Everything worth doing.Within 20 minutes.

A bar and restaurant on the same spot since 1933, named for the Gene Stratton-Porter novel — the building has been a hospital, a hotel, and reportedly a brothel before it settled into burgers, steaks, and ribs. The downstairs patio sits right on the water, reachable by boat in summer or by snowmobile once the lake freezes. Live music runs through summer. Currently closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays on reduced staffing — call ahead before making the drive.

Twenty taps, mostly Michigan craft, in a steakhouse-and-sports-bar room that's the closest thing Houghton Lake has to a dedicated beer bar — there's no standalone brewery in town. A pool table, wifi, and live music on weeknights through the season. Closed Sundays, open until 2am the rest of the week. The pick for anyone missing a craft-beer list after a day on the lake.

Rolled ice cream, cheesecake, and cupcakes made to order, open noon to 7pm and closed Sundays and Mondays. The rolled-ice-cream counter is the draw — cold cream spread thin on a steel plate, scraped into curls while you watch — and it's a genuinely different stop from the soft-serve stands that fill the rest of the strip.

Fifty tent-and-trailer sites on the north shore in Houghton Lake Heights, first-come-first-served with no advance reservations — a modern restroom building (no showers) and hand-pump or flowing-well water. Open late April through mid-September. The plain, unfussy option for anyone who wants lake access without a resort's amenity list or price tag.

A Denton Township swimming beach on the East Bay side of the lake, on Park Street one block south of M-55 in Prudenville — locals give directions to it as "behind Chase Bank." Picnic tables, a designated swim area, and boat launch access, maintained by the township's parks department rather than the state.

Fridays, 10am to 3pm, mid-May through September, set up in front of the Houghton Lake Historical Playhouse on W. Houghton Lake Drive — produce, farm-fresh meat and eggs, and local crafts alongside the historical village's own grounds. Small compared to a Finger Lakes market, but it's the one recurring produce stand on this side of the county.

The largest of the lake's three state-run launches — 153 parking spaces, a hard-surface ramp built for big rigs, and a restroom on site. Denton Township, closer to the Prudenville side, so it's the launch most visitors staying east of town actually use. A Michigan Recreation Passport is required to park.

Boat rentals, slip rentals, winter storage with shrink-wrapping, and sales and service, all out of one marina on W. Houghton Lake Drive — voted #1 marina in the Houghton Lake Resorter's Best of the Best 2026. The default call for anyone who wants a boat for the week without hauling one up from downstate.

One of the oldest winter festivals in Michigan, run by the Houghton Lake Chamber of Commerce since 1951 and held right out on the frozen lake in late January — 76 years running as of 2026. Tip-up ice fishing, a polar bear plunge, a parade, a medallion hunt, and the Tip-'Pup' Town dog show. The reason Houghton Lake fills up in the dead of winter instead of shutting down for the season.

Two 18-hole mini-golf courses, go-kart tracks, bumper cars and bumper boats, batting cages, a haunted mansion, and an arcade — open daily, 10am to 9pm, year-round. It's the answer on a day the lake gets too windy for the boat or the afternoon runs too hot for another hour of sun. Kids run the show here; budget the afternoon accordingly.