! This is a LIFESAVER for summer Michigan Upper Peninsula RV camping.

You’ll also need to purchase a Recreation Pass to camp at any Michigan State Park. For non-Michigan residents, the fee is $40 annually or $11 daily (including entrance to the State Park that day). If you camp for four nights or more in a state park, paying the annual fee is the more cost-effective option. It also means you won’t have to pay the day-pass fees at the state parks.

The Recreation Pass cannot be purchased online and must be purchased at one of the registration offices at the State Parks.

Michigan Upper Peninsula Road Trip Route

This Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip route will begin in the U.P. instead of at the airport. Since there are multiple destinations you can fly into, we’re making the starting point the first stop.

The official start of the Upper Peninsula is in St. Ignace, the first town after crossing the Mackinac Bridge (pronounced Mack-i-naw). This 5-mile-long bridge is the main way to reach the remote area of Michigan’s UP. There is a toll to cross the bridge that costs $4.00 per car or $2.00 per axle for an RV and/or towable trailer.

You’ll want to stay a night in St. Ignace so you can take the ferry to Mackinac Island. This is the first major destination in Michigan’s U.P. and by far the most popular place on this road trip.

🏨 Plan ahead and book a night in a hotel on Mackinac Island. Nightly rates are expensive, around $300 – $500+ in peak summer, but it’s a nice treat to stay on the island after everyone else has left. Reservations are usually made months in advance, so prepare accordingly!

Stop 1: Mackinaw Island

Mackinaw Island is a 3.8 square mile island off the shores of the U.P. and the ancestral homeland of the Anishinabek tribe. Home to fewer than 300 people year-round, this island is a picturesque getaway oozing with charm and history.

🚢 There are two ferry options to get to the island: Star Line Mackinac ($37 per adult for the fast ferry) or Shepler’s Ferry ($59 per adult). From St. Ignace, it takes around 30 minutes to reach the Island. You can also take a ferry from Mackinaw City.

The island does not allow any motorized vehicles (e-bikes included), meaning you can traverse by horse and carriage, bicycle, or walking. There are loads of bike rental places you can rent a bike from, which are paid by the hour, or you can bring your own bike on the ferry.

On the island, you can bike the 8-mile loop that takes you along the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan and to popular stops like:

• Arch Rock (in Mackinac Island State Park)
• The Grand Hotel (dress code required)
• Tour Fort Mackinac and/or Fort Holmes

🐢 If you’re riding your bike, stop at the Native American Cultural Trail signs, which line the 8-mile path. These signs share the history of the Great Lakes tribes and the cultural importance of Mackinaw Island to their people. Mackinaw’s native name, Michilimackinac, translates to “Big or Great Turtle” and is related to their origin story.

If you don’t rent a bike, you can take a historic carriage ride tour, which takes you to a few sites on the southern side of the island (near downtown).

From there, you can walk downtown. I’ll be honest, we weren’t blown away by downtown (the stench from the horses is strong). The food on the island was a very standard American diet and expensive. However, we did enjoy our Jamaican meal at Kingston Kitchen. Other popular things to do in downtown:

• Visit a fudge shop or go shopping.
• Visit the Biddle House (home to the Native American Interpretive Center) once an 1800 fur-trade shop.

Where to stay

Recommended stay length: 1 to 2 nights.
RV: Straits State Park Campground
Hotel in St. Ignace: Moosewood Inn
Hotel on Mackinac Island: Island House Hotel

Stop 2: Soo Locks and Whitefish Point

From St. Ignace, drive 45 minutes north to the city of Sault St. Marie on the border of Canada. This city is home to the Soo Locks, a lock system that has connected the Great Lakes to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans since the mid-1800s. This lock is home to two of the longest lock systems in the entire world!

If you’ve never seen a lock before, it’s a pretty cool engineering feat. We visited the locks in Niagara on the Lake and the Panama Canal, and it never ceases to amaze me. The Soos Lock observation decks (to watch ships go through the lock) are open from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm in the summertime. The Visitors Center is open from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.

The Soo Locks are the main attraction here, although this is one of the larger cities in the U.P.If you need to stop for any snacks, toiletries, etc., Sault St. Marie is the place to do it. 🌮

This is also where you want to stop for lunch. Grab American food at The Wicked Sister or try Jose’s Mexican restaurant. Just make sure to grab food before you start driving. There will be very few options near Whitefish Point.

From there, continue driving about an hour and 45 minutes west, northwest toward Whitefish Point. Whitefish Point is home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, which shares the fascinating history of shipwrecks in Lake Superior and the Great Lakes over the last three to four hundred years.

