Lake Michigan Circle Tour | Photo by Todd Reed

Take a Circle Tour Around Lake Michigan

The Lake Michigan Circle Tour spans four states over a thousand miles, and connects over a hundred lighthouses. It’s one of the most scenic routes in the United States. As the name implies, the tour completely circles Lake Michigan by following state highways around the lake through Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. We will also offer suggestions for some alternative scenic routes along the way, staying even closer to the lakeshore as you travel.

The Lake Michigan Circle Tour is roughly 1,100 miles long and would take around 17 hours (averaging 65 mph) with no stops.

The Lake Michigan Circle Tour is a real adventure! Its roads–ranging from bustling to serene–are a plotted route which showcases the grandeur of Lake Michigan’s blue-green waters, often hugging the long circumference of the lakeshore. On its route, coastal communities welcome travelers with a smile while the surrounding wilderness inspires a perpetual sense of awe.

The Lake Michigan Circle Tour is just one of the designated scenic road systems around the Great Lakes. The other four Great Lakes–Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario–each have their own Circle Tour as well. All of the tours combined comprise the Great Lakes Circle Tour. Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that lies entirely within the United States. Among all five Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is the second largest in volume and third largest in surface area.

The entire Lake Michigan Circle Tour is an ambitious undertaking, but it’s so worth it! Add it to your bucket list, and create memories to last a lifetime.

We realize that many travelers may be tight on time, or working with a tight budget, which could make it tough to do the entire tour in one excursion. If that’s the case for you, we suggest that you break the overall road trip into smaller segments. Each shorter route is outlined in our Loop the Lake article, where we offer six different routes which help simplify and organize this massive tour into easy to enjoy shorter trips.

You can still complete the Lake Michigan Circle Tour, even if it’s not all at once.

You Can Divide the Circle Tour in Half!

The SS Badger Car Ferry Leaves Ludington, Michigan
photo by Todd and Brad Reed Photography

Yes, you can split your Lake Michigan Circle Tour trip in half. Half the time, half the expense, but certainly not half the fun! A special “spur route” is designated at approximately half the length of Lake Michigan.

This shortcut is made possible by taking a car ferry (your vehicle rides with you) across Lake Michigan. The S.S. Badger cruises between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin daily during mid-May through mid-October.

Keep reading for an overview of the Northern Lake Michigan Circle Tour and the Southern Lake Michigan Circle Tour.

Northern Lake Michigan Circle Tour

A Northern Lake Michigan Experience

The Northern Lake Michigan experience is like no other. It’s quieter up north. Calmer. Slower. Ahhh…

Enjoy beautiful scenery along curvy roads, as well as many magnificent vistas from high on a hill top overlooking Lake Michigan. Whether you are at the water’s edge, deep within a wooded valley, or cruising through rolling countryside dotted with farms–you will be inspired by the beauty you find along the way.

There are only a couple of larger sized cities around the northern half of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour. On the Michigan side, the largest is Traverse City, and on the Wisconsin side, the largest is Green Bay. Other than these two bustling, yet beautiful, northern Lake Michigan cities, what you will find along the way are dozens of charming towns, with miles of scenic lakeshore in between.

On our Northern Lake Michigan Circle Tour page, we will start your tour at the home port of the S.S. Badger carferry in Ludington, Michigan, and continue north (counter-clockwise) around Lake Michigan. You will cross over the Mackinac Bridge which spans the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. You’ll travel west through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and then turn south through Wisconsin, eventually ending in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where you can ride the ferry back to Michigan.

Southern Lake Michigan Circle Tour

The Southern Lake Michigan Adventure

Southern Lake Michigan is all about coastal cities, grand marinas, and attractions galore.

Michigan’s largest cities on the southern portion of the lake include St. Joseph, Grand Haven, and Muskegon. Southern Lake Michigan’s most populated city is Chicago, Illinois. while Milwaukee is the biggest Wisconsin city on Southern Lake Michigan. There’s a city for everyone to enjoy!

Famous attractions around Southern Lake Michigan include the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

For the purpose of this article, we are starting the Southern Lake Michigan Circle Tour in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and continuing south (counter-clockwise) around Lake Michigan, eventually ending in Ludington, Michigan, where you can ride the S.S. Badger carferry back to Wisconsin.