private mackinac island carriage tours

PRIVATE TOURS

Discover mackinac island your way. you choose the path..

Enjoy a private tour aboard one of our livery carriages. Your knowledgeable driver can customize the tour just for you, and take you to areas undiscovered on our public tour. The livery carriages will seat up to 8 persons and are rented by the hour with a one hour minimum.

Private livery carriages may be reserved for longer than one hour, in half hour increments, pro-rated at the hourly rate.

Rates (per hour)

• 1 - 4 People $210/hour ($315/1.5 hours)
• 5 People $262.50/hour ($393.75/1.5 hours)
• 6 People $315/hour ($472.50/1.5 hours)
• 7 People $367.50/hour ($551.25 /1.5 hours)
• 8 People $420/hour ($630/1.5 hours)

Reservations

Private Livery reservations are taken on the same day only. Please call our Carriage Tours Ticket Office at (906) 847-3325 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM daily and ask for the Private Livery department in order to make a reservation.

For special events requiring private carriages for groups, please call our business office at (906) 847-3307 to make advance reservations.

*A one hour minimum rental is required.

Reservations: (906) 847-3325

• Phone: (906) 847-3307 (business office)
• TAXI Office: (906) 847-3323
• Fax: (906) 847-6482
• Email: [email protected]
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Since motor vehicles are not permitted to intrude on the natural beauty of Mackinac Island, there is no better way to visit this historic isle and see the legendary points of interest than by carriage. Carriage tours are available either by group tours, private tours or drive yourself carriages.

Mackinac Island Carriage Tours  offers both group and private tours.

Gough Livery  offers private tours and wedding carriage rentals.

Jack's Livery Stable   offers drive yourself carriages and saddle horses.

CARRIAGE RENTALS AND TOURS

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Mackinac Island Carriage Tours

Experience history and charm on your narrated carriage tour of the island…

Prepare yourself for a tour like no other! What you will experience is by far the most enjoyable and authentic way to view the island. Keep in mind there are no set departure times. You will be on the next available carriage once you have purchased your ticket at the ticket office.

THE TOUR INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING STOPS:

SURREY HILLS MUSEUM

Enjoy a leisurely visit through Surrey Hills Carriage Museum displaying historic carriages including a horse-drawn hearse, still used today, and an antique fire department pumper. Browse the on site gift shops or have lunch or a snack before boarding our open 3-horse hitch carriage for the second part of your tour. WINGS OF MACKINAC BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY

(Additional Admission Fee) Open Mid-May through early October only. Discover life’s most beautiful insects! Enjoy a unique experience, strolling among hundreds of butterflies dancing and chasing each other in our climate controlled conservatory filled with lush flowers. 200 different species are represented. www.wingsofmackinac.com ARCH ROCK

The next stop is Arch Rock for an approximately 5 minute viewing of this breathtaking natural limestone formation. Reboard your carriage to continue your tour. FORT MACKINAC AVENUE OF FLAGS

(Additional Admission Fee) Open early May through early October only. Experience the sights and sounds of living history preserved in this American Revolutionary Era fort. As passengers depart arriving carriages, you may reboard as space is available to continue your island tour. www.mackinacparks.com RETURN TO SURREY HILLS MUSEUM

Board our 2-Horse carriage to return again to the downtown area. GRAND HOTEL

(Additional Admission Fee) www.grandhotel.com You may elect to end your tour at Grand Hotel, however, you would not be able to reboard other tour carriages after this stop. It is just a short walk down the hill to the downtown area from Grand Hotel, or you may call for horse-drawn taxi service at additional charge.

Please note that casual resort wear is appropriate at Grand Hotel during the day. No tank tops or cut-offs are permitted.

After 6:00 PM, evening wear is required in all areas of the hotel: coat and tie for gentlemen, and dresses or pantsuits for ladies.

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Mackinac Island Carriage Tours

Review Highlights

“ The tour took you from the visitor center to the Grand Hotel, then up into the state forest, and finally back down next to Fort Mackinac . ” in 8 reviews

“ Our second part was with Jeff and the "Waffles" and he was so informative and had some great off the cuff jokes and folklore!! ” in 7 reviews

“ Eventually this two-horse drawn carriage reaches the Carriage Museum where everyone gets out. ” in 2 reviews

