TRAVELODGE
(906) 482-1400; reservations (800) 578-7878; travelodgeofhoughton.com
This 67-room hotel isn't fancy but relatively cheap and has good new beds and view of either the canal or city. It's at the west end of downtown Houghton, its taverns, movie theater, and shops, right across from the historic Ambassador restaurant, an easy walk across the lift bridge for a great view of town and the Portage Waterway. The hotel is built into the hillside. The fourth and fifth floors (approached by car from uphill Montezuma Ave.) offer excellent views of the bridge, Quincy Hill, and Mount Ripley ski hill. Rooms in summer range for $64 for a king bed to $141 for suite with king bed. (To go downtown to Shelden Ave., it's necessary to walk down two flights of stairs.) Rooms on the second and third floors open onto an enclosed hallway. The first floor has drive-up rooms. All rooms have coffeemakers, phones with free local calls, and wireless internet. Free continental breakfast.

The third-floor pool room has a 40' pool, sauna, and hot tub. There's an interesting view of parts of downtown. Wood trusses and cedar siding give the room a warm, airy look. Tables and chairs make it a nice place to hang out. Aug/2010

SUPER 8 MOTEL
(906) 482-2240; exploringthenorth.com/super8h; super8.com
The 85-room Super 8 here has many extras starting with a quiet Portage Waterway location away from U.S. 41 with three docks, waterfront seating, and a paved walking trail to downtown Houghton and the spectacular chutes and ladders playground on the west 4-mile bike trail and the Nara Nature Trail on the Pilgrim River mouth. It's hard to believe that Super 8 is considered an economy chain by national standards. Half the rooms look out onto a simple garden, the water, and the Mount Ripley ski hill and historic Ripley smelter. This view is shared by two large motelside decks with picnic tables (a gas grill is usually on the bigger deck by the meeting room) and also by tables and benches near additional grills on the docks, from which you can fish.

Boaters can pull up and dock for free at the city of Houghton's dock outside. A kayak landing is adjacent. (In winter the bike path becomes part of a major snowmobile trail, so Super 8 becomes a snowmobile hub and less quiet.)

The large lobby and lounge is well supplied with visitor information. In the big breakfast room with water view, a free continental-plus breakfast with waffles. Coffee, tea, magazines, and a small microwave are available for guests at any time.

A large, two-story pool room with many tables and chairs has lots of natural light but no particular view. The pool is some 50 feet long, whirlpool, and electric sauna. The large conference room with water view is frequently used by local groups. There's a guest laundry and fax service.

Rooms are large and attractively decorated, with wi-fi internet. Half face the water, half the parking lot. Most have two queen beds, a desk, and two chairs. Standard rooms for 2 queens $83; 2 doubles or 1 queen $80; 1 There's a 2-room whirlpool suite that sleeps 4 and has a kitchenette. Aug/2010

MTU ROOMS & SUITES
(906) 487-2543; mub.mtu.edu
Most Houghton visitors are unaware of this array of campus lodgings for visitors. The Memorial Union Building has four pleasant second-floor guest rooms. All have cable TV, mini-fridges, wi-fi internet, coffeemakers, desks, tub/shower combos, phones, and no particular view. 2 queen rooms ($59) are cozy. The $79 executive suite has 2 rooms, one with a queen bed, the other with a sofabed queen plus refrigerator and microwave. It is as big as a small apartment. Free parking and easy access to MTU events and the Seaman Mineralogical Museum. The union has a food court, bookstore, game room, and bowling alley.

Wadsworth Hall (487-2687), across U.S. 41 from the main campus, has guest rooms and suites with wi-fi internet. Call for rates.

MTU also offers more spartan rooms with two beds and a private bath for $25 & $38/night and with shared bath for $30 and $20/night. Call 906-487-2682.

Guests with MTU connections can stay in the well-designed Daniell Heights Apartments (487-2727), also with wireless internet. 1 BR apartment is $69; 2 BR $89. Weekly and monthly rates are less. Small studio with one double-size futon bed is $59. —Aug/2010

BUDGET HOST INN
(906) 482-5351; bihoughton.com
This well-run, peaceful 23-room motel, formerly the Vacationland, is now part of the Budget Host Inn franchise of mostly older properties, inspected for cleanliness and friendly, attentive staffing. The location, at Houghton's east outskirts, has many plusses. Just across U.S. 41 is a walking/bike path (firm surfaced with fine crushed rock) and ungroomed snowmobile trail between Houghton and Chassell. Guests could walk less than 1/4 mile along the wide road shoulder to one of the area's best restaurants, the Pilgrim River Steakhouse. Another quarter mile and you're at the Pilgrim River mouth, the Nara Nature Trail and Park. The 18-hole Portage Lake Golf Course with bar and grill is two blocks away. MTU cross-country trails are nearby.
The motel sits well back from busy U.S. 41 among mature pines. Three buildings are grouped around a 20' by 40' outdoor pool and picnic area and an authentic Finnish sauna. All 23 rooms have picture windows, cable TV, paneling and older furniture, and a pleasantly tailored, outdoorsy look. The 10 rooms in the 2-story section ($65) are larger, with 2 double beds, shower/tubs, and in most rooms desks. Drive-up rooms ($50) with 1 bed are smaller. The $140 suite sleeps 4. All rooms have wi-fi internet. Ask about large family room. The small lobby with seating offers free coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and a simple continental breakfast, plus magazines and excellent local information. 8/2010

