Detroit's Best Food Tours

Paczki, Bon Bons and the People Mover: Walking Downtown on Our Detroit Donut Tour

Greek, Polish and French bakers all left their mark on Detroit. You'll taste all three before lunch.

​

From Greektown to Campus Martius

We start in Greektown at Astoria Pastry Shop, a Detroit institution whose glass cases are stacked with cronuts, baklava, jelly donuts and meringues. Grab something and keep walking; this is a walking tour, after all. You'll pass Trappers Alley, which was once a fur tanning complex, while your guide explains how waves of immigrants built this corner of downtown.

​

Madcap Coffee keeps everyone fueled. Then into Parker's Alley, where Bon Bon Bon makes handmade chocolates in playful flavors. One of them tastes like donuts and coffee, so it was always going to end up on this tour. From there the route runs through The Belt, an alley that turned into an outdoor gallery of murals and installations, and on to Canelle for French pastries: macarons, éclairs, flan.

​

The finish is around Campus Martius and Cadillac Square, right in the heart of downtown, with the city's comeback story on every side. On some tours we hop on the People Mover for a loop with views of the Renaissance Center and the Detroit River. Small train, big views.

​

Come back in February

Paczki Day is a big deal around here. If you join the Downtown Detroit Donut Tour in February, you may well taste paczki, the filled Polish doughnuts that the whole region lines up for. Fall brings caramel apple and cider flavors to the food tour instead.

​

Then there's the Detroit Holiday Donut Tour in November and December. It leans fully into the season, with seasonal treats, a walk near the big tree at Campus Martius and a pass through the holiday market in Cadillac Square. Michiganders who haven't been downtown in a while tend to be surprised by how good it looks.