Foliage map › Destinations › Michigan › Traverse City
Traverse City, Michigan fall foliage
In a typical year, fall color in the Traverse City area peaks around October 8, with the best viewing from roughly October 7 to October 15.
- Typical peak
- October 8
- Best viewing
- Oct 7 – Oct 15
- Color starts
- Around Sep 26
- Leaves mostly down
- Around Oct 21
- Elevation
- 600 ft
2026 foliage season
Typical season
Peak around October 8. Turn on JavaScript to see today’s estimated status and the five-week outlook.
The season at a glance
Bar height shows how good the viewing typically is on each day, from September 1 through November 30. Colors show the stage, from green through peak red to bare.
Open Traverse City on the foliage mapWhere to see the color around Traverse City
Traverse City sits at the base of Grand Traverse Bay, where two long peninsulas reach north into the water. The Old Mission Peninsula, nearly 20 miles long and as little as a mile wide in places, divides the East and West bays, with orchards and hardwood forests on its rolling hills. To the west, the Leelanau Peninsula stretches along Lake Michigan, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has towering dunes above the lake and forested hills colored by beech and maple in fall.
Scenic drive
Follow M-37 north from Traverse City up the Old Mission Peninsula, with views of both bays along the way, to its end at Mission Point Lighthouse near the tip, close to the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole. For a longer drive, M-22 follows the shoreline around the Leelanau Peninsula along Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan, past Sleeping Bear Dunes.
If you arrive too early or too late
Too early? Still mostly green
Head farther north
Marquette, MI (150 miles away, farther north) typically peaks about 7 days earlier.
Too late? Already past peak
Nothing nearby turns later
None of the destinations we track within 150 miles of Traverse City typically peaks much later.
Nearby destinations
Trees you’ll see turning
Common questions
When is peak fall foliage in Traverse City?
In a typical year, fall color in the Traverse City area peaks around October 8, with the best viewing from roughly October 7 to October 15. Weather can shift the timing by about a week either way.
How long does peak color last in Traverse City?
Near-peak color usually holds for about 9 days. Color starts to show around September 26, and most leaves are down by about October 21.
Is Traverse City early or late compared with the rest of Michigan?
Traverse City typically peaks about 3 days later than the Michigan average of Oct 5. It ranks 4 of 5 Michigan destinations from earliest to latest.
What trees color up around Traverse City?
The main fall color in this area comes from sugar maple, red maple, paper birch, and American beech. See the leaf guide to identify them.
Estimates come from the Leaves.com model of typical years, based on latitude, elevation, and distance from large bodies of water. They are not live observations. How it works.