Boat Tours in Frankenmuth | @michiganaddicts

Guided Boat Tours

Sit back and relax aboard a cozy 12-passenger tour boat with Frankenmuth FunShips! Book a 30-minute or one-hour River Tour, and enjoy an informative captain guiding you along the scenic Cass River. Or, indulge your senses on a one-hour Wine & Chocolate River Tour. Sip five wines expertly paired with five handmade chocolates while you’re on the water, and enjoy the take-home souvenir glass!

Board the 150-passenger paddlewheel Bavarian Belle Riverboat for a one-hour narrated history tour along the Cass River, and pass beneath the Bavarian Inn Holz Brücke (German for “wooden bridge”). Docked at the waterfalls of Frankenmuth River Place Shops, relax on the Riverboat’s canopied upper deck and enjoy a snack bar and soft drinks on board — and especially the views!

Available by reservation only, take a personally guided scenic boat tour with Johnny Panther Quests Adventure Trips through one of the richest wildlife habitats in Michigan, the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. Johnny Panther specializes in ecotours, birding trips, romantic escapes, and one-of-a-kind boating experiences!

Feel the wind in your hair on a majestic sailboat excursion with BaySail! Board the Appledore Tall Ship schooners, Appledore IV and Appledore V, to enjoy gorgeous scenery, nature sightings, and snacks (even adult beverages) you’re invited to bring on deck. Book the Great Lakes 101 Sail to explore the rich history of the Saginaw River, or a Sunset Sail to sail off, literally, into the sunset.

BaySail | @marjojaroch

Nothing says summer like riding aboard the Princess Wenonah with Bay City Boat Lines! Float a Free Weekday History Tour to experience fascinating facts and natural beauty. Book tickets for three-hour Rock the Boat or Carefree Cruisin’ trips to savor a catered meal before dancing the night away to themed live bands, or enjoy a Saginaw River Guided Tour for a relaxing ride with unforgettable scenery — including the Saginaw River Rear Range Lighthouse!

Bring your own (food, beverages, music) aboard a tiki-themed pontoon with Bay City Tiki Boat Tours! Take a two-hour trip to catch a spectacular sunset over Saginaw Bay, or a Freestyle Cruise where you chart the course. On either tour, float carefree along the Saginaw River — and enjoy the selections you brought on board from your seat at the Tiki Bar!

Bay City Boat Lines
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Unforgettable Guided Boat Tours
Bay City State Park | @nature_lover_xo

Beaches

Soak up the sun at Bay City State Park, on a public swimming beach with nearly a mile of natural Saginaw Bay shoreline! Enjoy on-site picnic areas, volleyball and basketball courts, and access to Tobico Marsh — a gorgeous wetland preserve featuring nearly five miles of trails and two 32-foot observation towers.

Or, spend your beach day at Haithco Recreation Area, a 76-acre park with a 40-acre lake and swimming beach. Enjoy on-site concessions, areas for grilling, and volleyball courts. Rent paddleboats, rowboats, canoes, or kayaks — and bring your fishing pole if you’d like casting off the pier to catch sunfish, perch, bluegill, and bass!

Bay City State Park | @mi_playground
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Places to Sink Your Toes in the Sand
Saginaw River in Bay City | @mi_playground

Paddling

Group paddles, Yoga & Paddle Night, Sunset Paddles — choose your adventure and get into abundant rivers, lakes, and pleasurable paddling routes this summer!

Experience joy and tranquility in the great outdoors with Ike’s Mobile Kayak Rentals, and decide between guided or on-your-own tours from launch and pick-up sites of your choosing. Paddle yourself through the Cass River's calm waters on a self-guided kayak tour with Frankenmuth Kayak Adventures. Pick your paddle from Nor’East Outdoors’ offerings (with locations in both Midland and Bay City) or venture onto Saginaw Bay with Cattail Kayak Rental.

Saginaw River in Bay City | @mi_playground
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Top Places to Dip Your Paddles
Fishing
Saginaw Bay

This summer, drop your line in water that’s earned an international reputation for extreme walleye fishing. Catch a big one — or stringers full of ‘em — on Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay! Set out on your own to bring in the walleye, or charter an excursion on The Bay that includes priceless expertise.