Whitefish Point is an optional stop. It only adds about 20 to 25 minutes of driving to your final destination, so, in our opinion, it is well worth it. There are an estimated 6,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, with 550 taking place in Lake Superior!

The lakeshore on Lake Superior is beautiful! If you don’t stop at Whitefish Point to visit the museum or admire the stunning lakeshore, continue to Tahquamenon Falls if you’re camping or Paradise if you’re staying in a hotel, which is your next major stop on this summer Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip.

Stop 3: Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls is one of the top highlights of a Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip. This beautiful State Park is home to the second-largest river south of the Mississippi. The color of the Tahquamenon River is a brown “root beer” and flows with serious force.

There are two falls, lower and upper falls, which are about a 15-minute walk from each other. You can rent kayaks from the lodge near the Lower Falls or take some of the other scenic trails nearby.

💵 If you have a Michigan Recreation Pass, it’s free to enter (see camping tips for more info). If you don’t have the pass and are a non-resident, the day fee for Tahquamenon State Park is $10.

We loved the 5-mile hike to Tahquamenon Brewery. The trail (pictured below) was stunning and had very few people on it. You can hike back the other 5 miles, or if preferred, take a paid shuttle that departs from the Brewery back to the Campground throughout the day.

Where to stay and eat

Recommended stay length: 2 nights.
RV: Tahquamenon Falls State Park
Hotel in Paradise: Paradise Motel & Inn
Where to eat in Tahquemenon: Tahquemenon Brewery + Pub (their food was very good)
Where to eat in Paradise: Catch of the Day food truck or Wheelhouse Diner & Goatlocker Saloon

Stop 4: Kitch-iti-kipi Springs

Wake up bright and early the next day to start your roughly two-hour drive to Kitch-iti-kipi Springs. Kitch-iti-kipi, or the Big Cold Spring, in Ojibwe, is the largest freshwater spring in Michigan. Roughly 10,000 gallons of water come out of the spring every minute!

You can take a hand-propelled raft over the spring, which is controlled on a pulley system. It takes about 20 minutes to go out and back, and while it doesn’t seem like much, it’s a must-do on this road trip.

💵 If you have a Michigan Recreation Pass, it’s free to enter (see camping tips for more info). If you don’t have the pass and are a non-resident, the day fee is $10.

If you’re hungry after visiting Kitch-iti-kipi, grab some food at Big Spring Tavern, which is just around the corner from the spring. If you can wait an hour, continue north toward Munising, which has a lot more dining options.

Stop 5: Munising and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

The next stop on this summer Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip is Munising, the town closest to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We’ve traveled to a lot of National Parks, monuments, and lakeshores now in our 6 years of full-time travel, and Pictured Rocks National Park remains one of our top 5 favorite parks in the USA.

This National Lakeshore is home to colorful cliffs, rock arches, gorgeous waterfalls, and dense forest, all perfectly positioned on the striking shores of Lake Superior. The color of the water near the shore is out of this world stunning!

This park is a part of the National Park system and requires you to have a National Park Pass to enter, or you can pay a daily entry fee. You can hike, take a kayak tour, or go on a glass-bottom boat tour (and see a shipwreck).

We recommend staying 2 nights here so you can explore by boat and land. The Chapel Loop and Mosquito Falls hike along the shore is a fantastic full-day activity. It’s a long trail, just under 11 miles round trip but worth it!

After you hike or kayak, make sure you grab a pastie! This UP specialty comes from the mining days with origins in Cornwall, UK. It’s like a potpie stuffed with meat and veggies, often served with gravy or ketchup.

Where to stay and eat

Recommended stay length: 2 to 3 nights.
RV: Bay Furnace Campground (in the National Lake Shore) or Munising Tourist Park
Hotel recommendations in Munising: Holiday Inn Munising (IHG Hotel)
Where to eat: Cap’n Ron’s Fish ‘N’ Chips and Muldoon’s Pasties & Gifts

Stop 6: Marquette

Marquette is a college town home to Northern Michigan University. It’s one of the more populated cities in the area, and your best shot at getting a “big city” meal. We loved stopping here for a day after all of the outdoor activities we did in Pictured Rock National Lakeshore. The plus side is that it’s only a 45-minute drive from Munising.

Our main goal in visiting was to jump off the rocks at Presque Isle Park. This park is a popular swimming spot and hangout in the summer months. You’ll find picnic tables, scenic overlooks, walking trails, and loads of people having a barbecue or picnic here.

