Michigan

Detroit: Grit, Groove and Reinvention

Detroit gave the world Motown, techno and the modern assembly line, and it wears all three legacies proudly. The Detroit Institute of Arts houses one of the great museum collections in North America, while Eastern Market buzzes every Saturday with vendors, street art and the smell of fresh produce. The city's neighbourhoods -- from Corktown's reclaimed warehouses to Midtown's gallery rows -- reward wanderers with unexpected murals, outstanding food and a creative energy that has been drawing artists and entrepreneurs for over a decade.

The Upper Peninsula: Michigan's Wild North

Separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the Upper Peninsula is a world of dense boreal forest, waterfall-threaded rivers and skies dark enough to show the Milky Way in summer and aurora in winter. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore offers some of the most photogenic cliff scenery in the Midwest, while Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park preserves old-growth forest that has stood since before European contact. The UP moves at its own pace and rewards those willing to leave the interstate behind.

College Towns, Cherries and Island Escapes

Ann Arbor pulses with the energy of the University of Michigan -- bookshops, craft breweries, live music venues and a farmers market that fills with Traverse City cherries every July. Mackinac Island, reached by ferry and famously car-free since 1898, offers Victorian gingerbread architecture, fudge shops and cycling routes around dramatic limestone bluffs. From the Dutch-inflected tulip fields of Holland to the craft wine trails of the Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan's quieter corners offer genuine charm without the crowds.