Looking for info on Columbus. Ohio
 

Hi guys,

I just found out that I'll most probably be spending a long weekend in Columbus, OH from Feb. 29- March 3 due to a sporting event my boyfriend and I will be attending at Nationwide Arena.

I've just started my research today and I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations, must-dos, tips for keeping the budget low etc.

Thanks very much!

Layla %%-

The area around the arena has a number of restaurants and clubs that are very popular, cleverly named the Arena District. Immediately north of Nationwide is a couple of block area called the short north. Likewise, good restaurants and eclectic shops.

Columbus most popular shopping is Easton Town Center. About 15 minutes east of Nationwide, all the better mall locations.

Blue Jackets Hockey and Ohio State Basketball will still be in season.

Columbus has a great zoo and aquarium. Weather will likely be mediocre at best, but the zoo is a year round attraction.

The Arena District has a Hampton Inn, Courtyard, and Hyatt.

10 minutes south of the Arena District is German Village, a 100 year old neighborhood with great homes, German restaurants, and atmosphere.

If you are up to an hour or so drive you could travel west and visit the Air Force Museum near Dayton. The weather in Ohio that time of year is not the best, you can expect it to be cold, damp and cloudy. The AF Museum is indoors. The Admission is FREE, that works well with a low budget weekend in Central Ohio..

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

Good recommendations, esp German Village for the day. Hotel taxes in Columbus are high -- 16.75% -- but otherwise, costs are moderate and most restaurants are pretty good value.

Definitely visit the German Village. Some great restaurants. Not sure what your budget is, but we got a great deal at the Columbus Hotel downtown last year. It's part of Rennaisance chain and was just totally remodeled. We got a large one-bedroom suite (extremely well appointed) for $89. Might have just lucked out, but definitely worth a look.

As others have mentioned, there are a lot of things to do in and around the Arena. If you are a foodie, there is the North Market, within walking distance of the arena where there are many food stalls with diverse ethnic cuisine and bakery, produce, cheese and wine merchants. There is boutique shopping and owner run (as opposed to chain) restaurants in the Short North, about 20-30 min walk from the Arena. A high recommendaion also for German Village.

Depending on your interests, Ohio State might prove an interesting visit, depending on the weather as well. There are some very charming small towns within an hour or so of Columbus, Granville and Lancaster come to mind with folk art and nice restaurants.

The Columbus Musuem of Art is displaying a nice Monet exhibit, but it will be gone by the time you visit. Check out their web site, http://www.columbusmuseum.org/. They have some very interesting exhibits.

I work in the Arena district and can guide you on restaurant recommendations if you write back with your interests. Also check out the following URL, the Restaurant Widow (not my site) knows A LOT about Columbus - http://www.restaurantwidow.com/

Hi guys,

Wow!! thanks so much for these tips....I'll look into all of them.

We will probably book a package deal through Expedia as the prices for flight + hotel are very reasonable (350$tx incl for 3 nights and flight) the hotels look krappy, but we're used to budget accomodations so we'll survive if the price is right.

Will we be able to get around without a car? We will be walking and using public transportation most of the time, and a few taxi rides here and there.

We're from Montreal, Canada so we definitely are used to the cold....we're not deterred by that at all :)

I can't wait to check out the German Village, sounds like something I would love!

Thanks again to all!

Layla %%-

ttt

I don't think you can get around without a car. Public transportation is not very good. If you are doing Expedia, add a car to the mix.

There is quite a lot of pleasant countryside beyond Columbus metro. The drive up to, say, Bellefontaine will show you plenty of towns where people still sit on their front porches in the summer, and Delaware is a nice small college town, quickly becoming a suburb but still not yet ruined by sprawl the way that so much of Columbus has been.

I second the recommendation for the Columbus Museum of Art.

In German Village try *Max & Ermas* cafe, an original German cafe with
good food and drink.
They've since opened a few others
around Ohio (and IN) but this one
is the original and oozes
charm.

The COSI science center pitches to kids, but you might find it a lot of fun yourselves. http://www.cosi.org/

thanks for the info guys i appreciate it! i'm gonna keep looking into everything!


layla %%-

My favorite spot in German Village is Schmidt's. Best Reuben sandwich ever. There is also a charming bookstore in the Village too.

