Grand Hotel - A Journey to America's Last Great Summer Palace

On a tiny island in Lake Huron, where the clip-clop of horse hooves replaces the rumble of engines and fudge shops line cobblestone streets like something from a Dickens novel, sits one of America's most gloriously anachronistic hotels. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island isn't just a place to rest your head – it's a full-scale assault on the 21st century, complete with mandatory formal wear.

Built in 1887 by a consortium of railway and steamship companies who clearly understood the art of destination marketing, this sprawling Victorian palace was designed to lure sweltering city dwellers away from America's industrial hellscapes. What they created was something far more enduring: a place where the Gilded Age refuses to die.

This is where five US presidents have holidayed, where Thomas Edison once demonstrated his phonograph on the world's longest hotel porch, and where Christopher Reeve travelled back in time – quite literally, as the 1980 film Somewhere in Time was shot here.

The island itself feels like stepping into a snow globe. Cars have been banned since the 1930s, leaving the 3.8-square-mile outcrop to bicycles, pedestrians, and an army of Clydesdale horses whose daily constitutional involves hauling everything from wedding parties to bin lorries.

The year-round population of 600 swells to thousands during the summer months, most of whom seem perpetually sticky-fingered from the island's legendary fudge shops.

But it's the Grand Hotel that truly arrests the senses. Rising like a cream-colored wedding cake from its bluff overlooking the Straits of Mackinac, the building is an exercise in magnificent excess.

Step inside and you're confronted with what can only be described as decorative anarchy. Hot pink velvet armchairs jostle with emerald green wallpaper, while red gingham sofas sit alongside mirrors that would make Liberace weep with envy.

This is the handiwork of Carleton Varney, protégé of legendary designer Dorothy Draper, who has spent decades ensuring that no surface remains unadorned and no color palette too bold.

The dining room is a study in old-world grandeur, with five-course meals served by waiters who glide between tables with the precision of ballet dancers. The breakfast buffet is legendary - a sprawling affair that includes everything from Wagyu corned beef hash to gluten-free pancakes, all included in the room rate alongside dinner.

The hotel's commitment to its Victorian fantasy extends to the smallest details. You receive actual keys rather than plastic cards, fresh flowers appear daily in every room, and turndown service includes chocolates placed precisely on pillows. The signature scent of geraniums – the hotel's chosen flower – wafts through corridors and is bottled into toiletries that you either love or find overwhelmingly floral.

The hotel's retail operation includes a Dorothy Draper Home Store, where you can purchase pieces of Varney's distinctive design aesthetic to take home. Whether you actually want your living room to look like a Victorian fever dream is between you and your interior decorator, but the store offers everything from signature chintz patterns to reproduction furniture.

The hotel's 397 rooms are each unique – a fact that staff mention with the pride of parents discussing their particularly gifted children. Some guests report opening their doors to discover four-poster beds that could house a small family, while others find themselves in suites named after former First Ladies, complete with décor inspired by their particular tastes.

Among the hotel's premium accommodations, the Carleton Varney Suite pays homage to the designer himself, while the recently redesigned Woodfill Suite celebrates former owner W. Stewart Woodfill with what's described as "old Hollywood style with a Mackinac cottage twist."

Both suites feature the kind of space and attention to detail that justify their premium pricing, assuming you're the sort of person who considers a view of the Mackinac Bridge a reasonable substitute for a mortgage payment.

The famous front porch stretches for 660 feet - long enough to house a small village - and is populated by an endless parade of rocking chairs that seem to hypnotise you into a state of blissful lethargy. The porch serves as the hotel's social hub, where you engage in that most radical of modern activities: talking to strangers without first checking their social media profiles.

Transportation on Mackinac Island operates on a strictly 19th-century basis. Cars have been banned since the 1930s, making horse-drawn carriages not a tourist novelty but actual public transport. The Grand Hotel maintains its own fleet of carriages for guest transfers and island tours, complete with drivers who've mastered the art of combining historical commentary with gentle mockery of mainland life. It's touristy, certainly, but when the alternative is walking uphill with luggage, even the most cynical visitor tends to appreciate the service.

Named after the aquatic movie star who filmed "This Time for Keeps" here in 1947, the Esther Williams Swimming Pool stretches 220 feet and serves as the hotel's aquatic centerpiece.

Recent renovations have transformed the area into what management diplomatically calls a "family-friendly aquatic retreat," which is hotel speak for "we've made it less intimidating for children who aren't used to swimming pools that could double as aircraft carriers." The surrounding deck offers prime lounging territory, though you'll need to stake your claim early during peak season.

For families who find croquet and lawn bowling insufficiently stimulating, the Woodlands Activity Center offers miniature golf, a nature center, and recreation courts. The center also houses an expanded bicycle rental operation, essential for exploring the island's car-free roads.

The Jewel, as it's known, offers 18 holes of pristine Michigan countryside, with the front nine closer to the hotel and the back nine requiring an electric golf cart ride. Presidents have played here - Gerald Ford famously enjoyed a round in 1975.