The Shoreline
More Coast Than the Atlantic Seaboard
Basalt cliffs on the North Shore. Three-hundred-foot dunes on the Michigan side. Lighthouses lit before the Civil War. Beaches most people assume are somewhere warmer.
Shoreline states
8
Coastline
5,345 mi
Places covered
24
Longest
Michigan
By state
Pick a coast
Pennsylvania
Fifty-one miles, and it punches far above them. Presque Isle Bay and the Erie tributaries are the heart of Steelhead Alley, and the fall run brings anglers from six states.
Places
Worth the drive
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Twenty-one islands and 12 miles of Lake Superior mainland shore off Bayfield, Wisconsin, with sea caves, six historic lights and cold, clear water.
Cave Point County Park
A dolomite headland on the Lake Michigan side of Door County, Wisconsin, where waves have undercut the limestone cliff into caves and arches.
Chicago Lakefront Trail
An 18.5-mile paved path along Lake Michigan through Chicago, from Ardmore Avenue on the north side to 71st Street on the south.
Chimney Bluffs State Park
Eroded drumlin spires standing up to 150 feet over Lake Ontario in Wayne County, New York — a landform with no real match on the chain.
Erie Land Lighthouse
A sandstone tower on the bluff east of downtown Erie, Pennsylvania — the site of the first American lighthouse on the Great Lakes, lit in 1818.
Fair Haven Beach State Park
A sand beach and bluff park on Lake Ontario in Cayuga County, New York, between the lake and Little Sodus Bay.
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Five waterfalls on the Gooseberry River within a short walk of Highway 61, on Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior.
Grand Haven State Park
A 48-acre sand beach on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, with the Grand Haven pier and its red catwalk running out to the light.
Headlands Beach State Park
The longest natural sand beach in Ohio — a mile of Lake Erie shore at Mentor, with a dune natural area at the east end.
Illinois Beach State Park
Six and a half miles of Lake Michigan shoreline at Zion, Illinois — the only remaining natural beach ridge and dune community in the state.
Indiana Dunes National Park
Fifteen miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and dune country at the south end of the lake, between the Gary steel mills and Michigan City, Indiana.
Kelleys Island Glacial Grooves
The largest exposed set of glacial grooves in the world, cut into limestone bedrock on Kelleys Island in Lake Erie, Ohio.
Kohler-Andrae State Park
Two miles of Lake Michigan dune and beach south of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, with a cordwalk through one of the state's last intact dune systems.
Marblehead Lighthouse
The oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes, standing on the limestone point at the entrance to Sandusky Bay, Ohio.
North Shore Scenic Drive — Highway 61
The Minnesota North Shore run from Duluth to the Canadian border: about 150 miles of basalt cliff, river gorges and Lake Superior on your right.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Forty-two miles of banded sandstone cliff on Lake Superior between Munising and Grand Marais, Michigan — the first national lakeshore in the country.
Point Betsie Lighthouse
An 1858 brick light on the Lake Michigan shore north of Frankfort, Michigan, marking the south entrance to the Manitou Passage.
Presque Isle State Park
A sand peninsula curving into Lake Erie at Erie, Pennsylvania, with 11 guarded beaches, a protected bay and a migratory bird list rivaling any inland site.
Sackets Harbor
A village on the eastern end of Lake Ontario in Jefferson County, New York — the U.S. Navy's main Great Lakes base during the War of 1812.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Perched dunes 450 feet above Lake Michigan on Michigan's northwest coast, with the Dune Climb, Pierce Stocking Drive, and 35 miles of shore.
Split Rock Lighthouse
A 1910 light station on a 130-foot diabase cliff above Lake Superior, built after the November 1905 gales wrecked or stranded 29 ships in a single storm.
Tahquamenon Falls and Whitefish Point
Michigan's largest waterfall and the Lake Superior point that guards Whitefish Bay, an hour apart on the eastern Upper Peninsula.
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
A 4,300-square-mile protected shipwreck field off Alpena, Michigan, in Lake Huron, with wrecks in water shallow enough to snorkel.
Tunnel of Trees — M-119
A narrow, shoulderless 20-mile stretch of Michigan M-119 running the Lake Michigan bluff from Harbor Springs to Cross Village.
Every state on this list runs its own fishing, boating, and park systems. Licences do not transfer, launch fees vary, and shoreline access rules differ meaningfully between, say, Michigan and Ohio. The state pages link straight to the agency that actually decides.