Traverse City & Northern Michigan Travel Guide: A Local Friend's Guide to Northern Michigan's Best Towns, Trails & Tables

A Local Friend's Guide to Northern Michigan's Best Towns, Trails & Tables — written by someone who actually grew up there.Most travel guides read like they were written from a desk. This one was written from a childhood spent between Traverse City, Mesick, and Leland — and from twenty years of answering the same question from friends planning their first trip north: Where should we actually go?Ben Thirlby grew up in Northern Michigan and returns home several times a year. This guide is the advice he gives his friends — written the way a local would tell it over a pint at a Front Street bar.Inside you'll find:12 chapters covering Traverse City, Old Mission Peninsula, Suttons Bay, Leland, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Frankfort, Charlevoix, and Mackinac IslandWalking and driving tours with specific stops, timing, and insider contextWhere locals actually eat, drink, and spend their weekends — not just where tourists are told to goSeasonal highlights for every month, including cherry blossom timing and the best fall color drivesHonest budget guidance: what's worth the splurge, what's overpriced for what you get, and where to savePractical logistics — airports, rental cars, parking, cell coverage, and what to packOver 44,000 words, 25 reference tables, and walking tours for every featured town — built for quick lookup on the road and slow reading before the trip.Special feature: The 100th Cherry Festival Edition. The 2026 National Cherry Festival marks 100 years of Northern Michigan's signature event, and this guide includes a full chapter on the festival plus the wider cherry-country experience — orchards, u-picks, and the tasting rooms that make this region one of America's great food destinations.Whether you're planning a long weekend, a two-week summer trip, or a first visit to Mackinac Island, this guide helps you skip the chain restaurants, take M-22 the slow way, and find the Northern Michigan that regulars come back for year after year.Perfect for: first-time visitors, Midwest road-trippers, returning vacationers who want to go deeper, and anyone who's ever looked at a photo of Sleeping Bear and thought I need to see that in person. Read more