Editor's Note
Just because your suitcase is packed, your paper is finished and printed in 14-point font, and the program is downloaded onto your phone doesn’t mean you’re feeling ready to be in a new city in the growing cold! To help you finish preparing, we’ve compiled a few tips here.
Leaving the Airport
From the Wayne County Municipal Airport, which is the major international airport, located to the southwest of the city, you have several options for getting into downtown:
- Detroit Air Xpress (DAX): a bus service that runs every :55 – 1:20 hr, which will take you from either terminal (McNamara, where Delta arrives, or Evans, where everyone else does) into downtown. The ride is about 30 minutes, and is $6 in advance or $8 at the door (with discounts for those over 65 years and for college students). More information is here.
- Taxi: Call Metro Cab at (734) 997-6500, or follow signs to the Ground Transportation Center and find the kiosk there.
Arriving at the Hotel (DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Detroit Downtown – Fort Shelby)
The hotel is located at 525 W Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226, at the 1st St. and W. Lafayette Blvd, just a few blocks from the Detroit River. It’s located one block from the Fort/Cass People Mover stop (read more about the fascinating Detroit People Mover here and here!).
Our conference will be on the second floor, and we’ll have signs to guide you.
Food and Coffee
- A.M. Buzz (1.5 blocks west) — $3 drip coffee; $6 latte — $5 breakfast sandwich
- Dime Store (5 blocks east) — $4 drip coffee; breakfast between $8 and $20; lunch between $17 and $20
- Grocery stores are in short supply. (Bring your snacks from home!) The closest is Eve’s Market, two stops north on the People Mover.
If you’re looking for new and hip restaurants, check out this list!
The hotel is pretty close (10-13 minute walk) to the Campus Martius area, a public square at the site of Detroit’s point of origin as laid out in 1805. Some great restaurants there, like Central Kitchen, Grand Trunk Pub, Shake Shack, Parc, The Fountain, Starbucks, CAVA.
Fun Local Institutions
- Detroit Institute of Art
- Detroit Historical Museum
- Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
- Motown Museum
- Henry Ford Museum
Want to Learn More?
Detroit was on the New York Times List of 52 Places to Visit in 2025!
National Geographic says it “tough, cheap, and real”!
On the risks of this language of resurgence, Rebecca J. Kinney, “’America’s Great Comeback Story’: The White Possessive in Detroit Tourism,” American Quarterly (2018).
Thomas Segrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: 1996).
Tiya Miles, The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits (New Press, 2017).
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