The first weekend of every month there is a gallery hop in the Short North. We had a lovely meal during this at Rigsby's on High Street.

Enjoy that Midwest hospitality, too!

If you are around the Arena District, keep in mind that most locations have decent happy hour prices, with the exception of the Frog, Bear (no happy hour prices on event night) & O'Shaunnesy's Public House(both right at the Areana). The R Bar is the hockey bar right across from the arena has $1.50 beers and other happy hour prices but no food (say hello to Mike and Natalie the owners)

Inexpensive food can be obtained at the North Market, which is just north of the arena on Front Street (seating is upstairs). The North Market is across from Brother's and just up the street is the Park Street Patio (both good happy hour prices).

The Short North District is up High Street and is a "trendy" area, with good restaurants and pubs.

As others have said the Brewery District and German Village are on the southern edge of downtown (15 minute walk).

Enjoy Columbus.

Layla:

Sounds like you are coming in for the Arnold Classic. I wouldn't take much credience in the above entry, especially in the areas that you have been referred. Now if the Shamrock after your name means you have Irish roots, you might consider the Shamrock Club (private for Irish organization members). The negative is the Shamrock Club is on the far south side, which means a cab ride or the High Street bus to the area of Castle Street (south of State Route 104).

Byrne's Pub, at the corner of West Thid Avenue and Northwest Blvd, in the Grandview area is a great Irish bar and also there is the Brazenhead on West Fifth Avenue.

I hope I just didn't turn this into a Columbus Irish Pub blog.

Aucho53, please don't visit Columbus without renting a car. I am ashamed to say public transportation is horrid here and you will really be confined to where your feet can take you. If you are coming for the Arnold Classic, make your reservations NOW, as that is a huge event and lots of hotels book up in the Arena/Convention Center area. Let us know where you will be staying and we can recommend nightlife, restaurants, etc.

Hi LoneG and Aliska,

Thanks very much for your info. We'll definitely rent car because we want to be able to get around and make the most of our time there.

We're actually not coming for the Arnold Classic, we're there for a UFC event that will be taking place the same weekend. I guess we should pick our hotel sooner rather than later to ensure that we get a room since there are 2 big events that weekend....We'll get on that ASAP :)

None of the hotels that I have been looking at are in downtown columbus, is that normal? On expedia and priceline etc they are all within a 7-15mile radius from downtown columbus, I just thought I'd see if you guys have any preferred hotels that would be convenient to Nationwide Arena?

In terms of dining, we like simple, moderately priced (15-25$ mains) for dinner and we normally just snack the rest of the day while we're out and about. If we could get a hotel that has breakfast that'd be great.

In terms of our tentative plans, we would arrive Friday, check in and relax since we'll be tired from our journey there. Friday night we'd attend the weigh ins before the fights.
Saturday we want to check out Easton Town Center and then head over to Arena District for dinner and the event.
Sunday we'd take it easy, maybe check out the German Village and have a leisurely day.
Monday morning we'd head home.
Thanks!!

Layla %%-

P.S. LoneG yes I am Irish, and thanks for the recs...I'll be sure to look into them tonight thanks again!

< I just thought I'd see if you guys had any preferred hotels that would be convenient to Nationwide Arena >

Have you checked the Columbus Hotel I suggested above? It's downtown and close to the Arena.

Layla, I am assuming you do want to stay in the downtown Columbus area near the Arena/Convention Center. Here are a list of hotels to research, I have been to events at nearly all of them, but have never stayed there. My suggestion to get the best price is look on the travel sites, then call the hotel directly. Do you have auto club, entertainment club or other memberships that give hotel discounts? Does your sporting event have preffered hotel discounts with specific hotels? Please ask those questions to get the best price. Good Luck!

Crowne Plaza Hotel - Nationwide Blvd.
Doubletree Guest Suites - S. Front St.
Drury Inn - Nationwide Blvd.
Lofts Hotel & Suites - Nationwide Blvd.
Red Roof Inn - Nationwide Blvd.
Hyatt Hotel - Nationwide Blvd.
Hyatt Hotel - Capitol Square
Courtyard by Marriott - Spring St.
Hampton Inn & Suites 500 N. High St.