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Saginaw Bay

With an extensive fleet of fishing charters and boats equipped with the latest electronics and gear, you don’t need to be an accomplished angler to bring in trophy fish. From The Michigan Experience to Adventure 1 Charters and beyond, these captains know how walleyes move through the Saginaw Bay, and where, when, and how to catch ‘em!

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Outdoors + Nature

Find yourself immersed this summer in thousands upon thousands of colorful blooms, and amidst winding pathways and ambling streams at Dow Gardens. Smell their fantastical herb garden, enjoy a picnic during Lunchtime Concerts in the dappled shade of the Birch Grove, discover Gary Lee Price's "Celebrate the Children" sculpture exhibit, and don’t leave without experiencing Whiting Forest — along a 1,400-foot canopy walk through the trees that soars 40 feet into the air and stands as the longest in the nation!

Ready, set, glow at Frankenmuth Aerial Park! Swing through the trees and fly through the air, challenge yourself on aerial obstacle courses of ziplines, ladders, and rope bridges for all skill levels, and look for dazzling Glow Nights this summer! Back by popular demand, the Park is set aglow with color arches, LED sequences, lighting, and lasers — and climbers receive glow attire and visit glow paint stations along the way!

Cruise through Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in your car along the scenic, seasonal Wildlife Drive — a jaw-dropping, breathtaking, 6.5-mile auto tour route that's open from June to October, sunrise to sunset. Discover out-of-this-world scenery around each new bend, and prepare to view wildlife including hundreds of birds from pelicans to eagles, plus deer, frogs, turtles, and more.

Meet 19 miles of trails to explore, and step into summer at Chippewa Nature Center! Venture out for a guided bike ride on the Chippewa Trail, or take an evening kayak trip with a naturalist. Join a guided Full Moon Stroll, experience Summer Wildflowers by Golf Cart, or travel back in time at themed Homestead Sundays at the log cabin, timber-frame barn, and one-room schoolhouse.

Feet on the Street in Bay City | @miles2gobeforeisleep

Pedal Trolleys + Carriage Rides

Coast into great times on the custom-made bar-on-wheels that is the Sunrise Pedal Trolley! You’ll be invited to bring your own beverages aboard this 16-passenger bike, and you’ll ride through Downtown Bay City enjoying the area’s architecture, history, specialty and antique shops — and, if desired, local pubs. Be sure to stop by Bay City’s iconic Friendship Ring or the Third Street Star Bridge for a memorable group photo!

Power your way through Frankenmuth on a 16-person trolley bike with PedAle Trolley. Book a City River Tour whole-trolley rental and pedal through the streets of Frankenmuth, enjoying stops you’ll choose along your two-hour custom outing! Or, purchase single seats on Thursday- or Saturday-evening bar-hopping tours to pedal between pubs for just $25/person!

Enjoy a guided tour and intriguing scenery along the Cass River and streets of “Little Bavaria” on a horse-drawn carriage ride with Frankenmuth Carriage Company. Located at the Bavarian Inn, look for the carriages underneath the Glockenspiel Tower, a magnificent 35-bell carillon with beautiful figurine movement and an illuminated clock!

Step into a magical outing with Fantasy Carriage Company, located next to Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth. Allow magnificent horses and your coachman to guide your carriage through historic streets, highlighting attractions and sharing gems about Frankenmuth as you travel.

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Must-Try Summer Outdoor Attractions
Bay City State Park | @mi_playground

Trails

With waterfront scenery, wildflower corridors, and views of grand gardens and historic estates, get outdoors along the Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail! Discover multiple trailheads throughout the region and trail loops, including the 30-mile Pere Marquette Rail Trail, 21-mile Bay City Area Riverwalk/RailTrail, and 11-mile Saginaw Valley Rail Trail! Stop into Ray’s Bike Shop in Midland or Bay City to rent bikes for your time on the trail!

