Traverse City, Michigan in the context of Traverse City metropolitan area

Grand Traverse Bay (/ˈtrævərs/ TRAV-ərss) is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is separated from the rest of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula. The bay is some 32 miles (51 km) long, ranges from 7 to 10 miles (11 to 16 km) wide, and up to 620 feet (190 m) deep in spots. It is the second-largest bay of Lake Michigan, behind Green Bay.

Grand Traverse Bay is further divided into an East Arm and West Arm by the 18-mile-long (29 km) Old Mission Peninsula. At the head of both arms of the bay is Traverse City, the largest city in Northern Michigan. The area surrounding the bay is renowned for its fruit production, especially for cherries and viticulture.

Cadillac (/ˈkædəlæk/ KAD-ə-lak) is a city in and county seat of Wexford County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census, making it the second most-populated city in the Northern Michigan region, after Traverse City.

Cadillac was settled as early as 1871 and formerly known as the village of Clam Lake before incorporating as a city in 1877. The city is located upon the shores of Lake Cadillac, connected by the Clam Lake Canal to Lake Mitchell. The Clam River, which begins in Cadillac, is part of the Muskegon River watershed. Cadillac is the junction of three major highways: US Highway 131, M-55, and M-115. The geographic center of Michigan is approximately five miles (8.0 km) north-northwest of Cadillac. Cadillac is the primary city of the Cadillac micropolitan area, which includes all of Wexford County and Missaukee County to the east, and had population of 48,725 at the 2020 census.

The Leelanau Peninsula (/ˈliːlənɔː/ LEE-lə-naw) is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that extends about 30 miles (50 km) from the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan, forming Grand Traverse Bay. It is often referred to as the "little finger" of the mitten-shaped lower peninsula. The peninsula is a tourist hotspot, especially due to the popularity of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which adorns the southwestern coast of the peninsula. The peninsula is also largely agricultural, notably for cherries and wine.

Most of the peninsula is politically part of the eponymous Leelanau County, which also administers the nearby Manitou Islands and Fox Islands. The base of the peninsula, at its southern end, is divided between Benzie County and Grand Traverse County. Traverse City, the largest city in Northern Michigan, is located at the southeastern end of the peninsula, at the head of Grand Traverse Bay.

Peninsula Township is a civil township of Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The township had a population of 6,068 at the 2020 census, an increase from 5,433 at the 2010 census.

Peninsula Township is coterminous with (has the same dimensions as) the Old Mission Peninsula, which projects about 17 miles (27 km) north from its base in Traverse City into Grand Traverse Bay, an arm of Lake Michigan. The peninsula divides the Grand Traverse Bay into an East Arm and West Arm. The peninsula is well known for its cherry harvest and viticulture, and is included in the Old Mission Peninsula AVA, a federally recognized viticultural region. At the northern tip of the peninsula is Mission Point Light, which lies just south of the 45th parallel north.

Northern Michigan (also known as Northern Lower Michigan and colloquially within Michigan as "Up North") is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region, which is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are also located in the north of the state, is bounded to the west by Lake Michigan, and to the east by Lake Huron. The Upper Peninsula is accessible from the region via the Mackinac Bridge. While the region's southern boundary is not precisely defined, most definitions include the northernmost 21 counties of the Lower Peninsula, which had a population of 506,658 people at the 2020 census. Its largest cities are Traverse City, Cadillac, Alpena, Ludington, Manistee, and Petoskey.

Like the Upper Peninsula, Northern Michigan is a popular tourist destination, and is more rural than the rest of the state. The region is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as a primary industry.