Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI

Glen Arbor's top-rated restaurant and gathering place, part of the Cherry Republic complex, with a patio, live music, craft cherry beers brewed on site, and a menu that leans into northern Michigan flavors. The cherry beer is the obvious order, and the outdoor scene on summer evenings is as good as it gets in Leelanau County.

A beloved year-round Italian restaurant on the south side of Glen Lake in Maple City, drawing Leelanau Peninsula regulars who know it's one of the most consistent kitchens in the region. The pasta is housemade, the wine list is serious, and the small dining room fills up fast on summer weekends.

French country dining in a 1940s cinderblock cottage at the crossroads of Burdickville, where the kitchen takes local ingredients seriously and the dining room feels like a detour into rural Burgundy. Prix-fixe dinners and seasonal menus keep things interesting, and the wine list is curated with genuine care.

A tiny, beloved breakfast and lunch spot in Empire directly across from the national lakeshore, known for fresh sandwiches made to order and hearty breakfast wraps that fuel dune climbers. The lines move fast despite the crowds and the quality-to-price ratio is the best in the area.

A relaxed Glen Arbor favorite doing American comfort food — fish tacos, whitefish sandwiches, burgers, and house-made desserts — in a casual, family-friendly room near the Sleeping Bear Dunes entrance. The kind of solid, consistent restaurant the area needed for years.

A 20-year-plus institution in Glen Arbor with an intimate dining room, a terrace overlooking the street, and a menu of polished American bistro cooking — fresh Lake Michigan fish, seasonal salads, wood-grilled meats. One of the most dependable kitchens in the Leelanau Peninsula.

The park's most dramatic and demanding experience: a 3.6-mile round trip entirely on open sand, climbing 666 feet to the Lake Michigan shore with no trees, no shade, and views that expand with every labored step. The lake appears suddenly at the top — one of the best surprise views in the Midwest.

A short 1.7-mile round trip through beech-maple forest that opens dramatically onto a high coastal bluff where a boardwalk overlook hangs 100 feet above the Lake Michigan shoreline. The double-dune view from the observation deck is the most-photographed image in the national lakeshore.

A 2.5-mile loop to the northernmost point of the national lakeshore, climbing 538 feet through hardwood forest to an exposed bluff with wide views across Lake Michigan, the Manitou Islands, and the Leelanau Peninsula. The views are genuinely better than many people expect from a trail this short.

A paved 22-mile multi-use trail connecting Empire to Good Harbor Bay through the heart of the national lakeshore, built for cyclists but open to walkers and inline skaters. It passes through Dune Climb, Glen Haven, Glen Arbor, and multiple Lake Michigan access points — the best way to experience the park without a car.

Glen Arbor's most entertaining retail experience and de facto town square — a cherry-everything compound with a flagship store, restaurant, ice cream, bakery, winery, and brewery, all built around the theme of Michigan's most celebrated fruit. The covered patio with lawn games and live music is where the village gathers on summer evenings.

The best way to see the backcountry of the national lakeshore without hiking: a 7-mile kayak or canoe float down the Crystal River, one of the clearest cold-water streams in Michigan, ending at Lake Michigan. The water is shallow enough to wade in, cold enough to stay in on the hottest summer day, and transparent to the sandy bottom throughout.

The national lakeshore's main orientation hub in Empire, where rangers provide current trail conditions, beach water quality updates, and recommendations specific to your visit. The small theater runs a short film on dune formation, and the center sells the annual and weekly park passes at the counter.

Glen Arbor's compact downtown block runs along Lake Street with a concentrated strip of galleries, craft shops, and local jewelers that reward slow browsing. The Leelanau Peninsula arts scene is real — the galleries carry originals from working regional artists, not reproduction prints.

The 116-mile M-22 highway circumnavigating the Leelanau Peninsula is one of Michigan's designated scenic byways, weaving between Lake Michigan and inland lakes through orchard country, fishing villages, and vineyard land. The northern stretch from Empire to Glen Arbor hugs the national lakeshore and is the most spectacular portion.

Towering sand dunes that rise 450 feet directly above Lake Michigan, backed by inland lakes, dense hardwood forest, and 64 miles of undeveloped Great Lakes shoreline. The national lakeshore was famously voted America's Most Beautiful Place on Good Morning America, and a visit makes it easy to understand why.

A 7.4-mile one-way loop through the heart of the national lakeshore, with 12 numbered stops overlooking Lake Michigan, Glen Lake, North Bar Lake, and the open dune face. Stop 9 at the Lake Michigan Overlook puts you 450 feet above the water on a cleared dune with a view that stretches to the horizon.

Set in a restored 1901 U.S. Life-Saving Station at the tip of the Sleeping Bear Point peninsula, this small NPS museum documents the harrowing rescues that lifesaving crews performed on Lake Michigan's roughest stretch of coastline. The beach outside is one of the most unspoiled in the park.