Historic Hotels & Inns in Detroit

The neighborhoods

Where to stay, by area

Downtown and Washington Boulevard

Washington Boulevard runs north from near the river to Grand Circus Park, a City Beautiful boulevard financed by J. Burgess Book Jr. and designed by Louis Kamper to rival New York’s Fifth Avenue; its buildings between State and Clifford streets form the Washington Boulevard Historic District (NRHP 1982). Both stays here are Kamper towers built for the Book family: The Westin Book Cadillac, which opened as the Book-Cadillac in 1924, closed in 1984 and reopened as a Westin in 2008, and ROOST Detroit in the 1926 Book Tower, with 24/7 valet outside its Washington Boulevard entrance. Huntington Place, home of the Detroit Auto Show and a People Mover station, is at the street’s south end.

Grand Circus Park and Woodward

Grand Circus Park, the five-acre half-moon on Woodward Avenue four blocks north of Campus Martius, comes from Augustus Woodward’s plan to rebuild the city after the 1805 fire and links the theater district to the financial district. Three stays ring it: Hotel David Whitney in the 1915 David Whitney Building on the park’s south side, Element Detroit at the Metropolitan in the 1925 ‘Jeweler’s Building’, and the Siren in the 1926 Wurlitzer Building, which counts the Detroit Opera House a one-minute walk and Comerica Park four minutes. The QLine and the People Mover both stop at Grand Circus Park, where the People Mover station is reached by elevator only.

Financial District and riverfront

The Detroit Financial District (NRHP 2009) is the city’s oldest ground: Cadillac built Ste. Anne’s church here in 1701, near today’s Jefferson and Griswold, and the 47-story Penobscot Building and the Guardian Building, a National Historic Landmark, now anchor it, with Hart Plaza and the Detroit Riverwalk at its foot. Detroit Foundation Hotel fills the 1929 Detroit Fire Department Headquarters on West Larned Street. The People Mover’s Financial District station serves Hart Plaza and transfers to the QLine at Congress Street, and Hart Plaza hosts the Movement festival.

Midtown and the Cultural Center

The East Ferry Avenue Historic District (Michigan State Historic Site 1976, NRHP 1980) runs two blocks east from Woodward Avenue to Brush Street on lots D. M. Ferry platted from his seed farm in the mid-1880s, lined with brick-and-sandstone Queen Anne houses. The Inn on Ferry Street fills four of these restored Victorian houses and a carriage house, which the Detroit Institute of Arts once owned, and calls itself steps from the DIA, Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center. The free QLine runs up Woodward through Midtown to New Center and back downtown.

Before you book

Planning your stay

Getting around

Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) is about a 25- to 30-minute drive from Midtown, per the Inn on Ferry Street, and SMART’s FAST Michigan bus (Route 261) runs from the airport to downtown via Michigan Avenue every 15 to 20 minutes at peak for a $2 fare. Downtown, the People Mover, free since 2024, circles a 2.9-mile elevated loop with 13 stations and trains every 8 to 12 minutes, and the free QLine streetcar runs 3.3 miles on Woodward between Congress Street and Grand Boulevard every 15 minutes, linking downtown and Midtown. Downtown’s districts are walkable: the Siren puts Comerica Park four minutes away on foot and Ford Field seven.

Parking

Downtown has meters you pay at kiosks or in the Park Detroit app, for up to four hours, and big garages such as One Campus Martius, with more than 1,700 spaces. At the hotels, ROOST’s valet charges $50 a night ($25 for up to four hours) and Detroit Foundation Hotel’s $45 overnight or $20 for the day, while the Inn on Ferry Street folds on-site parking into its $25 nightly destination fee; the Westin Book Cadillac, Element and Siren pages we read publish no rate. Event days cost more: for Tigers Opening Day 2026, FOX 2 found lots near Comerica Park at $100 and up, against as little as $10 farther out, and the QLine runs a $5 weekend park-and-ride at Wayne State Lot 12 by Amsterdam station.

When to go

Winter brings the Detroit Auto Show to Huntington Place from January 14 to 24, 2027 (public days January 16 to 24), and the Movement electronic music festival fills Hart Plaza May 29 to 31, 2027. Summer is riverfront season along the Detroit Riverwalk, and fall brings Lions games to Ford Field. Check game and event dates before you book downtown, since lots near the stadiums jump on game days.

Accessibility

The QLine has low floors and high platforms for level boarding and room for wheelchairs; People Mover stations have elevators or escalators (Grand Circus Park by elevator only), each train has a manual-wheelchair securement, and DTW’s taxi operators supply accessible vehicles on request. Detroit Foundation Hotel lists elevators and accessible rooms with 32-inch doorways, while the Inn on Ferry Street says not all of its historic houses have elevators and only select rooms and areas are ADA accessible. The other hotels don’t state their accessibility on the pages we read, so ask before you book.

Before you book

Read the fees: the Inn on Ferry Street adds a mandatory $25-plus-tax nightly destination fee that covers parking, and it is renovating in 2026 to add a full-service restaurant, with some room categories unavailable when we checked in October. ROOST places a $250 incidental hold and takes dogs up to 40 lb (cleaning fee up to $350), Detroit Foundation Hotel charges $75 for pets and the Siren $45 a stay. The Westin Book Cadillac, Element Detroit at the Metropolitan and Hotel David Whitney are Marriott hotels, so confirm rates, parking and fees when you book.