Location & Hours

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7278 Main St

Mackinac Island, MI 49757

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103 reviews

First off, I highly recommend (if you are here at the busy times) to go straight to the office and buy your tickets - do not pass go - do not collect $200. We took the 8:30 ferry; got on the island before 9:00 - and were able to have no wait for a carriage. By the time we finished, people had 2-hour waits just to get on! Second off, we were told that over 3/4 of the people never leave the main town area; this is a great way to find out what else is on the island and what you may want to see. 80% or more of the tour is outside of "town". Third, we found our guides to be very knowledgeable and entertaining. Fourth, you can end your tour at three places (or get off and get on again) - Fort Mackinac, The Grand Hotel, back where you started (Main St) - allowing flexibility. For our group of 4, we actually did all 3. It is a 2-part tour: The 1st half of the tour is a 12 person carriage with a 2 horse team? Going along the streets and sites. The 2nd half of the tour is a 30ish person carriage with a 3 horse team. Takes just under 2 hours if you do it all.

View of Arch Rock

3-horse carriage

Loved our tour. Our guides were informative and witty. We enjoyed the stops and chose to leave the fort and walk to the grand.

I had the worst experience. I had reserved a ride to the Woods restaurant and the carriage that was suppose to carry us was full, and then was refused a ride on any subsequent rides because other people had reserved rides. I missed my dinner reservation because of this and then as I walked back down heard another patron curse the taxi driver out. My advice get a bike and do not rely on the carriage as a taxi.

Wow this one is hard and mixed to review. You board a carriage down by the docks. Well first you sign in and they give you a boarding time, and then you board. The first stage was very enjoyable. The driver was from Morocco, he's studying to be a doctor. However their practace is ti take a year break before doing their internships. So he's here driving horses for the 1st time. The horses Bill and Rocco were both beautiful. The driver was both very funny and fully understandable. The trip goes to the top of the hill out of town. To a museum and butterfly house. The 2nd part takes a 3 horse team and goes through the Nation Forrest Park to Arch Rock before coming back to the Fort then back to museum where you can catch a ride back to town or walk. We had a young lady, actually from the ares as huide through 2nd pary, I think Brittany or something. Safly can't remember horses names either. The sights were great, the driver was horrible. She was extremely unfunny, but kept trying to be. She non stopped chattered about nonsense and degraded the Myths of the local tribes. To top it off when she did have something informative to say she mumbled. It made the 2nd have almost unbearable. I was somewhat able to tune here out and enjoy the sights. The person I was with was even more annoyed by 2nd driver. Overall I guess 3 stars. Would I return? No.

See all photos from Chris H. for Mackinac Island Carriage Tours

Love this beautiful place! Such a wonderful experience! My daughter worked as a guide tour and loved it

Down town mackinaw

on July 3, I made a reservation for eight of us to take a private carriage tour of Mackinac Island on Carriage tours. The reservation was for 12:30 in the afternoon and we arrived early as we were taking a boat from Harbor Springs. I contacted carriage Tours and spoke with Lori an hour and a half before our reservation from our boat. She is also the young lady I booked the tour with.I told Lori we were running ahead of schedule and we would see her at 12:30 should I pay her now with a credit card or when we arrive. She told me to pay her when we arrived. We showed up at 12:20 only to find out that Lori gave our carriage tour away to another party. I asked her why she would do that since we were early. The only answer I received from her was "I'm sorry this is my fault". I asked her to get another carriage and she said one was not available till 3:45 PM. I informed her we had a reservation for dinner in Harbor Springs and did not have enough time to take this tour for an hour and a half plus our boat back to Harbor Springs in time to make our dinner reservation. I asked again why she would give our carriage away with a reservation plus she had my phone number, and again she said "it's my fault what more can I say ". Do not think because you have a reservation that they will honor it as we found out they did not honor our reservation. There is another coach tour on Mackinac Island and I would recommend that company. How disappointing to have six guest who have never been to the island and schedule a lovely day for them with boat and carriage tour, only to find out you have no tour of the island if booking with Carriage tours!

Had a great tour with the Mackinac Island Carriage Tours in late September! There are two parts to the tour. The first is from the main street stop, past Grand Hotel and to their stables more mid-island. There are shops and one place to eat I believe before you get onto the second part which goes to Arch Rock and some of the wooded areas of the island. You'll go back to the stable to take a carriage back to main street. Our drivers were very fun and informative. It was fun to sit back and see the island at a leisurely pace!

My family and I had a wonderful time on the carriage. We decided to take the private tour with a man named Kristan and his two horses, which cost extra, but was totally worth it. He let us ask any questions, take extra time at Arch Rock, told us so many cool stories about the island and made our experience 10 times better. If you can afford the more expensive private tour you will get to see more places, ask questions and not have to be jam packed with 20 other people.

Picture of sunset, lake and rooftops of houses from the carriage.

