Detroit, Michigan, is one of America's great cities, attracting visitors with its rich automotive history, vibrant sports scene and significant arts and culture heritage. The city is also renowned for being the birthplace of some of the most influential music in the country.
Taking in concerts and club shows, hopping between top-class museums, relishing some outdoor dining along the riverfront, you’ll also be treated to a stirring cityscape that combines some eye-catching architectural icons with a proud grittiness. From skyline panoramas to gardenscapes, read on to explore the top 9 spots for scenic views in Detroit below.
1. William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor
- Address/Location: 1900 Atwater St.
- Visiting: Free entry. Parking, restrooms.
Opened in multiple stages as Michigan’s first urban state park, William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor (aka Milliken Park) is both a recreational playground, conservation site and key spot to take in the cityscape.
The park offers some of the city's best views, particularly from the 25-foot summit of a berm created in 2003 using dirt and sediment from harbor renovations. Fondly known as “Ze Mound,” this artificial hill provides a refreshing bit of topography in the otherwise flat Motor City. The hill has been enhanced with hand-railed stairways and a paved path leading to the top, where visitors can enjoy panoramic views of the Detroit River and the Windsor, Ontario skyline. Additionally, a pair of spotting scopes at the summit provide color-enhanced views for colorblind visitors.
The harbor portion of Milliken Park includes another Detroit photo op: a 63-foot-tall lighthouse modeled after the historic one at Tawas Point up on Lake Huron in the northern Lower Peninsula.
2. Campus Martius Park/Cadillac Square
- Address/Location: 800 Woodward Ave
- Visiting: Open daily 7 AM to 11 PM. Garage, lot, & street parking.
In 1805, a fire obliterated the village of Detroit. When rebuilding, city planners marked a site called Campus Martius (“Field of Mars”) as the center of the new city. Campus Martius Park, installed in 2003 on that spot and ranked by USA Today as America’s “Top Public Square,” is indeed Downtown Detroit’s heart, a 1.5-acre gathering place and events venue (and wintertime ice rink) giving visitors fantastic center of the city views. Adjoining Cadillac Square includes such Instagram-ready landmarks as the Woodward Fountain.
3. The Spirit of Detroit Statue
- Address/Location: Coleman A. Young Municipal Center/Spirit Plaza (2 Woodward Ave)
- Visiting: Free to visit. Nearby street/garage parking.
Noted Midwestern artist Marshall Frederick was commissioned by the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority in 1955 to make a sculpture embodying the spirit of humanity and progress. Frederick crafted what at the time was said to be the heftiest cast bronze statue made since the Renaissance: the 26-foot-tall seated figure that came to be known as The Spirit of Detroit.
Dedicated in 1958, the statue comes backed by a monument wall adorned with the seals of Detroit and Wayne County. An instantly recognizable symbol of Motor City, occasionally dressed in a jersey to celebrate the success of hometown teams, The Spirit of Detroit can be readily enjoyed downtown from Spirit Plaza at its feet.
4. Sunset Point
- Address/Location: Belle Isle Park (99 Pleasure Dr)
- Visiting: Belle Isle Park free to enter on foot or by bicycle; Recreation Passport required if driving here. Park grounds open 5 AM to 10 PM year-round.
Currently managed as both a city park and state park, 985-acre Belle Isle in the upper Detroit River is one of Motor City’s true treasures. And besides such attractions as the James Scott Memorial Fountain, Belle Isle Aquarium and Dossin Great Lakes Museum, this river island lays claim to some of the best views to see in Detroit. Perhaps the most celebrated lies at the far western tip of the island: the aptly named Sunset Point, where you can admire the sundown spectacle backdropping Detroit’s skyscrapers and flaring up the Windsor skyline across the river with day’s-end light.
5. Blue Heron Lagoon
- Address/Location: Belle Isle Park (99 Pleasure Dr)
- Visiting: See above entry on Sunset Point for park-visitation details.
At the opposite end of Belle Isle from Sunset Point lies the 41-acre Blue Heron Lagoon, the largest of the river island’s waterbodies. An ambitious restoration project in 2010-2013 revived a long-lost direct connection between the lagoon and the Detroit River, allowing native Great Lakes fish—including the mighty lake sturgeon—to once again travel freely between them. A pedestrian bridge that’s part of the Blue Heron Lagoon Trail lets you walk right over it, admiring views into the lagoon and out over the riverscape.
If you’re a fan of fishing and scenic views, you’ll definitely want to bring your pole along on a visit to Blue Heron Lagoon, which offers a fishing pier and hosts such gamefish as bluegill, yellow perch and rock bass.
6. Hart Plaza
- Address/Location: 1 Hart Plaza
- Visiting: Parking available.
One of Downtown Detroit’s go-to gathering places, Hart Plaza serves as a venue along the Detroit International Riverfront for numerous annual events, among them the Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival. Flanked by downtown buildings, the plaza—named after Michigan Senator Philip Hart—includes one of the city’s signature landmarks and classic photo ops: the Horace E. Dodge & Son Memorial Fountain, designed by celebrated landscape architect Isamu Noguchi.
7. Dequindre Cut Greenway
- Address/Location: Connecting East Riverfront & Eastern Market, Downtown Detroit
- Visiting: Free street & lot parking in vicinity. Access points: Atwater St., Franklin St., Woodbridge St., Lafayette St., Gratiot Ave, Wilkin St., Mack Ave.
This mostly sunken paved path, which traces a former Grand Trunk Railroad route, provides a two-mile-long walking, jogging and bicycling route between Downtown Detroit’s Eastern Market and Rivertown neighborhoods. A highlight is the graffiti making murals out of the bridge underpasses and abutments along the way—a reminder that art is an important part of the city culture.
8. Detroit Princess Riverboat
- Address/Location: 1 Civic Ctr Dr.
- Visiting: Seasonal public cruises; also available for private events.
Stellar views of the Detroit (and Windsor) skylines await you aboard the Detroit Princess, built as a Mississippi River casino riverboat and reborn as a Motor City sightseeing vessel in 2005. Its two- to three-hour tours give you a fantastic look at the Ambassador Bridge—busiest road crossing on the U.S.-Canada border—spanning the Detroit River as well as Belle Isle.
9. Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
- Address/Location: 1100 Lake Shore Drive, Grosse Pointe Shores, MI
- Visiting: Open year-round (admission charged) for self-guided & guided tours.
The 1928-built English manor-style house of Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford and longtime president of the Ford Motor Company, and his wife Eleanor. With the site being a National Historic Landmark set at Gaukler Point on Lake St. Clair just a stone’s throw from Motor City, it makes for a grand interior tour. The Ford House exterior and estate gardens mean the grounds of this property lay claim to some of the nicest views in Detroit’s immediate backyard.
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