Walk Ann Arbor's markets and arboretum, eat chicken dinner in Frankenmuth, explore The Henry Ford, see Holland's tulips in May, or spend a weekend on car-free Mackinac Island or the dunes of Sleeping Bear. We’ve put the stops, routes and practical details together so your day out of Detroit is easier to plan.
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A park-once day in Ann Arbor: the Kerrytown farmers market, a Zingerman's sandwich, a walk through Nichols Arboretum and its peony garden, the Law Quad and two free University of Michigan museums, then dinner on Main Street, with the parking, football-Saturday and museum-hour catches that trip up visitors from Detroit.
A day in Frankenmuth from Detroit: the vast Bronner's Christmas store, a family-style chicken dinner under the Bavarian Inn's Glockenspiel, a walk across the Holz-Brücke covered bridge, a paddlewheel cruise on the Cass River from River Place, and the Birch Run outlets on the way home, with the parking, Sunday-hours and holiday-crowd catches.
A full Dearborn day built around The Henry Ford: the Ford Rouge Factory Tour while the truck line is running, the Rosa Parks bus and presidential cars in the Henry Ford Museum, an afternoon in Greenfield Village with Edison's Menlo Park lab and a steam train, then Lebanese dinner on West Warren Avenue.
A long festival day from Detroit to Holland's Tulip Time (April 30 to May 9, 2027): De Zwaan windmill and 140,000 tulips at Windmill Island Gardens, the tulip beds and Dutch dancers downtown, the farm fields at Veldheer, and Big Red lighthouse at Holland State Park, with the parade days, parking squeeze and ticket prices planned in.
A two-night summer weekend on car-free Mackinac Island from Detroit. Drive up I-75 on Friday with a walk in the old-growth pines at Hartwick Pines, then take the ferry from Mackinaw City and sleep on the island. Saturday is the island day: a bike ride round the 8.2-mile shore road with Arch Rock and British Landing, Fort Mackinac at midday, the Grand Hotel porch in the afternoon and sunset at Windermere Point. Sunday brings a quiet early walk up to Fort Holmes, a late-morning ferry and Colonial Michilimackinac before the drive home.
A two-night summer or early-fall weekend in northwest Michigan from Detroit. Drive up Friday and settle into Traverse City. Saturday is the dunes: the Dune Climb early, the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, lunch in Glen Arbor, the historic village and beach at Glen Haven, and sunset from Empire Bluff. Sunday is lighter, with Leland's Fishtown and Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula before the drive home.
Every guide lists the date and time it was last updated and when the trip is best experienced, from a single week to all year. Each includes official links to verify roads, tides, hours, fees and closures for your travel date. Buy once and the guide is yours forever: read it online any time from your account, always in its latest version, or keep it offline in the Greg’s Guides app for iPhone and iPad, which updates it for you.
No juggling a dozen tabs or guessing how much you can squeeze into a day. Get a realistic starting plan, then make the day your own.
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Pay once and read it online right away, or open it in the Greg’s Guides app to keep it on your phone.
Check current conditions, open your route, and head out. Linger where you like. Skip what you don’t.
A digital guide with a timed itinerary, stop-by-stop details, a schematic route map, navigation links and a plain-text plan. This is a self-guided plan; attraction admission, parking, food, and transport are separate. We update trips regularly, and you’ll always have access to the latest information: you own your guide forever, so you can read the latest version online any time or keep it up to date in the app.
No, but it’s worth having. Tell us your home city and we’ll unlock a free guide to a day trip, event or activity near you. Your account also keeps every guide you buy, so you can read it online any time and use it in the Greg’s Guides app.
Yes. Read it online in your phone’s browser: sign in to My account and open your guide. Or, as we recommend on iPhone and iPad, use the Greg’s Guides app: sign in with the same account and your guides are saved on your phone, so they work without cell service. Navigation links open in the relevant app or browser when supported.
In the Greg’s Guides app, yes: your guides and route maps are saved on your phone. Reading online needs a connection. Guides don’t include offline road maps or turn-by-turn navigation, so save the area in your navigation app and prepare your route while connected.
Route links open in Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze, which calculate directions using their latest available road, traffic, closure and detour information. This information depends on your app, coverage and connection and may not include every restriction. Check official road alerts, review the route before leaving and obey posted closures. The guide’s route map is a saved overview.
Each preview tells you the time commitment and activities. Beach sand, stairs, steep paths, weather, and road access can affect suitability. Choose shorter options and check accessibility at the stops you want to visit.
Each guide shows the date and time it was last updated and the time of year it is best experienced; some stops also note their own best season. Roads, services, prices, tides and rules can change, so every guide includes official sources to check before departure. Online, you always see the latest version, and the app updates the guides on your phone. You own your guide forever.
Stripe returns you to an order page with links to read each guide online as soon as payment is verified. Bookmark that page and reopen it any time for fresh links. Sign in or create a free account to keep your guides together and use them in the Greg’s Guides app. No subscription is required. Please keep the order link private.
I’m Greg Pasquariello, a software engineer living in the Pacific Northwest and the owner of Tecnicl LLC. I love a good day trip, and I host a lot of out-of-town visitors who want to know what they can do while they’re here. Greg’s Guides began as the plans I kept putting together for them. Now anyone can use them.
Tell us about a day trip you love. If we turn it into a guide, you get every guide we make free for a year, and your name on the guide. If we don’t, pick any guide free as thanks.
Sleeping Bear hero photo: Bcgood1973 · CC BY-SA 4.0. September 2022 photograph; resized and displayed with crop.
