A College Student's Guide to Hosting Friends and Family

If you couldn’t tell from its lively energy and abundance of young faces, Grand Rapids is a college town. There are more than a dozen colleges and universities in the area, and they bring with them a multitude of students living on their own for the first time. Many of them are eager to show off their new surroundings to the folks back home – whether home is across the county, the state, the country or the world!

We asked Aquinas College student Victoria Scovel to share some tips for ensuring family and friends have a great time when they visit Grand Rapids. As a lifelong city resident who’s in the midst of a one-year stint as an Experience Grand Rapids intern, Victoria is well-equipped to craft itineraries showcasing our most popular attractions, under-the-radar hidden gems and crowd-pleasing special events.

Because there’s so much to see and do here, says Victoria, she tries to figure out what her visitors are interested in and plan around that. But there are certain attractions and activities she recommends to just about everyone.

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

The city’s most popular tourist destination is number one on Victoria’s must-see list. “It’s beautiful and tranquil and never the same thing twice,” she says. Boasting 200+ world-class sculptures set amidst 10 distinct indoor and outdoor gardens – including Michigan’s largest tropical conservatory and an 8-acre Japanese garden – Meijer Gardens offers a one-of-a-kind experience for all ages. “It’s been my favorite place since I was little,” says Victoria, recalling her time spent in the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden, a hands-on outdoor adventure for curious kids and families.

Victoria is also a big fan of FMG’s annual events, especially the year-end-holiday shows: ENLIGHTEN, an outdoor lighting spectacular, and Christmas & Holiday Traditions, featuring 40+ authentic displays of holiday cheer from around the globe. Visiting other times of the year? Check out Butterflies are Blooming (March-April), the Summer Concert Series (May-September) and Mums at Meijer Gardens (October). FMG also hosts rotating special exhibitions, like 2026’s CHIHULY at Meijer Gardens, featuring the works of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly.

Grand Rapids Downtown Market

This local foods emporium, named one of America’s Top Must-Visit Food Halls, is Victoria’s practical solution for groups with diverse palates and picky eaters. With 20+ artisan food merchants and restaurants under one roof, “everyone can find something they like,” she says. That includes sushi, sandwiches, tacos, fish, charcuterie, ice cream, vegan specialties and more, all of which can be purchased separately and enjoyed together in the Market’s second-floor dining space or seasonal patio.

The Grand Rapids Downtown Market is also the site of one of Victoria’s favorite (relatively) new events: the Christkindl Markt, an outdoor European-style Christmas village lined with 60+ artisan gift and food vendors, holiday entertainment and family fun. Celebrating its fourth year in 2026, the Markt runs from mid-November through Christmas Eve.

Acrisure Amphitheater

Speaking of new, this opened-in-summer-2026 concert venue has quickly become one of Victoria’s favorite spots to bring visitors. The 12,000+-capacity facility offers both fixed and lawn seating in a beautiful outdoor setting along downtown GR’s Grand River. In its first year, the Acrisure Amphitheater hosted such diverse performers as Lionel Richie, Jelly Roll, Russell Dickerson, Santana, Dave Matthews Band, The Black Crowes, Jerry Seinfeld, Brandi Carlile, Tim McGraw, Pit Bull and 40+ other performers across a wide variety of music and comedy styles.

Victoria suggests making a night of it – start with a pre-show dinner at a restaurant or brewery just steps from the Amphitheater and perhaps indulge in a nightcap afterwards at a downtown bar.

Van Andel Arena

Van Andel Arena is another of West Michigan’s premier performance venues and it also accommodates 12,000+ people. It just moves the action inside, making it easier to host touring family shows and homegrown sporting events in addition to superstar concerts. “Kesha was the first concert I saw there, back in 2018,” recalls Victoria, and she’s attended many shows since, with and without visiting friends and family.

From October through April, she cheers on the Grand Rapids Rapids Griffins hockey team, a Detroit Red Wings minor-league affiliate who play their home games in Van Andel. The venue is also the home “field” for the Grand Rapids Gold basketball team, a Denver Nuggets affiliate playing November-March, and the Grand Rapids Rise, West Michigan’s first major-league women’s sports team, who compete in Major League Volleyball from January-April.

Downtown Grand Rapids

With 300+ restaurants, shops, cultural attractions and entertainment venues within a 10-minute walk, downtown Grand Rapids is a must-visit for anyone seeking an easy, safe, fun and friendly urban experience. One of Victoria’s favorites is Big Mini Putt Club, which features an indoor mini golf course, arcade games and great cocktails – and perhaps not so coincidentally is where she serves as Marketing Lead overseeing social media strategy and marketing.

Any of 14 downtown hotels make a perfect home base for exploring the city center and all the region has to offer. “I always recommend the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel,” she says, which blends classic 1920s architecture with a modern 29-story glass tower. “Growing up, my family would get a room to watch the July 4^th fireworks over the Grand River.” The rest of the year, you can get a bird’s-eye view of the city from MDRD (pronounced “Madrid”), an award-winning modern Spanish restaurant on the hotel’s 27^th floor.

Aquinas College

Less than a 10-minute drive due east of downtown Grand Rapids, Aquinas College is a private liberal arts college whose roots date back to 1886. Proud class-of-2027 student Victoria says the tree-lined campus is a worthwhile tour for visiting friends and family, especially as its close and convenient to the restaurants and shops of walkable Uptown Grand Rapids, the hipper, funkier cousin to downtown. Other local college and university students will want to show off their own campuses of course.

Creston Neighborhood

Victoria is enjoying new digs in the city’s Creston neighborhood during her senior year, and she’s eager to share the historic area’s charms with visitors. Those charms include two of Victoria’s favorite food destinations: Lucy’s, a coffee bar, bakery and breakfast/lunch destination named one of the nation’s top brunch spots by Yelp, and Frosty Boy, an iconic local ice cream parlor known for its classic lemon soft-serve twist. “But my favorite there is the Lemon Lime Glacier,” a mix between a traditional slushie and a soft-serve float, she says.

Victoria’s very favorite local restaurant isn’t far away. Blue Water, a modern American restaurant set on picturesque Versluis Lake, is a 6.5-mile drive from Creston along Plainfield Avenue. “Everyone I’ve taken there has loved it, too,” she says.

Back to Creston: the neighborhood is home to many other restaurants as well as variety of visit-worthy shops, murals and parks – including Riverside Park, the largest park entirely within the city of Grand Rapids. Riverside boasts walking trails, a disc golf course, ballfields, picnic tables and a universally accessible kayak/canoe launch.

Lake Michigan

“If there’s time, I like to bring visitors to the lakeshore for an afternoon,” says Victoria. It’s just 30-45 minutes from downtown GR and “an experience they’ll never forget.” She likes to hit lakeshore communities Holland and Grand Haven for their resort-town feel, and Rosy Mound Natural Area if her visitors are up for some physical activity. A classic Great Lakes dune system with a scenic hiking trail, steep stairs and boardwalks through forested dunes, and a secluded strip of Lake Michigan beach, “It’s a real workout.”

Victoria’s tenure as Marketing Website Editorial Intern at Experience Grand Rapids opened her eyes to even more fun things to see and do in Grand Rapids, and she recommends browsing ExperienceGR.com for ideas. You can even build a Grand Rapids itinerary and share it with visitors before they arrive, so they can weigh in on your choices.

However you choose to spend your time together, “You can be proud to invite friends and family to experience Grand Rapids!”