Where to stay and eat

Recommended stay length: 1 night.
RV: Marquette Tourist Park
Hotel in Marquette: Superior Stay Hotel
Where to eat: Lagniappe Cajun Creole, Delft Bistro, or Steinhaus

Stop 7: Bond Falls

Your next stop will be Bond Falls. This is a stunning waterfall just under 2 hours west of Marquette. We camped at the Bond Falls West campground nearby, which has free dispersed camping. It was one of our favorite stops. There was something so tranquil about this camping site, which was a 15-minute walk to the waterfalls and connected to a pristine lake.

If you’re not in an RV or camping on this trip, your stop at Bond Falls will last around 30 minutes before you continue onward. It’s another hour and fifteen-minute drive to Houghton.

⏰ If you prefer to skip Bond Falls and head directly to Houghton, it’s only a 2-hour drive total.

Stop 8: Keweenaw Peninsula and Copper Harbor

Houghton and Hancock are the start of the Keweenaw Peninsula. This is the northernmost part of Michigan’s UP and one of the snowiest places in the United States. This peninsula was popular for its copper production in the mid-1800s, with several important mining towns.

Houghton is one of the largest mining towns in this region, where you can learn about Michigan’s mining history on a Quincy Mining Tour. This tour takes you into the mine on the Cog Tram to the entrance of level 7. It costs $35 for adults and takes just over 2 hours.

If you’re into beer, stop at Keweenaw Brewing Company in Houghton. We had lunch here and really enjoyed it. Another fun lunch spot is Peterson’s Fish Market.

If you plan to visit Isle Royale National Park, one of the least visited National Parks in the 50 states, this is where you’ll take the seaplane or ferry. You’ll need to reserve your camping spot and permits weeks to months in advance—don’t leave this to the last minute. Ferry and the seaplane book out, and you’ll want to have at least 2 days on the island to explore.

Continue driving an hour north to Copper Harbor. Located at the top of the Keweenaw Peninsula, this area is a super remote getaway on the edge of Lake Superior. We loved this section of the UP because it was remote, pristine, picturesque, and full of history. Key stops along the peninsula:

• Fort Wilkins State Park (Historic forts and mines from the 1800s you can visit. It also has camping. Currently closed with projected opening July 2026.)
• The Jam Pot in Eagle Harbor (a Catholic Monastery that sells baked goods and homemade wild-berry jams)
• Hungarian Falls

Fort Wilkins Historic Fort is a must for history buffs. This Military Fort was put in place during the 1800s copper run to “protect” the miners from the indigenous people who lived there.

Another unique stop along this peninsula is the Jam Pot. This is a Catholic Byzantine Monastery that supports itself by making freshly baked goods (free of sugars and unnecessary ingredients) and selling their homemade wild-berry jams. The line was long (we had to wait 30 minutes to get in), but the baked goods and jams were worth it!

Where to stay

Recommended stay length: 2 nights.
RV camping near Houghton Hancock: McClain State Park
RV camping in Copper Harbor: Ft. Wilkins State Park
Hotel in Houghton Hancock: The Country Inn & Suites by Radisson
Hotel in Copper Harbor: Dapple Gray Bed & Breakfast

Stop 9: Porcupine Mountains aka “the Porkies”

Your last stop on this Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip itinerary is the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness area. It’s just over a two-hour drive to the park, which is lovingly called “The Porkies” by locals. This epic landscape is over 60,000 acres of unspoiled nature and an outdoor enthusiast’s dream.

The park is so large it lies in two different time zones and borders the Wisconsin state line.

You haven’t visited the Porkies without hiking. Popular trails to do in the Porcupine Mountains are the short 2-mile round-trip walk to Lake of the Clouds, the 2.3 boardwalk-lined loop on Presque Isle, or the longer 8.4-mile Escarpment Trail.

Bring a blacklight with you to search for “Yooperlite” rocks. These fluorescent sodalite rocks will glow in the dark and are commonly found along the Keweenaw Peninsula and the shores of Lake Superior.

Where to stay and eat

Recommended stay length: 2 nights.
RV: Union Bay Campground
Hotel in Ontonagon: AmericInn by Wyndham
Where to eat: Sly’s Cafe or The Squeeze on Main

While it’s hard to believe, you’ve finished your summer Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip! Now, you begin your journey to your departing airport. If you’re following this guide, it is in Green Bay, about a four-hour drive from the Porkies.

Hopefully, this travel guide helped plan your Michigan Upper Peninsula road trip. If so, let me know in the comments below.