The Wall Street Journal has placed Traverse City in its rundown of “The 10 Places to Go in 2025,” one of just three destinations in the United States to make the list.
The other U.S. locations on the roster are Maui, Hawaii and Macon, Ga. Other featured locations include Niseko, Japan; Malta; Amsterdam; Morocco; South Caicos, Turks and Caicos; Magdalena River, Colombia; and Madhya Pradesh, India.
“The city’s restaurant scene is shining bright,” the publication writes about the northern Michigan city. “Nearby, the Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas — the last two fingers of the state’s famous mitt — beckon visitors with bucolic vineyards and pristine shorelines.”
The Journal notes that within a short drive of downtown, visitors have their pick of more than 50 wineries, and an ever-growing list of microbreweries, cideries, and distilleries.
“Mammoth, for instance, has embarked on a mission to resurrect a rare heirloom rye, aiming for a 2026 unveiling,” the article by Andrew Nelson reads. “Meanwhile, try the bourbon and aquavit at Northern Latitudes, which opens its tasting room in early 2025. At Farm Club, servers work the same fields that supply the kitchen, and at the fledgling Modern Bird, the local bounty is transformed into creations like lake-caught walleye with celery, apple, and vadouvan (a spice blend that’s a French take on the Indian masala spice blend vadavam, vadagam, or vadakam).”
Though Traverse City can feel surprisingly cosmopolitan for its size, according to Nelson, nature is never far. “Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with its towering sands and azure water is a 30-minute drive away and Downtown’s newly redone Grandview Parkway feeds into a regional bike trail network of more than 60 paved miles.”
