Getting from Detroit to Chicago

Detroit and Chicago are the two biggest metro areas in the Midwest, about 280 miles apart, and plenty of people travel between them for work, school and weekends. That steady traffic keeps trains, buses and flights running all day, and the drive is a straight shot on I-94. For most trips, we'd take the train.

For the Chicago end, see getting to Chicago for the stations and our airports page for the trains from O'Hare and Midway.

The Wolverine

Amtrak's Wolverine runs three round trips a day between Chicago and Pontiac, by way of Detroit (see Amtrak's Michigan services). Chicago to Detroit takes about five and a half hours. That's roughly what the drive takes, except you're reading instead of sitting in traffic on the Dan Ryan. Trains leave Chicago in the early morning, mid-afternoon and early evening, and Detroit in the early morning, mid-morning and early evening. Check the current times before you plan around them.

In Detroit, the train stops at Detroit station, 11 W. Baltimore Ave. in New Center, next to the QLine streetcar's Baltimore Street stop. The streetcar runs down Woodward to Midtown and downtown. There's also a stop in Dearborn, west of the city, and the line carries on past Detroit to Royal Oak, Troy and Pontiac. Heading west, the train calls at Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Niles and New Buffalo, and some trains also stop at Hammond-Whiting before Chicago Union Station. Michigan bought the 135 miles of track between Kalamazoo and Dearborn from Norfolk Southern in 2012, and long stretches of the route are now cleared for 110 mph.

The trains are a mix of newer Siemens Venture cars and older Amfleet cars, with a café car and a business class car. The original version of this page mentioned a dining car and bar. There's no dining car, just the café.

By bus

FlixBus and Greyhound list about seven trips a day, and the fastest takes about five hours and 45 minutes. In Detroit they use the bus station at 1001 Howard St., near downtown. In Chicago you'll arrive at the Greyhound station at 630 W. Harrison St. or the curbside stop outside Union Station. It's often cheaper than the train, but it isn't faster.

The old version of this page sent readers to Megabus, with its $1 fares and a stop in Ann Arbor. Megabus's parent Coach USA went bankrupt in 2024, and megabus.com now sells seats on other bus companies. Its stop list shows Indian Trails at the Howard Street station and at Ann Arbor's Blake Transit Center. If you book there, check which company and which stop your ticket names.

Flying

Detroit Metro (DTW) is a Delta hub, so there's a lot of choice. Delta, American and United fly to O'Hare, and Southwest and Delta Connection fly to Midway. The flight is a little over an hour. By the time you've driven out to DTW, about 18 miles southwest of downtown in Romulus, and cleared security, though, the Wolverine has you most of the way to Chicago. Fly if you're connecting at O'Hare. The first version of this page listed Continental, which merged into United in 2012.

Driving

It's about 280 miles, almost all on I-94. Figure four and a half to five hours, plus whatever the traffic around Chicago adds. I-94 runs the width of southern Michigan through Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, clips the corner of Indiana, and becomes the Bishop Ford and then the Dan Ryan into the city. The Indiana stretch on I-94 is toll-free. You gain an hour on the way, since Chicago is on Central Time.

The worst of it is the last 30 miles. The Borman Expressway through northwest Indiana is full of trucks, and the Dan Ryan backs up at rush hour. Time your arrival for mid-morning or after 7pm if you can. Once you're in, downtown parking is expensive, so see getting to Chicago for parking tips.

Photo by Reznicek111