Experience The Midwest's Most Underrated Cities On This Thrilling Road Trip

According to the International Trade Administration, the five most-visited U.S. cities for overseas travelers are all on the East and West coasts: New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, and San Francisco. The only Midwest city that ranks in the top 10 is Chicago. It's part of a potential driving route, however, that includes several underrated cities even U.S. residents might overlook as they're flying back and forth across the country.

On a road trip looping around from Detroit to Milwaukee, you can see five alternate cities in five Midwest states while covering a distance of about 650 miles. This takes you through Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana, before you reach Chicago. The route gives you a tour of the region the Census Bureau defines as the "East North Central" Midwest. The total driving time is upwards of 10 hours, but if you did a one-night hotel stay in each city, you'd only be on the road for an average of two-plus hours a day.

Renowned as America's Motor City, there's arguably no better place to start this road trip than Detroit. Touring the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, you can see the birthplace of the Model T, the first mass-produced, affordable car. Just 11 miles away in nearby Dearborn, Michigan, is The Henry Ford Museum, where you can ride in a working Model T. Among the vehicles on display here are presidential limousines and the bus where civil rights icon Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat.

Before you leave the Detroit metro area, you might also want to visit some non-automotive museums. The Detroit Institute of Arts was the first public museum in the U.S. to purchase a Vincent van Gogh painting, and it now holds several of his works in its permanent collection. The Motown Museum, meanwhile, is a shrine to music history, housed in the same studio where artists like Marvin Gaye and the Temptations recorded their hits. They could make for some good driving music as you hit I-75, bound for Ohio's capital.

Columbus may not represent Ohio as much as Cleveland or Cincinnati in sports like Major League Baseball or the National Football League, but it has a bigger population than both of those cities combined. The Ohio Statehouse is open on a walk-in basis for free guided and self-guided tours. Just a few blocks away in downtown Columbus is the Scioto Mile, a riverside promenade with a 15,000-square-foot fountain that CNN named one of the world's 10 best. It's especially beautiful when the sun goes down and the interactive fountain lights up, shooting water 75 feet in the air.

Music lovers in Columbus can catch a concert at the Newport Music Hall, America's longest continuously-running rock club. At the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, you can see glass art by Dale Chihuly and daily glassblowing demonstrations, along with over 400 plant species. For food, check out North Market, the only public market in Central Ohio.

This isn't the Indy 500, so try not to speed into Indianapolis. For a consolation prize, you can tour the actual track where the race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. (The museum itself reopens in 2025.) Across town, history buffs bucket-listing Midwest cities could spend half a day exploring the Indiana War Memorial Plaza Historic District. The Indianapolis Canal Walk goes past a memorial to the USS Indianapolis, the real-life World War II ship that inspired a famous monologue in the movie "Jaws."

After Indianapolis, you'll arrive in the Windy City, where you can enjoy some underrated Chicago tourist attractions. Given its popularity, we can probably dispense with an elaborate itinerary for Chicago, but here's how to spend one day in this beautiful Midwest city, according to Anthony Bourdain. You'll want to save some of your appetite — or at least your thirst — for the end of the road in Milwaukee. The city is well-known for its association with beer, and not just the Old Milwaukee and Milwaukee's Best brands.

Riverwest Stein Amber Lager is the original flagship beer at Milwaukee's popular Lakefront Brewery. A tour of the Miller Brewery includes beer samples along the way, while the Pabst Mansion is as interesting for its architecture as its ties to the family behind Pabst Blue Ribbon. There's more to Milwaukee than just beer, though, since it's also home to the Harley-Davidson Museum, where "hog heaven" takes on new meaning with a robust motorcycle collection.