Detroit is an industrial city in the US state of Michigan, on the Detroit River that links Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair; the far bank is the Canadian city of Windsor, and Detroit is the only major American city where looking south means looking at Canada. Founded by a French explorer in 1701, it became the motor capital of the world at the start of the 20th century as the home of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Its population peaked at 1.85 million in 1950 and in 2013 the city went through the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history; today a city of 630,000 with a recovering downtown greets visitors with Art Deco towers, the Motown legacy and a major art museum.
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See flights to Detroit →When to visit Detroit
May to October is the easiest period; from June to August days reach 26C to 30C and the riverfront and Belle Isle are at their liveliest. September and October are cool, clear and colourful. November to March brings a long hard winter, with January days below zero and plenty of snow, when the museums and indoor venues carry the season. The North American auto show in January and the jazz festival in September are the city's two big events.
Things to do in Detroit
Detroit Institute of Arts
One of the largest museums in the United States, the Detroit Institute of Arts holds more than 65,000 works in its white marble building of 1927 on Woodward Avenue. Its best known piece is Detroit Industry, the cycle of murals in which Diego Rivera painted Ford's River Rouge plant across the four walls of the inner courtyard between 1932 and 1933. Van Gogh's self portrait, the first of his paintings to enter an American museum, and Bruegel's Wedding Dance are also here. Entry is free for residents of the surrounding counties and ticketed for visitors.
Motown Museum
The two storey house called Hitsville U.S.A. on West Grand Boulevard was the first home of the Motown record company Berry Gordy founded in 1959 with an 800 dollar loan; Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and The Jackson 5 recorded in its basement, Studio A. The guided tour takes in the studio, Gordy's flat upstairs and the gold records, and visitors sing together in the studio. Tickets sell out days ahead and are bought online.
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
The museum in Dearborn, 15 kilometres west of Detroit, is the largest collection of American innovation: the bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in 1955, the limousine in which Kennedy was shot, the chair Lincoln sat in on the night of his assassination and the first Ford Model Ts are under one roof. Next door in Greenfield Village, historic buildings that Henry Ford bought and moved, Edison's laboratory and the Wright brothers' cycle shop are laid out like a village. The Rouge factory tour shows the assembly line. Set aside a full day.
Detroit Riverwalk and Renaissance Center
The five and a half kilometre promenade along the river from downtown towards Belle Isle was built from 2007 on the site of the old industrial docks and looks across to Windsor on the far bank. Along it are Hart Plaza, the 220 metre towers of the Renaissance Center, Rivard Plaza with its carousel and lawns where concerts are held on summer evenings. Bicycles can be hired and river boats run tours to Belle Isle. The winter market and ice rink that open at the end of November close the season.
Eastern Market
Held on the same site since 1891, Eastern Market is the largest historic open air food market in the United States; on Saturdays more than 200 producers sell fruit, vegetables, cheese and meat in six large sheds and 40,000 people come. The walls of the brick warehouses in the surrounding streets carry more than a hundred murals from the Murals in the Market festival. The butchers, bakeries and coffee houses around the market are open on weekdays too. It lies a kilometre northeast of downtown.
Belle Isle
The 400 hectare island park in the middle of the Detroit River was laid out in the 1880s to a plan by Olmsted, designer of Central Park, and is linked to downtown by a bridge. On the island are the glass Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory of 1904, the Great Lakes maritime museum, a small aquarium and a beach facing the city skyline. The Canadian shore is a hundred metres from the island's southern road. As a Michigan state park it charges for cars, while pedestrians and cyclists enter free.
Flights from Turkey to Detroit
Direct flights to Detroit from Turkey leave Istanbul Airport on Turkish Airlines; the route runs year round with four flights a week and takes about 10 hours 55 minutes. Departure is around midday and, thanks to the time difference, arrival is the same afternoon. Detroit Metropolitan Airport lies 30 kilometres southwest of downtown at Romulus; a taxi or ride hailing car takes 30 minutes to the centre and the FAST bus arrives in an hour along Michigan Avenue.
Detroit FAQ
How many days do you need in Detroit?
Two days for the Institute of Arts, the Motown Museum, the riverwalk and the Art Deco buildings downtown, plus a full day for the Henry Ford Museum. Adding Eastern Market on a Saturday and Belle Isle fills four days; the five hour drive to Chicago or the four hours to Toronto make it a week long Great Lakes trip.
How far is the airport from the city centre?
Detroit Metropolitan Airport is about 30 kilometres from downtown. A taxi or ride hailing car takes 30 minutes and the FAST Michigan bus about an hour. The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn lies between the airport and the city centre.
Do you need a visa for the United States?
A Turkish passport needs a United States visitor visa. The application consists of an online form and a consular interview, and appointment waiting times can stretch a long way in some periods, so planning should start months before the travel date. Anyone wanting to cross to Windsor by the bridge or tunnel also needs a Canadian visa or eTA.
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