There is a point on M-22 north of Frankfort where the road crests a hill and the lake opens up to the left and you understand immediately why people come back to this drive every summer for the rest of their lives. It does not require commentary. It requires a slow speed and an open window and the willingness to pull over whenever something in the landscape demands it, which is frequently.
The Route: Where It Starts and What It Covers
The full M-22 corridor runs 116 miles from Traverse City north and west through the Leelanau Peninsula and south through Benzie County, looping back toward Manistee. A summer day trip from Traverse City covers the most essential portion: north on M-22 through Leelanau County, across the peninsula through Glen Arbor and Empire, south through Frankfort and into Benzie County, returning to Traverse City via US-31. That loop covers roughly 100 miles and could theoretically be driven in two hours. Nobody drives it in two hours. The point is not the driving. The point is everything you stop for along the way.
North from Traverse City: The Leelanau Stretch
Leaving Traverse City on M-22 heading north, the road climbs quickly into cherry orchard country with views back toward Grand Traverse Bay that reward a glance in the rearview mirror. The first meaningful stop for many drivers is Suttons Bay, a village of genuine character with independent shops, galleries, and restaurants that justify a longer stop than a drive-through glance allows.
Continuing north, the road passes through Leland, home of Fishtown, one of the most photographed and genuinely authentic working fishing communities left on the Great Lakes. The weathered shanties over the water, the commercial fishing boats, and the smoked fish shop that has been there for generations are the real thing rather than a recreation of it. A bag of smoked fish from Carlson’s carries well and makes the rest of the drive better.
The road continues north to Northport at the tip of the peninsula, a small harbor town with an arts community, a well-stocked independent bookstore, and the kind of unhurried afternoon energy that people who discover it on a drive tend to come back for on purpose the next time.
The Glen Arbor Corridor and Sleeping Bear
Coming back south on the western side of the peninsula, M-22 enters the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore corridor, and this is where the landscape shifts into something that stops conversations mid-sentence. The dunes visible from the road are not the small sandy hills of a typical lakeside park. They are enormous, in the hundreds of feet, and their relationship to the blue water visible beyond them is one of those combinations that makes people question whether they are actually in Michigan or somewhere considerably more dramatic.
Glen Arbor is the natural stop in this stretch: a village with genuine appeal, Cherry Republic in its original flagship location, good food options, and proximity to the trailheads and overlooks that give access to the dunes and the lake in ways that the road itself does not. The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive within Sleeping Bear is a seven-mile paved loop with overlook stops that produce the kind of views that justify every mile of the larger drive.
Empire and the Lake Michigan Shore
Empire sits at the southern edge of the national lakeshore and offers a beach access and overlook combination that makes it one of the better spots on the entire route to stop and get out of the car for an hour. The Empire Bluffs Trail is a 1.5-mile round trip through forest to a bluff overlook above Lake Michigan that is among the more rewarding short hikes in the state. The beach at the Empire boat launch is swimmable, free, and less crowded than the beaches within the national lakeshore that require a pass.
Frankfort and the Benzie Stretch
South of Empire, M-22 enters Benzie County and arrives in Frankfort, a harbor town two blocks from Lake Michigan with one of the most inviting downtowns on the route. Stormcloud Brewing Company, the Belgian-inspired brewery that has won national recognition, is the natural stop here for an afternoon beer before the final leg back toward Traverse City. The Frankfort waterfront and the view of the harbor from the pier is worth the time it takes to walk out to it.
The Drive Is the Thing
The M-22 road trip is the kind of experience that people who do it once add to the permanent inventory of what they love about northern Michigan. It is best done slowly, with no fixed agenda and no parking reservation and no time pressure. Stop when something requires stopping. Eat when you are hungry rather than when you planned to be. Let the drive take as long as it takes.
For people considering property in this region, a day on M-22 is one of the more effective ways to understand the geography, the scale, and the character of the place they are considering buying into. The villages and the landscape and the water are all present in their actual proportions rather than in listing photographs, and the experience of moving through the corridor tends to clarify what a buyer actually wants in a way that looking at listings on a screen does not.
We are here when the drive convinces you. Start at thefoerstergroup.com.