Mushroom House Tours

It's very pricey for what you actually get out of this tour. You drive around for 45 minutes in a fancy golf cart and pull to the side a few times to look at the houses. Besides the colors of the bricks or mortar used, there was no other information about the houses given like their age or who/why they were built. The tour guide would occasionally hold up a binder with some pictures in it, but sitting in the last row, it's kind of hard to see a small picture like that. The guy talked more about the library and his coaching days than any of the houses. The part that really upset us was all of the homes in one area that had signs up saying "no tours please". The guide kind of laughed and said we just won't pull over and stop. Yes, these people bought very special and unique homes, but if they are asking for tours to not go by, it gives an icky feeling going through there on a tour. There's no parking directly at the pick up/drop off location. There is a lot next door, but it was completely packed full, and we ended up having to park 4 blocks away. Afterward, they give everyone a coupon code to purchase the virtual tour cheaper so you can see the inside of the houses. I feel like for the amount we pay, if there is a group of 2 tickets or more, they should just give you access to the virtual tour. Our group of 5 spent over $130 for this tour, and you're still trying to nickle and dime us just to show some pictures of the insides of these homes. Not to mention the venmo codes on every seat and on the guides' necks. It's distasteful. Overall, it was a fine tour, but for the lack of actual information, we could have driven around and just looked at these homes ourselves.

At the Mushroom House Tour site, I strolled the gift shop a bit (bought a tshirt ☺️) and then it was time to hop into the open air GEM car for our 50 minute tour of 25 homes created and built by Earl Young. Mr. Young's non-traditional creative intent was for his homes to blend naturally with the lay of the land, using prolific stonework, undulating lines, and focus attention to the smallest detail. The stones all came from farmer's fields in Michigan! I'll let my photos speak for themselves but this is a treasure to witness.

Took a tour today with Edith and it was SO fun and informative. We were debating whether to just drive around ourselves or go on a guided tour, and I’m so glad that we decided to take a tour with Mushroom House Tours! We wouldn’t have learned any of the fascinating history without Edith. She was so knowledgeable, personable, and there wasn’t a boring moment on the journey. I would recommend this to anyone visiting Charlevoix! 10/10, can’t wait to go back again in the future!