Detroit’s many nicknames hint at its cultural gravity: The Motor City. Motown. The City of Champions. The Paris of the Midwest—for its grand Beaux-Arts Classical architecture and bold urban design—and my personal favorite, The Renaissance City. Few American cities wear their resilience so visibly, or so proudly, as Detroit.
Detroiters possess a singular talent for reinvention and a stubborn optimism about what comes next, all while honoring the history and legacy that’s made the city great. With a reimagined riverfront, the triumphant reopening of Michigan Central Station, the near completion of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, and a cascade of James Beard Award nominations energizing its culinary scene, the city hums with fresh momentum and palpable energy. Now is precisely the moment to visit.
What to Do
My mother grew up in Rosedale Park, a leafy historic district, and her love for the city shaped my suburban childhood. So much of what I enjoyed as a child still stands today. We’d cruise down Woodward Avenue and spend Saturdays wandering the sheds of Eastern Market—one of the oldest continuously operating open-air markets in the country—where vendors still sell heirloom tomatoes and armfuls of peonies.
At the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), I stood dwarfed by Diego Rivera’s famed Detroit Industry frescoes; next door, at The Wright Museum, the story of African American history unfolded in original Underground Railroad documents and deeply personal letters from Malcolm X and Rosa Parks. We spent summer days on Belle Isle—designed by Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame—where you can bike the perimeter of the island or duck into the nation’s oldest public aquarium. No visit was complete without paying homage at Motown Museum, currently undergoing a major expansion that will deepen the story of the artists who shaped the sound of a generation.
Architecture is part of the city’s rich inheritance, and Detroit remains the first and only U.S. city designated a UNESCO City of Design. The Guardian Building—with its bold, colorful mosaics inspired by Native American and Aztec motifs—and the Fisher Building stand as magnificently preserved masterpieces of the Art Deco era. The spare lines of the Lafayette Park district reflect the vision of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, while the campus of Wayne State University—my mother’s alma mater—features buildings by Minoru Yamasaki, later famed for designing New York’s original World Trade Center.
Nothing captures Detroit’s resurgence quite like the triumphant reopening of Michigan Central Station. Once a haunting symbol of decline, the Beaux-Arts landmark now anchors Ford’s innovation campus in Corktown. Its restoration feels nothing short of miraculous: more than 3,000 artisans devoted over six years to the painstaking $950 million transformation. In front, Roosevelt Park has been thoughtfully restored, reconnecting the station to the city grid, while the adjacent, long-abandoned Book Depository has been reborn as an innovative mobility lab. Even more transformative is what radiates outward: a new greenway linking the station to the $80 million, 22-acre Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park along the Detroit Riverfront, one of the nation’s most ambitious new public spaces. From there, you can follow the riverfront path all the way to Belle Isle, a seamless pathway of parks and skyline views.
At the heart of Little Village, The Shepherd anchors a burgeoning creative scene, transforming a once-dilapidated Romanesque-style church into a multidisciplinary arts campus. The restored sanctuary—its arched windows and brick façade intact—now hosts exhibitions, performances, and gatherings, while neighboring homes have been thoughtfully converted into intimate restaurants and small businesses, creating a walkable cultural enclave.
The campus extends outdoors with a skate park and a sculpture garden dedicated to the late Detroit artist Charles McGee. A few blocks away, Lantern, a sleek, light-filled building designed by OMA, the firm founded by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, houses artist studios, nonprofits, and retail spaces.
Where to Eat
Detroit’s dining scene mirrors the city itself: rooted in immigrant communities, shaped by Black excellence, and propelled by a new generation of chefs who see possibility where others once saw decline.
Housed in a restored 1910 firehouse, Ladder 4 is where you go for a special occasion. The wine list—one of the best in the Midwest—leans natural and European, and the menu is innovative and seasonal; oysters, crudo, pommes purée with bone marrow and truffle, pork chop schnitzel, and a perfectly cooked, dry-aged côte de boeuf. Alpine-inspired cuisine finds a soulful home in Corktown at Alpino. Think hearty pastas, French pork sausages and veal cutlets, braised, shaved, and marinated vegetables, and an impressive bar program. Flowers of Vietnam—housed in a former Coney Island— pairs Vietnamese flavors with an expansive wine list and brightly flavored cocktails. Their caramel chicken wings, green papaya salad, clay pot sakura pork belly, and “shaking beef” are all crowd favorites.
Few cities champion chef-driven reinvention quite like Detroit. At Rose’s Fine Food, Molly Mitchell’s cult-favorite daytime diner has transformed into an intimate, green-and-pink candlelit dinner space with a Polish-leaning menu. Don’t miss the cabbage lasagna. At Puma, the little sibling to Barda, expect South American-style live-fire cooking, Peruvian-style ceviches served directly from their raw bar, and a tropical-inspired cocktail list. Medusa, from the team behind SheWolf, brings Sicilian exuberance—citrus, seafood, handmade pastas—to Midtown. No trip to Detroit is complete without a stop at the city’s longtime favorite, Selden Standard, where chef Andy Holliday serves up seasonal, wood-fired small plates and mains, alongside a stellar cocktail program.
