Sunday, February 17, 2008

A Weekend In Detroit Without a Car

We spent the last weekend in Downtown Detroit and chose not to rent a car. This worked out really well for us. Cab from the airport to our hotel was $40 each way. A car would have been easily $80 or more for the 3 day weekend from Friday to Sunday. Our hotel was the Mariott at the Renaisance Center which has access to the Detroit People Mover. The DPM is a light rail system that runs a continuous loop that stops at or within walking distance of most of the popular destinations around the downtown area for just 50 cents a ride. If your goal is to just stay in the downtown area, this is the way to go. We were able to go to a hockey game on Friday night and a concert on Saturday night both at Joe Louis Arena with ease. The system runs about 30 feet above ground so it is not impeded by travic and vice versa. Detroit also has 3 casinos, 2 of which are accessable from the DPM. Being February, it was cold, in the 20s all weekend, but with heated platforms, waiting for the trains to arive, which was never more than a 5 minute wait, was pleasent. In all, the trip was a great one. Comon stereo types of the city were not materialized as we roamed freely from casino's to local bars to the arena. It is amaizing what there is to do without leaving the downtown area. It is a shame that there are so many problems both economically and with reputation that hurts tourism.

No comments: