xwing

I'm going to a wedding in Michigan this summer, and decided to stay in Detroit a couple of nights on my way there. I like to visit any automotive-related sites, and it sounds like there a quite a few in the Detriot area, including 3 assembly plants that offer tours, as well as a large number of car museums.

I'm taking my 'Vette, and want to stay somewhere where it will be safe. Looking at Marriott's website, I see 6 Fairfield Inn's in the Detriot metro area. Which ones of these are in safe areas? I know Detriot has some of the highest crime in the U.S.

Fairfield Inn Detroit Troy/Madison Heights >>
32800 Stephenson Highway
Madison Heights , MI 48071

Fairfield Inn Detroit Warren >>
7454 Convention Boulevard
Warren , MI 48092

Fairfield Inn & Suites Detroit Farmington Hills >>
27777 Stansbury Boulevard
Farmington Hills , MI 48334

Fairfield Inn Detroit Livonia >>
17350 Fox Drive
Livonia , MI 48152

Fairfield Inn Detroit West/Canton >>
5700 Haggerty Road
Canton , MI 48187

Fairfield Inn Detroit Auburn Hills >>
1294 Opdyke Road
Auburn Hills , MI 48326


Also, has anyone toured the GM Truck assembly in Flint, MI or the G6 Assembly in Lake Orion, MI, or the Ford Truck Assembly in Dearborn, MI? Which ones do you recommend? What about the Henry Ford Center or the Chrysler Museum? What else do you recommend in the Detriot area?

greendot

The Henry Ford Center is a goota do. Used to be the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village by name and it's hard to find more quality stuff anywhere. Give yourself a whole day at least.
The Chrysler museum is nice with interesting stuff but is small.
The Ford truck assembly plant sounds like a good tour from what I've heard but have not been there.

Of course if the timing is right and schedule permits, there is some great racing at Waterford Hills to see
www.waterfordhills.com

Can't help you with choice of motel.

Bruce

acrace

Which weekend next summer? There's always lots of automotive stuff to do here - lots of first class shows, some of the best concours in the world, the Dream Cruise, etc.

Do you have a preference as to what part of town you want to stay in? The Fairfields you've listed are pretty distant from each other.

Agree with greendot about "The Ford". The GM plants you've listed don't do public tours.

86_RedRider

All of those should be fine, they are in the suburbs(just depends where the wedding is). But if you want to stay in downtown Detroit and in a Marriot chain, I would recommend the Marriot in the Renaissance Center. This is GM's world headquarters and is right on the water. It also has one of the best restaurants in South East Michigan - Seldom Blues. http://www.seldomblues.com/
There are plenty of other fast food places right in this building also.
GM also usually has some sort of car display in the lower level. (They've done a collection of corvettes (20+ cars), new cars, concepts, etc.)


There is also a Courtyard in the Millender center that is across the street and attached by a skywalk. Both have vallet and secured parking.

If you want an automobile plant tour. Do the Ford Rouge Plant. http://www.thehenryford.org/rouge/default.asp

You can always go to a Tiger's Game. Comerica Park is one of the nicest in the league.

There are also 3 Casinos downtown if you want to do some gambling. I recommend Greektown since it has more to do outside of the building, you can go to Niki's for some pizza and flaming saganaki.
http://www.greektowncasino.com/

As someone said above, there's the Woodward Dream cruise depending on what weekend you come in, but there's a cruise and/or show everyday somewhere in SE MI and people cruise Woodward unofficially all of the time. http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/

There's tons of stuff just depends on what you want to see and do.

Plentyfast

MGVette

The hotels you listed are very geographically dispersed. Let us know where the wedding is, and can better advise. Generally, you can not tour assembly plants without previously setting up some kind of group tour....and even that is difficult/impossible. As mentioned, Ford Rouge plant restarted their public touring a couple years ago.

FLY LOW

The Windsor ballet

xwing

Thanks

I will be getting into Detroit the afternoon of June 27 (Wed) leaving early afternoon on June 29 (Friday) My only preference is that I can drive to fun automotive activities, and that I don't spend too much on the hotel or stay somewhere unsafe.

I refuse to do valet parking. Is parking in Detroit as bad as Chicago, or are there resonably priced public parking spaces if we want to hang out for a few hours around there? Also, can people just walk in GM's headquarters to see their displays?

I was hoping the GM Tours were similar to the one in Bowling Green. I did find a phone number for tours of the GM Flint Truck Assembly, and left a message. I seriously dislike the fact that Ford charges $14 per person for the tour, which I think it ludicrously overpriced.

The wedding is in Petoskey, MI. I just don't want to drive all the way up there for a wedding, so I'm planning a mini-vacation with about 1 1/2 days in Detriot on the way there. As far as where I'm staying, I have no preference as long as it's cheap and it's in an area where the Vette is safe parked outside overnight.

Thanks for the great ideas so far! Keep them coming!

FKING1

Since you really have only a little over one day, I would stay at the Holliday Inn Dearborn or the Hyatt Regency Dearborn, this will give easy access to The Henry Ford Museum and the Ford Factory tour which is excellent. These 2 will take up a full day. Flint is a good 1-1/2 hr drive from Detroit/Dearborn. The Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills is also very good, about 45 min from Dearborn.
Fred

xwing

I want to stay at Marriott because that's where I accumulate reward points, and I need to keep it < $100 / night. How about this place? http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/DTWWE Canton, MI, looks to be 12 mi from Dearborn. Is Canton a decent area, or would I have to worry about parking my C5 overnight there?

NoOne

"In Detroit' is a misnomer.

No one stays inside of Detroit, in fact besides directly downtown there are no hotels in Detroit, at least not ones that are not by the hour.