There is an Irish bar, Fado's, that serves food at Easton. Never been there, but others said food is pretty good.

A couple others already beat me to recommending Max & Erma's in German Village (the original location and still the best!). Have a "garbage burger" here. They are great!

The only other thing I ever suggest to anyone visiting Columbus is to "dine" at any White Castle location. There's nothing like a White Castle (the steamed burger). People try to imitate it, but no one comes close. Keep in mind, that Columbus is the headquarters for White Castle.

Castleblanca, Cols is also the HQ for Wendy's, so in your thinking poor Layla would have to try that too? You need a cast iron stomach for sliders (White Castle burgers). Was born & raised in Cols, graduated (twice) from OSU, moved away and came back. Only ate at WC once when I was 5. I won't go into the details but it involved Children's Hospital! Wouldn't serve it to my enemy, yech!

Hey guys,

Thanks again!

DFR4848: I looked into the Columbus Hotel, it's actually booked up for that weekend, which is kinda scaring me lol i have a feeling a lot of hotels will already be booked since its a busy weekend ahhh!

Aliska- Thanks a gazillion for your recs, i'll look into each of them with my boyfriend.


Thanks so much guys, this has really helped me out a lot!

Layla %%-

Why not just stay out at Easton? It's pretty, well, unusual...it's hard to describe if you haven't seen a "lifestyle" mall before. (Picture Disney meets the mall.)

But the hotels are very very nice.

Free and interesting if you like history is the Ohio Capitol Building - free guided tours - even on the weekends. Another nod to history - on the Scioto River downtown is a full size replica of Columbus;' flagship the Santa Maria.

Hello,

thanks for the info guys!

shoefly, i didn't realize that Easton Town Center had accomodations? I'll look into it. Have you had any experience with them? are the rooms decent?

Thanks again
Layla%%-

Hey, Aliska. Get a grip!

FYI, I got food poisoning twice at Wendy's ---- always fresh, never frozen, is what they say. I talked with a friend, who was an exec at Wendy's, and he said that (food poisoning) happens more than they like to admit. He said, that sometimes when the hamburger is transferred to various Wendy's locations it gets too warm in the trucks. Result: food poisoning.

Oh, and Dave Thomas was a neighbor of ours in both Columbus and Fort Lauderdale. Very nice family! I never ranted at him or his family, because I got food poisoning at his restaurant. In fact, I never ranted at anyone about it. It just happened.

And I guess White Castle is so very successful, because it is so bad?

As I always say, "if you don't like strawberries, maybe you'll like chocolate". The meaning being, we don't all like the same thing.

I never held someone's personal preferences against them ... or berated them for it.

As I said, "Get a grip!"

Truce.

I went to this city on OCT of 06. To be honest, it is a boring city. I was there for one day. They do have restaurants and museums other than that, not much

aucho53:

Just remember, the time period you are going to be here (I live near Columbus) will definitely be cold and probably wet so be careful of what kind of outside plans you are making. Good luck!

Hey Guys,

Lol...actually I was curious about White Castle, we don't have any here in Canada so it's always fun to try to something new...but if it's awful then maybe we'll re-consider. I'll let you know :)

ccolor- I'm from Montreal, Canada so we're "immune" to cold lol!

Layla %%-

From Easton to downtown and the Arena District it is ten+ miles and depending on time of day a lot of traffic. The Arnold Classic (going on at the same time as your event) will have a lot of people involved causing congestion.

Yet another recco for Max & Ermas in German Village!

Also, there's a very nice Hilton in the heart of Easton; walk and shop everywhere. Have a great time!

Once again, thank you all for the advice!!


Layla %%-

Layla:

I checked on this topic and see that someone recommended that you stay at Easton. Basically, if you stay at Easton it's a quick drive downtown if you hop on I-270 into I-670, exit at Third Street/High Street, which exits to the left.

If you have trouble getting a hotel in the areas mentioned, try looking at the hotels over at Mill Run (I-270 and Cemetery Hilliard exit). That's on the west side of I-270. To get downtown, just take Fischinger Road into Riverside Drive (US33) right into downtown.

There are also hotels in Dublin and Worthington along the outerbelt. Good luck on the hotels because the Arnold Classic brings in alot of people into Columbus.