This beloved Ann Arbor institution is famous for enormous deli sandwiches made with carefully sourced meats, cheeses, and bread. Browse the specialty-food market while you’re there, or grab coffee and something sweet at the adjoining Next Door Café.

A lively downtown restaurant inspired by the food and convivial spirit of Spain. Order a tableful of tapas, add paella and sangria, and make an evening of it.

Bellflower is a standout neighborhood restaurant serving seasonal dinners, excellent sandwiches, wine, and cocktails in downtown Ypsilanti. Come for a casual lunch or reserve a table for a special dinner built around ingredients from local farms.

This independent Ypsilanti roaster serves exceptional single-origin coffees in a relaxed café near Depot Town. It’s the place for guests who care deeply about what is in their cup—but remains friendly to normal people, too.

Vertex is a sustainability-minded café with thoughtful coffee, welcoming service, and comfortable indoor and patio seating. Its Ypsilanti location sits almost directly beside Hyperion, making an impromptu coffee crawl entirely reasonable.

Known locally as “the Arb,” this free riverside landscape offers wooded trails, rolling meadows, and peaceful views of the Huron River. Its historic peony garden is especially spectacular around late May and early June.

The Collegiate Gothic Law Quadrangle and Library are two of the University of Michigan’s most beautiful architectural spaces and looks convincingly like a corner of Hogwarts. Public access to the Reading Room varies, so guests should check current access hours and bring identification.

UMMA brings historic and contemporary art together inside a beautiful Beaux-Arts building on the University of Michigan campus. Admission is free, and its central location makes it easy to combine with the Law Quadrangle and downtown Ann Arbor.

A Corktown favorite serving slow-cooked barbecue, creative sandwiches, and generous sides inside a restored historic building. It’s an easygoing introduction to Detroit’s food scene and sits conveniently close to Michigan Central Station.

One of Detroit’s iconic no-frills dining experiences, Lafayette serves classic coney dogs covered with chili, mustard, and onions. Its decades-long rivalry with neighboring American Coney Island is part of the fun—try both if you want to choose a side.

Gus’s serves phenomenal Tennessee-style fried chicken with a crisp, spicy crust and just enough heat to demand another bite. Add baked beans, greens, mac and cheese, or a slice of pie and surrender to the situation.

Trinosophes combines a vegetarian café with an adventurous nonprofit arts and performance space near Eastern Market. Stop in for coffee and a light lunch, then see whether an exhibition, reading, or experimental concert is underway.

This bright West Village bakery creates inventive seasonal pies, cookies, and pastries using Michigan-grown ingredients. Its current model includes a changing mix of regular service, preorders, pop-ups, and classes, so check the schedule before visiting.

A light-filled Eastern Market café and roastery for guests who take their coffee seriously. Anthology roasts its own beans and serves beautifully prepared espresso, pour-overs, and seasonal drinks in a relaxed industrial space.

The DIA houses one of the country’s great encyclopedic art collections, spanning ancient cultures through contemporary work. Don’t miss Diego Rivera’s monumental Detroit Industry murals surrounding Rivera Court.

One of America’s oldest and largest public-market districts, Eastern Market fills with produce, flowers, food vendors, and Detroit characters on Saturdays. The surrounding streets are also packed with murals, specialty shops, restaurants, and bars.

Artist Tyree Guyton transformed this residential street into an evolving outdoor environment made from painted houses, found objects, and everyday materials. It is free to explore and offers one of Detroit’s most distinctive encounters with public art.

A longtime Hamtramck favorite for comforting Yemeni dishes, including tender lamb, bubbling fahsah, flatbread, and fragrant rice. Portions are generous, so come hungry and order several dishes to share.

Part butcher shop and part casual restaurant, Dearborn Meat Market is known for charcoal-grilled halal meats served with bread, vegetables, and garlic sauce. The surroundings are wonderfully unfussy—the smoky kebabs are the reason to visit.

This enormous museum uses automobiles, aircraft, machinery, and cultural artifacts to tell the story of American invention and change. Highlights include the Rosa Parks bus, presidential vehicles, and an astonishing collection of historic objects.

Cranbrook brings modern and contemporary art, architecture, and design together on one extraordinary campus. Leave time to walk the grounds, where landmark buildings and landscapes make the setting as compelling as the exhibitions.