Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Videos
  • Sweeps and Contests

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 40 Favorite Comfort Food Recipes

      Macaroni and cheese, Amish apple dumplings and chicken pot pie are among our Midwest comfort food favorites. Read More Next
    • 50 Romantic Midwest Getaways

      Romance, of course, can be wherever the two of you are. But wonderful surroundings help. We found some of the most romantic places anywhere in the Midwest—in the city and country. All you have to do is get away together! Read More Next
    • 50 Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes

      Chocolate lovers, these are for you: 50 of our best rich-and-gooey chocolate dessert recipes, including pie, pudding, cake, cookies, fondue and brownies. Read More Next
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel

    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    Our favorite Midwest resort destinations range from cozy lakeside lodges to indoor water park behemoths. Dive in to check out our top picks for a fabulous Midwest getaway.
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Around the Region
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Midwest Living November/December 2020 Recipes

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home

    50 Quick and Easy Holiday Decorating Ideas

    Give your home holiday style in a flash with these simple yet creative decorating projects.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden

    14 Cheerful Winter Container Gardens

    Create bountiful outdoor winter arrangements with a little help from Mother Nature.
    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    40 Easy Christmas Crafts

    Decorate your home, make a gift or create an ornament with our 40 ideas for fun and easy Christmas crafts.
    • Christmas
    • Valentine's Day
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
  • Sweeps and Contests

    Sweeps and Contests

    See All Sweeps and Contests

    Warm-Weather Getaways Sweepstakes

    • Winter Getaways Sweepstakes
    • Warm-Weather Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Travel
  3. Michigan
  4. 15 Reasons to Visit Lake Michigan in Winter

15 Reasons to Visit Lake Michigan in Winter

By Written by Hannah Agran. Photographs by John Noltner
June 01, 2012
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Here's how to enjoy Lake Michigan in winter, from climbing a frozen dune to indulging in all-weather gallery hopping.
Start Slideshow

1 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Bundle up and get out there!

Unpredictable lake-effect weather, produced by temperature differences above the open water and the coast, rules the winters around Lake Michigan. Locals don't go into hiding when winter strikes. Instead, they bundle up and relish the white stuff -- and invite visitors to do the same. Here are 15 reasons to visit Lake Michigan during the winter.

1 of 12

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Try frozen dunes -- and hot treats

1. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore's famed Mount Baldy, snow-streaked in winter, offers a gently sloping path to the crest. From there, Lake Michigan opens up, silent, still and breathtaking -- a vast lake rimmed with choppy ice.2. Caffe Tosi in St. Joseph, Michigan, tempts visitors with a rich tiramisu layered with creamy mascarpone (pictured at left). Nearby, at the Chocolate Cafe and Museum, the barista whips white chocolate, steamed milk and espresso into Lake Effect Mochas.Caffe TosiIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreChocolate Cafe and Museum

2 of 12

3 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Ski by day, and find a supper club by night

3. Cross-country skiers at Love Creek County Park, an inland nature preserve near Berrien Springs, Michigan, catch glimpses of cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches and other birds -- cheerful daubs of color on a muted winter canvas.4. Heston Supper Club in La Porte, Indiana, is packed even on a snowy weekday night. Diners feast on specialties such as prime rib and brandy-soaked bread pudding, served at elegant, linen-covered tables surrounding a huge stone hearth.Love Creek County ParkHeston Supper Club

3 of 12

Advertisement

4 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Give a vodka toast

5. "Best way to warm up!" Chris Moersch jokes as he pours us a glass of Round Barn Winery's popular DiVine vodka. This family-owned business includes a winery, brewery and distillery. A 1911 Amish-built round barn was moved from Indiana to Baroda, Michigan, to house part of the operation.Round Barn Winery

4 of 12

5 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Eat a fireside breakfast in bed

6. Guests at the Harbor Grand hotel in New Buffalo, Michigan, can flip on the gas fireplace, curl up in a heavy duvet and enjoy the complimentary breakfast: juice, a crumb-topped blueberry muffin and sliced melon. Strong, hot coffee goes down easily. Outside, the sky fades from pink to blue above the ice-shrouded marina.Harbor Grand

