Hello,
I was planning to take my 7 year old son to
Indianapolis the first week of August to see
the Children's Museum and the zoo. I just
found out that the Brickyard 400 race is August 7. Does anyone know when the hotels
will start to fill up for that race? Will
we be okay if we are in Indianapolis on August 1 and 2 (staying those 2 nights).
Also any hotel recommendations?

Sue

People working the race will arrive (and fill many hotels) around Thursday, Aug. 4. Fans should arrive then or later. You should be fine iwth the 1st and 2nd and even 3rd but I would think abou leaving by Thursday or Friday at the latest if you want to avoid crowds and sold out hotels.

You will want to stay downtown. I don't know what your budget is, but here are some suggestions that should reach all budgets:
1. Crowne Plaza downtown/Union Station - I have not stayed here but I understand that the hotel has 26 rooms built in rail cars. The remaining rooms are standard hotel rooms.
2. Canterbury - this is probably the most luxurious hotel in all of Indianapols.
3. Omni
4. Adam's Mark
5. Westin
6. Hampton Inn - downtown, good location
7. Hilton Garden Inn - downtown
8. Courtyard Marriott downtown...if I remember this is a newer hotel, decent location and probably less expensive than the others I listed.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your help. Between my work schedule and his school schedule
the first week of August is our only open time for this visit. Also thank
you for the hotel recommendations.
Sue

Sue, it's a good idea to stay downtown, as that's where the zoo is. The Children's Museum is up on 30th and Illinois and there are no hotels in that area. Indianapolis has just spent big $$ on getting its tourist bureau up to speed, so if you check out www.indy.org you will find all the current events listed as well as all the hotel deals. If you wanted to talk to a live person about the best hotel suited to your weekend with your son, you could call 1-800-996-INDY. You will have a wonderful time! The children's museum is so good that you don't even need to have a child with you to have a reason to go there...ditto for the zoo.

Sue,
book now. You can always cancel the reservation. Downtown Indy tends to fill up quickly when confernces or Eli Lilly has functions.

I use the downtown Indy Hyatt as an indicator of hotel availability in Indy. They're showing a $199 rate for the weekend of August 1 & 2. That's not the lowest rate but not bad. If it's really just you and your son (meaning two people) you're perfect to bid on Priceline.

I have a hotel room for Sat. May 7th though Priceline. When I bid 2 weeks ago the online Hyatt price was $139 a night. I won it on a $56 Priceline bid. Indy is super easy for bidding Priceline. The only 4 star hotels are downtown. You can add zones, keep your level at 4 star and increase your bid through all the other Indy zones. So far the only 4 star downtown hotels in Indy reported are the Hyatt, the Westin and the Omni. I've stayed at all 3 in the last year. They're all very nice and well located.

Texaskim has a good list of hotels. However the downtown Adam's Mark is now a Hilton. Now the only Adam's Mark is at the airport. There are 2 Courtyards downtown, one at the capitol and one is called downtown. Both are decently located and priced. They have the added feature of free parking if you have a car.

You can walk from downtown to the zoo. There's also the blue line IndyGo shuttle that loops from downtown over to the zoo if you get tired.

Too bad the minor league baseball Indianapolis Indians are out of town. It's a nice park with an excellent view.

For kid things there are paddle boats and bikes to rent along the canal. It's close to downtown and easy to do. You can ride the elevator to the top of the monument on Monument Circle. I like to walk down and look for antique graffiti. There's an Imax theater at the Indiana State Museum. There's a movie theater in the downtown Circle Centre mall. Tanks, war stuff and displays are at the World War Memorial just a couple of blocks north of Monument Circle.