Winter Activities in West Michigan

While there’s plenty to do in the warmer months in West Michigan — beaches, biking, hiking, fishing — there’s plenty of winter activities in West Michigan too. West Michiganders know snow, and we know how to make the best of it. 

Whether you’re looking for skiing, sledding, Christmas lights, or something a little more unique, Grand Rapids and the surrounding area have what you’re looking for.

Make it a full weekend of fun in West Michigan! Book a hotel in Grand Rapids or Grand Haven! Or check out some of the awesome Winter Festivals in West Michigan.

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Cannonsburg Ski Area

The best skiing in Grand Rapids can be found at Cannonsburg, 15 minutes northwest of the city. This ski area is the perfect place for winter family fun, offering skiing, snowboarding, winter trails, and the largest tubing facility in the state.

The hills at Cannonsburg feature nine lifts for you to ski or snowboard down. Carve your way down 21 runs that go from beginner to expert, giving you plenty of variety. Private and group lessons are available and you can rent skis, snowboards, and helmets.

There are also several Cannonsburg trails that are open in the winter months for fat tire biking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. The trails wind around the skill hills and through the nearby woods, letting you take in the beauty of Michigan winters while getting some exercise in. Trail tickets must be purchased and are $5 for the day or $35 for a season pass.

Cannonsburg’s tubing lanes are a great way to spend a wintery day with family or friends, sliding down the slopes and easily going back up with the “magic carpet” beltline. You can buy tubing tickets online and tickets are good for two-hour increments.

When you need a break from skiing or tubing, there’s a full-service bar, snack bar, and the Cedar Lounge restaurant to grab a hot bite or an ice-cold drink.  This is a must-do winter activity in West Michigan!

Mulligan’s Hollow Ski Bowl

Near the shores of Lake Michigan near Spring Lake, Mulligan’s Hollow has six slopes and over seven acres of powder to survey through with your skis or snowboard. It offers rentals, lessons, a freestyle club, and more. Plus, parents ski for free!

Five rope tows will get you up Mulligan’s Hollow’s hills quickly, and the slopes are all lit for night skiing. The slopes are open Thursday through Sunday and the hill operates in ways to keep the costs as low as possible. This is a great choice for an inexpensive day out on the slopes.

All-day passes, passbooks, and season passes are available. For rates and more information, visit the Mulligan’s Hollow website.

Cross-Country Skiing

Grab (or rent) your skis and head out onto some beautiful cross-country skiing trails around Grand Rapids!

Reeds Lake

Although it can sound intimidating, one of the best places for beginners to cross-country ski is a flat frozen body of water. Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids usually completely freezes over in January and can be a great place to get started.

Pickerel Lake Park

Part of the Fred Meijer Nature Preserve, Pickerel Lake Park is northeast of Grand Rapids and has plenty of cross-country skiing trails to enjoy. Great for beginners, the trails take you around the lake in about an hour.

Palmer Park

Palmer Park and the adjacent Kaufman Golf Course offer some of the only groomed cross-country skiing trails in Kent County. There are three loops, each about two miles long, some with flatter areas and others with hills and more difficult terrain for more experienced skiers. Trail fees are $2 per person or $25 for a season pass, and skis can be rented at the Kaufman clubhouse.

Make it a full weekend of fun in West Michigan! Book a hotel in Grand Rapids or Grand Haven!

Sledding Hills

Sometimes the best thing you can do as a winter activity in West Michigan is to throw some sleds n in the back of your vehicle and head to one of the best sledding hills around! Here is a list of free sledding hills in and around Grand Rapids and the lakeshore to spend a classic snowy day. Don’t forget to wax your sleds!

• Richmond Park in Grand Rapids, MI
• Cascade Township Park in Cascade, MI
• Duncan Woods Park in Grand Haven, MI
• Branstrom Park in Fremont, MI
• Muskegon State Park’s Sugar Bowl Dune in Muskegon, MI
• Rosewood Park’s Charlie’s Dump in Jenison, MI
• Pigeon Creek Park in West Olive, MI
• Bertha Brock Park in Ionia, MI
• Johnson Park in Walker, MI

Muskegon Luge Adventure Sports Park

Head to the lakeshore for some unique outdoor winter fun at the Muskegon Luge Adventure Park. Enjoy winter luge, ice skating trails, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, and even winter zipline! This is one of the can’t-miss winter activities in West Michigan!

