[momito4]

We normally do florida beaches but wanted to stay closer to home. SW MI we have been told is beautiful. I have done some research but really need some people opinions. I have been looking at St. Joseph, South Haven I believe and also a friend recommeded Warren Dunes. We have 4 children ranging from 4-12 and we LOVE beaches. Also, we typically stay in hotels but are open to rentals. Which of these would be the most family friendly?

Thank you in advance!

[MUTGR]

We've rented small homes in South Haven twice and really like it. In recent years, we've switched between the gulf (Orange Beach, Destin) and southwestern Michigan.

South Haven is a nice, quaint little town. We've always rented in walking distance from one of their public beaches. The old downtown has some neat shops and plenty of places to eat for different budgets.

The beaches are nice, but not as nice, in my opinion, as the gulf. And the water temp can be a shocker, but all in all, we love both places. On the plus side, the weather is usually very nice with a nice breeze off of the lake and lower humidity than what we are used to. You also don't have the kind of chintzy strip stuff you find in the Gulf.

We usually find places to rent through the VRBO website.

[allbusiness]

Check out the Holland and Grand Haven areas too. Both state park beaches are rated tops in the state.

Also, waiting until late July or even August would be advised if swimming is on the agenda. the watwr temp might get up to 75 degress on a good day with a steady wind from the west, but a few hours of an east wind can cool it by 15 degrees really quickly.

Maybe a rental house or motel with a pool would be a good back up plan! :-)

[Just4Dogs]

I live within 30 minutes of St. Joseph and often spend an afternoon there. The beach is awesome and the city recently built a water fountain for kids to play in as well as a refurbished carousel complete with organ and hand carved animals. There is also the Curious Kids museum in downtown as well as the Krasal art center.

My vote would be St. Joseph.

Enjoy!

[notdeconcentrate]

I think South Haven and St. Joe would both be equally family friendly, but as the previous poster mentions, St. Joseph does have those kid friendly things to do right near the beach.

[jamalc]

Im originally from Chicago but have also called South Haven my home as my parents bought a home there in the 1950's. I have traveled the Lake Michigan coast from the state line at Indiana up to the
U.P. In my opinion for a great beach vacation check out Warren Dunes and New Buffalo beach. This
is just the beginning.

Michigan has so many wonderful beaches on Lake Michigan and even Lake Huron. But Lake Michigan
beaches has more appeal and are backed by some of the highest coastal dunes on earth.

During the summer months nearly every town on the lake and state parks are filled with beach goer's
who enjoy the sand, surf and wonderful sunsets. In addition to New buffalo ,check out Silver beach
in St.Joseph. North of there are Jean Klock park beach in Benton Harbor , Covert beach and Van Buren state park in Van buren county have wonderful campgrounds and high dunes. Then there is South Haven , Saugatuck, Grand Haven with it's boardwalk. Muskegon has a wonderful beach with
Nordhouse dunes nearby. The biggest beaches and dunes are Sleeping bear Dunes, Silver Lake and conclude your Michigan beach vacation at Traverse City one of America's top resort towns.

Michigan over all probably is in the top five states with the best beaches. The others would probably
be California, Florida, Hawaii, Oregon or South Carolina.

[momito4]

Thank you all so much for you information. I have heard from others too that this entire area you really cannot go wrong. I think right now we are leaning towards St. Joseph since there is some kid friendly things right on the beach. I cannot wait! Again, thank you!!!

[tscrilla]

I'd suggest going further north than St Joseph. We first did St Joe in 2008 and was more than pleasantly surprised at what an incredible beach and water. Then in 2010 we did Saugatuck, Silver Lake State Park (lighthouse right on the beach, which you can go up and take some great photos). Our favorite beach so far has been PJ Hoffmaster State Park. It's just incredible and the water temps in late July are perfect.

This year we're going up to Traverse City and seeing Sleeping Bear Dunes. I'm sooooo excited!!! I'm from out west so this Midwest beach thing just amazes me. We were going to go the beaches in New England this summer but we just kept saying to ourselves how great Lake Michigan is. Plus it's only a tank of gas away.

[madpaddy]

Just got back from a week in the St Joseph area. Had a great time. It wasn't quite as nice as Traverse City (which we had been to in the past) but it was 4 hours less drive time each way which essentially gave us an extra day of actual vacation time. Silver Beach is highly manicured and nearly as nice as any ocean beach I've been too including Florida, Cancun, Puerto Rico, and California. The natural beach where we stayed was nice too, but did have a 6-10 foot band of small rocks just past the waterline which could be uncomfortable as we went in and out the water barefoot. The water felt a little cool to us adults but the kids never complained. As others have mentioned there are some kids-related attraction in St Joseph. We did the two kids museums, the fountain, had ice cream downtown at Kilwins, and found some cool toys at the toy shop. We spent a day fishing at the pier too. The adults fished the lake-side for steelheads but struck out. The kids fished the river side and were dragging in big catfish, buffalo fish, and some small bass.