Bavarian Inn Castle Shops | @bavarianinn
Day One:
Start Sampling
Frankenmuth Aerial Park

Breakfast: Get to know the central route through town, Main Street, and enjoy Honey B’s Eatery for scratch-made bowls and hashes (and delicious Lavender Pancakes).

Or, start your day at Z Chef’s Café (in the lower-level Marketplace of Zehnder’s Restaurant) or Bavarian Inn Castle Shops (in the lower level of Bavarian Inn Restaurant). Let the kids pick something from the heaven-scented bakery options, and enjoy while you browse elaborate gift shops!

Pick Your Pleasure: Experience Frankenmuth in unforgettable fashion on a Fantasy Carriage Company or Frankenmuth Carriage Company horse-drawn carriage ride! Or, climb aboard the nostalgic red trolley of Golden Ticket Trolley Tours and take a Family Ride through town, complete with a kid-friendly playlist!

Stroll the shops along Main Street and sample chocolate-flavored cheese (or 270 other varieties) at Frankenmuth Cheese Haus. Stop into fudge & taffy kitchens galore — like Zak & Mac's Chocolate Haus, Frankenmuth Fudge Kitchen, and Frankenmuth Taffy Kitchen — so the kids can see sweet treats handcrafted right before their eyes!

Next, zoom to Frankenmuth Aerial Park and get your family’s blood pumping, zipline through the air, and take on multiple ropes courses together! This wooded park is all smiles and high-fives for families, and active fun for ages seven on up.

Lunch: Head to Frankenmuth River Place Shops for lunch, and experience a German-themed village made up of more than 40 shops and attractions. Eat homemade at Pasty Haus and treat the kids to a unique Snow Ice treat. Or, choose between sweet & savory crepes at La Crepe du Jour (knowing the kids will want the Cookie Dough flavor)!

Try Frankenmuth Old Time Photo for a one-of-a-kind family keepsake, explore the Ultimate Mirror Maze, go wild in the River Place Game Room, and indulge at SugarHigh Bakery or SugarRush Sweets & Treats.

25 Christmas Lane | @adventuresoflathan

Dinner & Dessert: Dine family-style on world-famous chicken dinners at Zehnder's Restaurant or Bavarian Inn Restaurant (with giant platters of golden fried chicken you’ll pass around the table while swapping stories about your first day in Frankenmuth). Can’t choose between the two? Let the kids decide! After dinner, head up the street to Jaami’s Ice Cream & Treats for 40 flavors of hand-dipped ice cream, served in house-made waffle cones and bowls.

See your little ones' faces light up by ending the night at the Bavarian Inn Glockenspiel Tower, an illuminated clock with figurine movement, when it chimes for the last time in the evening at 9pm. Or, pack the kids in the car, pajamas and all, and take a drive down 25 Christmas Lane — Bronner's half-mile holiday display with over 100,000 lights, illuminated every night of the year!

Zehnder's Splash Village
Day Two:
Waterfront
+ Waterparks

Frankenmuth is home to the scenic Cass River and two of the top indoor waterparks in Michigan! Are you ready for this, families?

Zehnder's Splash Village | @jadoremilian

Breakfast: Grab a quick bite at N’Orlins Beignets & Coffee for Louisiana-style beignets dusted with plenty of powdered sugar (that pair perfectly with their chicory coffee, parents). Or, head to local hub, T-Dub's, for Breakfast Pizza and a complete kids' menu.

Which Way to Water? Board the Bavarian Belle Riverboat for a narrated tour on the Cass River, or ride in an electric-powered, 12-passenger tour boat with Frankenmuth FunShips.

You can get right into the water, too, when you rent double kayaks from Frankenmuth Kayak Adventures! Or, splash around together at Frankenmuth Jaycee Spray Park, a free, fully-accessible spray park inside Memorial Park.

Want to experience a six-story family raft ride? Dare to take the Perilous Plunge four stories straight down a tube slide? Zoom into 50,000 square feet of two distinct waterparks in one — each with a retractable roof — at Zehnder's Splash Village Hotel & Waterpark!

Or, whoop it up together in four indoor pools, three whirlpools, waterslides, waterfalls, and the largest Family Fun Center inside any Midwest hotel when you stay at the Bavarian Inn Lodge! Eat lunch on-site at whichever waterpark you’re enjoying that day, and have a blast!

Zehnder's Splash Village

Dinner: Waterparkin’ it up? Grab dinner on-site, too. Head to the Ratskeller inside Bavarian Inn Lodge (bathing suits, bare feet, and all), or the Elf Hollow Café or Mushroom Grille inside Zehnder’s Splash Village, so the kids can spend every last second living their waterpark dreams!

Fresh off the Cass River and ready for good eats? Get to Slo’ Bones BBQ Smokehaus for finger-lickin’ barbecue, try Tiffany’s Food & Spirits (and their Sicilian-style pizza), or bring the crew to Frankenmuth Brewery for some serious comfort food (and ice-cold Frankie's Root Bier for the kids)!

Bronner's | @katieincolors
Day Three:
Take Your Time
Grandpa Tiny's Farm | @x_stina

Brunch: Ease into your last day with a Sunday brunch buffet — in the lower level of Zehnder's Restaurant at Z Chef’s Café, or poolside in the indoor courtyard at Oma’s Restaurant inside Bavarian Inn Lodge.

Before You Go:
You simply can’t leave Frankenmuth without visiting Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland! Overflowing with more than 50,000 trims and gifts, this store is the size of one-and-a-half football fields — and the kids will love picking their own personalized ornaments to remember the family trip to Frankenmuth by.

Lunch: Still full from brunch, but want a quick bite before heading home? Find a food truck! Bavarian Inn Cluck Truck and The Cheese Trap both serve up Frankenmuth flavors on-the-fly (and might just be your kids’ favorite meal of the trip). Take your street eats down by the river in Heritage Park to cap off your family vacation in Frankenmuth with a picnic!

On Your Way Out of Town: Make time to tour Grandpa Tiny's Heritage Farm, a working historical farm where you can meet all kinds of amazing farm animals! Pet Rosie the donkey, help feed the chickens, take a hayride through the farm, and say hi to Rammy the sheep and Simon the rooster!

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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