Trip recommendations for Detroit

Wife's family is from Detroit area. Can't really factually tell you wherre to stay downtown, since I always had a place at "Aunt or Uncle So and So's house. Otherwise:

-As for things to do a very basic search has come up with the henry ford museum
Great place to see and it takes several hours at least

popping over to Canada real quick
Bring your passport! Some family members live in Windsor. There is not much to do. Not sure about Uber, that's nothing I've dealt with.

Those are my 2 cents. The area you noted as "downtown" twixt the Interstates is probably correct. Only place I've eaten in that area is the revolving restaurant giving you a great view. I don't know the name of the building, but it is hard to miss when you get there.

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he revolving restaurant giving you a great view. I don't know the name of the building, but it is hard to miss when you get there.

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cool thanks! We love restaurnats like that so I'll definitely look into that.

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We ate at the place that has the "home of the original Detroit style pizza" it was good.

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any ideas the name? I'm sure there's "detroit style" pizza on every corner but I'd like to hit one of hte oldest/original ones if I can

I went a few years back and had a great time. Never felt unsafe and we walked all over downtown. Definitely check out a sports event. All of their sport venues are together downtown. A good many sports bars in the area. Greektown is their entertainment district with a casino. The ice rink should still be up at Martius Park. It’s a cool park. In the summer they put down beach sand and have Motown/Beach Music.

The Henry Ford Museum is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. It definitely rivals anything in D.C. or NY. You have to drive there as it’s outside of Detroit.

Oddly enough did a trip to Detroit last winter.

Stayed at the MGM. It was nice enough. Downtown seemed very safe. There are a couple of more historic, boutique hotels downtown I’d probably stay at over the mgm.

Went to a red wings game and had a blast. Would recommend. Live hockey is great.

There is a Detroit curling club that was a lot of fun to visit. Would recommend.

If you and the wife want something a little weird, go to the Schvitz.

Don’t.

Used to travel there regularly, had one of the local indigenous personnel wave a handgun out the window at my family and me to send me a message that he didn’t care for my driving. Right where 94 and 75 cross, in the middle of the city, in the middle of the day. Screw that place.

There are some cool seafood joints along the St. Clair river. Old school steak house London Chop House is great.

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Live hockey is a blast even if you are not a sports fan.

Stay at the Ponchartrain, Book Cadillac, Bedrock, Marriot Renaissance Center, Marriot Henry Ford, Aloft, siren, Roost, downtown Courtyard...

Henry Ford museum is one of the best ever - it sounds like a bunch of old mustangs and tbirds but it's really the museum of the Industrial Revolution. Planes, huge trains, giant stationary engines, Thomas Edison's actual lab, Wright Bros' actual workshop, etc... Big hitters. Also consider Detroit Institute for Art.

Eat at the Caucus Club, Joe Muers, London Chop, or downshift to Vicentes, Grand Trunk Pub, etc...

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awesome thank you (and everyone else) for the tips! This is great stuff

Even though neither of us are car buffs it sounds liek the henry ford musem is must-see so we'll definitely do that.
Neither of us care abotu hockey but I remenmber from my younger days going to a few thrashers games and they were a blast even if you didn't care. I can only imagine a red wings game would be even better. I'm just leery of the price; it's not like it'd break the bank or anythign but man even the dirt cheapest you can find would still run us over $200 for a pair. Maybe I"ll just get on stubhub that afternoon and hope for the best.

It’s not that weird. I drove by the abandoned Pontiac Silverdome when I was there. There is a quirky tour you can do yourself if you have a car. The Heidelburg Project is an outdoor art project that turned abandoned houses/neighborhood into folk art.
Heidelburg Project

Warning-- long post. But with pictures!

It was interesting to see your post, because in 2016 I did the same trip.

