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Old 04-21-2011, 01:56 PM
 
Location: Toronto, ON
161 posts, read 520,980 times
Reputation: 144

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I'm not going to get to Detroit until the fall - until I'm living in Ontario instead of Nova Scotia - but I will definitely get there for a visit! I am still pretty fascinated and excited about your city and check this forum so frequently that it's maybe kind of creepy.

Anyway, I am in the midst of planning a more immediate trip to New York City, and I've been looking into different walking tours there, and this has me wondering what kind of equivalant tours Detroit has to offer. I guess, considering the city's differences, a driving tour might make more sense for Detroit? Are there any route maps with suggested destinations online that you can think of and would recommend? A walking tour would still, additionally, be cool!

A specific Motown or music (more generally) tour would be pretty neat, but really, I'm interested in all kinds of things about Detroit and would rather hear what you locals have to recommend anyway. Thanks!
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Old 04-21-2011, 02:34 PM
 
Location: Downtown Detroit
1,497 posts, read 3,491,264 times
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You need to look at Inside Detroit, which does a number of tours, including walking tours. They have Welcome Center downtown on lower Woodward: Inside Detroit – Tours and Education about Detroit, Michigan

This website also has some good tourist information not only about Detroit, but the Metro area, as well as some maps of the city: Visit Detroit | Detroit Michigan

DigDowntown has listings of events happening in Detroit: Dig Downtown Detroit | Below the Surface Venues & Events in Detroit

The areas of the city that have most of the touristy attractions are downtown (business & entertainment district), Midtown (cultural & arts district), and New Center (uptown). The Motown Historical Museum is in New Center off Grand Boulevard: Motown Historical Museum - Detroit

If you want to see most of downtown Detroit in about 25 minutes, take a ride on the Detroit People Mover. It's an elevated that circles downtown and only costs $.50. If you want to go other places, such a Midtown or New Center, you can try to use cabs or bring your own car. Outside of the city, you should check Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn. They are world class attractions. I hear that the Rouge Factory Tour is also pretty interesting.
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Old 04-21-2011, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,708 posts, read 79,820,680 times
Reputation: 39453
F.S. has you covered. However I am concerned about having a Canadian lurking in the thread. That IS creepy!






Just kidding you are as welcome here as anyone. It is fun to pick on Canadians.
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Old 04-21-2011, 04:10 PM
 
Location: Toronto, ON
161 posts, read 520,980 times
Reputation: 144
Quote:
Originally Posted by ForStarters View Post
You need to look at Inside Detroit, which does a number of tours, including walking tours. They have Welcome Center downtown on lower Woodward: Inside Detroit – Tours and Education about Detroit, Michigan

This website also has some good tourist information not only about Detroit, but the Metro area, as well as some maps of the city: Visit Detroit | Detroit Michigan

DigDowntown has listings of events happening in Detroit: Dig Downtown Detroit | Below the Surface Venues & Events in Detroit

The areas of the city that have most of the touristy attractions are downtown (business & entertainment district), Midtown (cultural & arts district), and New Center (uptown). The Motown Historical Museum is in New Center off Grand Boulevard: Motown Historical Museum - Detroit

If you want to see most of downtown Detroit in about 25 minutes, take a ride on the Detroit People Mover. It's an elevated that circles downtown and only costs $.50. If you want to go other places, such a Midtown or New Center, you can try to use cabs or bring your own car. Outside of the city, you should check Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn. They are world class attractions. I hear that the Rouge Factory Tour is also pretty interesting.
Thanks, that's great information! I did come across that first site before, and the Eastside of Detroit tour looks especially interesting.

The maps in the second link are great, really helpful. There's a very good chance we'll just end up driving around ourselves especially if - as will likely be the case - we're there off-season.

What's Detroit like around Christmas time? (Aside from cold. I know cold.) Particularly festive? Any neat light displays?
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Old 04-21-2011, 04:11 PM
 
Location: Toronto, ON
161 posts, read 520,980 times
Reputation: 144
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post
F.S. has you covered. However I am concerned about having a Canadian lurking in the thread. That IS creepy!






Just kidding you are as welcome here as anyone. It is fun to pick on Canadians.
Oh, don't worry. We don't all really think of Detroit as just a Windsor suburb.
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Old 04-21-2011, 06:24 PM
 
Location: Downtown Detroit
1,497 posts, read 3,491,264 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by East Coaster View Post
What's Detroit like around Christmas time? (Aside from cold. I know cold.) Particularly festive? Any neat light displays?
Right around Christmas time, Detroit is actually peculiarly quiet. There is a big, beautiful Christmas tree in Campus Martius Park downtown, as well as ice skating in the park, but other than that there is not much happening in the city. You will not see as many pedestrians out unless there is a game because of the frigid weather. There are no major department stores downtown like there was years ago, so there are few, if any, holiday shoppers out and about in the city. There are a few boutique shops that open up seasonally downtown, but that's it. New Year's Eve is a different story, as Detroit now does a ball drop, but around Christmas time, the atmosphere is not so much "festive" as it is eerily quiet.
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Old 04-26-2011, 11:16 AM
 
Location: a swanky suburb in my fancy pants
3,391 posts, read 8,781,978 times
Reputation: 1624
The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn is fabulous, worth a trip from anywhere. I came from New Jersey to see it and wasn't disapointed. Don't miss it. (Greenfield Village is no big deal however IMO.) I also recomend the people mover for a front row seat on the ruins of downtown. Just facinating to see.
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Old 04-26-2011, 04:55 PM
 
Location: Downtown Detroit
1,497 posts, read 3,491,264 times
Reputation: 930
Quote:
Originally Posted by bryson662001
I also recomend the people mover for a front row seat on the ruins of downtown. Just facinating to see.
Okay, there are a few abandoned buildings downtown, some in worse shape than others, but there five times as many buildings that are not. You make it sound like downtown Detroit is Pompeii.
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Old 04-28-2011, 08:34 AM
 
Location: a swanky suburb in my fancy pants
3,391 posts, read 8,781,978 times
Reputation: 1624
Quote:
Originally Posted by ForStarters View Post
Okay, there are a few abandoned buildings downtown, some in worse shape than others, but there five times as many buildings that are not. You make it sound like downtown Detroit is Pompeii.
That is a fantastic analogy which never occured to me.... and I have seen Pompeii. Of course Detroit was better 15 years ago before so many of the abandoned skyscrapers were torn down. Parts of it really were like Pompeii.
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Old 04-28-2011, 09:09 AM
 
Location: Downtown Detroit
1,497 posts, read 3,491,264 times
Reputation: 930
Quote:
Originally Posted by bryson662001 View Post
That is a fantastic analogy which never occured to me.... and I have seen Pompeii. Of course Detroit was better 15 years ago before so many of the abandoned skyscrapers were torn down. Parts of it really were like Pompeii.
I have also been to Pompeii, and downtown Detroit is nothing like it. Pompeii is buried under hundreds of feet of volcanic ash. It is a mausoleum now more than a city. Downtown Detroit has some vacant buildings, and a few signs of blight, but it is very much a functioning urban core and full of the living. Pompeii is a ghost town, a tomb, a museum of a society dead and gone... Downtown Detroit and Pompeii have nothing in common.

Of the 90 skyscrapers/highrises in Detroit, you can see that only a few are "unused," and most of those are presently under renovation, have renovation plans pending, or are in the midst of a sale: Diagrams - SkyscraperPage.com

For the record, nothing in Pompeii is open, except the gift shop.
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