Direct Flights from Chicago to Traverse City
Traverse City · Michigan
Nonstop service from ORD to TVC on American, United. Here's the schedule at a glance — plus what to do once you land.
How rare is this nonstop?
18 cities have a nonstop to Traverse City, Chicago among them.
How long to go to Traverse City for, from Chicago
55m in the air, 224 miles: short enough that a single night in Traverse City is worth it, and a day trip is not absurd.
With roughly 9 departures a day, you are not tied to one flight: if a meeting overruns or the weather turns, there is another one behind it.
About Traverse City

Traverse City is a scenic city on the Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. Directly north of Traverse City, the Old Mission Peninsula splits the Grand Traverse Bay in two, with a beautiful windswept landscape and great views of the bay on either side. Slightly to the west, the Leelanau Peninsula, with its charming small towns, forms the "pinkie finger" of the Michigan peninsula, jutting into Lake Michigan. Both peninsulas are prime winemaking regions within the state, and as such are one of the main tourist attractions in the region. Over a million visitors come each year to tour the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a scenic lakeside park with impressively large sand dunes. It's also a very popular destination for outdoor activities, owing to the proximity of Lake Michigan in summer, the impressive autumn colors, and the high snowfalls in winter.
Summary from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA).
Top things to do in Traverse City
- Leelanau State Park is a public recreation area covering 1,550 acres (630 ha) on the Leelanau Peninsula in Leelanau County, Michigan.
- Fisherman's Island State Park is a public recreation area of 2,678 acres (1,084 ha) sitting on six miles (9.7 km) of Lake Michigan shoreline southwest of Charlevoix, Michigan.
- The Michigan Legacy Art Park is a 30-acre (120,000 m2) outdoor sculpture park located near Thompsonville, Michigan, on the grounds of Crystal Mountain Resort.
- Caberfae Peaks is a downhill ski area located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan near Cadillac, Michigan. It gets its name from the Gaelic word for "stag's head".
- Crystal Mountain Resort is a resort and conference center located near the village of Thompsonville in Benzie County, Michigan. The resort's area forms the Crystal Mountain census-designated place.
- The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a scenic route within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in western Northern Michigan in the United States.
- Traverse City State Park, officially named Keith J. Charters Traverse City State Park, is a 75-acre (30 ha) public recreation area in East Bay Township just east of Traverse City in the U.S. state of Michigan.
- Interlochen State Park is a public recreation area covering 187 acres (76 ha) on the isthmus between Green Lake and Duck Lake in Grand Traverse County, Michigan.
- The Skegemog Point Site, also known as the Samels Field Site or Samels Site and designated 20GT2, is an archaeological site located on the property of the Samels Farm at 8298 Skegemog Point Road, near Williamsburg, Michi…
- The Dennos Museum Center is a fine art museum and cultural center located in Traverse City, Michigan on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College (NMC).
- The Leelanau Historical Society and Museum is located at 203 E Cedar Street in Leland, Michigan, on the banks of the Leland River and two blocks from historic Fishtown and Lake Michigan.
- The Pi-wan-go-ning Prehistoric District is a collection of three archaeological sites located along Lake Michigan just north of Norwood, Michigan.
Attraction descriptions from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); place data from Wikidata (CC0).
Traverse City weather, compared with Chicago
4° cooler than Chicago on average across the year, on daytime highs:
- January
- Traverse City 29°F · Chicago 31°F · 3° colder
- April
- Traverse City 52°F · Chicago 59°F · 7° colder
- July
- Traverse City 81°F · Chicago 84°F · 3° colder
- October
- Traverse City 58°F · Chicago 62°F · 4° colder
January bottoms out near 29°F — a real coat, not a layer.
Average daily highs, 1991–2020 station normals from Meteostat (CC BY 4.0), measured at each city's airport.
Planning a trip to Traverse City
- Best time to visit
- The best time to visit Traverse City is May–September, when daytime highs are a comfortable 67–81°F.
- How long to stay
- Traverse City rewards a longer visit — a full week lets you explore its many sights, from Leelanau State Park, Fisherman's Island State Park, and Michigan Legacy Art Park and beyond.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a direct flight from Chicago to Traverse City?
- Yes — you can fly nonstop from Chicago (ORD) to Traverse City (TVC) on American, United.
- Which airlines fly nonstop from Chicago to Traverse City?
- American, United fly nonstop between Chicago (ORD) and Traverse City (TVC).
- How many nonstop flights are there from Chicago to Traverse City?
- There are about 9 nonstop departures per day (roughly 63 per week) from Chicago to Traverse City.
- How far is Traverse City from Chicago?
- Traverse City is about 224 miles from Chicago by air.
- What is there to do in Traverse City?
- Popular things to do include Leelanau State Park, Fisherman's Island State Park, Michigan Legacy Art Park, Caberfae Peaks Ski & Golf Resort, and more.
More nonstop destinations from Chicago near Traverse City
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