Others may ask, why in the world would Detroit be on your bucket list of places to go? Well, I am a city/urban/transportation planner, and since I was in college, the whole scene of Detroit (specifically its changes post-1967) has intrigued me-- how it was a HUGE city and since essentially the '67 riots it has been going downhill, losing people, all the while with repeated calls of "oh, now we've turned the corner, we're in a Renaissance! Just look at our Renaissance Center / People Mover / One Detroit Center / Ford Field / Casinos!", but it just got worse. I've followed it quite ardently; the most interesting aspect for me was/is the physical manifestation of the change, i.e. the abandonment and ruins: of public buildings, skyscrapers, schools, churches, and huge swaths of neighborhoods. Looking at those areas on Google Street View now is worse than looking at the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans; but Detroit didn't experience a Katrina-level event, it was all a result of socioeconomic change.

Before I went, I was a little worried about being in-town, so I wound up getting a nice hotel out in the burbs within shouting distance of the old Pontiac Silverdome. But after visiting in person, I'd say it appears safe to stay in the heart of downtown, especially in the casino area or one of the downtown hotels.

Given your wife (and your) interest in visiting the abandoned/emptied areas, or ruins (there is actually a term for doing that in Detroit, "ruin porn") I would strongly advise you to do what I did and rent a car, thought you weren't planning on it. We are, after all, talking the MOTOR CITY and transit just doesn't cut it there. You can see and visit so much more with your own car, and plot your own paths and routes to see old abandoned/vacant neighborhood and ruins.

And to tell the truth, I NEVER felt unsafe in doing so. There were so few people in such areas that it was more like going out to the country than going to the "hood" or the "ghetto". Just look at Google Earth with aerial views (not maps) and you can see the old neighborhoods where there is more green than paved, and visit those areas.

That being said, here is what I did and my trip recommendations:

--Walk along the riverfront, which is nicely done. And the Detroit River water is actually BEAUTIFUL, a nice blue-green shade, not like the muddy rivers we are used to.

--Go to the restaurant/bar top of the RenCen (Rennaissance Center) near the riverfront-- Detroit's tallest building-- and have a drink while looking out over the city and taking a few pics.

-- While downtown, see the Joe Louis Fist sculpture, the Spirit of Detroit statue, and the Mariner's Church ("Maritime Sailors' Cathedral" in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"). All of these are close together.

-- Have a Detroit tradition, a Coney dog, at either the American or the Lafayette; they are adjacent to each other.

--Visit the old Tiger Stadium site, which has been repurposed as The Corner Ballpark;

-- Catch either a Red Wings or Pistons game at Little Caesar's Arena. Too bad you will be there before baseball season; Comerica Park is a very nice ball park with beautiful views:



-- see Michigan Central Station, which was abandoned for years and is under a major renovation, with some business tenants already in place.


-- Take a ride around downton on the elevated People Mover.

-- See the interior lobby of the Guardian Building, a great example of Art Deco design:


--Again, drive around the old abandoned neighborhoods, for the weird emptiness and the shame of abandoned beautiful old architecture:


--As a juxtaposition to the abandon, ride just northeast of the city limits and drive along Lake St. Clair in the various Grosse Pointes (as well as within those towns). This is an extremely nice, extremely wealthy area and beautiful to see.

-- I crossed via the tunnel to Windsor as you guys were thinking of doing; not much there but a great spot to get a shot of the Detroit skyline from the other side. I actually drove down a ways on the Canadian side to see and walk on the shores of Lake Erie, which I had never seen.

--When I was there I DID visit Belle Isle, but they were holding a Grand Prix race on the island and vehicular access was limited. I actually parked and walked across the bridge to the island rather than taking a shuttle bus. I caught some of the race, and wandered around the island as well-- it seems like a really nice place to visit and explore (when there is not a race going on over its surface streets), but again, do so with an auto. There's lots to see and it's bigger than it looks.

--If you are there on a Saturday morning, try to take in the Eastern Market which is a great farmer's market. You can almost have a full breakfast on free samples alone

--If you have time, the Detroit Institute of the Arts is nice; they have a noted Diego Rivera mural and one of the casts of Rodin's The Thinker as well as other art.


That's it. Let me know if you have any questions.