Things to Do on Your Own
- Things to Do on Your Own
There are many things to do in and around Detroit during the conference week. This page collects the ones that fall inside the UIST window, plus the museums, neighborhoods, and day trips worth your time if you are building a trip around the conference. Visit Detroit is the city’s official visitor guide and covers far more than we can fit here. For the venue, hotel, airport connections, and what to pack, see the attending page.
Dates and times will likely shift so be sure to check the venue's own website before you buy tickets or make plans.
Planning around the program
UIST has events on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, so the best time to explore the city is either before the conference starts or after it ends. The conference itself runs Monday, November 2 through Thursday, November 5, with workshops on Monday.
Sports
The professional football, basketball, and hockey venues are all downtown and walkable or a short ride from the conference hotel. Six fixtures fall in the UIST window — including a college football game at Ford Field, and the Michigan–Michigan State rivalry the Saturday after we finish.
Detroit Red Wings vs. St. Louis Blues
NHL ice hockey · Saturday, October 31 · 1:00 PM · Little Caesars Arena
On Halloween, the Red Wings host the Blues in a matinee game.
Getting to Little Caesars Arena · tickets at nhl.com/redwings/schedule
Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings
NFL American football · Sunday, November 1 · 1:00 PM · Ford Field
The day before workshops, at Ford Field — about a mile (1.6 km) from the conference hotel, or a few minutes on the People Mover to Grand Circus Park, which sits next to the stadium. If you were already planning to fly in over the weekend, this is the easiest big-ticket event of the week to attach to your trip.
Getting to Ford Field · tickets at detroitlions.com/tickets
Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers
NBA basketball · Wednesday, November 4 · 7:00 PM · Little Caesars Arena
LeBron James and the 76ers visit Detroit, which will likely be a marquee basketball game.
This is the night of the Henry Ford Museum reception (6:00–9:00 PM, off-site in Dearborn). Tip-off is 7:00 PM, so the two overlap almost entirely — and the reception is a shuttle ride out to Dearborn, not a walk you can slip away from. This is one or the other.
Getting to Little Caesars Arena · tickets at nba.com/pistons/tickets
Motor City MACtion: Eastern vs. Central Michigan
College American football · Wednesday, November 4 · 7:00 PM · Ford Field
Eastern Michigan hosts Central Michigan at Ford Field in a Mid-American Conference (MAC) game. However, the same caveat as the Pistons applies: 7:00 PM kickoff runs straight through the Henry Ford Museum reception.
Getting to Ford Field · tickets through Eastern Michigan athletics (EMU is the home team) or the Ford Field box office
Detroit Red Wings vs. Vegas Golden Knights
NHL ice hockey · Thursday, November 5 · 7:00 PM · Little Caesars Arena
The one fixture that fits an evening UIST has not already claimed. The closing plenary ends at 6:15 PM and puck drops at 7:00 PM at Little Caesars Arena, roughly two miles (3.2 km) up Woodward Avenue — the QLINE streetcar runs almost door to door. It is tight, but it works, and it is a good landing spot for anyone whose flight is Friday morning.
Getting to Little Caesars Arena · tickets at nhl.com/redwings/schedule
Michigan vs. Michigan State
College American football · Saturday, November 7 · Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor · kickoff TBD
Michigan hosts Michigan State at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, about 45 minutes west of downtown Detroit. “The Big House” seats 107,601 — one of the largest stadiums in the world, and the biggest in the United States.
- Kickoff time is not set yet. The Big Ten assigns kickoff windows to television a couple of weeks before the game, so it could land anywhere from noon to a night game. If you are booking a Saturday evening flight home, be aware you may be booking against a 7:30 PM kickoff.
- Tickets go through mgoblue.com/tickets ; the fixture itself is on the Michigan football schedule . This is the rivalry game, so it is among the harder tickets of Michigan’s season.
- On a home football Saturday, take transit or leave very early — 107,000 people emptying into a college town is exactly as bad as it sounds, and Ann Arbor restricts street parking from 8:00 AM to midnight on game days.
Getting to Michigan Stadium · full options under Ann Arbor day trips
Museums & landmarks
Detroit Institute of Arts
One of the largest art collections in the United States. The centerpiece is Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals — twenty-seven fresco panels wrapping an entire courtyard, painted in 1932–33 after Rivera spent months on the Ford Rouge plant floor.