THE DOWNTOWNER
(906) 482-4421
Surprising in many ways, the Downtowner Motel offers 27 somewhat dowdy but meticulously clean, quiet rooms. Its 2 two-story buildings flank the parking lot right on busy Shelden Avenue in downtown Houghton. In good weather its highlight is the big back deck with comfortable lounge chairs. They face a fabulous view, looking up at the nearby lift bridge and across at the landmark Quincy Mine and fine homes of East Hancock.
    Owners Pat and Bob Long have fussed over The Downtowner since buying it in the 1970s. The lobby proclaims his Irishness and allegiance to Detroit's Denby High. She's a natural clean freak who takes great pride in her fluffy big white towels and crisp white sheets. Their cluttered, office, filled with visitor information, is utterly unlike the serene, well-ventilated, air-conditioned rooms. Their distinctive, comfortable mood is set by a subdued, sophisticated palette of 1960s-70s colors (rusts and persimmons, gray and olive) and furniture. Solid construction, excellent sound insulation and judicious use of handsome carpeted walls reduce traffic noise to where it's barely audible.
     Rooms vary widely. Some visitors complain about saggy beds Some rooms have a king, some one or two queens. Most are relatively small. All have desks, phones, coded internet, cable TV, and bathrooms with tub-showers. Many have La-Z-Boy loungers. Coffee is in the office. Room 17, with its bed niche and corner window, is where Great Lakes folk singer Lee Murdock wrote "The Downtowner Motel," part of his standard repertoire, about a freighter sailor who spent his winters there. Today tourists and older guests are given rooms in the east building. Its upper rear deck looks across and down the waterway, where sunsets can be spectacular. Typical summer rates for two have been around $68-$78. Downtowner showpieces are the four much larger "new rooms" from 1988, each with two queens. Two popular college bars are nearby: the Downtowner (separately owned) and the Ambassador. Noise is not a problem. Good breakfast spots are within three blocks. The motel caters to repeat visitors, often MTU parents and alums, who come back over the decades. 8/2010

BAYSHORE INN
(906) 482-9010
Innkeeper Pat Muller has rebuilt her peaceful waterfront farm home so that three guest rooms in this vacation rental are on their own walkout lower level, sharing a bath, gathering area and kitchen so meals and snacks can be prepared. It's perfect for families and groups of snowmobilers or skiers; longer stays work out fine. Each guest room has a peaceful, panoramic view of Portage Lake near the North Entry - eight miles northwest of Houghton, where Pat works at MTU. There's quite a range of activities on this 40-acre farm: a dock on the waterway, fishing in the stocked trout pond or waterway, use of Pat's paddleboat or two-person kayak on waterway or pond, swimming and picnicking on Lake Superior at nearby Stanton Township Park. So the visitor experience is like being in a getaway cottage or small resort. Water birds and other wildlife are plentiful, and many bird feeders bring birds up close. Guests can share an authentic wood-fired sauna. There's an excellent video library for the cable TV/VCR/DVD. E-mail can be checked at Pat's computer.
    Decor is rather elegant in a comfortable, antique-filled way. One room has two doubles, another a double and a queen, and another one queen. Rooms available by the week in summer; two-day minimum in winter. —8/2010

PORTAGE LAKE CABINS
(906) 482-8755
Beautiful grounds on Portage Lake, completely remodeled rooms with lake views, and lots of extras make this five-unit resort stand out. From the highway you can't see the very pleasant sandy beach and attractive gazebo, with a grand view across Torch Bay to the Huron Mountains. Guests can use the paddle boat, dock, boat launch, and fish-cleaning station. (Dreamland with its good bar/restaurant is just 10 minutes away by boat.) The hard-surfaced bike/walking/snowmobile trail by the road goes to Houghton and Chassell; the Portage Lake Golf Course is nearby. The large office, next to the home of owners Tom and Marcy Romps, also serves as a gathering room, nice for groups. Guests can use office phone or check e-mail by plugging their computers into a jack on the porch, or the laundry. New additions are basketball, shuffleboard, and horseshoes away from the beach and cabins. The breezy location has minimized mosquitos.
    The two freestanding cottages are close to the water, quite private, with their own porches. One has three separate bedrooms (sleeps up to 8) and air-conditioning. Three attached units closer to the road look onto a lawn and a more distant water view from their shared porch. Each unit has a picnic table, lawn chairs, and gas grill. Inside all are carpeted and drywalled, with oak and birch ceilings. All have queen beds, cable TV, newish oak furniture, and full kitchens with microwaves, coffeemakers, etc. Four units have one room and sleep up to four with a sofa bed. Now no-smoking. Rentals by the week only in summer ($475-$750 in 2004). Call in fall for scattered summer openings. Daily rates range from $50 to $85 for the one-room units, higher in ski and snowmobile season.

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