The Great Lakes

CREDIT: MICHAEL DEEMER/ISTOCKPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

The next hot cruise destination is…The Great Lakes? Believe it. The five lakes collectively offer 11,000 miles of attraction-packed shoreline, and new small ship cruises are making it easier to explore. Luxury French cruise line Ponant launched a Québec-to-Milwaukee itinerary for the first time in 2019 (book now for the next sailing in 2021), and Blount Small Ship Adventures just added a two-week Great Lakes trip to its roster, taking visitors from Chicago to Montréal. There’s boatloads to discover on the ground, too. Michigan’s Mackinac Island, a perennial (and famously unchanging) traveler favorite, got two new hotels in 2019, the Mackinac House and Waterfront Collection, and the historic Grand Hotel added new rooms and suites. On the UP, Chicago chef Iliana Regan and her wife, sommelier Anna Regan, launched the remarkable Milkweed Inn, an intimate converted hunting lodge and glamping destination where the Regans serve exquisite meals all weekend long, capped off by a multi-course Saturday night tasting menu. And lakeside cities like Cleveland and Milwaukee are drawing new crowds, the former for a thriving creative scene and revived waterfront, the latter for its dynamic restaurant landscape, new museums, and anticipatory buzz ahead of July’s Democratic National Convention. — Emma Balter