6 min. walk, or free QLine to Grand Circus Park / Montcalm. Ford Field sits right in the city center, not just near it. Hilton Garden Inn Detroit Downtown, Aloft at The David Whitney, and The Siren Hotel are all within 0.3 miles of the stadium, and the QLine streetcar and the People Mover, both free to ride, stop within a block or two. Detroit is the rare NFL city where staying near the stadium and staying in the city mean the same thing, so you don't have to choose.
Diogo Melo, Google Maps
GreektownVisiting fans pick this
10 min by walk. Five blocks from the stadium you get the densest run of post-game bars and late food in the city: Pegasus Taverna, Fishbones, Baltimore Bar + Grill, and the Atheneum Suite Hotel sitting right on top of it. It's a better call for a Saturday night than the Woodward corridor.
Anna Nini, Google Maps
Midtown / New Center
free QLine streetcar along Woodward Avenue. This end of downtown has cheaper rooms and sits near the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Motown Museum, connected to the stadium by the free QLine along Woodward. It's worth it if downtown rates spike, but it costs you a 10-minute streetcar ride each way.
Around the stadium
From a specialist guide
This is the downtown Detroit sports district: Ford Field, Comerica Park, and the area around Woodward and Broadway. Ford Field sits right next to Comerica Park, since both were built as part of the same downtown revitalization project and share a block. Elwood Bar & Grill sits at the main entrance, and Brass Rail Pizza Bar, Detroit Beer Co., Parlay Detroit, and the rooftop bars (3Fifty Terrace, Tin Roof, Exodos) are all within the same few blocks, with the American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island pair a short walk away. Hotels sit right inside the cluster.
Map of the area
Tap a pin to see the place.
Getting to Ford Field
On game day
Checked at the source
Walk from any downtown hotel. Ford Field is at 2000 Brush Street, on the eastern edge of downtown. QLine. Get off at the Grand Circus Park/Montcalm stop, a short walk to the stadium. Detroit People Mover. Broadway Station serves Ford Field directly. Grand Circus Park Station is the other nearby stop, about five blocks away.
Parking and tailgating at Ford Field
Tailgating
Checked at the source
Regular car tailgating is banned at Ford Field: tailgating and re-entry are both prohibited in the parking facilities next to the stadium. What replaces it works better for a fan without a car. Pride Plaza on Brush Street, right outside the stadium, is a free official Lions tailgate with food trucks, drinks, music, and fan games, starting about three hours before kickoff. Separately, the Eastern Market Tailgate, billed as Detroit's largest tailgate, has food trucks, music, and a shuttle to Ford Field, but it's ticketed. So if you don't have a car, you get a free option right at the stadium and a paid, hosted option that includes transport. Pride Plaza on Brush Street is the official Lions tailgate. It's free and opens about 3 hours before kickoff, but confirm before you count on it. Eastern Market Tailgate runs a shuttle to Ford Field. It's ticketed. The Soaring Eagle Power Hour runs inside the stadium from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with $5.49 hot dogs and $6.29 beer. You need a game ticket to get in, and it opens at 11:00 a.m.
Game day at Ford Field
Getting in
Checked at the source
Bag policy: You can bring a clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC bag no bigger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches, a one-gallon clear plastic freezer bag, or a small clutch bag, camera case, or binocular case no bigger than 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches. Diaper bags, strollers, and car-seat carriers are not allowed, so infant items need to go in a clear bag with the child. Medically necessary items like insulin, medication, portable oxygen, and small soft-pack coolers are allowed after inspection.
Re-entry: There are two separate facts here, so keep them apart. First, re-entry to Ford Field is not allowed during Lions home games and other large stadium events. Second, the Lions' ticket policy does carve out a narrow exception for medical conditions, handled through First Aid stations. So it's not a flat no, it's no except for medical reasons, routed through First Aid.
Prohibited items: You can't bring strollers, car-seat carriers, or diaper bags, cameras with lenses over five inches, large umbrellas, outside food or drinks, laptops, GoPros or video cameras, noisemakers, standalone chairs, aerosol cans, or marijuana, since Michigan state law on that differs from stadium policy. Ford Field is smoke-free under Michigan state law, with only outdoor designated smoking areas.
After the final whistle
From a specialist guide
If you don't have a car, this is the best setup you'll find: you walk out of a downtown dome right into a downtown bar district, with two free transit systems as backup. The only timing trap is the QLine's 9 p.m. Sunday finish, so after a Sunday night game it may already be done running, and you should plan to walk or take the People Mover instead. Ford Field publishes alternate driving routes because the I-75 exits get congested, but that's a driver's problem, not yours.
One thing to avoid
From a specialist guide
Don't book near DTW airport or in the Dearborn or Southfield hotel belts. You'll need a taxi at both ends, and you'll miss the one thing Detroit does better than most NFL cities: putting everything within walking distance of the stadium. Also check if the Tigers are home that weekend, since Ford Field and Comerica Park share parking and a doubleheader weekend squeezes both.
Food and drink at Ford Field
What to eat
The local food this city is known for: the Detroit Coney dog.
Inside the stadium, 2026 season
This season's Food Passport covers eight Detroit dishes at the Streats of Detroit stands; a four-Coney flight ran in 2025. Reported, not confirmed by the stadium.Source
Stand line-ups change every season.
