My husband and I are taking our daughter up to the University of Pennsylvania at the end of August to start her freshman year there and need to find an affordable (but as nice as possible) hotel to stay in during orientation week. We don't know anything about Philadelphia at all. Can anybody help point us in the right direction? Thanks.

Hi there-

There are a ton of hotels in Philadelphia to choose from. Univ of Penn is in the "University City" neighborhood. There are quite a few hotels there, and would be convenient due to their proximity to the Univ. However, University City is a bit "dead" at night time.

A better area, IMO, would be downtown area, aka Center City. There are a lot more to offer in CC in terms of choice of hotels, restaurants, shops etc. And, CC is only 1-2miles (depending which end of CC you are) from U of P, and buses run frequently from CC to U of P.

On
www.gophila.com
currently there is a promotion for stay 1 night, get 2nd night free (valid Fri & Sat stay) for many hotels.

Alternatively, you can try Priceline and bid for Center City and/or University City.

If you give us your budget, we'll be able to give you more suggestions.

We stayed at the Penns Inn on 1st street (I think) and Market..lovely hotel and we walked from the hotel to Everything! It is a wonderful Walking city.

Sorry, that was the PennsView hotel, here is their link.

http://www.pennsviewhotel.com/

The University of Pennsylvania is right on SEPTA's "Blue Line," (technically the "Market-Frankford Line") at 40th and Market, so you may not need a car while you are visiting. This subway line is a free transfer from the Broad Street Line -- but not the 100, 101, or light rail lines.

The link below leads to a map with info on all of SEPTA's rail stations.

www.septa.org/maps/click_map.html

I agree with the previous posters that Center City is the best location for a visit to Philadelphia. Some nice hotels include the Sofitel (modern) and the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue (traditional).

However, if you want easy access to your daughter (assuming she'll be in the dorms), you might want to consider the Sheraton University City on Chestnut & 36th or Penn Tower on 34th and I forget what street. Both would allow you to walk around the campus & dorms, because you'll find that it's almost impossible to park anywhere near the campus area.

Here's a tip. If you have any intention of attending parents weekend in the fall (and you may not, if your screenname is true), make your reservations now, since the two hotels near campus I mentioned book up quickly. In fact they may already be full. Good luck, and I wish your daughter a successful college journey.

To add to Judy24's list for hotels in University City:
Hilton Inn at Penn

I have to disagree with PaulRabe about SEPTA. The main buildings of Penn hover around 34th & Walnut streets. The subway station at 40th & Market would be a good 10 block away.

But more importantly, the area immediately around the subway station is not a place you want to be your 18 year-old daughter's 1st impression of Philadelphia. In fact, when I first moved to Philadelphia in 1998, people told me avoid taking the subway if possible. OTOH, the bus is much nicer and has multiple stops at the campus.

Parking can be very expensive at Philadelphia hotels, other than those near the airport. Find out the rates before booking your hotel.

You may also want to check www.biddingfortravel.com and bid through Priceline.

Should have checked my map first (is this getting to be a bad habit of mine?). The Market Frankford line also stops at Market and 34th, one block from the Law School and two blocks from Walnut and 34th. Buildings for the campus extend west to 40th Street and beyond (including the Dental School), but the 34th Street stop would be more convenient.

More importantly, I'm not certain why anyone would have told you not to ride the subway. I ride it to Center City all the time and have never seen anything that would make me scared to do so again. That is NOT the case for driving in Philadelphia, which I definitely warn people about!

The area around 40th and Market would maybe seem "scary" to out-of-towners, but is by no means dangerous. I wouldn't advise a naive 18-year-old to take it at night by herself, but again, during the day it is safe and used by many students. I used to live near and take the stop and 46th and Market, which IMO is a more questionable area, and never had any bad experiences.

As for first impressions, yes there are "nicer" parts of the city than where the school is, but if that's where she's spending the next 4 years she might as well be aware of the surroundings she'll be in.

Thanks very much to all - your info is a great help. The hotels near the University are indeed all full except for the Sheraton (which is out of our price range), so we will try Center City and Pennsview, in particular.

Thanks very much to all, especially yk. We'll be staying for ten days (while our daughter gets used to the idea of living 6,000 miles away), so I'm hoping to keep our hotel bill near or below $100/night.