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Michigan
More, more, more – Michigan is the Midwest state that cranks it up. It sports more beaches than the Atlantic seaboard. More than half the state is covered by forests. And more cherries and berries get shoveled into pies here than anywhere else in the USA. Plus Detroit is the Midwest's most exciting city of all, reinventing itself daily with street art and fresh architecture.
Michigan occupies prime real estate, surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes – Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie. Islands – Mackinac, Manitou and Isle Royale – freckle its coast and make top touring destinations. Surf beaches, colored sandstone cliffs and trekkable sand dunes also woo visitors.
The state consists of two parts split by water: the larger Lower Peninsula, shaped like a mitten; and the smaller, lightly populated Upper Peninsula, shaped like a slipper. They are linked by the gasp-worthy Mackinac Bridge, which spans the Straits of Mackinac.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Michigan.
See
Henry Ford Museum
The Henry Ford Museum contains a fascinating wealth of American culture. It’s comprised of two parts: the indoor Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, which showcases extraordinary artifacts such as the chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated, the presidential limo in which Kennedy was killed and the bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat; and the outdoor Greenfield Village that features a slew of restored historic buildings, including Thomas Edison's laboratory and the Wright Brothers' airplane workshop. It’s an enormous spread, and you easily could spend a full day gaping at the history here. Add-on tours to the nearby Ford Rouge Factory let you watch F-150 trucks roll off the assembly line where Henry Ford first perfected his mass-production techniques. Layne Kennedy /Getty Images" data-embed-button="images" data-entity-embed-display="media_image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":""}" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="7363d052-41fb-40f4-b496-a1ce83e2f63f" data-langcode="en" title="Henry Ford Museum"> Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation The Museum of American Innovation is the heart of the place. Exhibits are located in 22 themed rooms. Most people beeline to With Liberty and Justice for All (Room 6) to climb aboard Rosa Parks’ bus. Also here is the red-cushioned rocking chair that Abraham Lincoln occupied when he was shot. Driving America in nearby Room 10 holds a slew of classic cars from 1865 onward, while Presidential Vehicles in Room 11 has the convertible Lincoln Continental that John F Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated. Another top exhibit is Railroads (Room 12) and its giant, 1.2-million-pound steam locomotive. Other quirky treasures include clocks (Room 21), violins (Room 17), dollhouses (Room 16) and beautiful glassworks (Room 20). The museum’s free app offers audio tours through the collection. Greenfield Village Greenfield Village is divided into seven outdoor districts that include historic buildings shipped in from all over the country, reconstructed and restored. Must sees include the workshop where Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb (Edison at Work district), the shop where the Wright Brothers built their earliest flying machines (Main Street district) and peanut pioneer George Washington Carver’s cabin (Porches & Parlors district). Costumed interpreters work throughout the village and immerse you in the sights and sounds of past centuries. Watch an 1867 baseball game, ride in a Model T car or become a student in a one-room, 1870s-style schoolhouse. The calendar lists daily activities. TennesseePhotographer /Getty Images" data-embed-button="images" data-entity-embed-display="media_image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":""}" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="2da1ec7f-5ecc-4316-9ef3-0f61d855515b" data-langcode="en" title="Ford Motor Company Rouge Plant"> Ford Rouge Factory Tours To get a feel for current ingenuity in action, take a jaunt around the plant that produces F-150 pickup trucks. Two-hour, self-guided tours cover the assembly line as it pumps out the hefty vehicles, plus a couple of short films and a walk on the factory’s green roof. Buses drive you from the museum to the plant. Giant Screen Experience It’s not an IMAX theater, but it is a theater with a massive screen and 4K digital projection. Movies focus on nature, adventure and innovation. The schedule changes frequently. Douglas Sacha /Getty Images" data-embed-button="images" data-entity-embed-display="media_image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":""}" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="515e2c16-2a7a-4b2c-9f9d-8189ee9f864b" data-langcode="en" title="Entrance to Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan, USA"> History of the Henry Ford Museum One of America’s most successful entrepreneurs, Henry Ford is renowned for developing the assembly line method of production that transformed the auto industry. He was always a collector — clocks, machinery, old books — and the wealthier he got, the more he collected. He was especially interested in artifacts that told the stories of ordinary people and technological advancement in America. What started as his personal collection grew so large he built a museum to house it. The Edison Institute — named for his hero, inventor Thomas Edison — opened in 1929 as a private facility. It opened to the public in 1933. The museum continued to gather Americana