Arriving for the weekend? The DIA’s 14th annual Ofrendas: Celebrating el Día de Muertos runs through November 1, and the museum is reinstalling its modern art galleries as Reimagine Modern Art — its first rehang of those rooms in nearly twenty years — during the same season.
Closed Mondays; open late on Fridays. General admission is $20 for adults from outside the tri-county area and free for residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. Current exhibitions · dia.org
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
One of the largest museums of African American history in the world, in Midtown near the DIA. Its core exhibit, And Still We Rise, runs from Africa through the Middle Passage to Detroit’s own civil rights history. Closed Mondays; adult admission around $15. thewright.org
Detroit Historical Museum
The fastest way to understand the city you are standing in — including the Streets of Old Detroit recreated storefronts and a genuinely good auto-industry gallery. Open Wednesday–Saturday 10:00 AM–5:00 PM and Sunday 1:00–5:00 PM; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Adult admission $15, $12 for students with ID. detroithistorical.org
Michigan Central Station
The great ruin of Detroit’s post-industrial decline, and now the most conspicuous symbol of its reversal: an 18-storey 1913 Beaux-Arts train station that sat derelict for thirty years and reopened in 2024 after a Ford restoration. Next door, the old Book Depository is now Newlab, a mobility and robotics startup space. Roosevelt Park in front is open to anyone, and the building interior is worth timing a visit around. In Corktown, a short ride west of downtown. michigancentral.com
Ford Piquette Avenue Plant
The building where the Model T was designed and first built, in 1908 — a three-storey 1904 factory in Milwaukee Junction, north of downtown, and the oldest purpose-built car factory anywhere open to the public. You can stand in the corner room where Ford and a handful of engineers worked out the design.
Open Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM, with guided tours at 10:00, noon, and 2:00; $20 adults, $15 students with ID. Allow about 90 minutes. fordpiquetteplant.org
Belle Isle
An island park in the Detroit River — designed in part by Frederick Law Olmsted — with the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, the Belle Isle Aquarium (opened 1904, free, Thursday–Sunday), and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. Entering on foot or by bike is free; driving on requires a Michigan Recreation Passport. belleisleconservancy.org
The Guardian Building
If you only have twenty minutes, walk five minutes from the venue into the lobby of the 1929 Guardian Building — an Art Deco skyscraper nicknamed the Cathedral of Finance, lined floor to ceiling in Pewabic tile and Aztec-inspired mosaic. It is an active office building, the lobby is open on weekdays, and it is free. guardianbuilding.com
The Henry Ford & Greenfield Village
UIST’s Wednesday reception is at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn — see the reception page. The museum itself is open daily, 9:30 AM–5:00 PM, if you want to go back and see it outside of the reception. thehenryford.org
Greenfield Village is closed Monday through Thursday in November. The outdoor village next to the museum runs Friday–Sunday only from October 29 through November 29, 9:30 AM–5:00 PM — so it is shut for the whole conference, but open the Friday and weekend after. Plan accordingly if it is on your list.
Motown Museum
Hitsville U.S.A. — the ordinary house on West Grand Boulevard where Berry Gordy started Motown in 1959, and where the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder all recorded. Studio A is preserved as it was. It is a small museum and a short visit.
Guided tours are running in November 2026 — call to book. The museum confirmed by phone that guided tours of Hitsville U.S.A. will operate during the UIST week but do call ahead rather than relying on online booking, and ask about times and tickets when you do. motownmuseum.org
The museum’s separate Esther Gordy Edwards Centre for Excellence, a few doors down the boulevard, hosts rotating exhibitions alongside the house tour.
Neighborhoods, food & drink
Lunch is on your own every day of the conference, and downtown Detroit is dense enough that you can eat somewhere different each time without a long walk.
- Greektown — the closest cluster of restaurants to the venue, a few minutes on foot or one People Mover stop.
- Eastern Market — one of the oldest and largest public markets in the country. The Saturday market runs 6:00 AM–4:00 PM year-round, which makes it a natural stop on either weekend, and the surrounding warehouse walls carry a huge concentration of murals. easternmarket.org
- Corktown — Detroit’s oldest surviving neighborhood, now the Michigan Central district. Slows Bar BQ here is popular.
- Midtown — the museum district: DIA, the Wright, Detroit Historical, Wayne State, and a good bar and restaurant strip, all on the QLINE.
- Southwest Detroit (Mexicantown) — the heart of the city’s Mexican American community.
