Cleveland to Detroit road trip: Driving time, distance & best stops
The best stops on a Cleveland to Detroit road trip are Cedar Point, the National Museum of the Great Lakes and the Henry Ford Museum. By car, the distance from Cleveland to Detroit is 168 miles, with a driving time of 2h39m.
Planning a Cleveland to Detroit road trip itinerary
A Cleveland to Detroit road trip connects two of the greatest cities on the Great Lakes.
Top attractions in Cleveland include the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and Cleveland History Center. Alternatively, Cleveland tour options focus on neighbourhood food scenes, the city’s best craft breweries and Downtown’s public art.
Top things to do in Detroit include the excellent architecture walking tours, the Sealife Michigan Aquarium and the Legoland Discovery Centre. The Motown Museum and Ford Piquette Avenue Plant are great, too.
Cleveland to Detroit distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Cleveland to Detroit is 168 miles. That makes for a driving time of around two hours and 39 minutes. The quickest route is along the I-90 then the I-75.
The best stops to add to a Cleveland to Detroit road trip itinerary are Cedar Point near Sandusky, the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
Cleveland to Detroit drive: Cedar Point
Cedar Point near Sandusky, Ohio, is one of the world’s great theme parks – particularly if you’re a rollercoaster fan. Unlike other amusement parks, which maybe have one or two good rollercoasters and plenty of filler, Cedar Point has an extraordinary collection of top grade thrill rides.
Steel Vengeance is the fastest, longest and tallest hybrid coaster, but there are five coasters that top the 200ft height mark here.
Attractions between Cleveland and Detroit: National Museum of the Great Lakes
The National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio, really embraces the scale and scope of its subject. The aim is to show how the Great Lakes have shaped America’s cultural, economic and political history, covering everything from the Underground Railroad to Prohibition-era rum-runners.
The highlight of the visit is the Col. James M. Schoonmaker, once an iron ore freighter plying its trade on the lakes, now a museum ship.
Other Toledo experiences include Toledo Zoo.
Cleveland to Detroit road trip attractions: Henry Ford Museum
A slight detour off the route in Dearborn, Michigan, the Henry Ford is arguably the most astonishing museum in the United States.
The Henry Ford is home to an incredible haul of modern history. The bus on which Rosa Parks made her world-changing civil rights protest is there, as is the car JFK was assassinated in.
The Greenfield Village outside has remarkably transported buildings such as the courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law and the bike shop where the Wright Brothers made the first plane brick by brick.
You can very easily spend a full day here.
More Cleveland road trips
Cleveland to Atlanta | Cleveland to Baltimore | Cleveland to Buffalo | Cleveland to Chicago | Cincinnati to Cleveland | Columbus to Cleveland | Dallas to Cleveland | Dayton to Cleveland | Indianapolis to Cleveland | Louisville to Cleveland | Cleveland to Nashville | Cleveland to New Orleans | Cleveland to Niagara Falls | Cleveland to Philadelphia | Pittsburgh to Cleveland | St Louis to Cleveland | Toledo to Cleveland.
More Detroit road trips
Detroit to Atlanta | Detroit to Baltimore | Detroit to Buffalo | Detroit to Chicago | Cincinnati to Detroit | Columbus to Detroit | Dallas to Detroit | Dayton to Detroit | Fort Wayne to Detroit | Grand Rapids to Detroit | Houston to Detroit | Detroit to Indianapolis | Kalamazoo to Detroit | Detroit to Knoxville | Lansing to Detroit | Louisville to Detroit | Memphis to Detroit | Detroit to Milwaukee | Detroit to Nashville | Detroit to Niagara Falls | Philadelphia to Detroit | Pittsburgh to Detroit | Detroit to St Louis | Toledo to Detroit.