over the years, and today it holds a trove of 26 million items. While Ford used his wealth and influence for admirable deeds like the museum, he also used them for undesirable efforts such as denigrating Jewish people. Location The Henry Ford Museum is in Dearborn, 14 miles west of downtown Detroit via I-94. Opening hours Opening hours generally are 9:30am to 5pm. The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Giant Screen Experience are open daily year round. Greenfield Village is open Thursday through Monday mid-April through December (Tuesdays and Wednesdays are for members only). The Rouge Factory Tour takes place Monday through Saturday year round. Tickets and parking The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Rouge Factory Tour and Giant Screen Experience each have separate admission fees, but combination tickets are available that provide discounts. Namely, buy a full-price ticket for Greenfield Village, and then get 50 percent off admission to the Museum of American Innovation and/or Giant Screen Experience, and 20 percent off the Rouge Factory Tour. Another option is to pay full price for the Museum of American Innovation, and then get 50% off the Rouge Factory Tour. If buying tickets online, you’ll be prompted to add the deals; they don’t show up on the initial screen. Military members and children under age 5 get in for free. Seniors receive a 10% discount. It’s not imperative to buy tickets in advance (surcharge $3) for the Museum of American Innovation or Greenfield Village, but you might want to do so for the Rouge Factory Tour, since capacity is limited. Also, check the factory production schedule to ensure you’re touring on a day when trucks are being built, as seeing the assembly line in action is quite cool. Greenfield Village requires additional tickets for rides on its carousel, locomotive and Model T. They cost $3 to $8 per ride and can only be purchased onsite. The museum’s parking fee is $6. Nearby hotels Hotels nearby include the 11-story Henry Hotel, with stylish rooms and smart displays of local art about 3 miles from the museum. Nearby restaurants For a bite to eat Michigan Ave, a mile from the museum, has lots of options. Sheeba provides a terrific immersion into Yemeni cuisine. Try the seltah (root vegetables with whipped fenugreek). Nearby Qahwah House pours cardamom-spiced coffee alongside slices of honeycomb bread filled with sweet cheese.
See
Eastern Market
One of the oldest and largest year-round bazaars in the United States, Eastern Market draws Detroiters of all types to its six-block spread of wares. Looking for a vegan rum-raisin donut? Grow-your-own mushroom kit? Duck sausage? Fragrant lilac bush? Vendors sell these items and more along the market's brick halls that overflow with produce, meats, cheeses, spices and flowers. Saturday is the busiest day, when some 40,000 people come to browse. On summer Tuesdays, a smaller market takes place with yoga and Zumba classes added to the mix, and on summer Sundays, the popular Street Market with art, crafts, food trucks and live music sprouts up. On other days you can visit the specialty shops, galleries and cafes that flank the halls on neighboring streets, or check out the murals splashed across local warehouses. The area has become an international sensation for street art, with more than 100 cool works on walls. Eastern Market stores and vendors The five halls — or sheds, as they’re called — are the core of the market. Sheds 2 and 3 are the biggest and busiest, packed with vendors shouting over piles of colorful fruits, veggies, breads, teas, pies, smoked fish and grass-fed beef. Shed 4 is smaller, with open-air sides. It’s a good spot to pick up fresh lemonade in the summer or fresh apple cider in the fall. Shed 5 holds the community kitchen with cooking demonstrations, while Shed 6 is dedicated to vendors selling flowers, plants and garden decor. Shed 1 was torn down in the 1960s to make a parking lot. The Sunday market swaps out many of the farm vendors for makers hawking jewelry, paintings, hand-carved furniture, soy candles and knit scarves. To see who will be selling on the day of your visit, check the shed-by-shed vendor list posted before each market. The shopping doesn’t end there. Loads of foodie stores and artsy boutiques line the streets around the market halls. On the west side along Russell Street, follow your nose to Rocky’s, an old-fashioned, family-owned peanut roaster that also sells candy and chocolates. On the market’s east side, Cost Plus Wine Shoppe (2448 Market St.) stocks a lovely selection of reds and whites in a heritage storefront. Nearby Henry the Hatter has been making hats since 1893, dressing the noggins of everyone from President Dwight D Eisenhower to Kid Rock. A few blocks onward, Vintage Eastern Market lets you roam through a mishmash of retro lamps, ticking clocks, porcelain vases and mounted deer heads. Restaurants and bars Eating and drinking continue beyond the market in the many taverns, cafes and tap rooms that pop up on surrounding streets. For breakfast, head to the market’s west side to Russell Street, where Germack roasts its own coffee beans and transforms them into rich espresso and chili-spiked mocha drinks. A few steps away Zeff’s Coney Island (2469 Russell St.) fries up diner-style platters of eggs, pancakes and corned beef hash. Stay on the block for local favorite Supino Pizzeria 's crisp, thin-crust pizzas. Or, sniff your way to Bert’s Market Place, where ribs sizzle on the grill and musicians belt out jazz and blues. On the east side of the market, Vivio’s, the neighborhood’s oldest bar, pours wildly garnished Bloody Mary’s to go with burgers and mussels