Travel + Leisure magazine has put Detroit on its Where to Go list of the 50 top destinations for travel in 2025.
The magazine chose Detroit for a section called For Big City Thrills along with Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China; Marrakesh, Morocco; Portland, Ore.; Rome, Italy; and Sacramento, Calif.
“If you weren’t one of the nearly 800,000 people who hit Detroit for the 2024 NFL Draft (April 25-27), 2025 may be the year you join those in the know,” writes Paul Brady, news director at Travel + Leisure. “The city has its swagger back, as adaptive-reuse and ground-up projects are bringing new energy to its neighborhoods.”
The article highlights the reimagined Book Tower, numerous high-end restaurants, the Shinola Hotel, the under-construction Hudson’s building, and Michigan Central.
“General Motors, meanwhile, is staking its future at Hudson’s, a mixed-use development designed by Shop Architects and Hamilton Anderson Associates that will be home to the automaker’s global HQ — not to mention a forthcoming Edition hotel,” Brady continues.
“Then there’s the incredible Michigan Central Station, revived by a $1 billion investment from Ford, which has turned the onetime symbol of urban decay into a gleaming innovation lab intended to spark creativity — and plenty of hometown pride — in the Corktown neighborhood.”
The magazine’s staff vetted nearly 120 qualified contenders, debating the merits of not only what’s new, but “what feels like right now.”
“To make it on our list requires more than just a hotly anticipated opening or two,” the article states. “These are places that feel of the moment, whether that’s because they offer unparalleled access to the outdoors, a cultural immersion you can’t find anywhere else, a pulse-quickening hit of excitement, or the sort of blissful luxury only a true five-star property can deliver.”
Claude Molinari, president and CEO of Visit Detroit, says, “We are honored by Travel + Leisure’s recognition of Detroit as a must-visit destination for 2025. Following the incredible success of the NFL Draft and with our skyline transformed by exciting new developments, this acknowledgment validates Detroit’s remarkable evolution. We look forward to welcoming visitors to experience firsthand what we’ve long known — Detroit is a city ready to be discovered.”
Detroit’s inclusion on the list caught the attention of The New York Post, which wrote: “The rising fortunes of one of the country’s cheapest cities to get a burger, fries, and a drink are a stark reversal from the era where Detroit’s urban decay was celebrated in gritty, hit films like “Robocop” and hometown hero Eminem’s “8 Mile” — and in countless photo essays glorifying the city’s modern-day ruins in the wake of the 2008 market crash.”
