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Voykit pocket guide · United States
Ann Arbor
Give Ann Arbor 2 nights on a weekday: walk downtown and the U-M campus, eat on Main Street. Skip game weekends unless you have tickets.
Ann Arbor is a walkable university town of about 120,000 people, 45 mi (72 km) west of Detroit, built around the University of Michigan. Downtown, the campus and the Kerrytown district sit within about 2 km of each other, so two nights covers the core. The city is cheap to reach by train or bus from Detroit and Chicago, but hotel prices spike on autumn football Saturdays, when roughly 100,000 visitors arrive for Michigan Stadium.
- Country
- United States
- Best months
- May–Jun, Sep–Oct
- Avoid
- Jul–Aug (hot and humid), late Oct–Mar (cold, snow), home-game Saturdays for hotel prices
- Stay
- 2 nights
Checked 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change; anything marked (check) is not confirmed.
Essentials
- Currency
- USD
- Money
- Currency is the US dollar (USD, $). Cards and phone payments work almost everywhere; carry a little cash for tips and small vendors.
- Daily spend
- Budget $70–110 excl. bed · Mid $130–200 excl. bed · High $250+ excl. bed (estimate; check)
- SIM and data
- AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile cover the country; prepaid SIMs at their stores and Walmart/Target (passport required), or an eSIM before you fly.
- Emergency
- Police, fire, ambulance 911
- Plugs
- Types A, B · 120 V · 60 Hz · Chargers are dual-voltage; hair dryers and straighteners from 230 V countries need a converter.
- Tipping
- Sit-down restaurant: 18–22% of the pre-tax bill.; Bar: US$1–2 per drink or 20% of the tab.; Taxi / ride-hailing: 15–20%, in the app.; Hotel housekeeping: US$3–5 a night.; Porter / valet: US$2–5 per bag or car.; Tour guide: US$10–20 per person for a day tour.; Counter service / tablet prompts: Optional; 0–15%.
- Water
- Tap water is drinkable nearly everywhere; boil or treat water from streams in parks.
- Toilets
- Free public toilets are scarce in big cities; use cafés, department stores, libraries, stations. Rest areas on highways are free.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Coffee | $3–6 |
| Deli sandwich or a campus lunch | $10–16 |
| Sit-down dinner main | $18–35 |
| Draught beer in a bar | $6–9 |
| AATA bus ride | $1.50 |
| Downtown parking garage | $0.80–1 per hour |
| Museum or theater ticket | $10–25 |
Desk estimates, checked 2026-09; check locally.
Get in
By air
- DTW · Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
- About 25 min by car; Michigan Flyer coach and AirRide bus run to downtown Ann Arbor, or rideshare about $25–30 each way
- ARB · Ann Arbor Municipal Airport
- Small city airport at State Street and Ellsworth Road; business and private flights only, no scheduled airline service
Typical fares
- Michigan Flyer, DTW to Blake Transit Center
- about $22 round trip
- AirRide bus, DTW to downtown
- about $12 one way, reservation required
- Amtrak Wolverine, Ann Arbor to Detroit
- $10–15 one way, about 1 h
- Amtrak Wolverine, Ann Arbor to Chicago
- $25–50 one way, about 4 h 45 min
- Rideshare, DTW to Ann Arbor
- about $25–30 each way
Get around
Downtown is small enough to walk: Main Street to the Diag is about 15 minutes on foot. AATA (TheRide) buses cover the city and Ypsilanti; adult fare is $1.50 each way and the downtown Link circulator is free. U-M campus buses are free and run between the North, Central and South campuses. Parking downtown is mostly in paid garages at roughly $0.80–1 per hour, free on Sundays; free park-and-ride lots sit on the city edge with bus service in. Taxis cannot be hailed from the kerb — use Uber or Lyft, or the taxi ranks by the Michigan Union on State Street and the Federal Building on Liberty Street.
