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 200+ cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Detroit? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.