This summer, encounter a birder’s paradise of egrets, geese, warblers, and more along the Saginaw Bay Birding Trail! Covering a total of 142 miles, and largely following the shoreline of the entire Saginaw Bay, bring your binoculars and discover this sprawling natural habitat for more than 200 species of birds.

The Tridge | @mi_playground
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Top Hiking + Biking Trails
Camping
Bay City

Make s’mores and summer memories in a modern, all-season campground with grassy sites at Bay City State Park! With mini-cabins available for rent, and a location within a stand of mature oaks, the day-use area features nearly a mile of natural Saginaw Bay shoreline, a boat launch, picnic areas, volleyball and basketball courts, a maintained public swimming beach, and access to the scenic Tobico Marsh.

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Bay City State Park | @mi_playground
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Top Spots for Camping
Summer Festivals + Free Concerts
Great Lakes Bay

From art fairs to food truck gatherings, car shows to craft beer sampling, the Great Lakes Bay is the place to be for summertime festival fun! Attend the Classic Car Show and shop hundreds of dealers at the Michigan Antique Festival. Experience authentic German food, beers, music, and dancing at the Frankenmuth Bavarian Festival, or celebrate one of the largest fireworks shows in the whole Midwest at the Bay City Fireworks Festival!

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Great Lakes Bay

Enjoy amazing music all summer for free as can be! Get to Wednesdays in the Park and witness a Tom Petty tribute or “Simply Queen” at Wenonah Park Bandshell in Bay City. Join the Party on McCarty on Thursdays in Saginaw for Motown to Country live entertainment, food vendors, and a beer & wine tent. Bring blankets and lawn chairs to Tunes by the Tridge on Thursdays in Midland for family-friendly evenings and live music from Dueling Pianos to Cool Lemon Jazz.

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Upcoming Summer Events

Social Districts

Enjoy fresh air and al fresco dining options, outdoor public art installations and live music, comedians and community events — even must-try morning yoga sessions! Discover Bay City’s Feet on the Street communal areas, made possible by purposeful road closures, and relax in the city streets all summer long!

Explore The Commons Pedestrian Plaza in Downtown Midland, with ample shade and picnic table seating, and visit The Commons Refreshment Area where alcoholic drinks are openly allowed outdoors, craft brews and cocktails flow freely, and The Commons Live Music Series gets people dancing in the streets!

Outdoor Beer Gardens

Float your boat into Bay City’s Drift Shoreside Beer Garden, where boaters can dock and order from the water! Land dwellers will also enjoy multi-deck seating, handcrafted cocktails and buckets of cold beer, and a parking lot lined with food trucks. Or, head to the heart of Downtown Bay City's dining district at Drydock Beer Garden to enjoy an intimate space, live music, beer and wine.

Belly up at seasonal Larkin Beer Garden, featuring a bar made from an old shipping container, and enjoy fantastic beers amongst family, friends, and even pets! Sample craft beer and wine selections at Red Keg Beer Garden (the beautiful backyard of Midland Brewing Company, complete with picnic tables and a fire pit), or discover Schnitzelbank Biergarten in front of Frankenmuth’s Bavarian Inn Lodge for outdoor drinks, dinner, and fun!

Outdoor Dining
Great Lakes Bay

This summer, taste delicious offerings throughout our neighborhoods that are pleasantly packed with outdoor patios! Dine on fresh catch on the decks of Real Seafood Company, or by Prost’s intimate outdoor fire bar, and enjoy your brews with a view at Frankenmuth Brewery.

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Great Lakes Bay

Experience what food trucks make possible in our city streets! From Makin’ Bacon Truck that serves next-level bacon mac ‘n' cheese to The Cheese Trap's gourmet grilled cheese and 5-2-oh's Korean-inspired street tacos, stop to enjoy a bite outdoors this summer!

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Shopping
Great Lakes Bay

Shop more than 100 designer and name brand stores, including Nike and Pottery Barn, at prices of up to 65% off at Birch Run Premium Outlets. Follow cobblestone sidewalks through more than 40 stores at outdoor, German-themed Frankenmuth River Place Shops, and discover clothing boutiques to fudge kitchens and even a bead shop with in-store wine tasting!

