The second largest hotel on an island ranked as one of the top summer destinations in the country by Traveladvisor, Mission Point Resort is a seasonal resort known for treating its guests like royalty. During their 2021 season, they hosted one to two weddings every weekend along with a long list of people celebrating anniversaries, birthdays or even arriving as part of a group for a work visit.

By the time you arrive at the hotel, you’ve already been transported back in time. The resort takes up the eastern point of Mackinac Island, a place where cars are banned and the only motor vehicles are emergency ones. Even E-bikes are banned.

Most Mission Point guests take the Shepler ferry to the island, as the resort’s packages include ferry tickets and luggage handling. You check your luggage into the ferry and it’s most likely that you won’t see them again until you check into your room and find them already delivered.

From the docks, you can walk, ride a rental bike or take one of the horse-drawn carriages/taxis up to the resort with the distinctive red roofs.

The resort is divided into three main buildings—the round-house of the check-in building where two of the four restaurants are: The Main Lodge and the Straits Lodge. Other buildings on the property include employee housing, a building with an arcade and children’s lounge, and a building containing the Island’s Arts Center, the Lakeside Spa, conference rooms, and the fitness room.

Weddings are a big deal at Mission Point—they have a staff dedicated to them and Wedding Wire has bestowed on them the Couples’ Choice award for four straight years (not counting 2020 which was, well, 2020). They have numerous packages for before, during and after the wedding. They even host special pre-wedding events where the couple can come up and meet all the different wedding vendors and taste-test foods and cake.

While there are many activities from putt-putting to golfing to kayaking to carriage tours, there is also the very simple but rejuvenating sitting out on Adirondack chairs spread over their huge lawn abutting Lake Huron. You can sit and read with a picnic lunch (order ahead and they’ll bring it out in a basket to you) or count the stars and hope you get lucky enough to witness the Northern lights. If you’re a morning lark, the lawn is a great place to watch the sun come up over the lake.

A seasonal resort, Mission Point is open from the last weekend in April to the last weekend in October with peak months in June, July and August.

The resort, like the island itself, is steeped in history stretching back to at least the 1820s when Rev. William Ferry, a Protestant missionary, build Mission House to house and teach Native American children. He also established Mission Church on the island, one of the first Protestant churches in the Midwest.

It was because of his buildings that the southeast end of Mackinac Island became known as Mission Point. During the 1950s, the Moral Re-Armament group established itself on the grounds where the resort now stands. Led by Dr. Frank Buchman, it promoted a philosophy of morals and ethics as an alternative to communism and totalitarianism. They built their first-ever World Conference Center starting in 1954, creating a theater with 50-foot trusses made of Norway Pine from the nearby Bois Blanc island. They also used 45 tons of native stone.

The Main Lobby has one of the most distinctive architectural structures on the island. Nine-ton majestic trusses create a dome that is 36-feet high and resembles a 16-sided tepee. It is said that this building fulfills a Native American prophecy: “Someday, on the east end of the Island, a great tepee will be erected. All nations will come there and learn about peace.”

They also built a movie production sound stage that at the time was the second largest one in the world. Universal Studios leased in for the 1979 summer season to produce the movie, “Somewhere in Time” starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. While much of the movie was filmed at the Grand Hotel, the entire cast and crew were hosted at the resort and many scenes, including the “theater” scenes were filmed at what is now Mission Point.

There was a four-year (literally) college that was built there after the Moral Re-Armament group moved out. Literally, as in it opened in 1966 and closed four years later in 1970, graduating only one class. The Straits Lodge still retains the feel of a collegiate dorm, albeit an upscale one with all the comforts and amenities of a world-class resort.

Why You’ll Love It

This is a casual, friendly resort that offers a wide variety of activities: guided sunrise hikes, croquet, swimming pool and hot tub, a shopping strip, bike rentals, bocce ball, a movie theater, arts events and putt-putting. The resort staff will put together packages for you—including reserving off-property experiences whether that is a carriage ride, a history tour, sailing or kayaking.

The staff is quick to greet you and more than willing to ask questions or make suggestions. The views are also amazing—whether it is the grounds covered in flowers, the view of Lake Huron or the wonderful sunrises and sunsets.

The previous time my husband and I had stayed on the island, we spent a weekend at the Grand Hotel. My husband pointed out this was a different experience.

