Questions about flying and surrounding area?

Hello:

Thanks to everyone that has commented about the best time to visit! I have a couple of other questions.

If we decide to fly, what is best? To fly to Pelston or Traverse City? This is what we are thinking. It takes 12 hours to drive from ND. We have had a long winter and we had to cancel our winter trip because I had to have surgery. It looks like we can fly in about six hours.

We are the outdoorsy type of people. In reading some prior posts, the sand dunes or the Sleeping Bear looks interesting. How far are the dunes from Mackinac Island? If we decide to fly to Traverse City and spend a day off of the Island, what would you recommend?

Thanks for all the help!

Questions about flying and surrounding area?

You might as well fly into TC; rent a car and then spend a night or 2 in that area, so you can see TC and the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Leelanau Peninsula, Old Mission Peninsula. Then spend a long day driving up to Mackinac Island via Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Spring and M-119. They are all beautiful little towns with gorgeous views of Lake Michigan, shopping, dining, beaches, parks etc. The TC/Dunes area is about 2 hours from Mackinaw City, if you drive straight thru. A full day if you want to experience the little towns I mentioned.

Questions about flying and surrounding area?

The first thing I suggest is checking airfares. Pellston has very limited service and is often more expensive than Traverse City or other cities, especially Detroit or Flint. In fact, on a recent check, the fare nearly doubled by flying into Pellston instead of Flint.

The advantage to Pellston is that you won%26#39;t need a rental car as they have shuttle service for the quick ride to Mackinaw City where you can catch the ferry to Mackinac Island.

If you opt to fly to Traverse City, it%26#39;s about a 100-mile drive to Mackinaw City, but as I remember it%26#39;s a nice ride that skirts Lake Michigan near Petoskey.

Have a great trip!

AtlantaPhotog is correct about the drive being beautiful. It is also rather slow. The road is mostly 2 lanes with a 55 MPH speed limit.

The Pellston Emmet County airport is a lovely facility. It looks like a lodge and has fireplaces, rocking chairs, stuffed animals and free internet. But the service is limited, fares are high and in my experience has lots of cancelled flights.

I usually fly into southern Michigan airports. Most often Flint, but also Saginaw, Lansing or Grand Rapids. The flight options are greater than TC, the fares are lower and the rental car costs are lower. Depending on the airport, it is a 3 or 3.5 hour drive, versus the 2 hours from TC,

All things being equal, I would fly into Traverse City, but it has been a long time since I have found flights into Cherry County Airport that met my needs at a competitive price.