47.11° N · Houghton County
High above the canal, reserve a Houghton hillside hotel stay
From, room for two$3803 nights · from $190 per personNot included: taxes, bridge toll, lunches and dinners.
This Houghton hillside hotel stay puts you on the slope above the Portage Canal for three nights, with a buffet breakfast each morning as the hotel serves it. Down by the water, the Portage Lake Lift Bridge spans the canal and the waterfront trail runs along downtown.
It is the second farthest stay in our catalog, at 47.11 degrees north, so we plan it for the long days of summer and the first weeks of fall. Tell us the month you have in mind and we ask the hotel whether a room is open, then send one written quote you can read before saying yes or no.
Lift bridge and the copper hills
The picture at the top shows the Portage Lake Lift Bridge in early evening, a double-deck vertical lift span over calm water with wooded hills behind. The waterfront trail runs along the canal through downtown, and across the water a copper mine shaft house stands on the hill.
Drive north and you reach the Keweenaw National Historical Park sites in Calumet. For an afternoon on Lake Superior, McLain State Park has a beach on the big lake, with state park entry paid there.
| Town | Houghton, Houghton County |
|---|---|
| Lodging | hillside hotel above the Portage Canal |
| Latitude | 47.11° N |
| North of the office | 319 miles due north |
| Nights | 3 |
| Season planned | June to early November |
| Drive from Southfield | 535 road miles, about 10 hr 20 min without stops |
| Working nightly rate | from $125 a night for a room for two (November 2026) |
Buffet mornings at the Portage Canal hotel
A hillside hotel above the Portage Canal, with its own front desk that handles your check in and your payment directly; the picture beside shows a lodging of this kind. Its name travels in your written quote and stays off this page. Each morning a buffet breakfast, laid out as the hotel serves it, is part of the figure, along with the room for two for 3 nights at the rate for the month.
Three nights with buffet breakfast
The figure starts from $380 for the room for two for 3 nights, which comes to from $190 per person. Behind it sits a working rate from $125 a night, a November 2026 number for two people sharing one room, taken from a public travel website. That travel website shows no mandatory nightly fee, so nothing extra goes in.
Outside that figure: Michigan's 6% use tax, any room tax Houghton County charges, fuel, lunches, dinners, the Mackinac Bridge toll and state park entry. Planning and reserving cost you nothing at our office. Once the hotel gives its actual rate for your nights, that number takes the place of the working estimate, and it may come out above or below. More on this on our pricing page.
Inside this total
- The room for two for 3 nights at the lodging's rate for the month
- Buffet breakfast each morning, as the hotel serves it
Left for you to pay on the road
- Michigan's 6% use tax and any county room tax
- The Mackinac Bridge toll, $4.00 per car each way
- Fuel, lunches and dinners
- State park entry
Fall color pricing in October
June through early November is the window for this trip. Mid November to May puts deep snow on the longest drive in our list, so those months stay off the calendar. October paints the hills around the canal in fall color and costs the most of any month here, so nights then run above the working rate.
Canal hotel terms before you commit
On paper you get the hotel by name, the room, the three nights, a total at the rate the hotel sets for your nights, the taxes it will add and the cancellation rules it keeps for itself. Until a written yes comes back from you, no room is held. With that yes in hand, our office asks the hotel to put the room in your name, and payment happens at its desk on arrival.
Across the Straits to Portage Lake
Southfield to the canal is 535 road miles on the computed route, about 10 hours 20 minutes without stops, and fuel and meal breaks stretch that. Measured straight north, Houghton lies 319 miles above the office at 47.11 degrees north, well past the 45th parallel. Halfway up you cross the Mackinac Bridge and pay $4 per car each way right there, a cost kept out of the figure.
Houghton dates for the hotel
Send the month, the number of nights and how many adults are coming, and tick the box if your dates can move by a week. A reply comes back within four phone hours, saying whether the hotel can still offer a room for Houghton.
Request this stay in writingNext on the site: Copper Harbor shore motel stay