If your summer travels take you to Traverse City, and you’re the adventure-seeking kind, I can’t recommend the Kayak, Bike & Brew tour enough! {Or maybe if you *must* take the kids, bring a grandparent to visit Great Wolf Lodge and sneak in a date?!}
We were up in TC Memorial weekend for the Bayshore Marathon {my husband ran the half}, and rented an Airbnb with a group of friends. There are so many awesome options for fun in Traverse City, but we knew we wanted to do something fun and unique since it’s a group of college friends we don’t get to see often. Oh, and since we were all kid-free, it needed to be something that was NOT kid-friendly 😉
I’ve had Kayak, Bike & Brew on my Michigan bucket list for awhile, so I was ecstatic the group agreed to do it. It cost $69/person, and was worth every penny.
Our tour started at the Kayak, Bike & Brew headquarters in a more industrial section of town near the water. Once we checked in and went to the bathroom, we took a group picture, and got the “rules” from our amazing tour guides {seriously, these girls were great!}.
We began the tour on beach cruiser bikes, which had fat tires and back pedal brakes. They were so fun to ride, and really easy to maneuver through the streets with a large group.
Each tour varies, but after about a 5 mile ride {I promise it was easy}, we stopped at Right Brain Brewery, which was definitely a cool spot — the walls were covered in art, so there was plenty to look at and we had fun chatting as a group.
We had about 35 minutes at each brewery, which seemed like the perfect amount of time.
From there, we biked a short way to The Filling Station, which was an old railroad station converted into a brewery/restaurant. It truly was a unique location, and we were told it has excellent pizza though we didn’t sample it.
After we finished a beer there, we hopped on kayaks for the next leg of the adventure. The kayaks used are made for the ocean, so they were very sturdy and I never felt like I was going to tip. They moved beautifully in the water.
Our next stop was Rare Bird Brew Pub. Each location had its own unique brews on tap, along with food. The outside space of Rare Bird was definitely one of my favorite spots. I could’ve sat in the sunshine on the patio all day long!
We kayaked a bit more, including into the Bay a bit, which was a bit challenging, but again, nothing that any physically able bodied person couldn’t do.
We helped to load our kayaks onto a truck and then we walked a bit back to the start, where we were met with the final brewery — The Workshop Brewing Company, which again, had a cool atmosphere and outdoor spaces.
Overall, I can’t speak highly enough of this adventure if you find yourself traveling to the Traverse City area. It was a fantastic way to spend the day and I would absolutely go again!
TIPS IF YOU GO:
- Book online in advance to guarantee a time slot. There are tons of times available!
- What to wear: Clothes that can get wet and shoes that you can bike ride in and won’t fall off easily while kayaking.
- If you have a waterproof case for your phone, bring it. It will get wet.
- Arrange transportation or walk afterwards and stay safe!
Learn more about Kayak, Bike and Brew HERE.
This is not sponsored…I just had such a good time, I wanted to share 😉
What are your favorite spots in Traverse City?
See more date night destinations around Michigan HERE.
Leave a Reply