Designed by an Olympian, the 850-foot luge track gives you the thrill of speeding down an icy track at speeds up to 30 mph. New to luge? Learn to Luge weekends offer a 2.5-hour training season, equipment, time to practice, and then an Olympic-style race and awards ceremony! On weekdays you can reserve the luge track for your private group, getting a luge experience tailored to your group’s needs and experience.

The Muskegon Luge Park boasts a one-of-a-kind ice skating trail through the white pine forest near the park. It is a 1/4th mile figure-eight loop to skate around during a beautiful winter day or to experience after dark when it’s lit up. There is also a 2-acre rink for family ice skating and hockey.

The snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails at Muskegon Luge Adventure Sports Park go through the nearby sand dunes and offer a variety of terrain for all levels. They’re the perfect way to get out and enjoy the forest scenery and the lakeshore.

The Muskegon Luge Park also prides itself on universal accessibility, allowing people without lower body mobility to participate in adaptive forms of luge, ice sledding, and more. It has partnered with the DNR to develop accessible hiking trail systems and has trained its staff in how to use equipment and adapt their activities so all can enjoy.

For updates on trail conditions and weather reports, visit the Muskegon Luge Adventure Sports Park website.

Echo Valley Winter Sports Park

Make a day of winter memories at Kalamazoo’s Echo Valley Winter Sports Park. They offer some of the best tobogganing and tubing hills in Western Michigan, perfect for some family thrills on a cold day.

Echo Valley’s toboggan hill uses an Everslide surface, which guarantees a great sledding experience in all weather conditions. The toboggans can go over 60 mph over the quarter-mile runs and — the best part — you don’t have to carry your toboggan back up the hill when you come to a stop. There’s a lift for that!

The tubing hill at Echo Valley was recently expanded, giving you a longer ride as you slide down the hill with your family or friends. There are two different sizes of covered tubes, so your ride will be as comfortable as possible, too.

If you have any questions before your visit, check out the Echo Valley FAQs.

Muskegon Museum of Art’s Festival of Wreaths

The Muskegon Museum is bringing the holiday spirit to downtown Muskegon with The Festival of Wreaths. From November 22 to December 11 over 50 businesses in downtown Muskegon will be displaying a unique wreath in their front windows. Be sure to take note of which wreaths are your favorite because they are all for sale in an online auction! QR codes next to the wreaths will take you right to the auction website. What a fun way to find your perfect holiday wreath!

Don’t forget to stop in at the Muskegon Museum of Art while you are in town to see some festive holiday decorations and catch liver performances throughout the galleries. During the festival, the Museum of Art will also be holding the events below:

• Teddy Bear Trail: Saturday, November 26 | 9 to 11 a.m.
• Hot Cocoa Hop: December 10 | 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Fill the Truck Food Drive: November 26 & December 10

The Christmas Lite Show at LMCU Ballpark

In the winter the LMCU Ballpark’s parking lot is home to the largest West Michigan drive-through holiday light show, with over a million lights covering over two miles. Whether you’re looking to make a memory with the kids or add some holiday cheer to a date night, The Christmas Lite Show is a great way to spend a snowy evening.

Multicolored arches, Christmas trees, Santa and his elves, a nativity scene, and even some merry dinos are all decked out in lights. Many of the displays are animated, and kids will love to watch the antics Santa’s elves get up to as you drive through the lights. Tune your radio to Christmas music to really get into the Christmas spirit! 

The Grand Rapids Christmas Lite Show runs from November 23 through December 31. For online tickets, hours, and more details, visit the Christmas Lite Show website.

