Everything worth doing.Within 20 minutes.

A flagstone path off the Great Hall leads to the tasting room where Cherry Republic pours more than a dozen wines built from Montmorency and Balaton tart cherries, plus two hard ciders — free tastings, no appointment needed. Some bottles are all cherry; others blend in grape. Kids get their own flight of seven cherry sodas at the same counter. It's the one winery in the region where the fruit isn't grape by default.

Panoramic views of Sleeping Bear Bay and the Manitou Islands from a dining room the Chamberlain family has run since 2008, now under second-generation chef Brandon Chamberlain. The James Beard nomination and the Wine Spectator list are real, but the reason to book is simpler: watch the light drop over the water with a plate of Ibérico pork rib lollipops in front of you. Reservations matter on a Saturday; Tuesday is calmer.

French country cooking at the crossroads of Burdickville, running since 1980 in a room built for a slow dinner rather than a quick one. Duck confit and a wine list that doesn't cut corners, in a space that feels closer to the Dordogne than northern Michigan. Outdoor seating opens when the weather holds. It's a destination meal, not a stop on the way to somewhere else — reserve ahead, especially in August.

Cherry Republic's own brewery, pouring twelve taps of house ales, lagers, and ciders — four of them built around Montmorency and Balaton cherries — inside the flagship campus on Lake Street. The kitchen runs cherry BBQ ribs and whitefish alongside the beer, with outdoor garden seating once the weather turns. It's a restaurant first and a taproom second, open daily year-round, which makes it one of the few Glen Arbor kitchens serving dinner in January.

A 1.5-mile round trip through beech-maple forest and open dune grass, ending on a bluff more than 400 feet above Lake Michigan with Empire, South Bar Lake, and the Sleeping Bear dune field laid out below. Six interpretive posts mark the geological history along the way. A short staircase near the end is the only real obstacle — otherwise it's an easy, family-length hike. Park entrance fee applies: $25 per vehicle for seven days.

Behind the township hall on Western Avenue, one morning a week — local produce, baked goods, and Leelanau cherries in whatever form that week's vendors brought them. The season is short, mid-June through mid-September, so a spring or October visit to Glen Arbor means missing it entirely. Tuesday only; there's no rain-date culture here, vendors set up regardless.

Parked right on the Narrows bridge, where Big and Little Glen meet — walk down the dock and step aboard rather than hauling a trailer. The rental fleet runs pontoons, jet skis, fishing boats, sailboats, kayaks, and canoes, plus one-on-one water-ski and wakeboard lessons. Memorial Day through September only. Book online for a summer weekend; the Narrows location means this is the first marina to fill.

On Big Glen's sandy north shore, running boats since 1946 — a 32-slip marina with a gas dock, plus pontoons, tri-toons, and ski boats for rent by the hour or the day. The rental season closes on Labor Day, earlier than most; for a September week on the water, Glen Craft sends its own customers to sister property On The Narrows Marina instead, which stays open into fall.

The 450-foot wall of sand that drops straight into Little Glen Lake — climb it and the payoff is a view back across the water instead of forward into more dune. Kids treat the descent as the whole point; the climb up is the part that humbles adults in July heat. Park entrance fee applies. Go at 9am or after 5pm in summer — midday sand temperatures make the climb genuinely uncomfortable.

A numbered-stop loop drive through the dune field, ending at an overlook where the bluff drops more than 400 feet straight to Lake Michigan — one of the most photographed views in the park. Included in the standard park entrance fee, no extra charge. It closes for the season once the road can't be plowed, typically sometime after the first real snow, and doesn't reopen until spring.

Nearly 200 cherry products under one roof in the Great Hall — salsa, barbecue sauce, chocolate-covered dried cherries, all built around the Montmorency and Balaton crops grown a few miles inland. Free sampling is the whole model here; walk the aisles and taste before buying. The campus also holds the winery tasting room and the Public House restaurant, connected by garden paths, so budget more than a quick gift-shop stop.

Kayak, canoe, and paddleboard rentals for the Crystal River, which carries paddlers from Glen Lake's outlet to Lake Michigan through a gentle, sandy-bottomed current shallow enough for kids. The 2–3 hour trip passes deer, blue heron, and the occasional bald eagle. On-site retail shops sell apparel and run evening wine tastings with live music in summer. Open daily, 9 to 7 — book ahead for a July Saturday.