Looking for everything you need to do in Frankenmus, Michigan?
You are offering a celebration hospitality.
This Bavarian town in eastern Michigan appears to have been pulled out of a German picture book with half-built buildings, cozy shops, the world’s largest Christmas store and Bronners.
In just one day, you can immerse yourself in the charm, indulge in the famous fried chicken, and take a stroll through the sparkling holiday displays even in the summer!
Take a look at this Frankenmus one day itinerary for all the highlights.
Frankenmuth Day TripItinerary
Frankenmuth has plenty of shopping and dining options to fill your day here.
The town also has several entertainment options, such as an escape room, a small museum, and wine tasting.
There’s no need to start early to do everything here, as nothing is actually open by 9am.
Is the time short? Here are the highlights:
Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland
Village shop
Lunch at Bavarian Inn Restaurant
Wine tasting
Antique Shopping
Dinner at the Prost Wine Bar
Escape room
Morning: Village Shop
The first part of the day is spent shopping!
Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland
Bronner is the world’s largest Christmas store and normally opens at 9am (closed on several holidays except noon on Sundays).
Not only is it a highlight of Frankenmuth, but it is also on the edge of town, so I recommend starting with Bronner’s.
Everything else is in the middle of town so you can park and leave your car for the day.
Spending hours at this restaurant is very easy.
We personally went looking for decorations. Because it is something we collect as souvenirs for us everywhere we travel.
German village shop
After Bronner, when you drive to town, the first place you will meet is the Frankenmuth River Place Shop.
This is an area that looks like a Bavarian village.
Park here for free and browse the shops before walking through town and creating a full loop.
If you need to come and pick up a little before lunch, La Crepe du Jour For bananas and nutella crepes.
Noon: Wine tasting
There are several wine tasting rooms while walking through the village shops.
The wines here aren’t like California wines.
These are mainly very fruity and sweet mascade rape wines.
Most of these types of wines are like juices that make wine slushy, but they are very good for refreshing summer wines.
Modern craft wine
The first place we stopped by was a modern craft wine.
They have a variety of wine blends intended to be mixed into cocktails.
4-6 samples are available for each tasting.
Their menu is extremely detailed by ranking the dryness and sweetness of each wine, and also lists some features of each wine, so you can get a better idea of which flavor you want.
The Northbound Red was my favorite of all the regular wines.
It’s actually one of their bestsellers.
They also have an entire menu of fruit-infused wine and cocktail mixes that you can try.
Cherry Republic
Cherry Republic is another wine tasting room in these same shops.
What’s unique about these wines is that some of them are 100% cherry wines (not grapes) and some are mixtures of both.
These wines are a little more similar to regular wines than modern craft wines.
Some of the cherry wines were surprisingly good (I’ve never tried cherry wine before).
Wine flights allow you to sample six different wines.
We also offer mixed nuts and trail mixes that can be enjoyed during tastings!
Lunch: Bavarian Inn Restaurant
After spending a few hours of shopping and wine tasting, now is the perfect time to soak up all the wine at lunchtime.
The Bavarian Inn Restaurant is a must.
Highly recommended Franken Muce Combination Plate.
Comes with the famous Frankenmuth chicken, Schnitzel and Sauer Breten. This is basically fried chicken, breaded pork roast and roast beef.
The plate also comes with bread, potato cheese puffs and sauerkraut on the sides.
Add an aspect of the meal to complete, especially if two people share this German potato salad and Spaetzle.
We were full of desserts while we were here, but downstairs there is a bakery where you can grab some treats later.
Castle Shop Bakery
Castle Shops Bakery has so many good treats that it’s difficult to narrow down.
So we actually bought a variety for about $20 and ate it over the next few days.
I recommend getting either Cherry or Apple Strudel (They are huge).
Black Forest Brownies It’s also very good and huge.
Afternoon: Antique Shopping
After lunch there are still several shops around town to wander around and explore, like a cheese shop.
But once you return the full loop to your car, you can drive to a nearby antique shop.
There are several antique shops around the street (back towards Bronner).
- Around the farm
- Iron Gate Emporium
- Riffft treasures are antiques and more
They are located at the corner of the intersection of Burch Run Road and Jella Road, respectively.
Bonus Activities: Mini Golf
This corner also has a mini golf course if you’re looking for another activity to fill your day.
For us it was around 2:30pm so it took us a while to do things before dinner and in the evening before things closed.
Bonus Activities: Birch Lamp Remium Outlet
A large outlet mall down the street from mini golf and antique shops.
We went shopping there and I found some dresses from the J.Crew, who was on a huge clearance sale of J.Crew.
I also found the perfect outfit from one of my favorites, the loft.
We returned everything back to our room at this point and then returned to town for the rest of the night.
Dinner: Prost Wine Bar
For dinner we decided on a Prost wine bar so we could get something different than what we had for lunch.
We were pretty busy even after peak dinner so we sat at the bar for a meal.
I’ve shared it Lobster roll and Rigatoni Alla Vodka.
It was also available at JP As old as it is Because it’s his go-to drink.
Evening: Great Lakes escape the game
If you are visiting after dinner and on weekends, it is a great time to enjoy the local escape room.
We love trying out escape rooms everywhere.
The themes for this escape room include:
- Lucky Duck Speedy
- Black beard brig
- robbery
- Immunity Quest
One thing to keep in mind is that this is one of the few escape rooms where you can play with others without booking the entire room.
You may be lucky and have not booked it to others, but if you want your own room, you have to pay as if there are many people, it is usually about 8 people.
It’s only 10 minutes on the road Hampton Inverch Run/Frankenmus.
They offer free parking, free breakfast and an indoor pool, and are located across from the outlet mall!
Click here to book the Hampton Inn Birch Run/Frankenmuth Stay!
Conclusion: Frankenmuth Day Trip Itinerary
Frankenmus has long been on the bucket list due to its Christmas shop and its appearance as a Bavarian village in the middle of Michigan.
It’s enough to fill the day, but that’s about it.
We loved German food, browsed the shops and checked out the antique shops nearby.
Hopefully we can visit again in the winter when it all ended for Christmas!
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