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South Haven Travel Guide: 65 reviews and 139 photos

I woke up Saturday morning and happened upon a travel forum post asking about where to find the best leaf colors within a few hours of Chicago and someone happened to post information about the cranberry festival in South Haven, something we found fun on a previous visit so we jumped in the car and headed off.

South Haven is a popular summer destination along the coast of Lake Michigan, there are lots of B&Bs that you can stay at that you probably need to book well in advance in the summer. Chicago is close enough that you can make the trip in a day.

Cranberry festival

It's been an unusually warm fall here in the Midwest, not to mention dry, so I was a little disappointed that not many of the trees on the way up weren't the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows you sometimes get in Michigan in the fall. And when we got to DeGrandchamp Farms, there was a loooooong line for the cranberry festival hayride that takes you out to the harvesting site but we had come all this way to do it...We waited for over a 1/2 hour in the blazing sun, yes you are reading that right, it's October and it's 90 degrees! But it was worth it, I found the harvesting process to be very interesting.

Blueberry scarecrow

After our visit to the cranberry festival, we headed to the beach, it was 90 degrees out after all. The water was chilly but it felt good to kick off my shoe and feel the cool water on my toes. Did I mention that it was 90 degrees in October?

Our final stop was in downtown South Haven, a collection of unique shops selling the usual things you find in seasonal resort areas, baked good, antiques, crafts, jewelry and clothes.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Beautiful beach, interesting festival
Cons:Crowded in the summer

Last visit to South Haven: Oct 2007
Intro Updated Oct 28, 2007
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Reviews (8)

Visit downtown Things to Do (3)

The downtown shopping district is 2-3 blocks long, there are stores selling antiques, books, jewelry and clothing, even... more travel advice

Go to the beach Things to Do (3)

A lot of the towns along the western coast of Lake Michigan have become summer beach resorts for people from Chicago and... more travel advice

Cranberry festival hayride - South Haven

Cranberry Festival Things to Do (3)

This was the 2nd time we've been to the Cranberry Festival at DeGrandchamp Farms, the 1st time we found it by accident... more travel advice

At least the outside patio was nice... Restaurants (2)

80 degree days in October are rare so we stopped to eat here because of the large outside patio. As we were sitting... more travel advice

Warnings and Dangers (1)
Weekend traffic
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Travelogues (1)

Written Oct 28, 2007

8 photos

Cranberry harvesting

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Comments (4)

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riorich55 Jul 21, 2009 at 10:55 AM

Just how hot was it when you went? May stay for a weekend up here in a couple of weeks as our oldest son competes in the 1/2 ironman a little further south in Benton Harbor.
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deecat Oct 31, 2007 at 10:16 AM

Sounds like a great visit to South Haven. Both Allan and I love Cranberries so we should think about a visit there next year. So strange for Michigan to have 90 degrees in October as did Chicago.
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VeronicaG Oct 30, 2007 at 12:52 PM

A Cranberry Festival sounds like alot of fun--who wouldn't love a hayride?? I love the smell of Autumn--that's something we miss about the Northeast now that our home is in Texas...
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LoriPori Oct 11, 2007 at 4:05 AM

Ah! So that's where you went. Hans and I love South Haven - such a pretty place to visit.