Boyne Falls · Boyne City · Charlevoix · Petoskey
415 acres, 65 trails and 10 lifts in Boyne Falls, on a season pass that also opens The Highlands at Harbor Springs an hour north. Where you sleep decides how the week actually feels.
Terrain figures as published by Boyne Mountain Resort, which lists 115 trails and 850 acres for Boyne Mountain and The Highlands combined. Open terrain on any given day depends on snow and staffing.
There are three honest answers and they suit different groups.
You walk to the lift, you come back at lunch, and the afternoon nap is possible. You also eat most meals on property, which adds up fast for six people. If anyone in your group is under eight, buy the short walk. A squall on US-131 with two kids and wet gloves in the back seat will cost you more goodwill than the difference in nightly rate.
This is where most groups land and it is usually right. Eleven minutes to the lifts, a downtown you can walk after dinner, a grocery store for the week, and houses with the kind of square footage that does not exist on the mountain. The morning drive is the tax you pay.
More to do in the evening, more restaurants, and the best value per bedroom of the three. Worth it for a group of adults. Harder to justify if half your party quits skiing at two o'clock and wants to go back.
Storms here come off Lake Michigan and unload on the high ground east of it, which is the reason there is a ski hill in Boyne Falls at all. The same weather that makes the season makes the driving interesting. US-131 runs north and south through Boyne Falls, M-75 cuts northwest to Boyne City, and in a squall either one can go from clear to unplowed in twenty minutes.
Practically, this means two things. Give yourself a buffer on arrival day instead of booking the last flight into Traverse City, and if you are staying off the mountain, plan to leave for the lifts before the storm traffic rather than after it. Neither is a reason to stay on the hill. Both are a reason to ask how the driveway gets cleared.
If the forecast falls apart entirely, the waterpark is the backup everyone forgets about, and it is warm in there.
Boyne Mountain Resort publishes 415 skiable acres, 65 trails and 10 lifts. The same season pass covers The Highlands at Harbor Springs, and the resort lists the two mountains together at 115 trails and 850 acres.
On the mountain if you have small children or you want to ski half days. In Boyne City if you want a real downtown, a grocery store and more house for the money, at the cost of an eleven minute drive each way. Charlevoix and Petoskey give you the most evening options and the longest commute.
About six miles on M-75, roughly eleven minutes in normal conditions. In a lake effect squall, plan on more and leave early.
Yes. The Highlands at Harbor Springs is about an hour north of Boyne Mountain and shares Boyne's season pass. Day ticket rules differ from pass rules, so check the resort's current policy before you count on it. It is a good use of a flat light day.
Whether the hot tub runs in winter, who plows and how quickly, whether there is a mudroom or garage for gear, how many bathrooms there are against how many beds, and what ski in actually means at that address. A manager with local staff can answer all five in one email. That is most of the argument for booking through one.
Once you know whether you want slopeside, Boyne City or Charlevoix, the search gets easy. Northern Michigan Escapes has the dates and the photos for all three.
Northern Michigan Escapes is an independent company. We do not take bookings, hold inventory or set rates.