A Home-Exchange Cabin Getaway on Sand Lake
There is something especially peaceful about a cabin tucked among tall pines, with the lake visible through the trees and enough room for everyone to settle in.
Our experience
Our home-exchange stay on Sand Lake gave us exactly that.
Calling it a cabin almost undersells it. The house can sleep up to 10 people, which made it a great fit for family visits, multigenerational trips, and time with friends.
There is a large primary suite with its own full bathroom, several additional bedrooms, and a bunk room that quickly became one of the favorite spaces for the grandchildren. With four bunk beds, oversized stuffed animals, games, and toys, it was part bedroom, part playroom, and part imagination headquarters.
And outside, the lake and surrounding forest did the rest.
One of the things we like most about HomeExchange is that it works through a points system rather than a traditional hotel-style booking. When we share our own home, we receive 207 points per night. Those points can then be used toward stays in other members’ homes, many of which fall around a similar range. That has opened up a very different kind of travel for us. Instead of a hotel room, we can sometimes stay in a full home with bedrooms, a kitchen, neighborhood access, and enough space to bring family or friends along. We have already used home exchange for stays in places like downtown San Diego and St. Paul, and we have another longer stay planned in Two Harbors on Minnesota’s North Shore. For us, the value is not only about saving on lodging. It is about having more space, slowing down, and experiencing a destination from somewhere that feels more like a home than a temporary stop.
Must-sees and must-dos
- Spend time by Sand Lake — slow down enough to enjoy the water, trees, and quiet northern Minnesota setting.
- Make the cabin part of the trip — cook together, play games, relax indoors, and enjoy having enough room for everyone to spread out.
- Bring family or friends — larger exchange homes can make multigenerational trips much easier and more comfortable.
- Plan for rainy days — a well-stocked cabin with toys, games, and comfortable common spaces can make cooler weather part of the experience instead of a problem.
- Explore the woods and shoreline — simple walks and time outdoors are often enough to make a northern Minnesota stay feel restorative.
- Consider a home exchange for a longer stay — having a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, and a real living space can completely change the rhythm of a trip.
Our pro tip
Do not think of home exchange only as a way to save money. The bigger advantage can be the kind of trip it allows you to have.
A traditional hotel works well when you are moving quickly. But when you want to stay somewhere for several days, bring family along, cook some of your own meals, or simply have space to relax, a home can be a much better fit.
Sand Lake reminded us of that. We had room for the grandchildren, space to spend time together, a lake outside the door, and the kind of quiet that makes a few days feel longer in the best possible way.
That combination — a cabin, a lake, and a community of travelers willing to share their homes — is exactly why home exchange continues to work so well for us.
If you’re curious about trying home exchange yourself, join HomeExchange with our referral code roderick-15918 and start exploring whether home exchange might work for your own travels.