“With the Grand Hotel, you have a hotel,” he said. “Mission Point felt like a resort. It’s not Mission Point Hotel. It sits on one side of the island, away from a lot of the noise. There’s not a reason to go that far unless you’re going to Mission Point or you’re taking that big loop around the island.”

He also pointed out that they provide a lot of activities that are all right there if you didn’t want to go far.

We talked to people who were there for a conference and the families who entertained themselves while their spouses worked—even if it was bringing their young daughters to look at the horses that pulled up with a carriage in front of the resort at regular intervals.

“It felt like a resort and the view is very nice,” my husband said. “I don’t think we met a single unpleasant or unprofessional employee across the board.”

As we lined up to take the ferry over to the island, we had a couple say to us that they wish they were staying at Mission Point because the resort allows dogs and they already missed their canine companion.

What to Expect

Expect the full resort experience. A visit to Mission Point isn’t just about staying in a room—in fact, the idea is that you will spend very little time in your room. There is always something going on, some unique experience to join, some activity to take part in.

They are one of the few places on the island that allow dogs as guests and kids are even more welcome. The resort puts together such things as Adventure Journals and has a kids’ room and arcade.

Swim in the pool. Take a walk along the lakeshore. Ride a bike around the perimeter of the island and see stunning natural formations. Curl up with a book in front of one of the many fireplaces in the Main Lobby. If you didn’t bring your own book, they have shelves of them. Sit on the lawn and listen to the waves. Take a garden or history tour.

My husband warned that you should plan to have to walk a lot while you are there, even if it is just between buildings and that a light jacket is never amiss because of where the resort is located on the island—a wind can always pop up.

”You’re a fool if you don’t spend some time on that great big lawn on the water,” he added.

Key Features

The resort has a large number of facilities: tennis courts, croquet and bocce ball lawn, the Great Lawn, an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub, Admiral Dave’s Arcade, and Mackinac Island Movie Theatre.

There are five restaurants and 38,000 square feet of event space. The health club is open 24 hours and there is a boutique at the marketplace. The property features an 18-hole putting course that is next to the Lake.

There is a complimentary Kids Club available daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Cuisine

The four restaurants at Mission Point Resort got a total refresh in 2021 with the hiring of a new executive chef, John Clements.

Mission Point focuses on a “farm-to-ferry” ethos, sourcing many of their ingredients from farms and purveyors in the Straits of Mackinac region and across Michigan.

Chianti:

Let’s start with their fine dining restaurant, Chianti. Open six nights a week, it offers dinner only, a five-course prix fixe menu curated to provide a taste of Mackinac. It’s not meant to be a grab-and-go meal, but a dining experience, or as they say—a culinary adventure. We spent two hours at the restaurant and enjoyed every minute of it.

Our server, Basil Allen, told us that each course would get better than the one before it—and the bar started out very high. Allen possessed exquisitely detailed knowledge of the menu and was able to make excellent suggestions. During the entrée, he serenaded the room with his version of Lionel Richie’s “Suddenly.” It didn’t surprise me to later learn that he was the winner of the island’s first “Mackinac’s Got Talent.”

He took us through each course of the menu and helped us select choices we would like—we also made sure to each order something different so we could more broadly experience the menu. While the meal was five courses (plus three “extras” that were provided as compliments of the chef), each course was delicately sized so that you didn’t leave the meal feeling over-stuffed or uncomfortable.

To start the meal, we were brought a duck liver pate with a crunchy base. In the “Starters” course, my husband had the Roasted Local Beets Stracciatella and I had the Seared Scallop.

“The beets themselves were the highlight, because of the different varieties which do have slightly different tastes,” my husband said of his starter. “The shapes they were cut in emphasized the flavors in that they’d hit your tongue to different degrees. A flat one hits your tongue very quickly.”

My scallops came with a butternut squash caponata and a tomato jam, which I was surprised to enjoy as I am not a tomato eater. The only choice for the salad course was the Chianti Signature Caesar and that was the only choice necessary. The presentation was delightful and the quality of the heart of romaine lettuce was superior—as if each leaf had been specially picked and inspected. They were topped with brioche crumbs with two fried white anchovies on the side and a delicious parmesan stick. When you tapped the top of the lettuce, it blossomed and fell around the plate for easy eating.

Next was the pasta course where my husband had the Duck Confit and I had the Corn and Ricotta Ravioli. The Duck Confit came with gnocchi, Michigan chantrelles and sage brown butter.

