Can anyone recommend a good place in WI or MI to rent a lake house?

[Jeafl]

My extended family and I want to rent a house near or on a lake this summer. We definitely want there to be swimming available, and maybe fishing and other water sports as well. Any ideas?

We've done the whole beach house thing in North Carolina and loved it, but most of the family members don't want to drive that far this time.

 

[connorsmom911]

Might be expensive, but we love the Traverse area of MI, places like Suttons Bay, Northport, anywhere on the Leelanau Peninsula. We've never rented but the houses look beautiful and the area has a ton of stuff to do...the dunes, wineries, shopping, golf, great restaurants. We just love to drive, the scenery is awesome.

 

[Scutapipig]

Inland lake or Great Lake? Rustic cabin or full amenities cabin?

There are a lot of things to see and do around the following areas:
Upper Peninsula...Copper Harbor, Porcupine Mountains, St. Ignace/Brevort, Marquette, Saulte Ste. Marie.

Lower Peninsula, check around Leland, Traverse City, Mackinaw City, Charlevoix, Ludington.

There are even a few options on Mackinac Island.

Check out www.vrbo.com. There are some really nice options for all budgets there.

 

[budbeerlady]

We live near South Haven, MI and love it! The drive would be shorter, there is alot to do in the area and it is a bit lower in rent price than Saugatuck or Grand Haven.
http://www.southhavenmi.com/

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Door County WI. I would look into the upper part of it. We vacationed there a couple of years ago and loved it. I think someone (Big V?) has a house in Door County.

 

[Minnie824]

Lake Geneva in Wisconsin is a popular place to visit.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Lake Geneva WI, and New Buffalo MI.

Both are very hard to get rentals for the summer.

 

[Jeafl]

Inland lake or Great Lake? Rustic cabin or full amenities cabin?

There are a lot of things to see and do around the following areas:
Upper Peninsula...Copper Harbor, Porcupine Mountains, St. Ignace/Brevort, Marquette, Saulte Ste. Marie.

Lower Peninsula, check around Leland, Traverse City, Mackinaw City, Charlevoix, Ludington.

There are even a few options on Mackinac Island.

Check out www.vrbo.com. There are some really nice options for all budgets there.

Either inland lake or great lake would be fine. With my family, we would be better off with a full amenities cabin.

I rented a condo in Maui through vrbo.com. It worked out great, so I will look into it again.

 

[Jeafl]

Lake Geneva in Wisconsin is a popular place to visit.

Lake Geneva is great, but we live about a 25-minute drive from there, so I think that might be a little TOO close.

 

[Jeafl]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I will look into all of them.

 

[golfgal]

I don't know if Minnesota is too far but there are a lot of great resorts with house rentals available in central MN (Brainerd area especially). The area is packed with resorts/cabins with great golf, boating, fishing, shopping (boutique type shopping), etc.

 

[NMAmy]

We live near South Haven, MI and love it! The drive would be shorter, there is alot to do in the area and it is a bit lower in rent price than Saugatuck or Grand Haven.
http://www.southhavenmi.com/

South Haven or Saugatuck would be my vote. My grandparents and now my mom have owned a cottage right between them since the 1950's. It's my favorite place to go on Lake Michigan. South Haven is less expensive and has great beaches.

budbeerlady! Our cottage is in Glenn, neighbor!

 

[floridafam]

There are so many options to choose from. I don't think you could go wrong with any area along the coast.

DH is from St. Joseph and there are a lot of very nice houses on the lake in that area.

I like the area just immediately North of Grand Haven. I think it's called North Beach. Very quiet with many beautiful homes.

Of course, Traverse City and anything up in that area.

We did vacation once along Silver Lake and that wasn't really our cup of tea but we had fun.

We are thinking about renting a cabin next year in Michigan around the holidays so I'll let you know if we find a good rental site.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Lake Geneva is great, but we live about a 25-minute drive from there, so I think that might be a little TOO close.

I don't think its too close - it will give you more time to vacation. Every other weekend (in the summer) we go to the Oak Brook Hills Marriott and spend either 1 or 2 nights and we come back feeling refreshed. Lake Geneva is incredible. We never go, because I'm always planning a Disney vacation during the first of the year and I miss the window for booking anything there LOL. Maybe I'll check it out now....

 

[Minnesota!]

We rented a house in Madeline Island (in the Apostle Islands) one summer. It was GREAT!! You take a ferry to the island. There are cute shops, good restaurants, beautiful scenery. It has wonderful beaches, as well...

 

[Big V]

Door County WI. I would look into the upper part of it. We vacationed there a couple of years ago and loved it. I think someone (Big V?) has a house in Door County.

I wish we had a house in Door County! LOL! We just own a condo lot where we keep our travel trailer year round.
http://www.harbourvillageresort.net/
We do love it in Door County though. Lots of stuff to do. Here are a few places to check out:
http://www.doorcounty.com/
http://www.sturgeonbay.net/
http://www.doorcountynavigator.com/html/home.html
http://www.doorcountydailynews.com/

 

[mrsv98]

We rent a place in Lake Delton (The Dells) every other year and love it. The houses are generally in quiet areas on the various lakes and you are close to all the activities in the Dells. We use Sand County Service Company. They have many houses in various sizes. Two years ago we had a huge house, not by choice, only one that took dogs that was left to rent, and it could have easily slept 12+. It was right on a lake with two boats to paddle around in and was a forested area. However, a 5 min drive and we were right in the wonderfuly tacky Dells!

 

[budbeerlady]

South Haven or Saugatuck would be my vote. My grandparents and now my mom have owned a cottage right between them since the 1950's. It's my favorite place to go on Lake Michigan. South Haven is less expensive and has great beaches.

budbeerlady! Our cottage is in Glenn, neighbor!

That is so cool, we are in Casco Township almost to South Haven. We love it there, so quiet. We have been there for 7 years but have never made it down to the pancake breakfast in Glenn. We might actually have to do it one of these years so we can call ourselves real residents.