Boyne Highlands

We had a group of 8 people traveling from all over the US to stay at a Boyne Highlands condo for a three day golf trip. A little over a month before our trip they told us the condo we had reserved was sold. So… everyone had tickets to fly in… golf tee times were made (months in advance)… and then they said, «Sorry — you can’t have that place anymore.»
They attempted to put us in a smaller place — or have our group broken up into multiple smaller condos (which was not an option). We asked if we could find a place off-​site and still keep our discounted tee times, and they said «NO.»
Planning these trips and getting everyone on the same page can be hard enough. When a resort cancels your reservation without fair notice, it’s just unacceptable. Places to stay now are few and far between. We can’t go anywhere else since tees times have been booked up months in advance. I would avoid this property at all costs and plan on going somewhere else.

I can not go more than 4 stars for the highlands. Why?
1) 3 star skiing
Only one high speed lift
2) 2 star lodging
3) 2 star breakfast
4) 5 star lift operators
5) 5 star front desk host
6) 3 star hot tub (not hot enough but clean)
7) 5 star room maids (thanks)
8) 1 star ski ticket sales booth personnel
85 dollars to ski in the rain
85 dollars to ski on half a mountain
9) 5 star ski mountain caretakers
Highlands needs some investment. It’s showing its age. You can tell it’s more about the money and less about the place. Too bad.

Best mountain to board in the mid-​west hands down. It’s no Colorado view but like I said MIDWEST. My husband and I went for their Brew-​ski festival and it was a blast! Highly recommend the Highlands!

We just came to stay during the summer. We don’t fold or ski. Very family friendly. Lawn games, s’mores, chair lift rides for free, plus horseback riding and bikes for a fee. Our room is in the Bartley House. The room is pretty sorry. It’s clean (or we would have left), but very old, slightly smelly, wifi doesn’t work and tv doesn’t work (every channel cuts out every other word). Beds were messy when we arrived. Today, housekeeping made the bed while we were out. My 3 year old grandson could’ve done a better job! They didn’t replace shampoo and conditioner but did give me more when I asked. I would never stay in this Bartley House again. Also, there is a pool in back of this house. It is empty and they are doing construction on it. No mention of this when booking. They do mention when booking that this House has no elevators. I thought we were in Luck when we got a first floor room. Nope. Several stairs up into the building, then 5 – 6 more to the hallway. Then half way down the hallway another 5 – 6. Kind of sucks when carrying luggage. Anyway. While the resort seems nice. The accommodations were not even on par with Motel 6. Would never pay money to stay in the Bartley House again. (Sorry for typos. Typing on phone.)

Fun skiing and the best part is that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg!

The Highlands offer a good variety of trails that are of various lengths and difficulties. I feel the slopes are best suited for beginners and intermediates. Heck I saw kids wedging down a black diamond without falling!
My only complaint about the skiing area is the hassle of accessing certain trails. The lower areas are very flat and are hard to cross. In order to access areas at either end of the park, you’re forced to take every lift on the way. The same goes for when you want to return the main lodge.
During my holiday visit, the staff at the resort and park were in great spirits. Even the ones manning the lifts and the temperature was in the single digits! They were especially friendly and had a great attitude. Overall this is a great place to have a relaxing winter outing.

This is my favorite Michigan ski resort. I love the variety of runs, the beautiful views of Nubs and the bay, the customer service, and the resort amenities. We love to stay in the Heather Highlands Inn condos. The kitchenette is convenient for a group of people to make meals and the indoor/​outdoor pool is the best! On our last visit my friend said to me, «Gosh, everybody here is just so nice!» It’s a good business model, really. If you give good service you have happy customers, and they’ll return with their friends and family over and over. The front desk staff, ski instructors, bartenders, ski valet attendants, lift operators, etc. are all top-​notch.

Even though I love the steep runs over at the Mountain, there is varied enough terrain at the Highlands to keep me happy. My hubby is an expert skier who eats double black diamonds for breakfast, and he actually seems to prefer the Highlands, because the crowds are smaller.
We are both technical skiers, and like the chance to practice on easier runs. I can happily fine-​tune my turns all morning, have lunch, then play on the green runs all afternoon until they close the lifts and tell us to go home.
I agree with the reviewer TC that it takes more work than some might want to expend to traverse over to the next lift, but with some planning (stay high on the hill) and good gliding skills, you can get to the other side of the ski area without having to take every single lift.
Look at a Boyne Highlands trail map while I give you a tour: You would usually park at the main lot and start out from the main day lodge. The FREE BEGINNER’S AREA is right outside the cafeteria. If you want more of a challenge you’ll need a lift ticket. Use the Camelot lift to boost yourself over to the Valley lift. There are some green runs off that lift, but I usually stick to Tournament Pass and the black runs. If the slow ride up the Valley lift is beginning to suck the heat out of your body, take a right off the lift and go down Kath Run, then take the first left below Nastar and make your way over to the Heather Express, the biggest and fastest lift at the resort.
Intermediate skiers would take Little John and then end up at the Amy’s lift. There is some nice intermediate skiing off Amy’s. Between Heather Express and Amy’s is the Challenger area, including the TERRAIN PARK. Challenger gives you the longest steep runs at the Highlands. North Challenger is usually groomed but South Challenger sometimes gets soft bumps.
On windy days, it’s worth the slow ride on the Interconnect lift over to North Face. The green runs are out of the wind. The snow on Black Diamond Glade usually stays pretty soft, because it never gets very sunny there. Leslie’s Quest might have some great snow in that first big left turn, but it’s kinda boring after that. There are a couple of short slots that get bumps, if you stay near the treeline below the North Face lift and then cut left over to Leslie’s Quest. On clear days, you can see the Mackinac Bridge from the North Face lift and the deck outside the North Peak warming hut/​cafeteria.
There is some glade skiing at the Highlands. Check the trail map. But be ready to be whipped across the face by those skinny little beech branches. Helmet and goggles mandatory!
Sure, we’d prefer to ski out west, but if we stay in Michigan, we can get season passes for the Boyne resorts and ski as much as we want all winter, versus one glorious week out west.

