Chicago to Lake Michigan: Easy and Fun Family Weekend Trip

by Rachel · Published March 16, 2026 · Updated March 16, 2026

Chicago is a great place to start a Lake Michigan trip especially for a long weekend getaway! Including flight days, this trip up the Michigan Coast took 4 days, so if you’re from Chicago, you could easily do this in a regular weekend!

We took this trip in July, and we didn’t want to do too much driving since we did a long New England Road Trip in June. We started in Chicago and went as far as South Haven, Michigan which is just a couple of hours from Chicago.

On this trip with me was my daughter who was 10 at the time, my sister, her husband, and their two kids who were 12 and 14 at the time.

Our Chicago/Michigan Coast Itinerary

Here is a map and a quick summary of the main activities we did each day throughout our trip. Below this, I go into detail for each day. I include information for cost, hours, etc., that is correct at the time of writing.

Day 1:

Fly to Chicago
Millenium Park and Maggie Daley Park
The Navy Pier
Chicago Seadog Extreme Thrill Ride
Drive to rental in Stevensville, Michigan (1.5-hour drive)

Day 2:

ATV Tour
South Haven
Silver Beach

Day 3:

Lake Arvesta
Ice Cream

Day 4:

Fly Home from Chicago

Where We Stayed:

We stayed in an Airbnb rental in Stevensville, Michigan, and it was a fantastic house. The house had a nice set up as far as the living space goes. We also had a hot tub, game room, and a nice outdoor patio area and fire pit! It was in a good location as well for the places we were going to each day.

Day 1: Arrive in Chicago and do Chicago Things

We arrived in Chicago around 1:30 p.m., so we had time to get a taste of Chicago before heading up the Michigan Coast.

Millenium Park and Maggie Daley Park

Once we picked up our rental, we first headed to Chicago’s Millenium Park. Traffic was not pleasant, but we got there. We parked at the Grant Park North Garage. It’s cheaper if you book ahead of time online through Millennium Garages or Parking.com.

Our first stop was “The Bean” which is a nickname for The Cloud Gate. It does look like a huge, mirrored bean! There were a lot of people here, but we got our photos and headed on.

Almost right across from The Bean is the Crown Fountain. This is a great place to cool off, and the rotating images of Chicago citizens on display is a very captivating feature.

Finally, we used a unique bridge to head to Maggie Daley Park which is on the other side of Millenium Park. The kids enjoyed playing here in the multiple play areas.

Navy Pier

If you’re coming from The Millenium Park, you could walk the Chicago Riverwalk to get to the pier. It was very hot the day we were there, so we chose to go back to the car and park at 600 East Grand Avenue which put us right on the pier (East Parking Garage).

There is a lot to do on the pier. We chose to do the Chicago Seadog Extreme Thrill Ride which was on a speed boat. I had booked it ahead of time. The ride definitely was extreme and got the adrenaline going. It was also a great way to cool off. Many people had ponchos, but I didn’t feel like packing them or paying for them for one use, so we got pretty wet!

Cost:	Dynamic pricing starts at $56 each
Hours:	around 11 a.m. to evening; lasts 30 minutes
Address:	Navy Pier (600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL)
Parking:	East or West Parking Garage

You can also do the Centennial Wheel, Flyover Chicago, Children’s Museum, theater, fun house and maze, and an indoor botanical park, so there are many other things to do here though we didn’t do any of them time wise.

After our boat ride, we ate at Margaritaville which is on the Pier. Our original plan was to dine at the famous Pequod’s Pizza, but the kids were too hungry to wait, and we had no idea how long their wait would be! We also tried the famous Rainbow Cone right on the pier, but Garrett’s Popcorn is also there and also gets rave reviews!

Heading up the Michigan Coast

Once we were done at the pier, we had a 1.5-hour drive to get to our rental in Stevensville, Michigan. We enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub and playing games for the night.

Day 2: ATVs, South Haven, and Silver Beach

ATV Tour

I booked our ATV tour through KJC ATV Rentals. We rented 3 doubles for an hour of ride time not counting training. The ATVs were top of the line. We had an absolute blast here! There were many different trails, and it was a lot of fun. We even saw some deer and a fox!

This was in South Haven, so it was about 30 minutes from where we were staying which wasn’t bad. We booked the earliest tour since it was July, and it wasn’t too hot yet. We also brought bug spray and sunscreen, but the bugs weren’t noticeable…at least with the bug spray on. After our tour, we played a little horseshoe on their property as well.

Cost:	2024: single – $140; double – $270 *Prices not listed on site, so this is what the price were when we went
Hours:	10 – 6; last reservation time is 4:00
Address:	24835 68th Street South Haven, MI 49009
Parking:	Enough parking for what they need

Downtown South Haven

After our ATV tour, we were hungry, so we parked in downtown South Haven, walked around a little bit, and then ate at Black River Tavern. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great, so I definitely recommend it!

After eating, we headed back to our rental to relax for the afternoon.

Silver Beach, Lake Michigan

After relaxing for a few hours at our rental, and eating again from the groceries we picked up, we headed out in the evening to Silver Beach.

Silver Beach is a great place to soak up some of Lake Michigan. We relaxed and played here until their close time which is sunset. Then, we headed back to our rental which was about 15 minutes away.

Cost:	Free other than parking
Hours:	Dawn to sunset
Address:	101 Broad St, Saint Joseph, MI 49085
Parking:	Huge parking lot; $15 for non-residents

Day 3: Lake Arvesta Farms and Arvesta Sports Complex, Ice Cream

We slept in and lounged around on this day until Lake Arvesta opened which for us was 11:00 since it was on a Sunday. This is located in South Haven, so it was about 30 minutes from where we were staying which is nothing for us.

My brother-in-law and niece skipped out on this, so it was just my sister and myself with two of our kids. We just paid for beach access, but we bought the Aqua Park Day Pass for each of the kids. This included the floating obstacle course and the waterslide.

They also have a cable park and options for wake boarding, water skiing, and tubing, be we did not do any of those.

We stayed here for a couple of hours, and the kids had a lot of fun. My sister and I were also able to relax on the beach while they played. There are lifeguards, but we were able to see the kids well from our spot on the beach, and they were old enough for us to get away with this!

You can’t bring in a cooler or outside food here, but their restaurant, Fire Water Grill, was good.

Cost:	Beach Access – $10 Aqua Park – $35 All Access Pass – $65
Hours:	Right now, it says every day from 8 to 9, but I think when the aqua park opens for the season, the weekend hours start at 11.
Address:	06464 Arvesta Drive South Haven, Michigan 49090
Parking:	Big lot

Ice Cream

Before going back to the rental, we decided to get some ice cream from Sherman’s of South Haven. I had read a lot of good reviews, and it’s hard to go wrong with ice cream, so we gave it a shot! They had a lot of flavors, and all of us loved it!

After the ice cream, we headed back to our rental to relax for the evening before heading home the next day.

Day 4: Flight Home

The next morning, we drove back to Chicago to catch our flight back home.

This was a short trip, but we had a lot of fun and made a lot of awesome memories!

Additional Fun Activities around the Entire Area

There are so many other things you could do if you have more time or different interests! Just check out the additional activities below.

Each picture below is linked to their site for more information.

Please leave suggestions for cool activities or places to visit that I missed so future readers and myself can learn from your knowledge and experience!

If you like taking quick trips full of fun, check out my other 4-day trips!

New York City

Austin, Texas