My husband and I did a tour with Captain Tim yesterday on the six hour Kettle Falls tour. Tim was…read morevery knowledgeable about the park and the area. He had a wonderful personality and as other people have said became our friend right away. I loved his sense of humor. It was a very nice boat and a top-notch operation. We would highly recommend this.

This was my first visit to International Falls, and I knew I had to get on the water to really see…read moreVoyageurs National Park. I was leery of paying $120 for a 2 hr boat tour, but it turned out to be well worth it. First week of October is already past the busy season and there wasn't much in the way of fall colors on the lake yet, but it was a truly beautiful ride nonetheless. Our guide Tim grew up on the lake and was not only full of information about the incredible history (and prehistory) of the region, but had his own stories to share that added such a depth and personal touch to the experience. I could have happily listened to him all day. If I can make it back someday for the 6 hour, I hope Tim is my guide once again.

Tracy is absolutely the best resort operator on Kabetogama. We stopped by the other day and she…read morehad staff detailing the stainless steel grills (that had sear stations)!!! We toured many of the cabins and we were very impressed. By far, Northern Lights has the nicest and most luxurious cabins in Voyageurs National Park.

Northern Lights Resort is great--we rented a kayak there during a trip to Voyageurs National Park,…read moreand the staff was helpful and friendly and made it so easy. We weren't able to start out until the afternoon and still had plenty of time to kayak around the nearby island. Great trip, wonderful service, lovely scenery!

Great place to stock up on lures and get a massive amount of ice cream. I got two scoops and I was…read moresitting there as he put like 6 scoops in. I will be coming many more times in the future.

Biggest one scoop of ice cream I have ever had in my life!!! Pretty impressed with the tackle…read moreselection as well.

Staff were helpful. My family took a trip on a houseboat. It was a great way to visit different…read morecamping spots on the large lake and have good swimming spots. The boat were older/ worn. The boat seemed good for fisherman and many users not use to driving a big boat. The basic guides were helpful provided were helpful.

We had hoped to rent a fair sized houseboat but our other families couldn't make it at the last…read moreminute due to their work and COVID travel restrictions. The kind helpful folks at Rainy Lake Houseboats let us trade for their rental house, which was terrific. I'm sure we will return (although it is quite a drive for us but it was well worth it). I was going to shout out a few of the people who helped us but looking back I'm pretty sure everybody there helped us in one way or another. Nice people!

Voyageurs Adventures has been my "go to" place for questions about fishing, the services near the…read morePark and about the Park itself. Wade has been helpful with ideas and information. He's been a guide for a long time and knows in-depth information and is very easy to talk to with questions and for information.

From the owner: We are your guide to fishing, kayaking, camping, or boat tours on Lake Kabetogama or Voyageurs…read moreNational Park. Northern Minnesota's water-based National Park we can help you explore this beautiful area with over 400 islands and 100,000 acres of water!

It was our first time staying in a houseboat and our experience with Ebel company was great. We…read morefelt comfortable working with Katy, Justin, Justin's wife, Dennis and Garvin. Our family has been in some national parks but the whole family all agrees that this trip to Voyageurs National Park on is one of the best. The main reasons are that we stayed on Ebel's houseboat, did motorboating, kayaking and some camping. Before this trip, we didn't know much about operating boat. But Dannis explained everything in details and went extra mile helping us on our first day. On the 3rd day something unexpected happened and we needed urgent help. Justin and Katie responded quickly and efficiently solved the problem. They truly care about their customers and we really appreciated their help. We highly recommend Ebel.

This was our second adventure spending a week traversing Voyageurs National Park on a houseboat…read morefrom Ebel's and we have only positive things to say!! They are so welcoming, friendly, and go above and beyond to help!! We had a flat tire on our boat trailer about 6 miles away from them and they went above and beyond to help us!! The houseboats are truly the adventure of a lifetime. Talk about having all of the amenities in the middle of nowhere...there is truly nothing quite like it. We had the vista series this trip and it was amazing! We loved the solarium front of the boat and the hot tub on the upper deck! Thank you to Katie, Justin, Heather, and the rest of the Ebel's crew for a great time!

