Nichols Arboretum

I came across this place while Yelping for a good dog park in Ann Arbor! Note: Dogs must stay on leash. From my place, its about a 2 mile run to this beautiful park! One thing that freaks me out is how this place is next to a cemetery.. I quickly turned around after.

I definitely would come back here with my fiance or some friends but I'm wayyyy too much of a chicken to wander out here by myself. But don't let this deter you from going!! I saw plenty of people (both male and female) walk around this park by themselves!

Absolutely gorgeous every time. Never a disappointment. Lush & varied botanical delights. Great for kids or a stroll with your sweetheart.

There's a peaceful park in the midst of The University of Michigan campus. I love the native plantings and the maintained prairies. Some of the trees are labeled as to species. Lots of beautiful vistas await when you explore the entire place. Hidden nooks and lots of small trails through the trees.

The place is so huge that it's helpful to have a map with you until you get to know the place. Here's a good one: lsa.umich.edu/mbg/files/…

This is a great place for photos during peony season, which is late May / early June. There's a webpage devoted to updating everyone on the status of the historic peony beds: mbgna.umich.edu/peony/pe… Enter at the gate nearest Ronald McDonald House.

You'll see plenty of joggers, sunbathers, picnickers and dogs, which must be kept on leash.

Great for four-season interest. Try to find your way to "The Arb," any time of year!

Ran through here every day for a month and loved it. Theres so many trails you can get lost on. Not too lost since they really aren't that long. Just enough to go around in circles for a few hours and not even realize it. This place is great to work out, go for a run/walk, read a book or do photography.

Past reviewers have said it all..... This is on my list of great places to study in Ann Arbor because who wouldn't want to sit in the sun with a picnic and some stats homework? If you're going to have to suffer through some of the reading I've done, then this is the spot to do it. You read a couple pages, take some notes, and look up to see..... fields of peonies and a bright blue sky. And you realize that, thank god, grad school won't last forever.

OMG - I absolutely LOVE The Arb!

I actually dropped by the Arb throughout this heavy winter season and enjoyed snowy hikes and wow- the Huron River had never looked so beautiful!  The Arb will really make you appreciate the 4 seasons that Michigan has to offer.  Spring/Summer is jamming with picnics and relaxing strolls, kayaking and plenty of romantic couple's.  

The fall season is really one of the best times to visit the Arb.  The fall color's really pop through the tree's.

This is a MUST SEE for anyone out of the area.

The Arb is a great place for a first date...and many many dates thereafter!

Very nice park, good for a walk and outdoor activity.
Very good atmosphere. My friends from other town enjoy this place where I recommend them.

Close to downtown, this park is the perfect example of "escaping the city". Nestled along the Huron River this park has many trails with different terrain types. There are some really nice hilly areas giving a picturesque view of the river. A favorite for visitors is picnicking near the river. Here you can take your time eating while enjoying the sounds of the river, occasionally seeing people go by in their kayaks/canoes.

You may be visited by the local wildlife population as you are walking around, which makes you quickly forget you are close to downtown.

Walking along the river in the evening is especially romantic. The sunset light makes everything the more beautiful. If you are looking for something to do in the summer time, come to the Arb and enjoy a day being outside in one of the more beautiful areas of town.

The "Arb" is consistently voted a top "romantic date" or "cheap date" spot (basically indistingushable in college undergrad-speak) by the readers of the Michigan Daily for good reason: you probably won't find a prettier place in Ann Arbor.  

If you're from the American West, rural New England, New Zealand, Canada, or anywhere else legitimately pretty, it helps if you take into account that in the midwest, we like to put our "nature" in safe little cages, cut broad paths through it and then caveat and "beware of " sign ourselves out of the potential lawsuits that are practically inevitable the moment someone (or their kid) trips over the pretty.   They turn out overcrowded, over-managed, and underwhelming.  

That said, Nichols Arboretum is where we keep the pretty in Ann Arbor. For the water-body-deprived, one of the main paths follows the Huron River for a while.  Other paths lead to a prairie, through standard forest preserve mediocrity, to private property at one point, and past smattering of numbered trees representing the indigenous flora.  A guide is available online and sometimes at the entrances.  

I don't think you really find the pretty by sticking to the paths so wide two vehicles could pass each other comfortably.  My favorites branch to the East just north of the peony gardens at the Washington Heights entrance.   Winding through trees with actual inclines and declines that spill at places into sunny fields, you might actually experience the something almost Sublime.  Or perhaps at least some "Ooh!  I'm in Nature" tranquility of the sort that launched a thousand high school syllabus-clogging American supermalewriter essays and poems.  Or maybe you'll at least get laid for doing something besides taking her to the bar.  

The summer shakespeare is a great time.   And when you go on your kitsch little picnic, DO NOT FORGET YOUR CORKSCREW.  (Thanks again for the pen, yelp guys-- took a long time, but we got the wine to pour!)

Oh Arb, how I love thee on a summer day.  Especially when sitting quietly by the river, contemplating life, and a group of rowdy 50+ beer bellies canoe by with a case of Schlitz in their rented canoe.   You never disappoint me, as each time I visit, the sun through the trees looks a little different, and casts a new spell on me.  I'm in love.  When I'm feeling extra saucy, I'll roll down the hill into the valley, and get sunburned while watching young men try to balance on a tightrope.  Nope, that's not the weed, that's the actual view.  Today you were filled with flowers in bloom, and lots of dogs who loved me.  At least, that's what I tell myself.
For you who read, visit and visit often.  Find your own path. You won't be sorry.