Grand Rapids Outdoor Recreation

Welcome to the Grand Outdoors! Grand Rapids is filled with activities to keep outdoor explorers busy in all four seasons. Best of all, you can hike, bike, golf, fish, paddle, skate, ski and more just minutes from big-city entertainment and culture.

Hike and bike miles of paved and natural trails – including 100+ miles of groomed mountain bike and fat bike tracks. Fish for salmon and steelhead in downtown Grand Rapids and swim in one of the nation’s largest urban parks five minutes away. Hit the ice skating rink at downtown’s Rosa Parks Circle and the snowy slopes at Cannonsburg Ski Area. Explore dozens of lakes and rivers via kayak, canoe or chartered fishing boat.

Up for some outdoor games? TheFriedEgg.com says Grand Rapids boasts “perhaps the best combination of affordable golf, quality course design and fun non-golf activities in the United States.” We’ve been named America’s #3 “pickleball-obsessed city,” with outdoor courts all over town, and the country’s #13 disc golf city, brimming with fantastic courses.  Beach volleyball is a fixture of the Lake Michigan coast, 30 or so minutes from GR.

Looking for a unique challenge? Tackle the boulder walls at Highland Park. Climb 279 steps to the top of Oval Beach’s Mt. Baldhead. Take a summer zipline through the trees or wander through a fall corn maze. Enter the Amway River Bank Run, America’s largest 25K road race, or the Grand Rapids Gran Fondo, an 80-mile bike ride through some of West Michigan’s most incredible scenery.

The Grand Outdoors is waiting for you – only in Grand Rapids!