Grand Rapids is Michigan’s second largest city. With more than one million residents in the metro area, it offers all the big-city amenities and excitement you can imagine. Yet it’s also a region of abundant natural wonders, where outdoor recreation is a year-round pursuit. And it’s all served up with a heaping helping of small-town friendliness, safety and affordability.
Grand Rapids is named after the river that runs through the heart of the city. There are no longer any rapids to be found in the Grand River as it winds its way through downtown – but there are plenty of fishermen casting for trout, salmon and steelhead amidst the vibrant energy of our city streets. (No wonder Field & Stream Magazine named Grand Rapids America’s 6th Best Fishing City.)
Downtown is clean, safe and walkable – there are more than 75 hotels, restaurants, museums, and sports and entertainment venues within a five-minute walk of each other. Some of Grand Rapids’ other unique attractions are less than a ten-minute drive away: Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park (one of the Midwest’s most popular tourist spots); John Ball Zoo (one of the nation’s oldest urban zoos); and Woodland Mall and Rivertown Crossings (two of Michigan’s largest indoor malls).
Voight House Victorian Museum
Grand Rapids Night Skyline
John Ball Zoo
Gerald Ford Museum
Quick Facts:
- Grand Rapids has two homes in the city designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. One is the Amberg House and the other the Meyer May House which is open to the public three days per week.
- There are 28 public golf courses with many only fifteen minutes from downtown making it one of the top cities in the U.S. in number of public golf courses-to-population ratio.
- The 1913 Room at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel is the only 5-Diamond restaurant in the Midwest outside of Chicago.
- Heritage Hill Historic District, adjacent to downtown, has 60 architectural styles and 1300 homes.
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