The Coral Castle is a very comfortable dog & family-friendly home right in the downtown Frankfort residential area! It is just a short walk to Lake Michigan, Frankfort Beach, Betsie Lake, and downtown Frankfort with its lovely shops and restaurants. Includes super-fast Wi-Fi (up to 1000 Mbps), 5 Roku tv's with live streaming via Hulu, board & lawn games, jetted bathtub, washer / dryer, both front and back porches, fenced-in backyard, gas grill, outdoor dining furniture, and a bonfire ring!
NEIGHBORHOOD:
The property is located in the downtown Frankfort residential area. It is basically a northern Michigan small vacation town environment. It is very safe!
The home is in a great location for exploring the northwest corner of Michigan's Lower Peninsula! It is conveniently located close to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Michigan, Betsie Lake, Crystal Lake, and the fun beach towns of Frankfort, Arcadia, Elberta, Beulah, and Empire. The home is also only a 21-minute drive from Crystal Mountain Resort for skiing, snowboarding, and winter sports.
Also, if larger-city things are desired such as lots of restaurants, great shopping, and lots of entertainment and nightlife options, the home is only an approx. 1-hour drive from downtown Traverse City, which has a wonderful collection of dining, shopping, and entertainment options!
ACCESS:
Guests have access to everything on the property except for the following:
* the large boat garage that is on the alley behind the house (There is a separate small garage at the end of the driveway that is available for guests to use.)
* owner storage closet on the second floor that is locked off
THE SPACE:
The Coral Castle is a very comfortable, cozy, bright, and dog-and-family-friendly vacation rental cottage to stay at while enjoying a nice family or group vacation in northern Michigan. The house has been extensively remodeled within the last 10 years. It has a bright, beautiful, and modern design that features a considerable amount of lightly-colored woodwork, a large number of windows that provide exceptional natural lighting and a relaxing, beachy, 'lake-effect' feel to the home, and the home is filled with beautiful original artwork that has been created by the property owner herself.
The cottage has 4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, and is approx. 1750 square feet in size. It can sleep up to 12 adults. In terms of bedrooms and bathrooms, one of the 4 bedrooms is located on the first floor. It has a lovely queen-size bed in it and it has its own private bath. A thick curtain in the entryway to the bedroom can be closed for privacy to shut off the bedroom from the rest of the house. There are three bedrooms upstairs, including a kids room that has 2 very cute matching twin beds in it. The other two upstairs bedrooms each have a comfortable queen-size bed in them. (One of these two bedrooms also has a sofa bed in it, so that 4 adults can sleep in the bedroom.) Note that all 4 bedrooms have their own private live-streaming television in them.
There are 2 full bathrooms downstairs (each downstairs bathroom has a shower) and a full bathroom upstairs that features a large and relaxing jetted tub. The common downstairs bathroom also includes a washer and dryer in it. The water in Frankfort is quite hard, so the home does have a water softener to soften the water.
The kitchen has been recently updated and includes a new stainless steel refrigerator, dishwasher, and microwave. The kitchen also has a gas range (with 4 gas burners and an oven), which works great for cooking delicious meals! The home also has a coffee pot, crockpot cooker, blender, toaster, and a good supply of pots and pans, dishes, silverware, and cutlery.
There is also a gas grill in the backyard for grilling and an outdoor dining area in the backyard with outdoor dining furniture. The backyard is also fully fenced-in (which is great for kids and dogs) and there is a fun and family-friendly bonfire ring with Adirondack chairs in the backyard for cooking delicious s'mores at night!
The cottage also includes free super high-speed Wi-Fi, with speed up to 1000 Mbps. The home has 4 televisions with a very large 55-inch flatscreen television in the living room and 43-inch flatscreen televisions in 3 out of the 4 bedrooms. All of the televisions have Roku with live-streaming from Hulu (which provides the equivalent of cable television), PureFlix, Netflix, and Disney+. A good collection of board games is also provided at the home (in the living room) for lots of family fun!
The house does not have air conditioning, but it does have numerous ceiling fans and pedestal fans. Given these fans, the weather in northern Michigan, and the cottage's proximity to ever-cool Lake Michigan, air conditioning really is generally not needed to keep the cottage cool and comfortable. Central natural gas heating is provided for keeping the house warm and cozy in the winter. Water for the home is provided by Frankfort's public water system and a new water softener is in place to soften Frankfort's fairly hard public water. Sewage is handled by Frankfort public sewage system.
In terms of wheelchair-accessibility, the cottage unfortunately is not very wheelchair-accessible and we would not recommend it for individuals in wheelchairs. For individuals in wheelchairs or other special needs, we recommend one of our other cottages in Frankfort, The Leelanau Cottage, which is quite wheelchair-accessible.
Parking for up to 3 cars is available in the driveway. There is a small garage at the end of the driveway which is available to guests to use for storage of kayaks, canoes, bicycles, motorcycles, skis, snowboards, snowmobiles, or whatever else will fit in the garage.
TRANSIT:
There is public bus service in the area via The Benzie Bus, but it is recommended that guests have their own vehicle for transportation.
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
1) PARKING: There is parking available in the driveway for up to 3 vehicles. There is also parking available behind the house and along the street in front of the house. Overnight parking is not permitted on the street though from November through April to facilitate snow removal from public streets. To avoid issues with the neighbors, we do limit the maximum number of vehicles at the property to 3 vehicles though. We also ask that guests do not park on the street in front of neighboring properties.
2) PET POLICY: Up to 3 dogs are permitted at the property. If bringing 1 to 3 dogs, please make certain that they are included on the reservation and that the pet fee is appropriately paid. More than 3 dogs is strictly prohibited and any pets other than dogs are also strictly prohibited.
3) AIR CONDITIONING: Please note that the property does NOT have air conditioning. As such, it may get warm in the house during the summer if it is warm outside.
4) NUMBER OF GUESTS: Please note that our pricing is based upon the number of guests, with pricing being higher with each additional guest that is included on the reservation. Please make certain that the correct number of guests is specified on the reservation so that the pricing is correct.
5) EARLY CHECK-IN: Our policy is to allow early check-in on the day of arrival if the property is available for check-in. We will not know until the day before arrival whether or not the property will be available for early check-in or not. You can check with our local property manager the day before arrival or on your arrival day to see if the property will be available for early check-in or not.
6) LATE CHECK-OUT: We maintain a very strict and structured cleaning schedule. As such, late check-outs are strictly prohibited.
7) PROPERTY NAME AND HISTORY: The property has been rented out for vacation rentals ever since 2013. It was first called "Bayside Cottage", but the exterior was completely repainted in 2025 with new colors: dark blue with bright coral trim (that is very colorful and definitely stands out ;-). With the new colors, we changed the name of the property to "The Coral Castle" accordingly.
8) PHOTOS: All current photos were taken in September, 2025.
9) WATER: The home does utilize a water softener for water softening.
