Thrillist Names Michigan Best State in Nation, Celebrates the Upper Peninsula’s Beauty

Miners Castle, Pictured Rocks

The state of Michigan is beautiful and offers a wide selection of stunning views and tourist attractions. The picturesque status of the state and the natural beauty offered attract a large number of tourists each year, led by the Pure Michigan campaign. With that being said, it should could as no surprise that Michigan was named the greatest state in the nation by Thrillist.

If you’re unfamiliar with Thrillist, the site is a digital media property that mainly focuses on travel, food, and drink. It’s those three areas that landed the state the national honors and has people talking about Michigan, both good and bad. Thrillist is one of the top 500 most visited sites in the United States and ranks in the top 2100 sites on a global basis, so to put into perspective a lot of people are about to read their review and reasoning for the state’s top honors.

In “The Definitive and Final Rankings of All 50 States”, Michigan comes in first place. Among the mentioned reasons are the state’s coastline and ability to hit nationally known breweries like Bell’s and Founder’s in the same day.

The list was said to rank states on their contributions to America, specifically inventions, food, drinks, productive famous people, and unique physical beauty. Michigan is home to plenty of inventors and famous people, but it’s nice to see Thrillist single out the beauty of the state.

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

The Upper Peninsula was a main focus for the beauty of the state and we couldn’t agree more. Thrillist said, “the UP is so remote and uniquely beautiful that it almost feels like a secret 51^st state.” We continue to share articles and lists of things to do in the Upper Peninsula, as people in Michigan and across the country still haven’t been to many of the hidden wonders of the region. Consider this list of 7 Natural Wonders of the Upper Peninsula we shared.

Big Spring – Kitch iti Kipi

Also allow us to touch on the coastline bit from Thrillist. Michigan trails only Alaska for most coastline. The state does rank first in freshwater coastline. Did you know while you’re in Michigan you’re never more than 6 miles from a body of water and never more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes. Michigan has more than 11,000 lakes. Nearly half of the state’s counties (40 of 83) touch one of the Great Lakes.

Whitefish Point Beach

When considering the Great Lakes, Michigan offers great Circle Tours that follow the shoreline with attractions and points of interests. Check out our guide to key stops on both the Lake Superior Circle Tour and Lake Michigan Circle Tour. Also for the unique things to see in Michigan, you’ll want to check out this list of world records held in the state and our continuing Roadside Attraction series.

Hiawatha, World’s Tallest Indian

Obviously the list from Thrillist is not an end all, despite what they say. Americans will debate the results now for awhile and argue why their state was unjustly ranked. Consider that Florida came in dead last, which surprised me. Other popular tourist states like California (#9) and Hawaii (#6) fared better.

Michigan continues to rank high on lists from Thrillist, drawing more attention to the state. Back in August, Thrillist ranked the state of Michigan #4 for beer states. In that article, Two Hearted Ale was singled out as being constantly ranked as one of the country’s top IPAs. Back in 2013, Two Hearted came in #4 in a list of the top 10 IPAs across the country. Also keep in mind, the Homebrewers Association just ranked Two Hearted #2 in the nation.

The state of Michigan continues to be recognized for its beer and its tourist attractions. Those are two of our biggest focuses here at Travel the Mitten. Continue to check back for more adventures across our great Mitten State and to find out where you should be having your next Michigan beer.