If you arrive for the weekend, you arrive during Día de Muertos. The Day of the Dead falls on November 1–2, and Southwest Detroit marks it with ofrendas, altars, and special menus in the restaurants from late October onward. The DIA’s annual Ofrendas: Celebrating el Día de Muertos exhibition also runs through November 1, so the arrival weekend is the last chance to catch it. See the Southwest Detroit Business Association for what is happening on the street.</p>
Two things to eat while you are here:
- A coney dog. American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island sit immediately next door to each other on West Lafayette Boulevard, a few minutes’ walk from the venue. They serve nearly the same thing and have been the subject of a low-grade civic argument for a century. Pick one; be prepared to defend it.
- Detroit-style pizza — thick, square, cheese to the edges so it caramelizes against the pan, sauce ladled on top. Buddy’s is the original, baked in blue steel trays borrowed from the auto plants in 1946.
Casinos
Detroit is one of the few large American cities with commercial casinos in the middle of downtown, and all three are open around the clock:
- Hollywood Casino at Greektown — the closest, a few minutes on foot from the venue in Greektown.
- MGM Grand Detroit — the largest, west of downtown.
- MotorCity Casino — the only locally owned one, north-west of downtown.
There is a fourth across the water: Caesars Windsor , on the Canadian riverfront. The minimum gambling age is 21 in Michigan and 19 in Ontario, and you will need photo ID either way.
Day trips
Ann Arbor
Forty-five minutes west and the home to the University of Michigan. Three ways to get there:
- D2A2 express bus — runs between downtown Detroit and downtown Ann Arbor for around $8 one way, cheaper booked in advance. Hourly on weekdays; weekend service is limited, so check before relying on it for a Saturday game. d2a2.com
- Amtrak — the Wolverine line runs Detroit–Ann Arbor in roughly 45 minutes, three round trips daily. The Ann Arbor station is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Michigan Stadium. amtrak.com
- Driving — about 42 miles (68 km) on I-94. Fine on a normal day; see the game-day warnings above if it is not a normal day.
Windsor, Ontario
The view south across the river from the Renaissance Center is Canada — Windsor sits opposite downtown, and the quirk of geography that puts it south of Detroit is a genuinely disorienting thing to see in person. It is one of the few conference venues anywhere with a foreign country in the window.
Crossing is straightforward but it is a real international border: bring your passport, and check that a same-day round trip works with your U.S. visa status before you go. The Tunnel Bus runs between the two downtowns through the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel , and passenger crossings typically take under fifteen minutes outside rush hour. Tourism Windsor Essex has the visitor side.
You can now walk or bike to Canada
The Gordie Howe International Bridge — the new cable-stayed span between southwest Detroit and Windsor — carries a multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists, which opened in August 2026. It is 1.8 miles (2.9 km) across, about 20 minutes by bike or 45 minutes on foot each way, and it is free. Crossing an international border under your own power is a genuinely unusual thing to be able to do, and it is a short list of conferences where it is an option.
Before you build an afternoon around it, three things:
- Winter hours apply during UIST. From November 1 the path runs 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with last access an hour before closing. That rules out an after-sessions trip — this is a weekend or Friday activity.
- You still clear customs, in both directions, with proper travel documents. Border processing time is on top of the crossing time.
- The Detroit trailhead is not downtown. It is at 6366 West Jefferson Avenue, roughly five miles (8 km) southwest of the venue, so you will need a ride, a bike, or transit to reach the start.
The path can also close at short notice in snow, ice, or extreme cold. Check the bridge’s multi-use path page for hours and conditions before setting out.
Music & theater
Detroit’s venues are concentrated in the same downtown blocks as the arenas. Here is what was on the books for the UIST window when this page was written, in date order:
| Dates | What's playing | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, Oct 31 | Spooky Spectacular! Halloween at Orchestra Hall — DSO family concert, costumes encouraged | Orchestra Hall |
| Oct 31 – Nov 1 | Enigma Variations & Britten — DSO classical | Orchestra Hall |
| through Nov 1 | Maybe Happy Ending — closing weekend | Fisher Theatre |
| Nov 1, 5 & 7 | Tosca — Detroit Opera's season opener; Sun 2:30 PM, Thu and Sat 7:30 PM | Detroit Opera House |
| Sun, Nov 1 8:00 PM |
Maná — Vivir Sin Aire Tour | Little Caesars Arena |
| Nov 3 – 8 | SIX: The Musical — evenings 7:30 PM, matinees Sat 2:00 and Sun 1:00 | Fisher Theatre |
| Nov 5 – 7 | French Splendor: Ravel, Debussy, and More — DSO classical | Orchestra Hall |
Three of these are worth calling out:
- SIX runs the entire conference, Tuesday through Sunday at the Fisher Theatre in New Center — reachable on the QLINE. Tickets started at $40, and there is an open-caption performance on Thursday, November 5.