Picture of Arch Rock, which is a rock and created a hole in which you can see the Lake and some foliage surrounding it.

Not the cheapest at like $30 a person but for a 90 minute tour it was well worth it! Dylan was a great tour guide and we got to enjoy a peaceful, beautiful ride through Mackinac Island while he pointed out sights and gave us interesting facts about them! Definitely recommended!

Our tour guide was Eden and we had her on a 2 hour private carriage tour. She showed up in a huge group carriage. We felt like we were lost in it. We had envisioned a smaller 2 or 4 person carriage as advertised. We sat in the first row behind her and still couldn't hear exactly all of what she was saying. No headset? She seemed uninterested in anything other than her love of her horses and the sound of her own voice. She just kept on talking about everything other than the historical tour. She was a very nice girl but............ extremely boring. We were ready to jump off after 45 minutes.

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public vs. private carriage tours - Mackinac Island Carriage Tours

• United States    
• Michigan (MI)    
• Upper Peninsula    
• Mackinac County    
• Mackinac Island    
• Mackinac Island - Things to Do    
• Mackinac Island Carriage Tours

A Horse Drawn Carriage Ride on Mackinac Island is centainly a Rare Pleasure. Mackinac Island has no... read more

We had a great driver, Briley!! Very interesting and knowledgeable! It's about a hour and 1/2... read more

public vs. private carriage tours

Public is a no dot the private is a 5 dot. We would not recommend the public carriage tours. We used to always take these, but they have become to commercial. You start out in one side carriage, then half way through they switch you to a larger carriage. However, while you are waiting for the switch, they stop at where there are stores, with the attempt to sell you more things. The one we were on last time, the people on the carriage tour were not well behaved. I know you can not blame the carriage tour for the way people behave. The grandson we had with us was disappointed because he could not hear anything the driver was saying. We felt it was a waste of our money. When we were there in June with another grandson, we took a private carriage tour. You find those carriages in front of the fort. They will take you any place you ask them, they are very knowledgeable. Our grandson, hand lots of question and our driver Rachael never lost patients with him. She was able to bring him into the conversation by asking him questions about what he was seeing. Since this was his first time to the island we ask for just an over view of the island. We took the hour tour, to go see Arch Rock would be an hour and a half tour. Since we were going to ride bikes later we knew that we could see this on our bike ride. The cost was 120.00 for the 3 of us for the hour. If you are a couple and have another couple with you, you can split the cost. The public carriage tour may be slightly cheaper, but the value of the private carriage tour is so much better. We will never take the public carriage tour again.

We have taken a couple of these tours at different locations. So much depends on your guide. The trip is broken into two parts. Our first guide did an excellent job and the tour was enjoyable and educational. Part two was through the state park without much to see but foliage. Our guide was a first timer and hadn't learned his script. Unfortunately, that made some of our fellow tourist nervous and restless. Too bad. The highlight of part two was the Arch Rock. That made up for the lack of a guide.

I've been on two carriage ride tours on Mackinaw Island - one was a carriage that took 20+ people and the other was after I was married and we had a carriage that took 2 - 6 people. Both times I was amazed on the knowledge the drivers had about the island. The smaller carriage tour was better - we were able to tour the town and learned about the different homes on the island and who they belonged to and the history of different buildings. We learned about the fort and the church... It was pretty amazing! I would defiantly go on a carriage tour again when we go back to the island. It was GREAT!

This was our first visit to Mackinaw island. We had asked a couple people on the ferry ride over what was the best way to see the island and were told to take the carriage ride. Boy, were we in for a disappointment! Despite many carriages just waiting, we had an hour wait. Our first tour guide had a terrible script to follow but he at least made it tolerable. Part way through, we had to disembark, get in another line for another carriage for the rest of the tour. The 2nd tour guide was just flat out awful in his talking points. We didn't finish the tour and instead choose to walk back to town from the fort. Everything that we saw on the carriage tour is either walkable or an easy bike ride. Save your money. The carriage ride was a total rip off!