Voyageurs is an under visited park with lots to offer. It excels at paddle packing. You must have a…read moreboat to really explore the park because no camping is available except on islands in the park's lakes. The park doesn't rent boats so plan to bring your own or rent from a local outfitter. If you do need somewhere cheap or free to sleep nearby, check the overnight parking area at Wooden Frog which also comes with water and vault toilet facilities. There are three different visitors centers each offering something different.

After coming here to Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota I have officially been to every…read moreNP in the continental United States! I am proud...took many years to accomplish. Let me explain why this very remote and secluded park mostly based out on the waters was just okay, and not really memorable in terms of sights and surroundings. There are 3 sections to Voyageurs that I explored. - The Kabetogama Lake area. - The Rainy Lake section. - The Ash River part. In total...I used 2 full days hanging out and getting to know what Voyageurs is all about. I dedicated 1 entire day to a boat tour around Voyageurs. And btw...if you are new to Voyageurs for the first time...it is best explored by boat tour. If you don't take a boat...then you're wasting your time. The hikes/trails and or scenic views are extremely minimal here. Just a heads up to be prepared...I would have my expectations tempered for coming here. I advise to simply enjoy the forest setting along Kabetogama and Rainy Lakes like I did and appreciate being out in nature. I booked my day Grand Voyageur day excursion boat tour with a former employee of Voyageurs NP named Bill. He has his own website called Border Guide Service for navigating the waters with roughly 10 people in your group. It's a 6-hour tour costing $160. He can be found online at the website voyageursnationalparktours.com. We departed on our boat tour from the Kabetogama Lake section of Voyageurs. Bill was insightful and knew all the history and popular sights and landmarks to visit. Here's a sample of what I got to check out while on his tour... Kettle Falls and Hotel, Hoist Bay, Ellsworth Rock Gardens, Junction Bay and Daily Brook. Bill is friendly and I'd recommend his tour. I appreciated my time getting to know more about what makes Voyageurs unique. You can book a Voyageurs Park tour with recreation.gov...the national park service website. I never reserved with this website because this past summer for the middle of June and because of the pandemic...recreation.gov didn't offer many available times and options for tours. We have been just sort of exiting the pandemic and maybe they gave tours twice a week, which wasn't good enough in my book because of how I scheduled my journey here. I needed more accessible options other than recreation.gov. Bill at voyageursnationalparktours.com offered tours every day, much more accommodative for me. I know I only have so much room to write so I'll try and be concise about what I saw at all 3 sections when not traveling by boat. I spent 1 full day out of Kabetogama Lake with my tour. Otherwise, other than a small Visitors Center here, there's not much offered, not even a worthwhile hiking trail. I spent my 2nd full day half the time at the Rainy Lake section and the afternoon time at the Ash River area. Btw, all 3 sections are within 20 - 40 miles driving distance from each other. Rainy Lake is the primary part to Voyageurs. A lot of private boats depart onto the waters from here including the recreation.gov boat tour. The Visitor Center here was great, offering good souvenirs, getting your Parks Pass stamped and even a park film. I did 2 hikes here - the Rainy Lake Recreation Trail and the Oberholtzer Trail. Both are simple along flat ground and give you an introduction into the surroundings of Rainy Lake. The Ash River I believe was the smallest of all 3 sections and the least visited. Although Voyageurs wasn't meant to be hiked...yet here at Ash River were the most decent trails. And again, there's a small VC here. The hikes I did were Kabetogama Lake Overlook, Blind Ash Bay, Sullivan Bay and Beaver Pond Overlook. These hikes offered some pleasant sights. Ultimately, I only hiked and walked around at Rainy Lake and Ash River, and I used Kabetogama Lake as my boat destination for departing onto the waters to the famous sights of Kettle Falls, Hoist Bay and Ellsworth Rock Gardens. Extra notes... In the Kabetogama section...there's the Gateway General Store and Gas Station where you can pick up all your supplies and any extras you may need. I stopped here every morning and grabbed breakfast with an egg sandwich and coffee. I really recommend this place. For accommodations I stayed in the Kabetogama Lake area and camped out at WoodenFrog State Forest Campground. For those tourists who appreciate sleeping outdoors...I definitely suggest WoodenFrog Campground for $17 a night, pitching your tent among spacious surroundings. When hanging out in Rainy Lake...the town of International Falls is situated just 10 miles away. Int'l Falls is the biggest town near Voyageurs. It has everything including fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Dairy Queen, supermarkets including hotels and motels. Voyageurs NP is fine for a couple days visit getting a chance to check it off your NP To-Do List. I paired it with Isle Royale NP a few days prior, another primitive park set in the UP of Michigan. Alright, this is Voyageurs NP.

