Local Guide

The Leelanau Peninsula

M-22 loops the entire peninsula — through small towns, wineries, Fishtown, and the edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes. It's the best day trip from TC.

The Route

M-22 is the two-lane highway that follows the perimeter of the Leelanau Peninsula northwest of Traverse City. The full loop is roughly 120 miles and takes about three to four hours of drive time without stops — which means a full day once you add any meaningful time in the towns, wineries, or parks along the way. The clockwise direction (north on M-22 through Suttons Bay, west to Northport, south through Leland and Glen Arbor, back east through Empire) gives you the bay on your left heading out and the lake on your right coming back.

M-22 has become enough of a destination in itself that there's a bumper sticker — you'll see it on half the cars at any trailhead. The road earned it. In fall especially, the combination of color, water views, and orchard fields makes it one of the best drives in the Midwest.

Suttons Bay

Suttons Bay is the first real town heading north from TC, about fifteen miles up M-22 on the east side of the peninsula. It's a small, walkable main street that has held onto a local character that larger resort towns often lose — a hardware store next to a good restaurant, a wine bar with actual locals at the bar. The waterfront has a park and a marina, and on clear mornings the bay is flat and still in a way that makes it hard to leave. A few tasting rooms are within a short drive, making Suttons Bay a natural first stop if you're combining wine with the loop.

Northport

Northport sits at the tip of the peninsula, past miles of cherry orchards and bay views. It's quiet in a way that feels deliberate — a small harbor, a general store, a few restaurants, and not much else. Northport Point extends past the village proper with summer homes on a long sand spit that juts into the bay. It's worth driving out to the tip to turn around: the view back toward the peninsula at the end of the point, with water on three sides, is one of those spots that makes you slow down. Plan for lunch here before heading south.

Leland & Fishtown

Leland is the peninsula's most photographed spot: a cluster of original fishing shanties from the early twentieth century straddling the channel between Lake Leelanau and Lake Michigan, converted over decades into fish shops, galleries, and small retailers. Carlson's Fishery has been smoking whitefish and lake trout in Fishtown since 1904 — if you're doing one food stop on the peninsula, make it here. Buy smoked fish and eat it by the channel. The fish market is small and busy in summer; go early or be patient.

Beyond Fishtown, Leland has a good independent bookshop and a few restaurants worth considering for a longer lunch. The village is small enough to walk in twenty minutes, which is part of its appeal.

Glen Arbor

Glen Arbor sits at the edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and the transition is immediate — you're driving through woods and the dunes are visible above the tree line. Cherry Republic is the mandatory stop: a store dedicated entirely to Michigan cherry products, from jam to beer to chocolate, with a tasting counter that seems designed to make you spend more than you planned. It works. Art's Tavern is the local bar and burger institution, been there since 1934, still the right place for a late lunch on the M-22 loop. Glen Arbor is also the jumping-off point for the Sleeping Bear Dunes proper — see our Sleeping Bear Dunes guide for what to do if you're adding the park to your day.

Empire

Empire is the last significant stop before M-22 turns east toward Traverse City. The Empire Bluffs Trail is two miles round trip and ends at a 400-foot bluff over Lake Michigan — one of the best views in the park with significantly less foot traffic than the Dune Climb. Worth the thirty-minute detour. The village has a beach, a few shops, and Joe's Friendly Tavern — a bar and grill that's been operating since 1945 and makes no apologies for being exactly what it is. It's the right end to the loop.

How Long It Takes

A minimum loop with one or two stops is doable in five to six hours; leave TC by 9am and you're back for dinner. A full day — wineries, Fishtown lunch, Glen Arbor, Empire Bluffs — takes eight to nine hours and benefits from leaving early. Fall is when the loop reaches its peak: the cherry and maple trees along M-22 turn in October, the crowds thin out after Labor Day, and the light on the bay in the afternoon is exceptional. If you can do one day trip from Traverse City, this is it.