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Five towns on the Traverse City coast.
These guides are about the place. Rental lists live on the vacation rentals pages. Most of our homes are in Traverse City. Empire, Glen Arbor, Suttons Bay, and Lake Leelanau are smaller sets.
The hub. Most Coastal Stay homes are here.
Traverse City
Downtown sits on West Grand Traverse Bay. Front Street is the main stretch for dinner and shops. The bay, the TART Trail, and Old Mission Peninsula are the reasons people stay in town instead of only driving out to the dunes.
About 24 miles west of Traverse City, a little over half an hour.
Empire
Empire is a small village on Lake Michigan at the south end of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The park visitor center is in town. People stay here for the beach and the bluff, not for a downtown like Traverse City.
About 27 miles west of Traverse City, roughly 40 minutes.
Glen Arbor
Glen Arbor sits on the strip of land between Lake Michigan and Glen Lake, on M-22, next to Sleeping Bear Dunes. The village is small. The Dune Climb is a few minutes east. Empire and the park visitor center are about 8 miles south.
About 19 miles northwest of Traverse City, roughly 30 minutes.
Lake Leelanau
The village sits on M-204 where North Lake Leelanau meets South Lake Leelanau. It is not the Lake Michigan shore, and it is not the whole lake. Suttons Bay is about 5 miles east. Leland is about 5 miles north.
Fifteen miles north of Traverse City on M-22.
Suttons Bay
Suttons Bay is a village on an inlet of Grand Traverse Bay, fifteen miles north of Traverse City. M-22 runs through town. M-204 leaves west toward Lake Leelanau. Downtown is a few blocks up from the water, busiest from late spring through fall.
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