Ready, Set, Staycation! Eight Local Getaways to Explore This Winter

Find deals on skiing, staying, spa-ing, and more

By Geri Dietze | Jan. 11, 2025

How lucky are we to live in a region enjoyed by travelers from near and far? We’re missing out if we don’t take advantage of the same opportunities, so let’s plan a little staycation. Below is a sampling of what’s available in January and February, including some great deals at properties around the North.

Boyne Mountain Resort

1 Boyne Mountain Rd, Boyne Falls | (855) 688-7024, boynemountain.com
After 75-plus years, family-owned Boyne Mountain remains a premier winter resort. Downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, fat tire bikes, sleigh rides, and everything in between is on-site for guests. Avalanche Bay water park brings fun for all, regardless of the weather, and the SkyBridge, the world’s longest timber frame suspension bridge, will leave you breathless, but in a good way.

Visitors will find attractive deals starting in January with the Midweek Three (book two nights and get the third half off, plus up to 20 percent off already discounted open-to-close lift tickets) or the Stay and Save (book five nights and get fifth night free). Bonus for families: Kids age five and under sleep, ski, and ride free.

Look for discounts on Avalanche Bay and Sky Bridge, and remember—current passholders have their own perks.

Crystal Mountain

12500 Crystal Mountain Dr., Thompsonville | (855) 995-5146, crystalmountain.com
What began as a Benzonia High School geography project in 1956 is now a four-season resort with over $200 million invested over the past three decades. Choose from a standard guest room or loft, condo or townhome, or woodland cottage in a variety of locations. Go for privacy, or stay in the village with restaurants, shops, spa, and fitness center close by. No one will go hungry with almost a dozen venues for fine dining, family fare, snacks and hot drinks, indoors and out, located across the property.

Winter weekday rates and specials make a sleepover at Crystal a sure thing and run all winter through March. Save up to 25 percent on lodging, plus lift tickets, and ski free upon arrival day. Kiddos age six and under sleep, ski, and eat breakfast for free, while those age 7-17 ski free Sunday through Thursday. Lodging guests can also save 10 percent on lessons.

Shanty Creek Resort

5780 Shanty Creek Rd, Bellaire | (866) 695-5010, shantycreek.com
They call it daring, we call it smart business and something that is sure to become a hospitality standard: the Ski + Stay build-your-own package. Do what you like; skip what you don’t. Choose your lodging, from standard rooms to ski-in/ski-out chalets across all four Shanty Creek villages. Score discounted lift tickets by day and age. Then add breakfast and dinner tickets. And what you see is what you get, because as any skier knows, hidden runs are the bomb, but hidden fees, not so much. Within its 5,500 acres, there is an activity for everyone at Shanty, from tubing and fat tire biking to ice fishing and snowmobiling.

Treetops Resort

3962 Wilkinson Rd., Gaylord | (989) 732-6711, treetops.com
This is basecamp for your personalized adventure. Bring a pal, a significant other, the family, or your group of choice. Stay and Ski deals include one night lodging with lift ticket or two nights lodging with lift ticket, plus breakfast and dinner vouchers. Midweek Stay and Ski is just $65 for lodging and lift ticket. The Cool School Bundles include lodging, winter activity pass, and breakfast and dinner vouchers. And like all the fine winter retreats, there are free activities for all ages, plus extreme tubing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and sleigh rides on scheduled dates. Go big with an added spa service.

Otsego Resort

696 M-32 East, Gaylord | (989) 732-5181, otsegoclub.com
Founded in 1939 as the private Otsego Ski Club for business magnates and their families, the resort embraced the Alpine architecture inspired by club members’ experiences skiing in Austria and Switzerland. (It also inspired downtown Gaylord’s Alpine theme, and you’d never know it’s just a mile from Main Street.) In 2017, the renamed Otsego Resort opened to the public, and its vintage beauty is something to see, as are the ski runs—plus over 8.5 miles for cross-country and snowshoeing—coursing through its vast Sturgeon River Valley property.

January and February offer Thursday and Friday Bump Days with $15 ski/board/tubing, plus $15 rentals and meal deals, from 3:30-8:30pm. Book midweek, save buckets on skiing and riding, and then enjoy Saturday evening entertainment, plus dining at the Duck Blind Grille, recipient of numerous Wine Spectator Awards.

The Earl

120 Michigan Avenue, Charlevoix | (231) 547-6565, hotelearl.com
In 1959, famed Charlevoix architect and visionary Earl A. Young—he, of the Mushroom Houses—created the Weathervane Lodge, with sleek James Bond/Mad Men style and panache, for four-season visitors including skiers. In 2019, the place was thoughtfully expanded and updated, including the addition of a third story, to reflect a new clientele and a new century, and christened The Earl in Young’s honor. His signature stone and timber details, including the lobby fireplace, make this a style-forward destination, with contemporary elegance, knowing service, and top-tier amenities.

The Earl is an easy drive to area resorts, as well as Charlevoix’s own Mt. McSauba Recreation Area, a family favorite. With 20 percent off weekday rates (prepayment required), it’s the perfect staycation. While in Charlevoix, enjoy restaurants, wine bars, brewpubs, and boutique shopping, and much more.

The Bay Inn

2445 Charlevoix Ave., Petoskey | (231) 244-4620, bayinnpetoskey.com
Petoskey’s Bay Inn is fresh, tasteful, and light-filled thanks to its perch 110 feet above Little Traverse Bay. This view goes on for, well, miles, and there is nothing so awesome as the Bay in winter, whether open water or shrouded in ice. Choose from king or queen rooms in the main building, the separate Bay Inn Cabin, or the two-bedroom Bay Inn house. The Inn is a short distance from gorgeous Bay Harbor, with its superb shopping and restaurants, and the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, and it’s just a short drive to historic downtown Petoskey. Plus, miles of trails, ski resorts, wineries, distilleries, and microbreweries are not far.

Sleeping Bear Inn

5248 Glen Haven Road, Glen Arbor | (833) 232-7262, sleepingbearinn.org
Imagine this: A historic Civil War-era inn, the oldest in any national park, and miles upon miles of stunning beach and dunes as part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, near Glen Arbor. The Sleeping Bear Inn, on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979, reopened in early 2024 after a $1.7 million restoration, almost a half-century since it closed its doors in the 1970’s. The place has been lovingly restored and refurbished, with up-to-date amenities, connectivity, and safety features. Choose from eight guest rooms, plus enjoy a full breakfast made from scratch. If windswept dunes and vast expanses sound like a romantic idea, you will love this getaway. Check for off-season discounts.