The 2025 fall color season is only just beginning, but a recent round of USA Today 10Best Reader’s Choice polls found that two Michigan destinations are the best places in the country to visit. Mackinac Island won the poll for Best Place to Visit for Fall, while the Upper Peninsula was named Best Destination for Fall Colors. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has won this poll a handful of times including last year, and we completely agree that it is an amazing place for seeing fall colors. Mackinac Island continues to get more and more attention in these polls and a fall visit gives you a chance to see the island when it is less busy than the summer months. Let’s take a look at how these two destinations won their respective contests:

Mackinac Island is reached by a ferry ride from either Mackinaw City or St. Ignace, and transports visitors back to a simpler time. Fall color “drives” on the island look a bit different as you will either be walking, riding a bicycle, or taking a horse-drawn carriage ride. From 10Best: “The vibes are just right on Mackinac Island each fall. Crisp, sunny days with vibrant foliage give way to a slower pace of life in this resort town. A carriage ride is one of the best ways to peep those leaves, and Halloween weekend is always a fun event. Kids can go trick-or-treat at the downtown shops while adults enjoy grown-up costume parties at local establishments later in the evening.” Some top spots here include downtown, Arch Rock, Fort Mackinac, Fort Holmes, and Marquette Park.

The Upper Peninsula presents visitors with a colorful landscape full of scenic fall views. Re, orange, and yellow leaves on trees make amazing backdrops at lighthouses, waterfalls, historic sites, scenic overlooks, and more. A few of our top picks would be the Lake of the Clouds scenic overlook at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Tahquamenon Falls State Park, the Whitefish Bay Scenic Byway, the Cut River Bridge, a drive from Marquette to Big Bay, and Copper Harbor.

10Best highlighted the more than 7 million acres of forest, scenic drives, and shoreline on three Great Lakes as top reasons why the Upper Peninsula should win. Other top ten finishers included Roanoke (VA), Hot Springs (AR), the Laurel Highlands and Potter/Tioga (PA), the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia.

In addition to these two wins, Knaebe’s Apple Farm in Rogers City finished seventh in the voting for Best Apple Orchard. A top autumn destination on the Lower Peninsula’s “sunrise side,” Knaebe’s has plenty to offer and we agree with 10Best: “There are wagon and barrel train rides for the kids, a petting zoo, games like horseshoes and cornhole, a barn that boasts some of the best pizza and fresh hard cider in Michigan, a bakery, and, of course, plenty of u-pick apples and pumpkins. This is also one of the best leaf-peeping orchards around, with a riot of colors on display around the start of October.”