55 | Viking Explorer Society News
Viking Director of Digital Marketing Matthew Jones shares why
Mackinac Island should be on your travel list.
A Step Back in Time
MACKINAC ISLAND
On the way to Mackinac Island, a fellow guest
gently corrected me: "It's pronounced
Mackinaw." That was the first of many
delightful surprises about this remarkable
island; frozen in time, bursting with charm
and full of character.
Getting Around
Tucked between Michigan's Upper and Lower
Peninsulas, where Lake Huron meets Lake
Michigan, Mackinac Island is only accessible
by boat, ferry or aircraft. Stepping onto the
island feels like entering a Victorian-era film
set: immaculately preserved, wonderfully
quiet, and unlike anywhere I've been. There
are no cars here, except one police vehicle and
a single ambulance. Horses and bicycles rule
the roads, and the absence of modern noise
brings an immediate calm. The streets are
lined with immaculate Victorian homes, white
picket fences, and overflowing flowerbeds,
while locals and visitors pedal by on retro
bikes or roll past in horse-drawn carriages.
Sights Not to Miss
My first stop is the iconic Grand Hotel, a
sprawling white structure perched like royalty
above the island. Built in the 1880s, it features
the longest porch in the world at 200 metres.
Guests still arrive by horse and carriage, and
it's not hard to imagine Mark Twain or Eleanor
Roosevelt having once done the same.
Clockwise, from top:
Cycling on Mackinac
Island; horse-drawn
carriage
E X T E N S I O N H I G H L I G H T S