On the river’s edge, Coriander Kitchen and Farm is the rare place where you can pull up by boat, dock, and dine. Or rent a kayak from Detroit River Sports, paddle along the water, then settle in for vibrant salads and globally inspired plates as freighters glide past.
Detroit’s strength has always been its immigrant communities. At Baobab Fare, founded by Burundian refugees, East African dishes—nyama choma, bright salads, pillowy chapati—feel celebratory and deeply personal. At Warda Pâtisserie (with a gorgeous new outpost inside The Shepherd), pastry becomes art, and chef Warda Bouguettaya infuses her creations with flavors that reflect her Algerian heritage: black sesame and mango financiers, fougasse bread, Tunisian tortas, passion fruit pavlovas, and apricot and pistachio frangipane galettes.
On the more casual side, there’s Supino Pizzeria, long considered the city’s best slice. Thin-crust pies emerge blistered from the oven inside Eastern Market (with a larger New Center location offering pastas). At Trinosophes, an all-day vegetarian café doubles as an art space, while next door, People’s Records invites you to linger over vinyl. Head to Tacos Wuey in Mexicantown and order the birria; then make your way to La Gloria—an institution since 1946—for dessert, where fresh Mexican pastries like conchas and tres leches cake are the perfect sweet finish. Nearby, The Grand Porter is a newly opened, extra charming all-day cafe and bakery. Bev’s Bagels has quickly become a morning ritual for locals, the bagels chewy and the schmear unapologetically generous. And for dessert, there is Cold Truth Soft Serve, seasonal flavors, nostalgic swirls, pure joy. There’s no shortage of excellent coffee in Detroit—Milwaukee Caffè, Washed Up Coffee, Alba Coffee, The Red Hook, and La Ventana Cafe all pour a strong cup—best enjoyed alongside something sweet, like Yellow Light’s from-scratch donuts, in their new location in the train station.
Detroit’s bar scene is as design-forward, flavor-driven, vibe-worthy as its dining rooms. Cøllect Beer Bar—inside Lantern—feels cool and a bit avant-garde, with a beer and wine list to match. Vesper Books & Wine is part wine bar, part literary salon, offering a tightly curated selection of cookbooks. Father Forgive Me serves inventive cocktails in a moodily glamorous space on the grounds of The Shepherd.
Where to Shop
Detroit’s shops reflect the city’s independent spirit; design-forward, community-rooted, and unapologetically original. At Eugenie, sustainably minded apparel, shoes, and jewelry are thoughtfully curated from independent designers with an emphasis on craftsmanship and longevity. Inside the Lantern building in Little Village, Coup D’etat blends high-end fashion, skincare, art, and gifts in a space that feels equal parts gallery and boutique, while at Signal-Return, a nonprofit letterpress studio, you can shop Detroit-specific posters or sign up for a class. Nearby, Pewabic Pottery, founded in 1903, continues its Arts and Crafts legacy with luminous, iridescent-glazed vessels and tiles made by hand.
Bon Bon Bon crafts inventive, artful, decadently delicious, hand-made chocolates. With several locations across the city, you’re never far from a sweet treat. Across the street from Bon Bon Bon’s flagship Midtown location, sister stores Nest and City Bird are go-to spots for locally made jewelry, candles, prints, and gifts that feel distinctly Detroit.
Periodicals is a beautifully edited magazine shop where independent publications sit alongside niche beauty, fragrance, and sculptural objects.
Where to Stay
There are two distinct ways to stay in Detroit: check into a hotel that reflects the city’s grand revival, or choose a more intimate neighborhood setting that allows you to live, if only for a weekend, like a Detroiter.
At Shinola Hotel, the Detroit-born watch and leather-goods label has stitched together two historic buildings on Woodward Avenue—a brick-fronted former department store and the old Singer sewing-machine factory—into a property that feels both industrial and refined, with Frette linens, warm woods, and art curated by Library Street Collective, Detroit’s premier art gallery. The Siren Hotel offers moody glamour inside the Wurlitzer building. Find the cozy Bar Chenin tucked inside, along with Paramita Sound, a tiny bar and record shop, where DJs from Detroit and out of town perform regularly. Looking ahead, Ford Motor Company will debut the NoMad Hotel at Michigan Central Station in 2027, crowning the station’s stunning revival.
For something quieter and more personal, Honor & Folly is a beautiful second-story flat in the heart of Corktown with two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a perfect view of the train station out the front windows overlooking Michigan Avenue. In East Village, ALEO, a four-bedroom boutique B&B housed in The Shepherd’s former rectory, places you within a multidisciplinary arts campus. The interior is impeccably designed by Holly Jonsson Studio, and the space brims with contemporary art from the personal collectsion of the owners, Anthony and JJ Curis, co-founders of Library Street Collective.