AWESOME! I came for the skiing and everything was great. The breakfast was delicious, and then off to skiing! We were there for about 6 days, the best skiing resort I’ve been to. Definitely recommend!

This is a review for the Highlands downhill biking part.
For Memorial Day, a group of seven and myself came to Boyne. Three of us came to ride our hearts content while the others enjoyed everything the Highlands had to offer. We stayed at the Bartley house, which is VERY recommendable.
The downhill courses are named after metal bands — Opeth for instance — and there is a cross country track. The cross country track was phenominal. You pass through dense forest to a sparse pine needle trail that’ll eventually take you to some of the best trail I have seen (granted it’s only been 4 months of riding so far). There is this wonderful ravine that’ll make you stop and enjoy the scenery. Then, THEN, the switchbacks as a finale? AWESOME.
I was on a single speed and even if I was near death, I wanted more and more.
Trails were well marked and very well maintained.
We had wonderful weather — 70 degrees for four days and NOTHING BUT SUN– that couldn’t have been better.
SlopeSide, the bar at the lodge, was well stocked with great beers that was SUPER cheap.

For skiers —
The bad:
— Chairlifts are positioned poorly so that you have to cross against slope traffic to reach some lifts, which can get dicey on busy days. There are also some long flat areas that require speed in order to reach the chair. Maps are important to have if you are not familiar with the layout.
— Inconsistant service (some folks were just plain rude)
— Expensive
— Lodge food not very good (but they allow bringing your own, which I recommend)
The lodge at the top closes 45 minuetes before the lift (north side) — that fact is not well marked. We found out when they shut the counter gate in our faces! Lots of people were waiting with us. Add to that, the soda machines were out of order. Seemed pretty weak when we paid top dollar holiday rates between Christmas and New Year.
The good:
–The comfortable and fast main chairlift
–The slopeside bar (in the hotel, not the lodge)
–Family friendly (free beginners hill)
–Extra (but pricey) activites: like tube sledding & zip lines

I loved this resort. We stayed at Boyne right on the slopes, but we didn’t really like the runs so we drove to Highlands instead. It was about 30 – 40 minutes away. I am not the best skiier but I can do blues pretty well. I loved pretty much all of Highlands blue runs. My ski buddy and I even made up our own little names for our favorite runs (Heather, Amy, and Leslie). Highlands was well groomed and not icy at all when we were there (the 7 in of snow they got that weekend helped). Only problem is that it is a very long drive for us to go (7 – 8 hours)

My family and I were guests who stayed in the Ross Cottages for 4 nights in July. The cottage was beautiful and well maintained. We’ve only tried the hotel pool so far, which was kind of small but does have two hot tubs. Guests are supposed to be able to order food to enjoy poolside, however several people tried to use the courtesy phone to call and order lunch but nobody from the restaurant answered. We got take out food one time from the pub near the country club, and it was pretty good. Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Boyne.

I’m a season pass holder for Boyne. The Highlands is flatter than Boyne Mountain, but it is Michigan. More of a family place, although the Zoo Bar is wild for Apreski! (21 and over only).
If you are expecting ‘western powder’ — go west. Snow is typical mid-​west /​Eastern so expect hard pack, ice (it’s really just hard pack — few if anyone skis on true ice), they groom well.

This whole «saving for a house» thing is really cutting into our vacationing. We wanted to get some skiing in but didn’t want to drop money on a fancy ski trip. To Northern Michigan we headed!
The last 5 times I’ve skied, it’s been out west. I am aware that skiing in the Midwest is very different.
It’s a bit of a drive but you get to go through the very picturesque town of Petoskey.
We got the half-​day tickets (12 – 4:30) and for both of us it came to less than $ 60. We grabbed lunch first and there was a decent selection in the cafeteria area in the lodge – salad bar, Chinese, Mexican, soup in a bread bowl, etc. Two panini-​type sandwiches cost $ 15. They were good but definitely overpriced.
There were 8 chair lifts. Runs only lasted a minute or two so we got bored quickly and were glad to have only purchased the half-​day tickets. The snow was just okay. On some runs it was pretty icy and on others it was like skiing over snow covered gravel.
And yes, you will see someone in jeans heading toward a black run. Just look away.

Came for the golf, not the skiing. The golf was great, the lodging was OK. For a few reviews of the golf courses visit

Michigan Skiing
Boyne is one of the best spots,
…that’s not saying much