This is a great route that takes you through gently rolling wooded terrain with sweeping views of Lake Michigan shoreline. This route provides access to many scenic outlooks, Sleeping bear dunes and lighthouses, including the tour of Grand Traverse lighthouse. You'll be traveling past small towns and inland lakes, farms, ski slopes and wineries. Along the way you can stop in a historic fishing village of Leland on the Leelenau Peninsula. There are many opportunities to see wildlife, especially whitetail deer, along this route. This is absolutely the best road trip in Michigan's Lower Peninsula!

There are plenty of nice little towns to stop along this route. I highlight a few of my favorites below. The roads have a lot of nice sweeping turns and some hills due to following the shoreline, and at some places it gets more exciting. They roads have decent to good surfaces and occasional stops in the small towns along the way.

This route's starting point is the town of Manistee, Michigan. From Manistee head north on 31 and then, after a mile or so, take a left turn onto 110 North. You'll find yourself on a fun lakeshore road. Travel about 10 miles down this road as it makes its way around portage lake and intersects with 22 (the Orchard Hwy). From the town of Onekama head north on 22. This is a very scenic stretch of road which travels past Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore into the Leelanau Peninsula. After stopping at Sleeping Bear Dunes and at Leland for sightseeing, continue up to Northport. North of Northport is the Leelanau State Park where you can tour the old Grand Traverse Lighthouse. From here, return to Northport continuing on 22 toward Traverse City. You'll be heading south at this point.

Traverse City is the endpoint of this road trip, however, there's a bonus side trip that you can take. Out of Traverse City follow 37 (Peninsula drive) to visit more wineries. This road travels all the way into the narrow finger of land that splits Grand Traverse Bay into two bays.