What should i do for a bachelor party in Windsor, Ontario?

April 23, 2011 10:57 AM

A group of us are planning on heading to Windsor from Chicago for a bachelor party next month. What are some fun things we can do?

A group of us are planning on heading to Windsor from Chicago for a bachelor party next month. (10 ppl, 25-28 y.o)

We have a few places we'd like to hit:
- Caesers
- Strip club
- Bars on Ouellette st
- Detroit Tigers game in Detroit

I'd like some other suggestions if anyone has some - we're looking into options like a brewery tour etc.

We cannot decide if its best to rent a van or take the Amtrak from Chicago. It would depend on the cost of transportation and convenience. How is public transportation in Windsor especially Windsor to Detroit?

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions are appreciated on this.

posted by AMP583 to Travel & Transportation around Windsor, ON (9 answers total)

There is a Tunnel Bus that you can take back and forth from Windsor to Detroit. If you're taking Amtrak from Chicago, you will end up in Detroit and then have to take a cab or the tunnel bus to Windsor. (If you buy a ticket from Chicago Union Station to Windsor Walkerville, you'll still end up in Detroit and have to transfer to a bus to go through the tunnel which will then drop you off at the Walkerville station.) Prior to gas nudging at $4 per gallon, I would've suggested that driving from Chicago to Windsor would be both more cost-effective and convenient. Windsor has more bus routes than Detroit, so you could negotiate your way around there fairly easily (the city also has lots of taxis available in the strip club area). But in Detroit public transit is always iffy....buses don't run as frequently as in Chicago or even Windsor and bus stops are often few and far between. We're called the Motor City for a reason - it's designed for people with cars. If you do take the train to Windsor, you can take advantage of the Special Event Tunnel Bus to see the Tigers play at Comerica Park.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:39 AM on April 23, 2011

don't mean to be a hater, but if your asking for opinions, i'd say stay in chicago or go to vegas, i was pretty surprised at how dead windsor seemed, and cesar's there is kind of laughable...sorry, i enjoyed the coffee shop on the main drag each morning, and a little italian restaurant a few blocks from ceasar's but that's not what it sounds like you are looking for....hopefully others can post with more info.
posted by dmbfan93 at 12:02 PM on April 23, 2011

Windsor is a small town next to the big city of Detroit, so it will not have as much going on as Chicago. And other than baseball, there is not much going on in downtown Detroit at night. Greektown before or after a game would be in order.

One bonus: most of the several strip clubs in Windsor are all-nude. No silly rules re pasties and G-strings. They still have the usual no-touch rules, though.
posted by megatherium at 1:35 PM on April 23, 2011

Depending on when you come, the Red Wings may have a home game (knock on wood) in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which would be more expensive than a Tigers game but also about 100x more exciting, if hockey is your thing. Where are you planning on staying? If you are staying in a hotel in downtown Detroit or Windsor you should have very few problems with transportation around the downtown areas, the tunnel bus runs pretty frequently and the downtown People Mover is pretty efficient for downtown destinations, which include three casinos that are all better than Caesar's IMO.

You can get to Royal Oak or Ferndale (both decent bar destinations) using the Night Move (definitely call ahead and confirm this) or the regular SMART bus (450/460) which runs every half an hour. The bar scene in downtown Detroit is pretty good: Cliff Bells, Park Bar, and Jacoby's are three good ones. There's also a good bar scene on Michigan Avenue in Corktown, about a 15 minute walk from downtown.

The Megabus would actually be the best bet for transit from Chicago to Detroit. Cheaper than Amtrak, drops you off downtown (the amtrak station is about 2 miles north of downtown), and runs at more reasonable hours. But if you've got ten people I would just rent a van. Bring your passports. Going to Canada is no problem but if you don't have them coming back (or even say something dumb/seem suspicious), they will detain you, perhaps up to an hour.

Strip clubs in Windsor are better, but there's a couple in downtown Detroit also. Bouzouki in Greektown and there's another one on griswold and grand river that i don't know the name of.
posted by ofthestrait at 6:27 PM on April 23, 2011

I went here http://www.cheetahsofwindsor.com/ with some friends and enjoyed it. Fairly classy club, attractive women, overpriced drinks but if you stick to the bottled stuff at least you'll get the alcohol you paid for. And it's all nude. Be prepared to see a perfect strangers asshole.
I also thought it was kinda boring over all, and I would think you'd have way more fun in Chicago, but to each his own.
posted by anotherkate at 7:13 PM on April 23, 2011

Response by poster: Vegas was ruled out because of airline fares. We've lived in Chicago for quite some time so a trip outside of the midwest seemed better than sticking around in Chicago.
posted by AMP583 at 10:12 PM on April 23, 2011

Windsor in the winter is - from the natives I have spoken to while working there a lot over the winter - a very, very pale imitation of what it is in the summer. It's a small town and very much shows it. I can't imagine anyone leaving Chicago or even Detroit to go to Windsor for any kind of 'event' party. Seriously.

Even in the Summer, Windsor is so full and busy because anyone between the ages of 19 and 21 drives over the border to take advantage of the drinking age disparity. But in the summer, streets are closed and the whole place is (apparently) busy. In the bars I have seen in Windsor over the last few months, you're lucky if the customers outnumber the staff by more than 2:1.

For gods sake stay in the city, would be my advice. I've had a few nights in Windsor (albeit all weeknights) but haven't heard good things from the people I work with that live there, and my two nights in Chicago (and first hand recommendations by friends and residents) suggest staying where you are is a much, much better prospect.
posted by Brockles at 12:02 PM on April 24, 2011

Windsor (pop. 200,000) would certainly be considered a small town in comparison to Detroit and Chicago so there may not be as much to do as you would like.

Here is the Caesars Windsor link to local attractions. As you can see mostly parks and historical sites.

There is no local brewery to tour. The Walkerville Brewery has closed. You can tour the Hiram Walkers Canadian Club distillery and they have whiskey tastings.

N'thing that the Tunnel Bus or a cab are your only public transportation options for going back and forth from Detroit to Windsor. You will need passports.

The bars on Ouellette have a deserved reputation as "kiddie bars" because they attract young people from Michigan due to the lower drinking age. That may or may not be up your alley. There are some bars and lounges that attract an older crowd. I have a family member who does marketing for some of the downtown bars. If you wanted to see what kind of specials or comps could be arranged for an out-of-town group me-mail me and I can ask him.

Also note that the Cdn dollar is actually worth more than the US dollar right now so your money will not go farther if that was part of the plan.
posted by pixlboi at 12:05 PM on April 24, 2011

I'd suggest skipping Windsor and going to Niagara Falls (ontario) or Montreal. Or Toronto. Windsor is kinda not that great.
posted by Kololo at 12:15 PM on April 24, 2011