Our Favorite Family Getaways
These four destinations offer everything you need: activities for all ages and interests, a range of lodgings and prices, a variety of food, and pathways into nature.
Traverse bays: what to do
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore A half hour west of Traverse City along Lake Michigan, enjoy 35 miles of beach and 400-foot-tall sand dunes. Kids will love the Dune Climb, where they can run down and trudge back up (231/326-5134).
Cherry Republic This bustling three-building complex sells all kinds of cherry products and treats in the artists' colony of Glen Arbor at the base of the Leelanau Peninsula (800/206-6949).
Leland and Suttons Bay These cute Leelanau Peninsula towns, each with shops and restaurants, are worth a drive out of Traverse City. Ferries depart from Leland for the secluded sands of the Manitou Islands (800/980-9895).
Little Traverse Wheelway Bicyclists whisk along the new paved 29-mile trail along Little Traverse Bay (231/348-8280).
Manitou Visitors sail aboard a two-masted schooner on West Grand Traverse Bay (800/678-0383).
National Cherry Festival A half-million people come to Traverse City to celebrate the area's iconic crop at the annual July festival. Enjoy music, air shows and parades. And, of course, sample plenty of cherry treats (800/968-3380).
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