Bars near the stadium
Checked at the source
Elwood Bar & Grill, Google Maps
Elwood Bar & Grill
300 E Adams Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
The Elwood has the best story of any bar in this directory. It's an Art Moderne landmark designed by architect Charles Noble and built in 1936, and its name comes from the two streets it originally stood on, Elizabeth and Woodward.
Away fans: it draws a mixed crowd and feels low-key.
Alexander “Alex” Common, Google Maps
Nemo's Bar & Grill
1384 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48226 (Corktown)
Nemo's is the Detroit sports bar, around sixty years old, sitting in Corktown, the city's oldest neighborhood, a short walk from the old Tiger Stadium site. The room is small and old-school, with walls covered in Detroit sports clippings and TVs wedged in between.
Away fans: it's mostly home fans, but the shuttle is open to anyone.
Jacoby's, Google Maps
Jacoby's German Biergarten
624 Brush St, Detroit, MI 48226
Jacoby's has been open since 1904, making it one of the oldest bars still running in the city, and it keeps the feel of a classic German beer hall: a long room, a long beer list, and a communal vibe. It sits on Brush Street, right inside the stadium's footprint, close to the Lions' own Pride Plaza tailgate between Ford Field and Comerica Park.
Away fans: it draws a mixed crowd since the beer-hall format pulls in a broader group.
Misslizzy B, Google Maps
Bookies Bar & Grille
2208 Cass Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
Bookies is the middle option, close enough to walk to the stadium, but it runs a shuttle anyway, which shows how seriously downtown Detroit takes gameday rides. It sits on Cass Avenue on the edge of Midtown, on the walking route between the Ford Field area and the university district, and it's a big straightforward sports bar rather than a historic one.
Away fans: mostly home fans.
Things to do around Ford Field
Listed in the order they happen on game day. Each one earns points.
Landmark65 points
Eastern Market Saturday market
Detroit's public market sheds open every Saturday 6am to 4pm year round, about a 10-minute walk north of Ford Field. On Lions Sundays the same lots host the city's biggest ticketed tailgate.
Free. The day before
Tour100 points
Ford Field stadium tour
This is a guided 60 to 90 minute tour through the concourse, the suites in the old Hudson's Warehouse, the Level 7 press box, the players' tunnel and midfield turf. It's not offered on Lions game days, so book the Friday or Saturday before.
$$. The day before. Bookable
Outing40 points
Detroit Historical Museum
This Midtown museum has the Streets of Old Detroit cobblestone streetscape, an auto assembly line, toy trains and a City of Champions sports gallery. It's open Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm.
$. The day before
Photo25 points
Monument to Joe Louis (The Fist)
This is Robert Graham's 24-foot bronze arm and fist, a 1986 gift from Sports Illustrated, hanging at Jefferson and Woodward by Hart Plaza. It's free, outdoors, about a mile south of Ford Field on the riverfront walk.
Free. The day before
Eat65 points
The Hudson Cafe
This is a breakfast and brunch cafe on Woodward, open 8am to 3pm daily, a 10-minute walk from Ford Field. Try the Cinnabun pancakes, the benedicts or the Maurice salad based on the old Hudson's department store recipe.
$$. 4 hours 30 minutes before kickoff
Eat65 points
American Coney Island
This place opened in 1917 next door to Lafayette, the other half of Detroit's coney rivalry. Get the seasoned hot dog with chili, mustard and chopped onions on a steamed bun. Sunday hours are 11am to 7pm.
$. 3 hours 20 minutes before kickoff
Drink25 points
The Old Shillelagh
This three-story Irish pub has been in Greektown since 1975 with a rooftop bar, four blocks from Ford Field. It opens early for Lions home games and runs a free shuttle, so it works before, during and after the game.
$$. 3 hours before kickoff
Tailgate65 points
Pride Plaza on Brush Street
Brush Street outside Ford Field closes down and becomes the Lions' free official tailgate, with food trucks, beverage tents, music, interactive fan games and photo setups. You don't need a game ticket and it's family-friendly.
Free. 2 hours 30 minutes before kickoff
Drink25 points
Elwood Bar & Grill
This 1936 Art Moderne diner moved in 1997 to the corner of Brush and Adams, between Ford Field and Comerica Park. It runs on a game-day schedule, so check its calendar, and it's the closest bar to the main gate.
$$. 2 hours before kickoff
Ritual25 points
Ride the free QLine down Woodward
The QLine streetcar is free, runs 3.3 miles along Woodward with 13 stops, and operates 8am to midnight Monday to Saturday and 8am to 9pm Sunday. Get off at Grand Circus Park and walk five blocks.
Free. 2 hours before kickoff
Eat65 points
Buddy's Pizza, Downtown
This is Detroit-style square pizza from the chain that started the style, three blocks from Ford Field on Broadway. It opens at 11am and closes at 9pm on Sunday, so it works for lunch or an early post-game dinner.
$$. 4 hours after kickoff
Seats and views at Ford Field
Where each part of the stadium sits, and what you see from it.
It's an indoor stadium, so every seat is covered.
Lower level200 levelUpper deckTap any part of the stadium to see its view.
