Detroit, what to do?

[timskipper]

I'm flying to Miami via Detroit on Saturday and have a 5 hour stopover. I guess it's enough time to leave the airport and go and see something.

Any suggestions?

[Globs]

I've heard it's a great place to build a car, so you could try doing that.
Quite cheap property too... you could buy a house for less than a night at a hotel.

HTH

[davepoth]

Get a rental and tool up and down the abandoned streets listening to Motown. Possibly set fire to something. Or write a letter to the mayor asking for the Robocop statue.

[Big Al.]

Been there a few times on business, only thing I ever wanted to do in Detroit was get out of the place, other that the automotive history of the place it was a bit of a st hole IMHO.

[Matt Harper]

5 hours isn't really enough. The airport is out at Romulus, so by the time you got Downtown, it would be time to turn around and head back out again. The journey from the airport on I-94 is depressingly bleak. Any other route and you'll be taking your life in your hands....
I'd stay airside - lots of bars in Metro Wayne County Airport.

[timskipper]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

5 hours in Midwest? Your options are limited.
Time of day ?

I'm arriving at 1pm and flying out again at 6. Appreciate the info chaps, thanks.

[Stu R]

Honestly, I'd just hang around the airport. Detroit is a scum pit with a few nice bits dotted around. Downtown is OK and has some nice stuff, but by the time you get there and back you might as well have not bothered, it's pretty grim getting there too. There's a reasonable amount to do at DTW to pass the time, lots of places to eat, a few shops to poke around etc. The lounges are OK but not spectacular, worth it if you're just looking for a beer and somewhere to chill out and plug your laptop in etc.

[5potTurbo]

Detroit's not very nice. Sorry, OP.
I find it very easy to drive on past on my way from Chicago to Toronto.

The stripclub mentioned above is a good idea. That'll shake the jetlag, so to speak.

[K50 DEL]

I used to have a long layover there when flying from DC or NYC to Kansas City.... I never bothered leaving the airport, they have a decent internal skytrain type of a thing which makes travelling around the terminal painless, decent enough places to eat and enough shops to browse.

[fat80b]

K50 DEL said:

I never bothered leaving the airport... decent enough places to eat and enough shops to browse.

We regularly go there on business and I would agree, there is not a lot of point in leaving the airport.

My advice would be to go to the Westin hotel lobby in the terminal building itself, It is just to the left as you enter the airport and is nice and quiet with its own private access to departures (so you don't have to queue for security with the masses).

(The BA lounge used to be next door until BA scrapped the Detroit route.....)

At the hotel, there is a nice bar and a decent-ish restaurant whereas the food places in departures are pretty poor imho.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/over...


Bob

[timskipper]

That sounds like an excellent plan Bob, thanks for the info.

It was 1999 when I last travelled to the USA. I'm going to be hiring a car in Miami and driving to Sarasota, staying a couple of days and driving back again, so I'll be encountering all which that journey and services entails.

What's the scoop on tipping these days? Who do you tip, and how much?

[Nicol@]

Plymouth is a nice part of Detroit. http://detroit.about.com/od/neighborhoods/ss/weste...

When I flew into Detroit, the immigration officer said 'why are you here'?
I said I was on holiday. Her reply was 'nobody comes here on holiday, why are you really here?'.
It just happened to be the start point of my road trip.

[Original Poster]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

timskipper said:

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

5 hours in Midwest? Your options are limited.
Time of day ?

I'm arriving at 1pm and flying out again at 6. Appreciate the info chaps, thanks.

Knackered then - sorry to say.
Either get fked in the bar.


or remember the playhouse option I mentioned

You could have mentioned the 'Playhouse' is effectively a brothel....

[timskipper]

Original Poster said:

You could have mentioned the 'Playhouse' is effectively a brothel....

Amusing SEO strategy they have there.. I wonder how many hits they get?!

[Original Poster]

timskipper said:

Original Poster said:

You could have mentioned the 'Playhouse' is effectively a brothel....

Amusing SEO strategy they have there.. I wonder how many hits they get?!

I guess it depends on the prices.