See and do
Known for
- University of Michigan campus
- Michigan Stadium (the Big House)
- Kerrytown and the farmers market
- Michigan Theater and The Ark
- Ann Arbor Art Fair
Day trips
| Where | How | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Ypsilanti | AATA bus from downtown, or about 15 min by car on I-94 | About 30–40 min |
| Dexter | Car west on I-94, or the AATA express bus | About 30 min |
| Chelsea | Car west on I-94, about 20 mi | About 30 min |
| Saline | Car south on US-23 and Michigan Avenue, about 10 mi | About 20 min |
| Detroit | Amtrak Wolverine from Ann Arbor station, about 1 h; or D2A2 express bus | About 1.5 h |
Sleep
- Downtown (Main, Liberty, State streets)
- Walk to restaurants, shops and the Michigan and State theaters; paid garages, almost no free street parking.
- Kerrytown
- Historic district a few blocks north of downtown, next to the farmers market and the Amtrak station.
- Campus area (South University, State Street)
- Cheapest beds in summer, loudest on football weekends; walk to the Diag and the Law Quad.
- Outer Ann Arbor (I-94, US-23, Plymouth Road)
- Free parking and lower rates, but you need a car or a bus ride to reach downtown.
Phrase card
| English | Say or show |
|---|---|
| Where is the bus stop? | Where is the bus stop? |
| Can I pay by card? | Can I pay by card? |
| Is this seat taken? | Is this seat taken? |
| Check, please | Check, please |
| Where is the restroom? | Where is the restroom? |
| Thanks, have a good one | Thanks, have a good one |
Etiquette, safety and scams
Etiquette
- Greeting: Handshake and 'hi, how are you?' — reply 'good, thanks'; avoid: Treating the question as a real health enquiry
- Restaurants: Tip 18–22% and wait for the check; avoid: Leaving without tipping
- Personal space: Keep an arm's length in queues; avoid: Standing close to strangers
- Politics and religion: Listen more than you speak; avoid: Opening with hot-button topics
- Smoking: Smoke only in marked areas; avoid: Smoking near doors or in parks where banned
Scams and watch-outs
- Home-game Saturdays in autumn bring about 100,000 people: book beds and dinner weeks ahead, or avoid those weekends.
- Free parking downtown is almost nonexistent; garages and meters are the norm, and meters run 8:00–18:00 on weekdays and Saturdays.
- Summers are hot and humid, with July and early August highs in the low 30s °C; winters bring snow and January lows below −6 °C.
- The Arb has no parking lot, no signage and no restrooms — plan the walk in and out.
- Amtrak's Wolverine from Chicago often runs 15–30 minutes late.
Ann Arbor is a low-risk US college town; the real friction is football-weekend crowds, winter ice on pavements and unlit paths in the Arb after dark. Standard US city sense applies downtown at night.
One and two days
No timed day plan for Ann Arbor yet. Suggested stay: 2 nights. Build a day from the list below, mornings for the big sight.
- University of Michigan campus
- Michigan Stadium (the Big House)
- Kerrytown and the farmers market
- Michigan Theater and The Ark
- Ann Arbor Art Fair
Sources
Written by Voykit; facts cross-checked against these sources, last desk check 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change: check on the day.
- Visit Ann Arbor: www.visitannarbor.org/
- City of Ann Arbor: www.a2gov.org/
- TheRide (Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority): www.theride.org/
- Amtrak — Ann Arbor station: www.amtrak.com/stations/arb
- University of Michigan: www.umich.edu/
- Wikivoyage: Ann Arbor, revision 5336254 (CC BY-SA 4.0): en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?oldid=5336254
Pocket card
Cut along the border and keep it in your wallet. Show the local-script lines to a driver.
Ann Arbor
To this address, please
To this address, please
My hotel (write the name and address in the local script)
- Police, fire, ambulance911
No embassies in Ann Arbor; consulates-general are in Detroit and Chicago, embassies in Washington, DC. Check your own country's list before you travel.
US tipping applies: 18–22% at sit-down restaurants, $1–2 a drink, 15–20% taxis and rideshare.
Voykit · checked 2026-09
Printed from Voykit (/ann-arbor). Written by Voykit; checked 2026-09. Estimates only: confirm prices, hours and entry rules on the day.