Detroit transportation questions - DTW to Downtown and Downtown to Henry Ford

I wouldn't take the Smart Bus from the Airport to the Renaissance Mariott nor the bus from Fort/Cass to the Henry Ford. The Fort/Cass stop is not in the greatest area and being dropped off there after a day in Dearborn and relying on the People Mover to get you back to your hotel is probably not the best plan. You might try Ken's Shuttle Service. http://www.kensairportshuttle.com/ They seem to be pretty popular and they can probably accomodate your trip to the Henry Ford. Did you check out the website for the Henry Ford? They have some hotel specials linked with visiting their facility. Would it make better sense to stay in Dearborn and travel downtown for your activites there? In any case, the Renaissance Marriott has the Henry Ford Special. The Marriott concierge might also be able to steer you in the right direction.

Thanks very much for the suggestions regarding transportation. I'll try Ken's Shuttle for the Ford trip. I already have booked the Marriott through Priceline. I debated prior to bidding between Dearborn and Downtown and settled on Downtown since I didn't intend on renting a car.

Are there any guided tours available in Detroit?

Thanks again,
Greg

You might try: http://www.preservationwayne.org/ for different types of tours in Detroit. You'll be very close to Greektown and the Mariner's Church of Detroit (where they have the annual Edmund Fitzgerald Service). The Guardian Building is beautiful inside and is probably on at least one of their tours.

Am I better off just renting a car? It seems the cost of renting/parking balances out with the cost of car service.

Apparently some of the other places (Motown, Zoo) I wish to visit are not as conveniently accessible using the People Mover or bus as originally thought so now it looks like I might rent a car. I guess I can valet park at the Marriott Renaissance and use the car to get to the Henry Ford, Motown, and Zoo and use the People Mover for Comerica, Greektown, etc. I changed my flight so I arrive at 3:40 in the afternoon which appears to be the start of rush hour - is the traffic from the airport to DT that bad?

Thanks,
Greg

To be honest, I would definately rent a car. Everything that you want to visit is at least 20 miles from one another and everything around detroit is highway, highway, highway.

Unfotunately, like other cities of it's size, Detroit does not have a transit system. They don't call it the "motor city" for nothing!

Traffic volumes vary depending on what day of the week you are arriving. Obviously much lighter on the weekends. However, typically most people tend to be west or north out of the city at that time on a typical workday so traffic into downtown should not be too bad.

We did a Detroit trip last month with a Comerica game. We also went to Greektown and some other stops.

We were just amazed at the lack of highway traffic around Downtown Detroit on a weekDAY evening. Their rush hour is like Chicago's 3am in the morning minus half. We left Detroit at 8:30pm on a Thursday night to go back to Western MI and we could see about 4 cars at any one time for as far as vision permitted on the 4 lane wide and each direction expressway. My dear SO asked me to take a photo of the situation because it seemed so "odd" to us to see that kind of space.

We come from constantly gridlocked bumper to bumper for 6, 7 miles as a pretty constant condition near Chicago-and sometimes not even near Chicago in IL, so we were flabberghasted.

You will need to drive, but the traffic is not heavy- so don't be too worried about that aspect at all.

Kens Airport Shuttle is so popular that it is out of business!

JJ5-depopulation makes for empty highways.

Well, it has been 6 years since they talked about it!