Sleeping Bear Dunes in August

For a four day trip I would focus on Frankfort, Glen Arbor, and Traverse City for any restaurants. It's brewery central up there. I like Hop Lot and Right Brain. A drive around the peninsula on M22 is essential. Crystal Lake and Platte/Little Platte are great inland lakes.

Village Cheese Shanty in Leland if you are there around lunch time. Tons of wineries up and down Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas. I've heard good things about Trattoria Stella in the old insane asylum in Traverse.

Heed the warning signs if you are going to go all the way to the bottom...you pay out of pocket if you need the coast guard to come pluck you from down there.

My wife and I just spent 4 days in that area a few weeks ago. We stayed at an Airbnb in Empire two blocks away from Joe's Friendly Tavern. My advice might be a little different as we brought our 2 dogs, so we stuck mostly dog-friendly activities. But it really didn't exclude too many things that we wanted to do.

- There really aren't THAT many restaurants in the Empire area. We tried a few, but nothing really stuck out. I would 100% recommend spending a day in Traverse City. Tons of restaurants there that are great. We got burgers at Slabtown, and it was one of the best burgers I've ever had. But you can spend most of the day walking down Front St. and not run out of food/drinks/shopping/etc.

- Grab some chocolate and/or ice cream at Grocer's Daughter Chocolate Shop in Empire.

- Glen Arbor is great little town. There's a small coffee place called Rinco Bros that's open seasonally that I would highly recommend. Grab some coffee from their window then walk across the street to Cherry Republic. We got some chocolate covered cherries and a few other cherry-themed snacks there, but it's an all-around great shop.

- Old Mission Peninsula (closer to Traverse City): This is wine country. I'd recommend taking a drive along the waterfront to the top of the peninsula. There's a lighthouse there that sits on the 45th Parallel (halfway point between equator and North Pole). There are a ton of wineries, but our favorite Chateau Chantal. Great wine flights and a cool view of the peninsula.

- Leelanau Peninsula (closer to Empire/Sleeping Bear Dunes): Lots of wineries here as well. We didn't go to any during our drive around there, but we did go to Tandem Ciders near Suttons Bay. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but is a cool change of pace from breweries/wineries. I would also second the previous rec of Hop Lot. We didn't go on our recent trip (bc of the dogs), but it's a really cool spot for craft beer. I'd recommend driving to the top of the peninsula and hiking in Leelanau State Park. Not a super difficult hike, and you can walk out to beach/waterfront. Peterson Park near Northport is another good spot for being outside on the waterfront. It's known as a destination for people hunting for cool rocks. I would highly recommend stopping in Leland (Fishtown). It's a really small old fishing village that has a lot of charm to it. You might have to go here to get the Manitou Islands if you plan to do that.

- For Sleeping Bear Dunes itself, obviously the dune hike is something on a lot of people's bucket list of Northern MI things to do. If you want to get the best bang for your buck, you can do the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. It's a loop that highlights all the major lookout points. You can even take some hikes off of some of the lookout points. Sounds like you already have the Empire Bluff Trail in mind, which I would recommend as well.

Enjoy the trip

quote:

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What kind of shape do you need to be in to make it back up to the top?

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Not sure. I’ve never been there but heard it’s taxing, but also super awesome.