in its cozy, 130-year-old digs. Nearby Detroit City Distillery concocts whiskey, gin and vodka for inventive cocktails in its industrial tasting room, while Eastern Market Brewing Co brings on mango sour beers and honeyed kölsches in its festive beer hall. Events Flower Day is Eastern Market’s biggest event. It’s a springtime tradition, usually held the third Sunday in May, when a mind-blowing array of annuals, perennials, blossoms, bulbs, bushes and shrubs are for sale. In 2021, it was spread over four Tuesdays in May to keep crowds smaller due to Covid-19 precautions. Check the website for updates on future events. The Detroit Festival of Books puts out a stash of used books, antiquarian books, comic books and vinyl records at the market the third Sunday in July. Tours Eastern Market’s murals include more than 100 works in the compact area’s buildings, so it’s easy to walk around and get your Instagram fill. Murals in the Market has maps with locations and artist info for self-guided tours. RiDetroit offers 1.5-hour tours by foot or two-hour tours by electric bicycle that focus on the mural scene. Wheelhouse Detroit leads 2.5-hour tours on standard bicycles that cover the murals, shops and area history. The Detroit Experience Factory offers two-hour walking tours that explore the murals, as well as the market’s role as an urban agriculture center. History of Eastern Market Eastern Market’s first sheds rose up at the current location in 1891, providing a central place for farmers to sell their goods. After WW2, several wholesalers and food processors moved into the area, and the market became a wholesale food distribution hub. It remains so today and provides meat and produce for many of Detroit’s restaurants. The market and its environs are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The storefront brick buildings have a distinctive look, with flat roofs and late Victorian features. Opening hours The Saturday market is open year-round from 6am to 4pm. The Sunday Street Market is open June through September from 10am to 4pm. The Tuesday market is open June through September from 9am to 3pm. Most of the specialty stores, bars and restaurants are open Tuesday through Saturday. Location Eastern Market is located 2 miles northeast of downtown via I-75. Parking is free in the garage on Riopelle St. and in the large lot near Russell St. and the Fisher Freeway Service Drive. Many visitors cycle to the market from downtown using the Dequindre Cut Greenway path.
See
Guardian Building
Commissioned as a 'cathedral of finance,' this distinctive, 40-story, redbrick building with green and white accents was the world's tallest masonry structure when it opened in 1929. The interior is a colorful explosion of marble, mosaic and murals that draw from Aztec, art deco and local influences. It's certainly the prettiest Bank of America you'll ever see. Pure Detroit, whose flagship store is in the building, leads tours most Saturdays and Sundays.
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Detroit Institute of Arts
The DIA holds one of the world's finest art collections. The centerpiece is Diego Rivera's mural Detroit Industry, which fills an entire room and reflects the city's blue-collar labor history. Beyond it are Picassos, Caravaggios, suits of armor, modern African American paintings, puppets and troves more spread through 100-plus galleries.
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Packard Plant
Renowned architect Albert Kahn designed this 3.5-million-sq-ft factory, which opened in 1905, but after years of neglect it became one of Detroit's most iconic ruins. Now, a Peruvian developer has plans to turn it into an office and entertainment complex over the next decade. Phase one of the project broke ground in 2017, but it has been progressing more slowly than anticipated due to finance issues. Meanwhile, you can tour the site on Saturdays with Pure Detroit. Book in advance.
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Fisher Building
This 1928 masterpiece from the man who built Detroit, Albert Kahn, has an imposing art deco exterior made from Minnesota granite and Maryland marble, and an interior to rival any Italian cathedral. From the soaring vaulted ceilings, featuring an array of intricate, hand-painted patterns, to the sparkling mosaics by Hungarian artist Géza Maróti and gleaming marble on the walls, the visual inspiration here is endless.
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Greenfield Village
Adjacent to the Henry Ford Museum (and part of its complex), outdoor Greenfield Village spreads across 80 acres and features historic buildings shipped in from all over the country, reconstructed and restored, such as Thomas Edison's laboratory from Menlo Park and the Wright Brothers' airplane workshop.
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Fort Mackinac
Fort Mackinac sits atop limestone cliffs near downtown. Built by the British in 1780, it's one of the best-preserved military forts in the country. Costumed interpreters and cannon and rifle firings (every half-hour) entertain the kids. Stop into the tearoom for a bite and a million-dollar view of downtown and the Straits of Mackinac from the outdoor tables.
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Holland State Park
One of the state’s most visited parks, Holland offers a lovely huge beach on Lake Michigan that’s stellar for sunset gaping and lighthouse views. A cafe, playground and pier where anglers cast their lines add to the scene. A second silky sand beach edges inland Lake Macatawa, where the boathouse rents canoes, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards (from $10 per half hour).