University of Michigan · Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor Local Guide for University of Michigan Families
A guide for University of Michigan families, built around the places that are actually useful on a visit: a dinner that is not the dining hall, a bookshop worth an hour, a pharmacy you can find at 9pm, and somewhere to sleep on a football weekend.
Explore Ann Arbor
Some links on this page are affiliate links, and UniversityParent may earn a commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. Business listings are free. Inclusion is never paid for.
Where to eat in Ann Arbor
Twenty-five places across the State Street corridor, Main Street, Kerrytown and a little further out. Grouped by the part of town you will actually be standing in.
Frita Batidos
Cuban-inspired street food in a bright, casual room downtown. A relaxed choice for a family meal when a formal sit-down dinner would feel like too much.
Aventura
Spanish tapas and shared plates on Washington Street. A lively option for families who want a nicer meal downtown without a formal dining room.
Pacific Rim
Contemporary pan-Asian cooking on West Liberty Street downtown. A calm room, and a good middle ground when the group cannot agree on one kind of food.
Sava’s
A State Street institution since 2007, popular with students, faculty and visiting families alike. Dependable for a real meal out within walking distance of campus.
Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Full-service restaurant serving traditional regional American comfort food in a casual room. A good sit-down option for visiting families, a short drive west of downtown and campus.
Mani Osteria and Bar
Wood-fired pizza and handmade pasta downtown, open since 2011. Family-friendly by design, which makes it one of the easier bookings for a larger group.
Where to shop in Ann Arbor
Bookshops, a year-round farm market, and the gift stops that beat anything on the highway.
Literati Bookstore
An independent bookshop downtown with a busy events calendar. A good hour between commitments, and a better gift stop than anything on the highway out of town.
Rock Paper Scissors
Cards, stationery, gifts and Michigan-branded odds and ends downtown. The practical stop when you need a birthday card or something small for a care package.
Vault of Midnight
A bookshop downtown, the flagship of a small Michigan chain, with new releases, subscriptions and a book of the month. An easy gift stop.
Cherry Republic
A Michigan cherry shop downtown with tastings and samples. The simplest place to pick up something recognisably from Michigan to take home.
Dawn Treader Book Shop
Rare and second-hand books, maps and prints near campus, across a wide range of subjects. The shop ships worldwide, which helps if you are flying home.
West Side Book Shop
A second-hand and antiquarian bookshop downtown. We could not verify a current website for this shop, so it is worth calling ahead before making a trip.
Things to do in Ann Arbor
Museums, two restored theatres, and the Saturday market. Most of it is free or close to it.
Michigan Theater
A restored 1928 movie palace on State Street showing first-run and classic films alongside live performances. Worth checking the schedule before you plan an evening.
University of Michigan Museum of Art
The university art museum on Central Campus, free to enter. A reliable hour when the weather turns, and stronger than most visitors expect from a campus museum.
State Theatre
A State Street cinema showing new releases alongside classics, run by Marquee Arts, the same organisation as the Michigan Theater. An easy plan for a free evening.
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
A science museum aimed at children, paired with the Leslie Science and Nature Center. The one to know about if younger siblings are along for the visit.
Museum on Main Street
The Washtenaw County Historical Society’s museum, covering local history in a small, quick-to-visit space. A short stop rather than a whole afternoon.
Ann Arbor Farmers Market
The Kerrytown market that Zingerman’s grew up next to, now well past its hundredth year. Saturday mornings are the reason to build a weekend visit around it.
Where to stay in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor hotel inventory is small relative to the crowd a home football Saturday brings, and rooms go within hours of the schedule being published each spring. Book the day dates are announced. Central Campus and the Main Street corridor are walkable to almost everything. Briarwood, south on State Street, is a short drive and usually cheaper. Ypsilanti is about ten miles east and is the honest fallback when Ann Arbor proper is gone.
For business owners
Every business on this page is here because it is useful to a visiting parent. Listing is free, it always will be, and correcting anything we have wrong about you is free too. Nothing on this page was paid for.
Featured is our one paid option: 99 dollars a year, or 10 dollars a month if you would rather pay monthly. It adds a highlighted card, your logo, more photos, a longer description you write yourself, a link to an offer, and a simple report of how many people looked at your listing and clicked through. It is always labelled as a paid placement, it does not change the order of any page, and it is not an editorial recommendation from us.
Own or manage a business here?
Claim or update this listing, free. Corrections are always free, and a listing never depends on payment.
Photo credits
UniversityParent is not affiliated with the University of Michigan and these photographs were not supplied by the university. Each is used under the licence shown.
- The Diag and Burton Memorial Tower, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Photo by AndrewHorne, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized by UniversityParent.
- State Street commercial buildings, Ann Arbor. Photo by w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized by UniversityParent; this cropped version is offered under the same licence.
- Nickels Arcade at night, Ann Arbor. Photo by Dwight Burdette, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized by UniversityParent.
- Michigan Theater marquee, Liberty Street, Ann Arbor. Photo by w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized by UniversityParent; this cropped version is offered under the same licence.
Business details are verified against each business’s own website. Discovery data from OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License. Lodging search is provided by Stay22.