The top 14 places to visit in Michigan

12.09.2024 - 11:41 / lonelyplanet.com

Sep 11, 2024 • 6 min read

Michigan’s mojo comes from its beaches, forests and small towns. Visitors often are surprised to learn that four of the five Great Lakes clasp the state and that more than half of it is covered by timberland.

What’s a visitor to do amid all of this natural bounty? We’ve got answers, and don’t worry, you’ll get an urban fix, too. Here are the best places to visit in Michigan. 

Best place for art and nightlife

It’s hard not to fall for the infectious, can-do spirit of Detroit. The edgy public art scene meets you at every turn, from the multi-block, polka-dotted Heidelberg Project to the 100-plus murals remaking the warehouses of Eastern Market. Traditionalists can ogle one of the world’s best collections at the Detroit Institute of Arts. 

Come nighttime, the city rocks, and live music spills out of clubs like Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, a stuck-in-time jazz hotbed. Design hotels and homey restaurants in once-abandoned buildings add to the buzz.

Planning tip: Detroit is easy on the wallet, with plenty of free things to do.

Best place for days at the beach

One of Michigan’s most stunning national parks and top attractions spreads across 35 miles of prime Lake Michigan shoreline. There are two main ways to absorb the true-blue lake views. One is the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, a 7-mile, one-lane, picnic-grove-studded loop. The other is the Dune Climb, which entails slogging up a 200-foot-high sand pile. It will punish your leg muscles, but the summit view of panoramic, Caribbean-hued water is worth it. 

The park’s 14 beaches and 100 miles of forested hiking trails provide more gorgeous vistas, and many families return here year after year to enjoy them.

Be sure to visit Glen Haven Historic Village, located in the park. Founded in 1857 as Sleeping Bearville, it's considered the best-preserved cordwood station on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and perhaps in the entire Great Lakes. 

Detour: Nearby is the small but uber-cute town of Glen Arbor, which has a great beach, lots of shops and eateries, and kayak and canoe rentals.

Planning tip: For a place to stay, the Homestead Resort in Glen Arbor has many all-weather outdoor activities.

Best place for couples

It may only have about 15,000 residents, but Traverse City is northern Michigan’s “big” city, with superb restaurants and cool-cat shops to prove it. Beach lounging, parasailing, cycling bucolic trails and kayaking to breweries with outfitters like Paddle TC provide the action. The downtown is a perfect blend of old-fashioned but trendy with lots of cool stores and great restaurants.

Detour: Vineyards blanket the nearby Old Mission Peninsula, where ten wineries in 18 miles pour chardonnays and pinot noirs. The area has the same