I have a car with 5 hours to kill on a Thursday (4pm to 9pm). The starting point is Detroit/Wayne County Airport. Is Detroit to far, too dangerous to drive alone? How about the suburbs?

You might want to try the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. It's close to the airport (Dearborn) but 5 hours is not nearly enough time to see everything.

www.hfmgv.org

Gary is correct about Greenfield Village/Henry Ford Museum. My family has a membership there and it is a wonderful place to visit - with or without kids. The only problem is that the museum and village close at 5 pm.

Not a great time frame for a visit to Detroit. You will hit rush hour traffic, and it will probably take you an hour to get anywhere. But since Detroit Metro is a lousy airport to spend 5 hours at, and you already have a car, I would recommend having a nice dinner somewhere. Royal Oak or Ann Arbor would both be nice suburbs to have dinner and walk around a little. If you want to go into Detroit, Greektown or Mexican Town have good restaurants. Greektown is more touristy.

Dearborn is very close to the airport and also has some good restaurants. A middle-eastern restaurant called Lashish comes to mind.

I am from Dearborn and the museum is wonderful, but you would need to check the hours of the museum and Village. They are 2 separate locations next to each other. You might head over to Ann Arbor and The University of Michigan. Has a nice campus, museums, restaurants, in a pleasant town.

Hi Pira
With a car you should be able to wack someone within the first hour and still have 4 hours to make your getaway.

I do not want to give a wrong impression but...Have you heard about the "Windsor Ballet"? Very educational and just a short drive to our great neighbor to the North (east?) Canada.
JOHN

John is that the "ballet"that I think it is(less tutus)? I think I was there one dark and sunny night.

There's an exhibit through June 4 at the Detroit Institute of Arts featuring the portraits of Van Gogh.

I saw the Van Gogh exhibit when it came to L.A. last year. It was fantastic...but we needed advanced tickets, and even then had to wait nearly an hour.

Van Gogh exhibit at the DIA closes at 6:00 pm on Thursdays

Thanks for your kind suggestions. I think I'll give Dearborn a try. Maybe I'll just find some movie theatre and watch 'The Gladiator' or whatever that I haven't seen...

First of all Detroit rush hour traffic going into the city is not a problem at all. 20 minute drive from the airport, but you do need to have an idea where you are going, while I don't consider downtown Detroit dangerous, the surrounding areas are. The new baseball stadium is something to see close up, and it's open design lets you see alot just by driving by. The stadium (Comerica Park) is in an area worth seeing, the Theatre District. The area around the waterfront, Hart Plaza is also nice, as is Greektown. If you are into touring larger cities like I am, it will still be light outside. Get some good directions and go for it.
If you decide against it, Dearborn is your next best bet, there is a small hole in the wall bar on Michigan Ave called Millers Bar that has the best bar burger you will ever have. It has been voted the best in the state numerous times. Burgers, fries and onion rings are the only thing on the menu, but they are incredible. Driving past Ford World Headquarters and the Henry Ford Library "old Dearborn" is also very nice, and on a clear day you can see the Detroit skyline from Dearborn.

I second the suggestions on Ann Arbor, Greektown, the new ballpark, etc. Another idea, if you go into the city, is to take the drive along Jefferson to Grosse Pointe along the water (going north). Beautiful humongous homes! At some point (not sure where) you can hop back on I-94 and head right back to the airport. Also, there's a revolving rstaurant that's pretty good on top the Renaissance Center (used to be Westin Hotel - think it's a Marriot now) --although it's pricey, it's a great view. You could also take the bridge or tunnel to Windsor and drive along the water north out of the city to Tecumseh and back.

Me personally, I would go to Ann Arbor. There is a lot to see, great restaurants, good people-watching and several stores are open late.

Oh yeah, I meant to say - there's an IMAX theatre now at Henry Ford Museum, it may be open later than 4 pm - check the website, I see someone provided it above.

HAVE FUN!

WINDSOR BALLET RULES (otherwise I'd stay in the airport, find a bar, and start doing 12 ounce curls)

Head across the river to Windsor Casino
if you like to gamble. Some of the other ideas sound good but be careful with traffic. It is very bad. You definitely need to plan cushion time - JUST IN CASE.

Just a follow-up of what I posted. I ended up driving around Dearborn area, as something came up and I had only 2 hours. Anyway, the highlight was the burger at Miller's Bar, thanks to Marie's note. It had, like, 24,000 calories, but was justifiably so.