Belle Isle

Belle Isle in Detroit is a 982-acre island sitting in the middle of the Detroit River, and it is the single best argument for why this city is better than its reputation. Frederick Law Olmsted designed it — the same man behind Central Park — and you get to it by driving over the MacArthur Bridge, which is the rare piece of infrastructure that makes an entrance feel like an event.

What’s on it is almost unreasonable for one island.

The stuff worth the trip

The Belle Isle Aquarium opened in 1904 and is the oldest continuously operating aquarium in the country — a single narrow green-tiled gallery that feels like walking into an aquarium someone’s great-grandfather remembered. Next door, the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory puts you under glass domes full of palms and orchids, which in February is close to a medical intervention. Albert Kahn designed both.

Add the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, the Nature Center, the James Scott Memorial Fountain, a beach, a giant slide, and a herd of deer that will absolutely stare you down, and you can spend a full day without repeating yourself.

The skyline view

Head to the west end at dusk. Detroit’s downtown lines up across the water, Windsor sits off to your right, and it’s the view that ends up on everything. It’s free and it’s better than it has any right to be.

The island at play

Belle Isle is also where Detroit has always come to let loose. Summer weekends fill with cookouts, car cruises, and sound systems, and for years the soundtrack was ghettotech — the fast, joyful booty sound DJs like Assault and Godfather built from sped-up techno and Detroit rap, with jit dancers spinning to it. Less reverent than the labels and the clubs, and every bit as Detroit.