“The chantrelles in the sage brown butter were amazing by themselves,” my husband said. “With the flavor of the duck on top of it, it was superior. The duck tasted like duck and you didn’t lose any of the flavors, it wasn’t a mishmash. Even if you speared the duck with the chantrelles you could taste each of the distinct flavors. The gnocchi were delightful and not too heavy.”

My pasta dish came with three ravioli bathed in a roasted Michigan corn sauce with pesto ala Genovese and pinenuts and cured lemon peel. The pasta was tender and the sauce very delicate. It was the type of combination you wanted to let sit on your tongue so you could taste the marriage of corn, pesto and citrus.

Then it was time for a palette cleansing, even if we were reluctant to bid farewell to the tastes lingering on our tongues. We were given a small scoop of passionfruit sorbet to prepare us for the entrée course. For the entrees, my husband got the Grilled Butternut Squash Involtini and I had the Pancetta-Wrapped Venison Loin.

Both during the meal and afterward, my husband couldn’t stop raving about the butternut squash dish, which came in three tubes wrapped around local ricotta with a walnut pesto. Between each roll was a mound of fried Brussel sprouts and parsnip besciamella.

“It was amazing, flipping amazing,” my husband said. “You don’t often get butternut squash that way. Like the beets, it’s the mouth feel. Usually with squash you get chunks or a puree, both of which are good but different. These were thin roasted slices wrapped around the ricotta. You would think it would be sweet, and there was some sweetness, but it was mostly savory brought out by the roasting.”

He said the Brussel sprouts balanced the squash nicely and that there was a bit of a vinegar taste with walnuts. He was also impressed that it was robust enough that it stood up to the wine—which we’ll come back to in a moment.

I’ll never pass up a high-quality venison, and it was clear this was not the corn-fed venison that we get in the lower part of the state. It was tender with just the right amount of game flavor, and bathed in a jus. The pancetta added a touch of saltiness. It was accompanied by a delicious, creamy polenta that was topped with glazed heirloom root vegetables. The polenta was another one of those offerings that you wanted to eat slowly because the toppings offered a variety of tastes.

Often after a good meal, you’re far too stuffed to even think about dessert, but these portions were so perfect that you were left eager to experience the desert. My husband got the Stracciatella Semifreddo Flourless Chocolate Cake and I got the Chocolate Cake with Earl Grey Ice Cream.

My husband’s dish came with a delightful presentation. The flourless cake formed the foundation of the dish with a hard chocolate shell holding in the ice cream. The server (not Basil, but another equally skilled team member) tapped the shell to open it up for him. It also contained coffee liquor and candied hazelnuts.

As for my dessert, they had me at “Earl Grey Ice Cream.” After tasting it, my husband said they’d best not let Kilwins (a local ice cream/fudge favorite) know about the flavor or there would be a run on bergamot. It was that good.

The chocolate mousse cake with caramelized white chocolate was also tasty when I was able to tear myself away from the ice cream. As if that wasn’t enough, the meal ended with two chocolate-dipped macaroons.

The prix fixe meal is $125 per person and comes with a bottle of wine. However, you can also get the wine pairing for $65. With this option, a different wine is brought with each course depending on what you ordered. The chef has carefully paired each dish with a wine that will bring out the best flavors.

It begins a sparkling wine and ends with a desert port. My husband got the pairing and he raved about it with each course. I wish I had recorded him because I’ve rarely heard him wax so eloquently on the subject of wine. He talked about how the sparkling wine had hints of strawberry that you wouldn’t think would go well with the beets, but they did. There was a fruity pinot noir.

A Cabernet Sauvignon arrived before the entrée. My husband described it as full-bodied and with a lot of authority. He expressed doubt that the entrée would be able to live up to the wine, but he was wrong.

“It paired very well with the butternut squash and did not overwhelm it,” he said.

The port was a well-crafted dessert wine.

“You could have cheerfully had that as a dessert without overdoing things,” my husband said, going on to praise “the sweetness, the warmth, the beautiful color.”

While many restaurants might suggest a wine or two with a particular meal, the thoughtfulness and wine selection went far beyond the norm. My husband was insistent that it was part of what made the meal such an outstanding experience.

