A chauffeured black car from London, Ontario to Detroit with LondonLimo.net is 190 km west on the 401 to Windsor and across the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or the Gordie Howe bridge in about two hours plus the border, at a fixed rate shown before you confirm that includes tolls and a normal border wait - a planning figure of $420-500 plus HST for a business sedan to downtown, $470-560 for an SUV, $700-830 for a Sprinter. Ford Field, Comerica Park, Little Caesars Arena, the Fox Theatre and the Fillmore, Huntington Place, the MGM Grand, MotorCity and Hollywood Greektown casinos, the Detroit Institute of Arts and Midtown's hospitals, Dearborn and Ford's campus, Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, Auburn Hills and Troy are the addresses the chauffeurs know. The chauffeur is licensed and insured to cross; every passenger needs a passport or NEXUS; the cross-border page has the documents, and Detroit Metro Airport its own page.
Why Londoners go to Detroit
Because London has always been half a Detroit town: the Lions, the Tigers, the Red Wings and the Pistons have London fans in the thousands, the Fox and the Fillmore get the tours that skip Ontario, the casinos are the big-city floor two hours away, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Motown Museum are the culture, Ann Arbor's university hospital and Michigan's specialists take Ontario patients, Dearborn's and Auburn Hills's automotive companies are London suppliers' customers, and the Detroit airport flies the routes and the fares Pearson does not. The revived downtown - Campus Martius, the riverwalk, the restaurants of Corktown and Greektown - has made the weekend a real one. Every one of those journeys needs a border, and the border is the reason this service exists.
| From downtown London to | Sedan | SUV | Sprinter | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown: Ford Field, Comerica Park, Little Caesars Arena, the Fox, Huntington Place, the casinos | $420-500 | $470-560 | $700-830 | 2 h + border |
| Midtown: the DIA, Wayne State, the hospitals, the Motown Museum | $420-500 | $470-560 | $700-830 | 2 h + border |
| Dearborn, Ford's campus, the Henry Ford museum | $440-530 | $500-590 | $730-870 | 2 h 15 + border |
| Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan, Michigan Medicine | $470-570 | $530-630 | $790-930 | 2 h 45 + border |
| Auburn Hills, Troy, Southfield, the northern suburbs | $470-570 | $530-630 | $790-930 | 2 h 45 + border |
| Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) | $420-520 | $480-580 | $720-860 | 2 h 30 + border |
| Detroit day, hourly, chauffeur waiting on the US side | $95-115 / h | $115-135 / h | $145-175 / h | 3 h minimum plus the run and the crossing |
LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way, including tolls and a normal border wait; the engine quotes the exact addresses and date, and the desk confirms the crossing.
The drive and the crossing
Two hours down the 401 to Windsor, then the choice the chauffeur makes from the posted waits: the Ambassador Bridge from Huron Church Road onto I-75 for the stadiums, Midtown and the freeways north; the tunnel from downtown Windsor to Jefferson Avenue for the casinos and the arena when the bridge is queued (the tunnel's height limit excludes the Sprinter); the Gordie Howe bridge from the 401's end onto I-75 for Dearborn, Ann Arbor and the airport. US CBP at the booth admits each passenger individually; the normal wait is in the rate and the cross-border page explains the rare hour-plus one. Downtown Detroit is fifteen minutes from any crossing.
Game day: the Lions, the Tigers, the Red Wings and the Pistons
The Sunday Sprinter to Ford Field with fourteen in jerseys and the tailgate in the back, the Eastern Market lots before kickoff, the bridge home after; the Tigers at Comerica Park on a summer afternoon; the Red Wings and the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on a winter night; the college football Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor: the chauffeur drops at the gate, waits by the hour in the district, and has the return crossing planned with the hour it needs on a busy Sunday. The concerts, sports and events page has the detail.
The Fox, the Fillmore and the concert night
The Fox Theatre's restored hall on Woodward, the Fillmore, the Masonic Temple, Little Caesars Arena's arena tours, the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre on the river in summer: the touring acts that skip Southern Ontario play Detroit, and a London group's concert night is a Sprinter or an SUV by the hour, with dinner in Greektown before and the tunnel home after; the concerts page prices it.
The casinos: MGM Grand, MotorCity and Greektown
Detroit's three casinos - the MGM Grand near the Lodge freeway, MotorCity in the old Wagner bakery, Hollywood Casino at Greektown - are the big-city floors two hours from London, and a casino evening or a weekend is an hourly booking with the chauffeur waiting or two one-ways with a hotel in the casino's tower; the casino trips page covers the Ontario floors and the way the Detroit ones combine with Caesars in Windsor on one night.
Midtown, the DIA and the culture day
The Detroit Institute of Arts and its Rivera murals, the Motown Museum on West Grand Boulevard, the Charles H. Wright Museum, the Detroit Historical Museum, Wayne State's campus, the Fisher Building's lobby, Belle Isle's conservatory and the riverwalk: a London couple's or family's culture day is an SUV by the hour with the chauffeur parked at each, and Visit Detroit's site lists the exhibitions.