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Great Lakes Bay

This summer, travel to (and get lost within) the largest antique center in Michigan, the 60,000-square-foot Bay City Antiques Center/Bay Antique Center! Shop two stories and more than 400 booths all housed in a historic building at the heart of Downtown Bay City, and enjoy this multi-dealer-mecca antique shop that includes finds from European importers!

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Great Lakes Bay

Saunter through fresh produce, herbs, florals, local honey, handmade goods, and more at a handful of local farmers markets — including the Midland Area Farmers Market, Frankenmuth Farmers Market, and Downtown Saginaw Farmers Market. Be on the lookout for food trucks and cooking classes to curated dining experiences!

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State Theatre | @tomilynmaggart

Live Entertainment + Nightlife

Time it right to catch a comedy show, concert, or other performance inside Midland Center for the Arts, State Theatre of Bay City, Temple Theatre, The Dow Event Center — or on the lawns of Jolt Credit Union Event Park!

Saunter into Stardust to bowl for strikes, but stay for axe-throwing, four escape rooms, an arcade, and The Taproom, serving 41 craft beers on tap, craft cocktails, and burgers to house-made pizzas.

Escape the heat (and the room) at Great Lakes Escape Game or Code Breakers Escape & Puzzle Rooms. Work to unravel cryptic clues and get out together before your time is up. Good luck!

Bounce back into retro gaming fun at Crazy Quarters Arcade — and be sure to test your skill on more than 60 pinball machines!

Feel the nostalgia at Brinstar while playing a blend of pinball and video arcade games, vintage to newer. Sample from a creative menu of burgers and 12 on-tap beer options, some from featured local brewers.

Oracle Brewing | @oraclebeer

Beer, Wine + Spirits

Taste 150 years of brewing tradition while soaking up scenic Cass River views at Frankenmuth Brewery, Michigan’s oldest microbrewery! Choose from 15 beers on tap, including Little Bavaria Pilsener.

Linger in a laid-back space with six taps and inventive craft at Oracle Brewing Company. Discover sips like Sweetness Follows, a grapefruit & guava oak-aged sour.

Bask in the backyard beer garden of Midland Brewing Company — at a picnic table, or by the fire pit! Order Jenny’s Raspberry Sour Shandy, the perfect summer thirst-quencher.

Sip on suds that pay homage to the area at Tri-City Brewing Company, including Bay City Light Ale and Hell’s Half Mile Lager — best enjoyed with flavors from rotating food trucks!

Kick back with street eats and cold pints on the patio at Loggers Brewing Company! Try the Section 37 Red IPA or Strawberry Rhubarb Hard Seltzer.

Mix it up at Modern Craft Winery! Experience a wine tasting unlike any other (mixing wines together, with lemonade or cream soda…) and create something uniquely refreshing.

Unwind on the patio with “worldly wines made local” at Grape Beginnings Winery. Experiment with a five-pour flight or sip a Wine Crushy (slushy) in the summer sun!

Prost | @prostwinebar

Gather together on the patio at Prost! Wine Bar & Charcuterie and discover six tap wines, served at the perfect temperature. Sip samplers from Rosé All Day to Patio Pounders or spritzes like Lethal Lemon with Limoncello and Prosecco.

Sample from an award-winning portfolio of more than 100 products during a guided, six-pour tasting session at St. Julian Winery — and hold onto your souvenir glass!

Experience a distillery, brewery, and winery in one at Three Bridges Distillery & Taproom! Take a peek at the distilling process through a viewing wall as you sip your Strawberry Basil Sour or Tequila Barrel Aged Lemon Lime Sour Ale.

Slip inside Old Town Distillery to taste vodka, rum, whiskey, and Moonshine, or Old Town Shine, distilled right on-site. Order the Peach Cobbler or Orange Creamsicle — or experiment with a cocktail flight to sample all four spirits!

Relax with artisan cocktails in an intimate space inside The Public House, and choose from house specialties like Gin-Soaked Girl with grapefruit, basil, and cucumber.