“Get the wine pairing,” he advised. “They put so much effort into assembling not only the meal, but the wines that compliment it, emphasize it without crushing it. You’re not just getting drunk. It’s the whole epicurean experience, literally. Not too many places do that.”

The service was top-notch and Allen was quick to give credit to the entire team. He said they all worked together to make sure guests had a great experience. It was fun to watch a table with several guests as the servers would surround the table and place everyone’s meal in front of them at the same time. They did that with our table as well, but it was much more impressive with the larger group.

The dining room was beautiful with white tablecloths on each table and antique period upholstery on open frame wood chairs. The dining room offered a beautiful view of the lake and a pianist provided soft dinner music throughout the evening.

Round Island Bar Grill:

Located near the entrance of the Main Lobby building, the Round Island Bar Grill is the more casual restaurant where you can dine inside or outside. It offers three meals and large-screen televisions broadcast the news or sporting events. When we had dinner there, a guitarist was providing live music.

The menu offers a Michigan twist on classic comfort foods—we indulged in such foods as maple bourbon chili, whitefish hash and seared salmon.

Bistro on the Greens:

While we didn’t make it to this restaurant that offers craft cocktails and a Mediterranean menu, it’s a place that contributes to the resort feel of the island. A large patio offers views of the Mackinac Straits and it makes for a great lunch stop.

Boxwood Coffeeshop & Café:

The Straits Lodge is a bit of a walk from the Main Lodge where all the other restaurants are, so Mission Point has installed a lovely little coffeeshop and café at the entrance to the Straits Lodge. Something well worth reserving is a picnic lunch from them which you can take out to the lawn and eat. The day we were due to have our picnic on the lawn was drizzly and a little chilly, so the staff delivered and set up an indoor picnic in the Main Lodge in front of one of the fireplaces. We got to enjoy a leisurely lunch with a bottle of wine, an assortment of sandwiches, chips and the most delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Insider’s Tips

If it isn’t cloudy or drizzly (and you never know with Michigan weather), plan to get up early and head out to the main lawn where you can sit in the Adirondack chairs and watch the sun rise over the waves as seagulls call in the day.

Later in the day, return to the lawn with a picnic basket from the Boxwood Coffeeshop and Café and enjoy a private meal.

My husband further suggests that if the weather is clear, to go back in the night time.

“You need to see that sky, complete with the Milky Way, as the waves crash in from Lake Huron,” he said.

Bikes are the most popular way of getting around the island and there are rental places everywhere. Mission Point can arrange for bikes to be delivered to you, but make sure you watch the places where you can and can’t park bikes. There are lots of bike racks and when there are signs asking you not to park in a particular space it is for a good reason—such as it might be where the horse-drawn carriages are due to travel.

Smack in the middle of the resort, next to the spa is the Island’s Arts Center. You can go there to see movies (such as two of the movies filmed on the island: “Somewhere in Time” or “This Time for Keeps”) or they host events throughout the year.

Spa Treatments

Lakeside Spa and Salon has a variety of treatments from massages and body treatments to facials, pedicures and manicures. They also have a full list of wedding services that range from practice runs to hairstyles for everyone in the bridal party as well as makeup applications.

The spa contains a room you can rent that can act as a wedding prep room or somewhere that members of a family reunion or girls’ weekend can gather for food and a place to sit and chat.

Spa Profile: Lakeside Spa & Salon at Mission Point Resort

Anyone who receives a spa treatment has access to the spa’s facilities all day which includes a relaxation room and a locker room with a dry sauna, steam rooms and showers.

The spa is an Aveda spa, with their fine products used in such services as the customized facial or massage, the cherry almond body treatments, the signature lilac facial and body treatment (lilacs are a signature flower throughout the island), and manicures and pedicures.

Spa Diary: Lakeside Spa & Salon at Mission Point Resort

Accommodations

There are two lodges where guests can stay. The Main Lodge is connected to the Main Lobby with its restaurants and Mission Point Marketplace. The Straits Lodge is the dog-friendly facility with a grab-and-go café.

The latter has a collegiate/nautical feel to their rooms, decorated with whites and blues, and vintage posters hanging on the wall. The beds are piled high with blue square pillows and a long pillow with sails decorating it. Central air is not possible in a building this old, but rooms have ceiling fans and room air conditioners.

The Straits Lodge also has a large lobby that feels very much like a dorm study area, albeit one with upscale light fixtures and impressive wooden ceilings and walls.