My husband & I rented a Suncruiser for a weekend (3 nights)…read more Of course, the area is beautiful and really fun to explore. Neither of us had ever been to the area so it was a treat. We got lucky with good weather, which was a bonus. The overall experience was awesome, but more due to the area than the boat. I loved the beauty and peace & quiet that surrounded us each day. The staff is friendly and helpful, although disorganized and struggling to communicate. We waited about 1 1/2 hours for someone to give us our orientation to the boat so we could get underway. When someone finally showed up, he said no one had radioed him we were waiting, even though we had checked in and sat around in the lobby for a long time. The orientation we got was helpful and we felt pretty much ready to head out. But it was a lot of info and we were both afraid we were going to forget some of the details of an hourlong overview. There is a book on board with some of the info repeated; if they could add to it, that would be really helpful. The boat itself had definitely seen better days. Lots of damage and general wear & tear. Thankfully, though, everything worked as expected and we had no problems. The kitchen is well-stocked with dishes, glassware, pots/pans, toaster, coffee pot, etc. The refrigerator is powered by propane, as is the drinking water, which was good because we didn't want to run the generator all the time due to the noise. There was also a microwave and a propane stovetop. The boat we actually requested was supposed to have an oven but they gave us a different boat, without explanation. It would have been nice if they had provided dish soap and hand soap; thankfully we did bring our own. They charge a lot for gas when you bring the boat back in, along with a "convenience fee" which is frankly ridiculous. It's not like there was somewhere we could have stopped along the way to fill it up ourselves, like you do with a rental car. Would we do it again? I'd love to be back on the lakes and exploring the islands again, but the total bill came out to over $500/night for the smallest boat they have. That's probably too much to warrant a repeat.

We rented the Aurora for a week in 2020. There were 4 families, we put the kids on air mattress's…read morein the galley. We all had a great time however, we were very, very disappointed with the boat and the owners. The ad says 2 FULL size frig's. WRONG!! Both of the frig's together MIGHT make 1 full size frig. They are approx 2 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep. A 3 lb. marg. tub filled the top shelf. One frig did not work very good and halfway thru our week we had to throw food away because it spoiled. We were in a cabin behind the showers. Both bedroom floors carpets in back of the bathrooms were wet all week from leaks in both showers. They took 1 shower curtain liner and cut it in half for both showers. It didn't even reach the sides of the shower. Plus the showers leaked from underneath. There are no hooks on the walls of the cabins to hang anything, no bars for hangers, our bags were under the bed and our clothes were wet by the middle of the week. The ad said NO dogs, which is great with us. But that should include THE OWNERS dog too. We were putting things away and they just let their dog roam our boat. We were trying to figure out the frig situation and set a pan of macaroni and tuna salad on top of a cooler. Their dog came in, pushed the lid off the pan (disposable pan) and started eating our tuna salad!! We had to throw away food before we even started our trip. And we had to keep chasing the dog out. The man who was showing us the boat did not apologize and did nothing to stop that darn dog. And when they came out to bring ice or pick up garbage that dog was along and would jump onto our boat and try to eat anything we had out. We all want to take a houseboat trip again, but I'm pretty sure we will be looking for another company to rent a boat from. The radio didn't work half the time, the boat was full of flies and mosquitoes. We spent over $7000 between all of us. Way too much for this kind of service.