Canton is fine, so is either of the Dearborn ones.

See Detroit gets lumped into big cities like Chicago and New York when in reality Downtown Detroit is a whopping 6 blocks, if that.

That Fairfield is fine and is across from the Ikea in Canton, there is a Carraba's behind it and its a decent area.

I would double check on tours since a lot of plants are closed down on weekends and running short shifts.

Never been to any of the museums but I drive by the Chrysler one everyday and it sure does look nice I work there and never stepped foot in the place. Its located on the grounds of the Chrysler Tech Center which is a site in itself to see if you never had. Largest single building in the world next to the Pentagon. That drive can be done in 28 minutes from Dearborn

Flint is a haul from Canton/Dearborn and if you goto Flint, you goto the plant, park, and drive home. Flint as far as the danger scale goes is astronomically higher than Detroit. I work in Detroit and Auburn Hills and I'm afraid to goto Flint

acrace

BTW, if you have never been to Petoskey, it is a very nice place. I would recommend booking rooms there early, as you will be at the start of vacation season. The Perry Inn is a great place to stay. The Gaslight District has some decent shopping. City Park Grille has good food and a nice atmosphere at a reasonable price. The Bay Harbor area has nice upscale shopping, and you can stay at the resort there as well, but it's pricey, although I do like eating at the Original Pancake House there.

Not much to add to the comments offered by others. If you're in town on Saturday, go to Woodward. There's a neat store with die casts, DVDs, and books called Auto Zone (north of 14 Mile Road, east side of Woodward). Die casts and stuff aren't the NASCAR variety, but tend towards the exoticar side. They do a "Cars and Coffee" Saturday morning auto show in their (small) lot. You'd be amazed at what shows up - lots of really neat stuff. Saturday night and Sunday night there's the cruising on Woodward. 13 Mile and Woodward usually has neat impromptu shows - muscle cars and hot rods.

FLY LOW

[QUOTE=NoOne;1558094131
Flint as far as the danger scale goes is astronomically higher than Detroit. I work in Detroit and Auburn Hills and I'm afraid to goto Flint [/QUOTE]

Maybe in the six block area, but don't go out of that perimeter without knowing the area.

I live about 10 minutes south of Flint and work in Detroit. Grant it there is absolutely nothing to do in Flint but as for crime I think the D beats Flint hands down.

If you take a tour of any of the plants don't expect the hourly personnel to be as nice as the BG plant.
I visit a lot of OEM plants and the people in the southern area are much friendlier than up here in the plants.

Stick to seeing the Henry Ford and Greenfield Village.
Take in the IMAX if something good is playing.
And visit the 6 block area in the D.
Park in the Greektown Casino parking structure and get the parking ticket validated in the Casino for free parking.
That time of year there may even be a Corvette show in the area to check out.

Canton is OK to stay at but don't expect to much from a Hotel under $100 in any of the areas around here.

Irish Whiskey

"Safe" in Deeeetroit is somewhat problematic.
Look at the Marriot in Troy -Big Beaver (alas, exit 69) and I-75 -nice place, good brunch, pool, etc.
Chrysler museum is a good bet.
Windsor ballet: I see that this has been suggested!!
Best burger/chocalte malt combo: Knapps on Rochester Road in Rochester - 50's style diner with spinning stools, etc.
Museum and Greenfield village are side-by-side and a must see.
Stop by the parking lot at 13mile and Woodward (Sw corner) no one there in this weather but it is hallowed ground to us old farts from the muscle days - leave a wreath at the tomb of the unknown drunk.In the summer it will be a happening area.
Oh,yes - we moved from here this year to Hilton Head,SC - I went from the "old fart" to the "kid" down there!1
Oh,yes - stop by AutoZone at 14 mile and Woodward and say hello to Eric who runs the place on Saturday mornings and as said above, you will see some very unusual cars - he had an "Enzo" there this year along with about $4mil in other cars just on one Saturday.

UstaB-GS549

We liked Greenfield Village (or whatever the current name is). You really need the whole day for this. The car exhibits were excellent (Ford Museum?)

revo1059

If you are going to be near Comerica Park there is a parking garage right behind the Hockeytown restaurant. If the Tigers aren't in town parking is cheap. If there are there I think it was around $20 or so.

Motor City Vette

You're outta' luck since there's no place safe in Detroit!!!

70L46

If you've got the time, and the weather is decent, take highway 119 from Harbor Springs (just north of Petosky) to Cross Village, it's a great drive. Also, stop in for lunch/dinner at Leggs Inn in Cross Village.

MGVette

The Canton location is safe and good proximity to Dearborn. You can also get downtown pretty easy from there. Parking downtown on the weekends is reasonable (in surface lots) if nothign big is going on...druing the week is more pricey. I work downtown frequently and went to school in the city...never had a single problem. The "danger" is over rated. I like hanging out there for baseball/football/hockey games, Greektown, Rencen (GM HQ), casinos, etc. Troy Marriot is further north, so more on your way to Petosky.

If you are heading to Petosky, Flint Assembly is on your way. You can see the back of it from I-75. I used to work there, and it is a VERY old and dirty plant....but they are all interesting in their own right.

There are many good suggestions here and Petosky is very pretty town. Have fun!

c6nut

It does not get any better than this. The Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. I have stayed there 6 times in the last year. Great place and good food.

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts: Hyatt Regency Dearborn - 2.1 miles W - 600 Town Center Drive, Dearborn, 48126 - (313) 593-1234
Hyatt Regency Dearborn - 2.5 miles W - 100 Town Center Dr, Dearborn, 48126 - (313) 982-1359