Experience the best of Upper Peninsula

The Upper Peninsula, called the U.P. by its people, is the northern part of Michigan, a long peninsula between Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, linked to the Lower Peninsula by the Mackinac Bridge. Forest covers most of it, broken by lakes, rivers and rocky shore, and the towns are small and far apart. Marquette, on Lake Superior, is its largest city, with ore docks and a rocky park on a headland.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has multicoloured sandstone cliffs rising from Lake Superior, cut by arches and waterfalls, and the tea-brown water of Tahquamenon Falls tumbles through the forest. The Porcupine Mountains hold old-growth woods and a lake viewpoint, and the Keweenaw Peninsula has the copper-mining towns of Calumet and Copper Harbor. Isle Royale National Park, a wild island with wolves and moose, lies offshore in Lake Superior.

The pasty, a pastry stuffed with meat and root vegetables brought by Cornish miners, is the regional food, and whitefish and thimbleberry jam follow close behind. Winter snow is deep and lasts into spring, summers are short and cool, and the northern lights are sometimes seen in the dark skies.