The central "city" (the entire island has a census population of 483) consists of only two streets, Main Street and Market Street. Most of both streets are lined with shops that depend on the seasonal tourist trade. Main Street has good examples of vernacular false-front commercial architecture of the late 1800s. Many Market Street buildings are even earlier, built during the fur-trade boom of the War of 1812 period.

On a steep hill above Main Street is Fort Mackinac. Although the stone walls of the fort were raised by the British Army in 1780-81 in a failed attempt to keep the American "rebels" from gaining control of Michigan, most of the frame buildings inside the fort were built in the 1800s. The Mackinac Island State Park currently (2005) interprets the fort to its life in the 1880s. An admission fee is charged.

Halfway up another steep hill to the north-west is the Grand Hotel, a substantial 1884 summer "palace" offering upscale accommodation. Visitors often find the hotel, with its record-length front porch, to be an attractive place to appreciate a relatively complete pre-World War I environment. The 1980 Christopher Reeve movie Somewhere in Time is set and was filmed here. An admission fee is charged to non-guests.

The stores, fort, and hotel are open in the late spring, summer, and fall, and closed in the winter and early spring. Most of Mackinac Island's visitors come to the Island between the Lilac Festival (early June) and Labor Day.

Thousands of tourists bring bicycles to Mackinac Island each year. All three ferryboat lines welcome bikes, although they charge a supplemental fare for them. M-185, known locally as Main Street or Lake Shore Road, the 8-mile, relatively flat paved trail around the Island, is a favorite destination. Bicycles can also be rented by the hour, but prices are relatively steep.

A large local firm, Mackinac Island Carriage Tours, provides a horse-drawn ride along a set route through the interior of the Island. The Grand Hotel provides guests with horse-drawn transportation from the ferry docks to the hotel by horse-drawn omnibus. Visitors can also rent saddle horses or light buggies by the hour. Mackinac Island Carriage Tour Company offers great tour packages an excellent way to see the island hitting the major things to see including Fort Mackinac, and the Grand Hotel.

• Visit the historic and picturesque Fort Mackinac. Locals make an extra effort to recreate the look and feel of 19th century Mackinac Island.

• Three 9-hole golf courses have been carved out of the interior of the island. The lower "Jewel" and upper "The Woods" courses are owned and operated by the Grand Hotel. The "Wawashkamo" continues to operate a links layout that took its final form in 1912.

• The Mackinaw Breeze, a charter sailboat, docks during summer months at the Chippewa Waterfront Hotel, and offers cruises from the island's harbor to the Straits of Mackinac. Check its availability at 906-847-8669.

Since the 1880s, Mackinac candymakers have made and sold fudge to visitors. These days there are seven fudge companies on the island: Joann's, Kilwin's, May's, Murdick's, the Murray Hotel, Rena's, and Ryba's. Much, but not quite all, of the fudge sold on Mackinac Island is still made with traditional ingredients and in fealty to the traditional labor-intensive process for making this confection, which involves oxidizing, or "paddling", the fudge on a slab of marble. During the process, which traditional candy stores display as part of their marketing, the cooked fudge slowly cools and hardens into a loaf-shaped, semi-circular log. So many tourists buy fudge that Mackinac Islanders often call them "fudgies".

• Carriage House, at the Iroquois Hotel, [2]. This restaurant offers an excellent, if pricey, opportunity for al-fresco dining.