Six Michigan cities for cool culture and frosty fun this winter

Cool Culture: For dinner, try one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. Barda, a 2022 James Beard Awards nominee for Best New Restaurant, specializes in authentic ancestral cooking techniques from the Patagonia region of Argentina. Keep the night going at Cliff Bell’s, a legendary 1930s jazz club in a newly restored Art Deco space in Detroit’s entertainment district. “Cliff Bell’s is a time capsule. There aren’t many jazz clubs [remaining] in the U.S.,” says Detroit native and Cliff Bell’s artist-in-resident, musician Noah Jackson, who has reached No. 3 on the Billboard jazz charts. For dance parties under a giant disco ball, head to The Marble Bar, a stop for the nation’s top techno and house deejays and talented mixologists to match. On select Saturdays, the music keeps pumping for a straight 12-hours (9 p.m. until Sunday 9 a.m).

Frosty Fun: Detroit has won more ice hockey championships than any other team in the league, making their home ice – Little Caesars Arena – one of hockey’s cathedrals. Regular-season games run through mid-April. Another idea: Head to Robert C. Valade Park on the hopping Detroit Riverfront. The park’s ongoing Winter at Valade celebration draws folks to borrow a sled, try curling and roast marshmallows around a fire every weekend throughout the season.

Cool Culture: The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art is the largest of its kind in western Michigan and hosts acclaimed exhibits by international talent. A new batch of mind-bending installations and ice sculptures (all free to see) will debut throughout downtown during the annual World of Winter Festival, January 6 through March 5. Visit the Singing Tree to make a canopy of lights respond to your voice and claps, and marvel at Talking Heads, two gigantic faces made of lights that express emotions to each other. In addition to the art, the festival keeps the city entertained with a full slate of creative and playful activities, like ice piano performances and a human Hungry Hippo competition. Another must-see: Grand Rapids Museum of Fine Art, more proof that Grand Rapids punches above its weight in the area of contemporary art. 

Frosty Fun: It’s a Grand Rapids tradition to twirl around Rosa Parks Circle Ice Rink each winter surrounded by the lights of downtown and twinkling trees. Reservations and walk-up slots are both available. Blandford Nature Center is a prime choice for snowshoeing through pristine forests and meadows. Rent shoes in the visitor center for just $6 and grab a map to explore 4 miles of trails. Keep your eyes peeled for birds flocking to the majestic mother maple and brother birch trees, and check the calendar of events for guided hikes. Just a 15-minute drive from Grand Rapids, Cannonsburg Ski Area in Belmont has 21 runs down the ski hill and also offers snowboarding and fat biking. A tubing hill with a state-of-the-art magic carpet helps you fit in a lot of trips. Snowshoeing trails wind through the woods for a peaceful excursion. Fat bikes, snowshoes, skis and helmets are all available for rent. Look for the turquoise shipping container outside for the full-service bar.

Cool Culture: Home of the Traverse City Film Festival, The State Theater is a restored gem of cinematic proportions. Catch an art-house flick or a new Hollywood release the way movies were meant to be seen – in velvet seats under a canopy of twinkling lights designed by an actual astronomer. For live performances, head to Interlochen Center for the Arts. The academy is like the Midwest’s Julliard, and a year-round events calendar includes both ticketed shows and scads of free recitals from the talented students of theater, music, dance and film.

Frosty Fun: The most epic sledding hill you’ll ever find is at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. When covered with snow, sledding is allowed in the designated area at the exhilarating Dune Climb. Elsewhere in the 72,000-acre park, some of the trails that lace high and low are groomed for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and fat-tire biking (rent equipment from Crystal River Outfitters in Glen Arbor). Rangers occasionally lead snowshoeing tours, too. Make your way to the shoreline if you’ve never seen a frozen beach. Whichever activity you choose, stop by the park’s visitor center first for safety tips and weather conditions, and be sure to follow safety protocols.

Cool Culture: Lovers of midcentury modern architecture must make a pilgrimage to this central Michigan city. It’s renowned for 400 examples of the style, including the National Historic Landmark Alden B. Dow Home and Studio. The 20,000-square-foot structure is set on a pond and has been called a “playland of architecture.” Dow, an architect himself, designed hundreds of buildings around Michigan and attracted other architects to Midland, birthing an unlikely hotbed of preserved modernist homes, schools, churches, businesses and public venues. Grace A. Dow Memorial Library is one of Dow’s must-see designs, but there are many others. “Hidden gems of midcentury-modern architecture inundate the city, something most visitors are blissfully unaware of,” says Wes Kohn, an architect in Midland. “I recommend grabbing the app from the Mid-Century Modern Midland website and taking yourself on a couple self-guided architecture tours.” Then toast the town with a cold schooner at Kohn’s favorite hangout, The Boulevard Lounge, aka “The Bully” since 1956.

Frosty Fun: See winter landscapes from a unique perspective at the Dow Gardens Canopy Walk, the longest treetop trail in the country, and explore the popular botanical paradise when it’s a wonderland of snow formations. The all-ages, quarter-mile-long canopy walkway winds through Whiting Forest 40 feet in the air, leading to viewing platforms and serene spots immersed in the beauty and quiet of nature. Walk across a cargo net to reach playful pods shaped like flowers. On ground level, take an exhilarating stroll around the 110 acres thick with stands of towering snow-laden pines.

Cool Culture: The Upper Peninsula is the stomping ground of the legend of the Finnish snow god Heikki Lunta. The story goes that in 1970, a local man performed a dance to summon the snowfall needed for a scheduled snowmobile race, and it worked so well that the race had to be canceled. The Heikki Lunta Festival spins the lore into a giant weekend street party (February 3 and 4, 2023) with a bonfire, music festival, lantern-lit snowshoe tours, fat-tire bike race, a tunnel of lights and a snowboarding competition. 

Frosty Fun: Fat-tire snow biking is like the pickleball of the winter, a fast-growing sport that requires less technical skill than its traditional counterparts. Marquette is the fat-tire capital of the continental United States, so this is the perfect place to try it. The Noquemanon Trail Network has 30 miles (and counting) of groomed single-track territory for cruising past frozen waterfalls and icy rivers. Rent a ride or skis from the NTN Forestville Trailhead Chalet.

Cool Culture: Ann Arbor may be one of the best Big 10 college towns, but it’s also a great place for adults to barhop. You could spend all night on and around Main Street, where craft cocktails flow at the moody and modern Raven’s Club and the sophisticated, slick Nightcap a few doors down. Or spend an evening with friends at Grizzly Peak Brewing Company, a regional brewpub with English style. The University of Michigan’s backyard is home to so many craft breweries and distilleries that the city offers a Craft Pass as a guide. It will lead you to the experimental Salt Springs Brewery in Saline, voted one of the country’s top 10 brewpubs by USA Today, and the divey Alley Bar, where everyone knows to order a round of picklebacks (a shot of whiskey with pickle juice chaser).

Frosty Fun: Discover how easy it is to snowshoe for the first time on the beginner trails at nearby Ypsilanti Township's Rolling Hills Park. You can rent the shoes at the University of Michigan’s Outdoor Adventure Center, open to the public. Then find your snow legs at the park’s half-mile cleared trail. If you’re up for more, the park rents cross-country skis on the weekends for use on 3 miles of powdery, perfectly quiet trails – and it’s just $5 per hour. 

Ready to experience it all in Michigan this winter? Start your getaway now!