5 of 12

6 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Do all-weather gallery hopping

7. Watercolor portraits and freshly fired pots seem especially vibrant as the snow piles up in the windowsills at St. Joseph's Box Factory for the Arts. Before it housed 28 art studios, three galleries, a gift shop, a cafe and a small theater, the factory made manufacturing history as the birthplace of heart-shape chocolate boxes.Box Factory for the Arts

6 of 12

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Treat yourself

8. Visitors can go shopping in St. Joseph, where Christmas lights still decorate downtown in February. The three-block business district includes stores such as FuzzyButz Pet Bakery and Forever Books.9. Get your winter chills massaged away at the New Buffalo Inn and Spa, where the vibe is more homey than Zen, and the staff is almost disconcertingly friendly. We love the lack of pretension and near-obsession with guests' comfort -- a refreshing change from more chic places.Forever BooksFuzzyButz Pet BakeryNew Buffalo Inn and Spa

7 of 12

8 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Snowshoe in the big woods

10. Naked trees cast geometric shadows on the sparkling snow in Warren Woods State Park, a quiet patch of pristine forest bisected by a short trail outside Three Oaks, Michigan. A helpful, early-morning snowshoer has stomped a clean path through the trees. Bright sunlight intensifies a four-color collage of blue sky, gunmetal shadows, pale brown bark and impossibly white snow.Warren Woods State Park

8 of 12

9 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Start with homemade bread and butter

11. Homemade bread and butter is just the start of good meals at restaurants such as Tabor Hill Winery in Buchanan, Michigan. At Tabor Hill, the house specialty is pecan-crusted chicken breast with roasted acorn squash, mashed potatoes and raspberry sauce.12. Schu's Grill and Bar in St. Joseph overlooks the lake, and early-bird diners know to time their dinner with the fiery sunset. By 5:30, every window table is occupied, and the steely winter sky melts into a glowing pool of magenta, orange and lavender above Lake Michigan.Tabor Hill WinerySchu's Grill and Bar

9 of 12

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Catch a movie

13. The Vickers Theatre in Three Oaks, Michigan, was built in the 1890s as a livery and is now an art-house theater. An antique projector and funky, wrought-iron balcony railings give the place historic flair, and the snowy foam on your cappuccino will remind you of the wintry world you've left outside for a couple of hours.Vickers Theatre

10 of 12

11 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Get up with the chickens

14. At Tryon Farm Guesthouse outside Michigan City, Indiana, curious guests can follow owner Claudia Geise on her morning walk from the 1896 farmhouse to a long, low chicken coop. A dozen chocolate-color hens busily scratch the floor. Stepping into the bustling coop from the silent cold feels oddly nostalgic, like entering the storybook world of Laura Ingalls Wilder.Tryon Farm Guesthouse

11 of 12

12 of 12

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Glimpse the year ahead

15. At Michigan Thyme, a gift shop and cafe in New Buffalo, manager Jenny Trainor shows the patio, buried in soft drifts. "Our little birdhouses look so hopeful out there, don't they?" she asks. Crayon-box bright and stubbornly optimistic, they cheerfully poke their roofs above the snow, little wooden harbingers of spring.Originally published in Midwest Living® January/February 2008.Michigan Thyme

12 of 12

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Written by Hannah Agran. Photographs by John Noltner

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 12 Bundle up and get out there!
2 of 12 Try frozen dunes -- and hot treats
3 of 12 Ski by day, and find a supper club by night
4 of 12 Give a vodka toast
5 of 12 Eat a fireside breakfast in bed
6 of 12 Do all-weather gallery hopping
7 of 12 Treat yourself
8 of 12 Snowshoe in the big woods
9 of 12 Start with homemade bread and butter
10 of 12 Catch a movie
11 of 12 Get up with the chickens
12 of 12 Glimpse the year ahead

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Midwest Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Renew this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program
  • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
  • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
  • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
  • Video
  • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Midwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

View image

15 Reasons to Visit Lake Michigan in Winter
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.