Between the apricots and cherries (sweets and tarts, mind you), the spring blossom season is a spectacular time to take an afternoon drive or bike ride. We’ve mapped out four Northern Michigan cherry blossom tour routes—from Traverse City and Leelanau County north to Antrim County. Cherries typically blossom in mid-May, but the unpredictable weather plays a major role.
Start your cherry blossom vacation with this gorgeous aerial view of the blooms!
Route 1: Old Mission Peninsula
Old Mission Peninsula is a premier agricultural area in Northern Michigan, and the heirloom orchards along M-37—also known as Center Road—are breathtaking against the backdrop of the East and West arms of Grand Traverse Bay. Take a drive up M-37 north from Traverse City and explore some of the less-well-traveled (but still paved) back roads on the 30-mile route. Along the way, stop by Jolly Pumpkin or Boathouse for a bite to eat, and don’t forget about the peninsula’s award-winning wineries.
Route 2: Leelanau County
Filled with vineyards, hop-yards and cherry orchards, Leelanau County is a pastoral wonderland. The following route will lead you to some of the most scenic orchards near Lake Leelanau—with a lunch break at Fischer’s Happy Hour Tavern and a visit to Boathouse Winery and Northern Latitudes Distillery to cap off your trip. Your tummy and your camera’s memory card should be full after this 19-mile tour.
Route 3: Elk Rapids
Between US-31 and Elk Lake sits acres—and we mean acres—of rolling cherry orchards. Take the following 14-mile circuit, which starts and ends in downtown Elk Rapids, to get the most bang for your buck this bloom season. Cyclists: try to stay off US-31—it’s a busy, fast road. At Angell Road, double back on Monroe, turn right on Townline and return to Elk Rapids via Elk Lake Road. There are plenty of dining options once you get back to town: Pearl’s New Orleans Kitchen and Riverwalk Grill and Taproom are a few of our favorites.
Route 4: Eastport, Central Lake & Torch Lake
The following 17-mile route takes you from Eastport to beautiful King Orchards, through Central Lake, and back along the northeastern edge of Torch Lake. Be sure to stop at Mammoth Distilling in downtown Central Lake to pick up a bottle of Cherry Bounce.
Diane McWethy
I agree…the maps need to be more accessable, without the need to install/friend/create accounts, etc. This means no maps for me, as well
Nancy Flanagan
It would be helpful for MyNorth to present routes for cherry blossom viewing as graphic content, rather than using a 3rd-party app that needs to be installed. I never did get MapGalaxy to install properly (there are all kinds of unpleasant surprises in the installment agreement) and worse–it snuck the Ask.com toolbar onto my homepage. So now I have no map and malware (which is hiding under another name, and can’t be removed by the usual uninstall procedure).