Detroit
You're flying out of Detroit Airport, you have 90 minutes to kill, and you'd like to do better than a Pret. Good news: airport drinking has improved more in the last five years than the previous fifty. Pre-flight drinks at Detroit Airport range from chain reliability to surprisingly polished hotel-style bars in the airport hotels. This is barsforKings's editor-curated guide to drinking better at Detroit's airports.
Corktown · $$$
Detroit's most awarded cocktail bar.
Downtown · $$$
Heritage cocktail bar from 1952 (closed and reopened).
Capitol Park · $$$
Cocktail bar inside the Belt alley.
Downtown · $$
Live-music-and-cocktails bar that has been a Detroit institution since 2007.
Want a real drink before flying? The fastest play is to get to airport hotels next door — most run polished bars that beat anything post-security. We list them at the bottom. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, see our shortlist of bars in Detroit proper at the end.
Plays for Detroit Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
Pre-flight drinks, hotel-bar reviews, and the openings we're watching across 176 cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Detroit? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.