The Traverse City area was known to Natives as gichi-wiikwedoongsing ( Ojibwe: 'at the head of the great bay'), which was often anglicized to Wequetong. These people groups inhabited the area surrounding the Great Lakes, including Michigan. They lived through the European colonization and the establishment of the Northwest Territory. The Traverse City area is home to the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi people. See also: History of Northern Michigan 19th century American Indians Downtown Traverse City as viewed from nearby Greilickville, on the shores of the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. Traverse City has also been noted as one of Michigan's top LGBT-friendly locations. For these reasons, Traverse City is a year-round tourism hotspot, winning multiple accolades and awards. Traverse City is located near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, as well as a number of freshwater beaches, downhill skiing areas, and numerous forests. The city is home to a redeveloped psychiatric hospital and an active Coast Guard air base. The area is also known for its viticulture industry, and is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest.

The city hosts the National Cherry Festival, attracting approximately 500,000 visitors annually. Traverse City is well-known for being a cherry production hotspot, as the area was the largest producer of tart cherries in the United States in 2010. The city borders four townships– East Bay, Elmwood, Garfield, and Peninsula–all of which contain substantial suburban sprawl.

Grand Traverse Bay is divided into arms by the 17-mile-long (27 km) Old Mission Peninsula, which is attached at its base to Traverse City. Traverse City is located at the head of the East and West arms of Grand Traverse Bay, a 32-mile-long (51 km) bay of Lake Michigan. Traverse City is also the second-largest city in Michigan north of the Tri-Cities, behind Marquette. The population was 15,678 at the 2020 census, with 153,448 in the four-county Traverse City micropolitan area. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. Traverse City ( / ˈ t r æ v ər s/ TRAV-ərs) is a city in the U.S.

Traverse city airport logo