Michigan's Hands-Down Best County Is Overflowing With Vibrant Cities, Fun Shops, And Outdoor Adventure

You've probably heard of Ann Arbor. It's home to the University of Michigan and the winningest team in the history of college football, the Wolverines. It's where Iggy Pop and the Asheton brothers formed the legendary rock band The Stooges in the '60s. And it's the biggest city in Washtenaw County, an exciting and scenic stretch of Michigan that Niche named the best county in the state for 2026.

As the center of Michigan's top-rated county, Ann Arbor is as full of great shopping and activities as you'd expect. It's not alone, though; there are six other cities in Washtenaw that are all charming and interesting in their own ways. Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, and Ypsilanti surround Ann Arbor — the farthest, Manchester, is under 30 miles away, the rest all within 20 miles — and together the seven cities make up a thriving metro area with downtown shopping districts and outdoor recreation. And it's all within an hour from Detroit, the state's biggest and busiest city, and the site of the closest major airport.

Washtenaw's seven cities all have their own downtown areas full of unique retail establishments. Ann Arbor alone has a handful of notable shopping districts. Kerrytown is home to Kerrytown Market & Shops, with over a dozen stores inside historic brick buildings that date back to Ann Arbor's earliest days. Highlights include Found, a marketplace with work from diverse local artists and craftspeople; the vintage homegoods store Malofta; and Mudpuddles, an offbeat toy store that hopes to inspire children's imagination. 

Ann Arbor's Main Street is well-known for its variety of independent bookstores, including Literati (the 2019 Publishers' Weekly Bookstore of the Year whose many events have made it a pillar of Washtenaw's arts scene), West Side Book Shop (the oldest bookstore in town), and the alternative spirituality hub Crazy Wisdom. And at the heart of the State Street District's bustling retail corridor sits the historic Nickels Arcade, a classic covered arcade that opened in 1918 and houses vintage jewelry and home decor store Arcadian Antiques.

Elsewhere in Washtenaw, you can dig through the past at the Chelsea Antiques Mall in Chelsea, a small Michigan town with unique boutiques, which features over two dozen dealers. Get gifts for your friends back home — or, hey, yourself — in Manchester at Dragonfly and Birch, featuring work by local artisans. Several buildings on Milan's downtown Main Street underwent major renovations in 2017, and top stores in the area include Lavender Lane, which sells health and wellness products made with locally grown lavender, and Northern Chicks, offering home decor and gifts. Whether you're an angler or just want a taste of true Michigan, Schultz Outfitters in Ypsilanti, a quirky college town with a vibrant downtown, sells a wide range of fly fishing gear, outdoor apparel, and bags. Also in Ypsilanti, World of Rocks sells, well, rocks — as well as crystals, fossils, gemstones, and various gifts and jewelry made out of them.

Michigan is widely admired for its natural beauty and hidden gem outdoor destinations, and that's on full display in Washtenaw County. There's a host of parks spread out across its seven cities, with all manner of trails to explore and watersports to enjoy on the Huron River or various lakes. The highest-ranked park on Yelp, Bandemer Park, rolls alongside the Huron River for almost 40 acres in Ann Arbor. At Bandemer, you can play a round of disc golf, go rowing on the Huron, or go dirt-biking at its bike park. Bandemer's Argo Pond Loop walking trail — a 2.4-mile trail with a 4.6 rating on AllTrails — will take you to the nearby Argo Park and Nature Area, whose 22 acres offer hiking, biking, and rentals of canoes and kayaks, along with a boat launch that's open to the public.

Over in Dexter, you can find more disc golf and hiking trails at the Hudson Mills Metropark. It also has an 18-hole golf course, courts for pickleball and volleyball, and fields for soccer and softball. You can fish in the Huron here, and in the winter it's a prime spot for cross-country skiing. Washtenaw's largest state park — and, indeed, the biggest one in all of Michigan's Lower Peninsula — is the Waterloo State Recreation Area in Chelsea. With more than 20,000 acres, this sprawling park offers a wide variety of outdoor activities, and its many campgrounds will let you enjoy nature all night long as you sleep under the stars. This one park includes 11 lakes for fishing and water recreation and over 47 miles of hiking trails. You can even ride horses there or go hunting.