Grand Rapids World of Winter Festival

Taking place between the beginning of January and the beginning of March, The Grand Rapids World of Winter festival is a free celebration of what makes Grand Rapids the unique place it is. DJs, ice sculptures, concerts, food, and more all make up the festival.

The 2023 festival is still taking shape, but there will be over 20 large-scale interactive installations throughout the city! Some of which House of Cards, Roaming Gnomes, Starry Nights, and one of last years favorites, Massimals.

Many of the downtown Grand Rapids restaurants and bars set up outdoor spaces for winter dining during World of Winter Fest. These outdoor heated domes provide a great way to enjoy the cozy wintery charm while enjoying some of the best food around. When you’re done, head to a Refreshment Area where you can purchase marked containers and enjoy a cocktail or a brew as you walk around parts of the city.

More and more activities are being planned and added to World of Winter. For the last, visit the World of Winter page on the experiencegr.com website.

Looking for winter fun in Grand Rapids during the holidays? Read our Holiday Fun in Grand Rapids article for great ideas! Or, if you’re looking for more festivals, we have a West Michigan Festivals Guide!

Make it a full weekend of fun in West Michigan! Book a hotel in Grand Rapids or Grand Haven!

Visit Lake Michigan

The Lake Michigan beaches are popular in the warm summer months, but there’s a special beauty to the lakeshore when the waves freeze and there’s a muffled silence all around you. Just make sure you bundle up because it can be really cold.

For a short hike to a beautiful view, head to Saugatuck Dunes State Park. There are many trails to the lakeshore, the shortest being a ¾ mile straight shot to the beach. Winter hiking or snowshoeing through the lakeside forests is itself a peaceful and enjoyable experience, but hitting the frozen dunes and lakeshore is truly a breathtaking sight. The lakeshore often freezes into hills of ice that are spectacular in person!

Visit one of the many lighthouses along the lakeshore to see a tower encased in sharp icicles, angled by the wind. The Grand Haven lighthouse is a popular one to check out. Its pier makes for a striking image covered in snow and ice. It is not advised to walk out on the icy pier and make sure to follow any posted signs you see at any of the lighthouses you stop at.

Meijer Gardens Christmas & Holiday Traditions

Starting November 22, the holidays come to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, warming the hearts of visitors of all ages. The main building is filled with trees, each adorned with decorations, food, and toys from different countries and traditions. There is also a Railway Garden with scale models of different iconic buildings from around the world and from around Grand Rapids. It even has toy trains winding their way between them.

Over 350,000 lights are wrapped around the 46 traditional displays that make up the University of Michigan Health-West Christmas & Holiday Traditions at Meijer Gardens. While you take in the sights of the charming tree and traditional displays, enjoy the sounds of the music from different cultures that celebrate the holidays and ring in the New Year.

New this year is a new immersive light experience in the amphitheater! The light show runs December 19 through 23 and 26 through 30 beginning at 6 p.m. and running every half hour until close.

There are plenty of special events that take place during Christmas & Holiday Traditions, including a visit from Santa and his reindeer and live musicians and carolers. Visit the Christmas & Holiday Traditions page for details.

The University of Michigan Health-West Christmas & Holiday Traditions takes place between November 22, 2022, and January 8, 2023, and is included in Meijer Gardens admission. There are also special holiday parties for Meijer Gardens members.

Member Parties:

Tree Lighting Ceremony│Monday, November 21│6 to 8 p.m.

Evening Family Party│Monday, November 28│6 to 8 p.m.

Morning Family Party│Sunday, December 4│9 to 11 a.m.

Evening Family Party │Sunday, December 11│6 to 8 p.m.

Adult Party (18+)│Monday, December 12│7 to 9 p.m.

Morning Family Party│Sunday, December 18│9 to 11 a.m.

Of course, Meijer Gardens are a must-visit year-round. That’s why it’s included in our Top Things to Do in Grand Rapids article.

Looking for even more winter fun? Check out some of the fun Winter Festivals in West Michigan!

Make it a full weekend of fun in West Michigan! Book a hotel in Grand Rapids or Grand Haven!

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