Lighthouses Near Glen Arbor: 4 to Visit, 2 to Watch from the Beach
From the Glen Arbor beach at dusk, with the sun down and a bonfire going, you can see two lighthouses without leaving the sand. The South Manitou Island light sits on the horizon to the northwest. The North Manitou Shoal crib light blinks in the channel a few degrees closer in. The other four lighthouses in this list are road trips. Six lighthouses near Glen Arbor, all within forty-five miles. Four to visit, two to watch from the sand.
What follows is each lighthouse with the directions, what’s worth seeing, and what to do on the way home. Ordered by how far the drive is, with the two offshore ones at the end.
Robert H. Manning Memorial Lighthouse (Empire)
The closest one. Ten miles south of Glen Arbor on M-22, in the village of Empire. The lighthouse stands at the edge of the public beach, a few steps from the parking lot. No hike, no climb, no museum.
It was built in 1991 to honor Robert H. Manning, a longtime Empire fisherman. The community raised the money. The community lights it. The community keeps it standing. It isn’t an official navigational aid; it’s a marker for someone the town loved.
Stop on the way somewhere, walk to it, watch the lake for ten minutes, drive on. Sunset is the time, but any time works. It does what a lighthouse does, and it sits on one of the prettiest stretches of beach in Leelanau County.
Point Betsie Lighthouse
Twenty-five miles south of Glen Arbor on M-22, still an active navigational light. The keeper’s quarters are preserved the way the families lived in them: kitchen, bedrooms, a sitting room. The boathouse holds a restored Coast Guard motor lifeboat and the rescue gear that came with it. Standing in there is the closest you’ll get to the actual work the keepers did, which was less about lighthouses and more about being awake at three a.m. when the lake got rough.
After the tour, stop at the Dune Climb on the way back. Or keep south to Frankfort for dinner along the river.
Grand Traverse Lighthouse
About forty miles north of Glen Arbor, at the very tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. The museum runs in the keeper’s quarters, with exhibits on the shipwrecks the light was built to prevent. Lake Michigan does not forgive an unmarked shoreline. Climb the tower for the long view. If you’re there June through August, stick around for the foghorn demonstration.
On the way back, stop in Northport for the marina and the shops. Eat in Leland. Detour to Good Harbor Vineyards for a tasting. M-22 takes the long way back and earns it.
Mission Point Lighthouse
Forty-five miles east, through Traverse City and north up the Old Mission Peninsula. Mission Point was lit on September 10, 1870 and decommissioned in 1933, when an offshore buoy light took over. The structure still stands on the 45th Parallel: halfway between the equator and the North Pole, marked with a sign you can stand next to. Tour the keeper’s house and the small tower. There’s a gift shop but no food, so pack lunch or eat on the peninsula before you arrive.
On the drive back, the Old Mission Peninsula is wineries. Bowers Harbor Vineyard, Chateau Grand Traverse, Chateau Chantal. Pick one or pick three.
South Manitou Island Lighthouse
Closed for the 2026 season. Both Manitou Islands are off-limits this year. Plan the visit for summer 2027.
You can already see it from here, though. On a clear evening, from the Glen Arbor beach looking northwest, the South Manitou light is the white tower on the far horizon. One hundred feet of brick, operational from 1872 to 1958, 117 steps from base to lamp room. The island has been part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore since 1970.
When the island reopens: eighteen miles north to Leland, the Manitou Transit ferry across the channel, a walk from the dock to the lighthouse. For 2026, light a fire on the beach and watch it from here.
North Manitou Shoal Light (from the beach)
The other one you can see from the sand. North Manitou Shoal Light is a 1935 crib lighthouse anchored in the channel between Pyramid Point and North Manitou Island. You can’t drive to it. You watch it from the mainland.
Light a bonfire on the Glen Arbor beach at dusk, and the automated beacon blinks somewhere out between Pyramid Point and the dark shape of North Manitou. South Manitou’s light sits beyond it, further out on the horizon, on a clear night. It’s the kind of pairing you forget to look for, then can’t stop watching once you do.
The North Manitou Lightkeepers volunteer group is restoring the crib and runs boat tours out to it when conditions allow. The crib itself isn’t on either Manitou Island; it sits in the channel. But with both islands closed for 2026, the tour calendar may be limited. Check their tours page before planning around one.
Planning your visit
Six lighthouses, four directions, two visible from the beach. Book a room or condo at Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast and Condos and watch the offshore lights from the sand at dusk.