- Tosca plays Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 PM, the one evening UIST has not already claimed — at the Detroit Opera House, a short walk up Broadway from the venue. It is a straight choice against the Red Wings game at 7:00 PM that night.
- Maná starts at 8:00 PM on the Sunday, which is late enough that you can do the Lions game at 1:00 PM and the concert on the same day.
The DSO also runs a sensory-friendly Relaxed Open Rehearsal of the Spooky Spectacular program on Friday, October 30 — worth knowing if you are arriving early with family. The full listing is on the DSO calendar , and Broadway shows are on Broadway in Detroit .
Beyond those, the venues worth checking directly:
- Fox Theatre — a restored 1928 movie palace on Woodward, and worth seeing the inside of whatever is playing. 313presents.com
- Orchestra Hall — home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, in Midtown on the QLINE. dso.org
- Little Caesars Arena, The Fillmore Detroit , and Saint Andrew’s Hall cover the arena-scale, mid-size, and small-club end of the touring circuit respectively.
Touring schedules move, so confirm with the venue before planning an evening around one. For everything else on that week, Visit Detroit’s event calendar is the best single listing. One near miss worth knowing about: the Campus Martius ice rink and the downtown holiday markets open in late November, a couple of weeks after we leave.
Getting around
Downtown Detroit is easy without a car and the People Mover station is inside the conference building. However, broader metropolitan Detroit is largely car-dependent so if you are planning to go beyond downtown, plan ahead.
- The People Mover loops downtown and is free; the QLINE streetcar runs up Woodward to Midtown and New Center; MoGo bike share has stations near the venue; and the Detroit Riverwalk runs right past the building.
- Full details, including airport connections from DTW, are on the attending page.
Rough distances from the Renaissance Center:
| Destination | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|
| Greektown | 0.5 mi 0.8 km |
Walk, or one People Mover stop |
| Detroit Opera House (Tosca) | ~0.6 mi 1 km |
Walk up Broadway, or People Mover to Grand Circus Park |
| Ford Field (Detroit Lions, Motor City MACtion) | ~1 mi 1.6 km |
Walk (about 20 minutes), or People Mover to Grand Circus Park, which sits next to the stadium |
| Eastern Market | ~1.5 mi 2.4 km |
Ride, or a walk via the Dequindre Cut |
| Little Caesars Arena (Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons) | ~2 mi 3.2 km |
QLINE streetcar up Woodward to Sproat or Adelaide, or a short taxi/rideshare |
| Orchestra Hall (DSO) | ~2.5 mi 4 km |
QLINE to Ferry or Canfield |
| Midtown museums (DIA, the Wright) | ~3 mi 4.8 km |
QLINE to Warren or Ferry |
| Ford Piquette Avenue Plant | ~3.5 mi 5.6 km |
QLINE to Amsterdam, then a short walk east |
| Fisher Theatre, New Center (SIX) | ~4 mi 6.4 km |
QLINE to Grand Boulevard, the north end of the line |
| Motown Museum (Hitsville U.S.A.) | ~4.5 mi 7.2 km |
QLINE to Grand Boulevard, then a short ride west — or go direct by taxi/rideshare |
| Gordie Howe Bridge path (walk/bike to Canada) | ~5 mi 8 km |
Ride or bike to the trailhead at 6366 W Jefferson Ave — see Windsor |
| Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn | ~11 mi 18 km |
Shuttle provided for the Wednesday reception |
| Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor | ~42 mi 68 km |
D2A2 bus, Amtrak to Ann Arbor, or drive — see Ann Arbor |
Photo credits. Little Caesars Arena by Adam Bishop (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Ford Field by Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Michigan Stadium by Lectrician2 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Detroit Institute of Arts by Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Michigan Central Station by PunkToad (CC BY 2.0) · Eastern Market by Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Windsor skyline by Ken Lund (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Gordie Howe International Bridge by Chris Woodrich (CC BY-SA 4.0) · coney island storefronts by Andre Carrotflower (CC BY-SA 4.0) · coney dog by PureMichiganChip (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Detroit-style pizza by Renewableandalternativeenergy (CC BY-SA 4.0). Detroit skyline photography from Visit Detroit.