Ann Arbor, Michigan Medicine and the medical run
The University of Michigan's hospitals and specialty clinics in Ann Arbor take Ontario patients for treatment and second opinions, and a London family's Michigan medical day is a chauffeured run with the chauffeur waiting on the US side by the hour and the crossing both ways in the quote; the hospitals and medical page describes how medical runs are handled, and the cross-border page the documents a patient carries.
Dearborn, Auburn Hills and the automotive business day
Ford's campus in Dearborn, the suppliers and the engineering centres of Auburn Hills, Troy and Southfield, the Detroit Auto Show at Huntington Place: London's automotive-parts makers and engineering firms send people constantly, and the Michigan business day is an hourly booking on the corporate account with the crossing in the quote, often combined with a Windsor supplier on the Canadian side of the same day.
Shopping, family and the weekend
Great Lakes Crossing and Somerset for the shopping, the Henry Ford museum and Greenfield Village for the family, the relatives in Dearborn and the suburbs, the weekend in a downtown hotel: the household's Detroit trip is an SUV with the declarations handled at the Canadian booth on the way home and the travel desk booking the hotel.
Detroit Metro and the airport run
DTW at Romulus is forty-five minutes beyond the bridge and the airport for Delta's routes and the US fares; a Detroit trip that ends at a flight, or a DTW arrival that starts with a Detroit meeting, is one confirmation, and the DTW page has the terminals.
The Detroit hotels
The Book Cadillac and the Shinola downtown, the casinos' towers, the Detroit Foundation and the Siren for the weekend, the Dearborn Inn, the Ann Arbor hotels by the campus, the Romulus airport hotels for an early DTW departure: the travel desk books the room on the file with the chauffeurs.
Winter, the bridges and the American side
The 401 between London and Chatham is the squall risk; the bridges rarely close; Michigan's I-75 and I-94 are cleared to a different standard and the chauffeur allows for it, reading the Michigan DOT reports with Ontario 511. Winter tires from November to April; all-wheel-drive SUVs on the bad days; the fixed rate unchanged.
The honest alternatives
There is no train or bus from London to Detroit; VIA Rail to Windsor and a walk through the tunnel bus is the do-it-yourself option for a solo traveller with a carry-on and patience; driving yourself means the crossing twice, the downtown parking and the drive home after the game. For the game day, the concert, the casino, the medical run, the business day and the airport, the chauffeured fixed rate with the border in the price.
Three Detroit bookings, as they actually ran
A Lions Sunday, November. A Sprinter for fourteen from Westmount at 8 a.m., the Ambassador in thirty minutes, the Eastern Market lots, Ford Field, and a ninety-minute Canadian queue home that the plan had allowed for. Twelve hours by the hour; nobody drove.
A Michigan Medicine appointment, Tuesday. A luxury sedan from Old South at 6 a.m., the Gordie Howe bridge, Ann Arbor by 9:15, the chauffeur waiting through the consultation, and home at 4:30. Ten and a half hours; a household account in Calgary paid it.
A Fox Theatre weekend, March. An executive SUV for four from Masonville Friday at 3, the tunnel, a Greektown hotel, the Fox at 8, the DIA on Saturday by the hour, and home Sunday at 2. Two one-ways and a Saturday by the hour; the travel desk booked the rooms.
Three questions the desk is asked about Detroit
Do we all need passports? Yes - a passport or NEXUS card for every passenger, without exception; a birth certificate is not enough. Is the border wait in the price? A normal wait of up to an hour is, with tolls; beyond an hour, waiting is charged in fifteen-minute blocks and it is rare. Can the Sprinter use the tunnel? No - its height excludes it; the Sprinter crosses at the bridges.
Booking it
The cross-border service is booked by the desk or WhatsApp with the destination, the date, the passengers' citizenship and the vehicle, so documents can be confirmed the evening before; a simple Detroit run with a known time can be entered on the reservation engine and the desk confirms the crossing. The rates page has Detroit beside Windsor and Buffalo.
Planning figures. Rates are LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way from downtown London, including tolls and a normal border wait; the engine quotes the exact addresses and date. Border rules are US CBP's and CBSA's and admissibility is each passenger's own responsibility. Stadium, theatre, casino, hospital and company names describe where we drive and imply no affiliation.
What Detroit looks like from the car
The Ambassador Bridge's climb with the river and the skyline below, the Renaissance Center's towers on the waterfront, I-75's canyon past the stadium district with Ford Field's roof and Comerica's brick, Woodward Avenue's boulevard north through Midtown's museums to New Center's Fisher Building, the freeways fanning out to Dearborn's Ford plants and the northern suburbs' glass office parks, and Ann Arbor's campus town forty minutes west. The chauffeur knows the stadium district's event-day lots, the casinos' valet loops, the DIA's Farnsworth entrance, the Michigan Medicine drop and the freeway interchanges that jam on a Sunday evening; Visit Detroit publishes the event calendar and the Michigan DOT the road work.
Visitors coming the other way
A Michigan automotive customer to a London supplier, an Ann Arbor specialist consulting at University Hospital, a Detroit family's student collected for Western, a Lions season-ticket holder's guests from London: the same chauffeur, the same fixed rate in reverse, with the crossing into Canada at Windsor's CBSA booths and the corporate account working for the Michigan company.