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Best Places to Sip Beer, Wine + Spirits
Japanese Cultural Center | @thetraveling_plantlady

Arts + Culture

Spend an afternoon amidst bountiful gardens with bridges, lanterns, and weeping cherry blossoms at the three-acre Japanese Cultural Center, Tea House and Gardens of Saginaw, and set aside time to tour the traditional tea house.

Have a summer daydream amidst gorgeous, Italianate gardens outside the Saginaw Art Museum, and enjoy a tour through the historic 1904 Georgian-Revival mansion and its permanent and traveling exhibitions. Or, discover beautiful bronze sculptures, botanical beds, and the contrasting Day and Night Fountain at the Jo Anne & Donald Petersen Sculpture Garden after exploring inside the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum.

Saginaw Art Museum | @micah.arner

Take a break from the heat inside Painterly Pottery, a walk-in paint-your-own pottery studio with more than 1,000 unfinished items to choose from, or pick a piece to personalize at the Glaze Bar inside Space Studios. Or, attend a DIY workshop at Board & Brush Creative Studio and turn raw wood into a work of art and on-trend decor for your home.

Get the Great Lakes Bay Region Public Art Passport (free), and preview public art from the comfort of your home or hotel room before you travel to see it in person! The Passport includes information about public art work and artists, and provides photos, Google map locations, and aerial views for a sneak peek!

Downtown Frankenmuth | @roaming_michigan_together
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An Art Lover's Guide to the Great Lakes Bay
Alden B. Dow Home & Studio | @caseyjfcfl

Architectural Tours

Reserve a tour through the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, an oasis of Mid-Twentieth Century Modern architecture, or marvel at more than 400 other structures, guided by the Mid-Century Modern Midland mobile app.

Stroll through Bay City along the self-guided Center Avenue Historic District Walking Tour and take in beautiful views of buildings and homes that were built prior to cars!

U.S.S. Edson | @jeffcaverlyphotography

Museums + History

Explore the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum, located aboard the U.S.S. Edson DD-946! Travel all through the Forrest Sherman-class destroyer naval ship and National Historic Landmark that was permanently moored in Bay City in 2012. Don't miss this!

Venture through the Michigan Heroes Museum, featuring displays of Michigan veterans through seven foreign wars and space programs.

Discover a three-story gem of fascinating history, the Castle Museum of Saginaw County History, built in 1897 in the style of a French chateau.

Castle Museum | @travelingmichigan
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Self-Guided Museums Tour
Great Lakes Loons Baseball | @vickis_views

Sports

With fastballs and line drives, catch an exciting High-A Minor League Baseball Great Lakes Loons game! Watch from one of 5,200 stadium seats, a handful of Adirondack chairs, or bring a blanket to cheer from the grassy lawns.

Tee off at The Fortress in Frankenmuth, an 18-hole, par 72 course that encompasses 6,813 yards of formidable play, or set your tee time at Apple Mountain to golf an 18-hole championship course with four sets of tee boxes, generous fairways, and true greens.

The Fortress | @thefortressgolf
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Great Lakes Bay Golf Courses
Self-Guided Tours
Guide Your Own

No muss, no fuss (and no planning needed), enjoy a self-guided Gardens Tour and find yourself surrounded by more than 3,000 dahlias or strolling about an oasis of 35,000 annuals in bloom! Take the very tasty, self-guided Ice Cream Tour to experience Honey Lavender or Bay City Brown-‘E’ at Cream and Sugar Ice Cream Company and “hometown & homemade” flavors at Great Lakes Ice Cream Company. Or, explore all from wine and ale trails to inspiring and educational museum tours!

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Author
Jen W. O'Deay + Go Great Lakes Bay

By: Jen W. O'Deay | Updates: Go Great Lakes Bay | Jen is a Saginaw native and owner of Feel These Words, an independent copywriting studio & home to the free "5 Day Website MiniBoost". Jen specializes in writing that connects, delivered through website copy, branded content articles, and WingWoman writing services. You'll find Jen camping with her family, laughing, and at feelthesewords.com