5 things to do in Detroit for less than $5

Inflation’s still too high even if it’s not as bad as it was a few months ago, and cash is tight, but lucky for you, Detroit’s a city where a little bit of money can add up to a full day of activities.

There’s plenty to do in the Motor City without breaking the bank.

Here are five things to do in Detroit for $5 or less:

Check out some historic buildings

People often think of cars and music when they mention Detroit, but the city’s got some notable and beautiful buildings as well. We’ll highlight just three, all dating to the 1920s that are free to visit, starting with the Guardian Building, 500 Griswold.

The building is owned by Wayne County and currently houses many key county offices, including for the executive and county commissioners. The main lobby (accessible to the public) of the 40-story building, is “reminiscent of a cathedral, with colored marble, stained glass windows, massive pillars, intricate metalwork, and a barrel-vaulted ceiling decorated with decorative colored Pewabic and Rookwood tiles meant to convey strength and stability,” according to the Detroit Historical Society.

But the Guardian's not the only Art Deco stunner. New Center boasts “Detroit’s largest art object,” the Fisher Building, 3011 W. Grand Blvd. Descriptions of this Albert Kahn-designed masterpiece won’t do it justice. You have to see the inside of the 441-foot tower “with its three-story arcade adorned with spectacular frescoes, mosaics, marble and brass,” as noted on its website.

Pure Detroit also gives free tours. You can also shop and take in a show at the Fisher Theatre, although those’ll cost you.

Returning back along Woodward Avenue, the Detroit Public Library’s Main branch building, 5201 Woodward, offers another visual feast for architecture buffs. Access is currently limited to the first floor while the public elevator is being replaced (likely to take several months, a staffer told the Free Press in mid-July, so you might want to visit again when the upper floors are accessible). The Italian Renaissance style library was once called the most beautiful building in Detroit, according to the library website.

Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts

If you live in Macomb, Oakland or Wayne counties, you have free access to the art museum, 5200 Woodward, because of a property tax millage that provides funding. The museum, one of the top art museums in the country, is across Woodward from the Main library building, so you could make it part of your historic building tour, too, before or after checking out the library. But the DIA, with its estimated 65,000 works, is really a stop unto itself.

You can easily spend a day or more at the museum, checking out the collections, covering Indian and South Asian, Japanese, Islamic, American as well as specifically African American, Ancient Greek and Roman and European offerings among others.

The Rivera Court, featuring Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry Murals,” is a must-stop location on out-of-town visitor itineraries, and metro Detroiters shouldn’t hesitate to reacquaint themselves with this special place.

Hang out at Campus Martius

Anyone who spends time downtown already knows Campus Martius, 800 Woodward Ave., is a relaxing spot, particularly on warm, sunny days. It has the feel of an oasis in an urban setting, with green grass and plenty of flowers and a big fountain with skyscrapers as the backdrop. It’s a great place to meet up, enjoy some music or just relax with a book. Movie nights and beach parties during the summer give way to ice skating and a towering Christmas tree in the winter.

The park is the site of Detroit’s point of origin, “where the vision for the city’s plan was originally laid out by Augustus Woodward in 1805,” according to the Downtown Detroit Partnership. It ranks No. 1 on USA Today’s Readers’ Choice for best public squares, so you know it’s no run-of-the-mill park. There’s no cost to hang out and events are usually free.

Go here for the details on Campus Martius and to find links to other cool downtown parks that also won’t cost to check out. Don’t forget to slip over to One Campus Martius (the former Compuware Building) and see the Atrium waterfall and the “Waiting” statue.

Visit Eastern Market

If you’re not a regular visitor to Eastern Market, it might not come to mind when you’re thinking of inexpensive outings. After all, if you go to the market (it runs multiple blocks along Russell Street) on a typical Saturday, you might feel compelled to spend at least a few dollars because it can be hard to resist all that fresh produce and other goodies. But this isn’t your average farmers market.

With an estimated 225 vendors, multiple sheds and up to 40,000 visitors on a busy Saturday, according to the market’s website, it’s a destination that brings together some of the best of what the city can offer and you don’t have to pay to walk around.

You can choose to make it a weekly shopping trip or just go for the experience. Although it’s perhaps better known for the weekly Saturday market and for Flower Day each year, Eastern Market also offers a Sunday market featuring artists and more and a “scaled down” Tuesday market with free Zumba and yoga classes (plus there’s the Gratiot Central Meat Market and other restaurants and shops near the main market area).

It’s also a notable site if you’re box-checking your way through must-visit places in the city. The Detroit Historical Society says it’s “the largest open-air flowerbed market in the United States and the largest historic public market district in the United States.” For the full rundown, go to the Eastern Market website.

Ditch your car

While Detroit’s known as the Motor City, you can explore it without a car.

You can spend a day downtown or in Midtown walking along Woodward or slipping over to Library Street or Capitol Park or Cadillac Square. Plenty of other spots are great for walking, too, including the very notable Detroit riverfront. If you’ve got a bicycle, Detroit has lots of options, with hundreds of miles of bike lanes and recreational paths, like the Dequindre Cut.

There’s also public transit, which will cost you less than a spot in any number of parking lots and garages on any given day. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, taking a bus can also make a big difference. The Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) and Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) both accept Dart passes. There are other pass options but the Dart pass (you can buy it on the Token Transit smartphone app) costs $2 for four hours of unlimited rides for a regular fare. That’s potentially a lot of getting around for less than the cost of a gallon of gas.

You can also check out Detroit’s streetcar, the QLINE, which travels a 3.3-mile route along Woodward and remains free to ride. The Detroit People Mover offers great views of downtown and costs 75 cents a ride for a regular fare. MoGo bike share can also be used for less than $5 although a pass that costs a bit more might be a better bet if you’re exploring the city.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Things to do in Detroit on the cheap