There is a lot to talk about at Mackinac Island so I will just focus on this tour. This should be the first thing you do when you get to the island. (side note: Bring any map you have of the island with you since you will feel lost once you get off the boat) If you ask any of the numerous shop attendants where the carriage ride is located, they will all very kindly tell you that it is "right down the street". Head right. It is pretty far down and on the opposite side of the road. I had my slightly disabled Mother with me so it was a little hard on her with all the people walking on the sidewalk. Speaking of my Mom's trouble getting around, the workers on this tour were very accommodating and brought an extra step and a small platform to assist her. The tour was a little expensive but well worth the money! After you pay, they will tell you to come back 10 minutes before departure and sit on the benches nearby. You will board a 2 horse carriage with numerous bench seats (roughly big enough for 4 adults) and the driver will introduce him or herself along with the horses. The drivers are all very kind, funny, and open. (Ours was Connor) They will take you through the historic streets pointing out buildings of interest including the Grand Hotel. They are knowledgeable about the islands history and will add jokes and stories when appropriate. The carriage will end at Surrey Hill. You exit the 2 horse carriage and are advised that, when ready, to meet and board a second carriage for the second half of the tour. At this stop, there is a butterfly conservatory. It was nice and only cost a few more dollars. My 13 year old daughter enjoyed having butterflies land on her. In the big green and red barn there are old time sleighs and carriages. There is no charge to view them. Now, here is the part that you MUST MUST MUST do......eat a donut!!! Oh. My. Goodness!!!!! The first building, where the carriage dropped you off, houses the MOST INCREDIBLE DONUT you will ever eat! I purchased glazed and a cinnamon for my Mom. They were small, warm, crispy and airy. We both agreed that we needed one more! I believe it was called Aunt Mary's or Saint Mary's. I don't even like donuts but the minute you walk into the building the smell of fresh sweetness hits you and beckons you like a siren to the rocky coast! Ok, ok, enough about that! :) When you are ready, you will wait at the back of the building for a 3 horse green carriage to take you to the back half of the tour which ventures through the park areas and forests. You will get a new driver and new horses. (We had Katie) Again, the driver is funny and open and knows tons of history. It was very interesting and even held my daughter's attention. You will visit the beautiful Arch Rock. (No climbing but a great overlook) You will see the Fort and be given the option to exit the carriage and enter the fort for an additional cost (I think it was $16). As the tour winds down, you are given another option to depart the carriage and walk a short distance to the Grand. If you choose to stay on, you go back to Surrey Hill and get on a 2 horse carriage again and go back to where you started in town. The last driver doesn't do any talking but that's ok. Yes, the other drivers accept tips but they do not badger nor insist. Personally, I gave each one $2. If I could have afforded it, I would have given them more as they are very good at their job.

The whole ride was mostly about what The chambers own, rather then the island. You take a short trip up to another place were they drop you off. Push you thru a trinket shopping area, then get onto a bigger rig with three horses and take you out to arch rock, which is ok. Talking to island residents, they said that carriage tours don't own the rigs, they are owned by the 68 lease holders that get dividends for the year. We just happened to be on a tour that had a run away, were the horses bolted and they could not stop them. I felt really uneasy with that, and we had one person fell out of the carriage and had to be sent off the island to a hospital. The worst thing is all the carriages cluttering the roads and making traffic worst for tourist. And constantly be yelled at by carriage drivers to get out of there way. After checking into Mackinac Island laws, people have the right of way not the horses. But if you want a great horse and buggy ride go down to the park for the hourly tours. They give the best tour about the island, ask for Arrowhead Tours or Dale Golfs tour buggies. Those are the best tours on the island.

• Grand Rapids/Muskegon
• Saginaw/Bay City
• All Michigan

Mackinac Island welcomes first cruise ship of the season, and it’s a big one

• Updated: Apr. 30, 2024, 5:41 p.m. |
• Published: Apr. 30, 2024, 1:42 p.m.

The Viking Octantis was the first ship to call on Mackinac Island for the 2024 Great Lakes cruising season on Tuesday, April 30. The 665-foot ship anchored and brought passengers to shore by tender boat. Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau

• Justine Lofton | [email protected]

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI – Mackinac Island welcomed its first cruise ship of the season on Tuesday.

The Viking Octantis, one of the largest cruise ships on the Great Lakes, anchored off the shores of Mackinac Island and used tender boats to take passengers to the island for a day visit, which began with a carriage tour.

“We’re excited to be a stop along their journey and look forward to having folks visit from near and far!” Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau said on Facebook.

Mackinac Island is Michigan’s most popular cruise destination.

RELATED: ‘We didn’t find them, they found us:’ Mackinac Island is most popular Michigan cruise ship port

In 2023, around 20,000 cruise ship passengers visited the National Historic Landmark island, making an economic impact of nearly $2 million. Nine cruise ships each visited dozens of times for a total of around 100 calls.

The Great Lakes cruising season continues through October.

At 665 feet long, the Viking Octantis shares the title of the largest cruise ship on the Great Lakes with its identical sister ship the Viking Polaris.

RELATED: A video tour on board the largest cruise ship ever to sail Great Lakes

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