lesliec1

My son will be a freshman at UPitt and I will be bringing him there in 2 weeks. Silly me--since this is my first time sending a child to college, I didn't realize you need to book hotels close to the college about a year in advance for busy dates like move-in day or Parents' Weekend. I also didn't think about quite how expensive hotels will be! Since I have 4 or 5 years of Pittsburgh college visits ahead, I'd be most grateful if anyone could suggest reasonably-priced or budget hotels with convenient access to UPitt. In desperation, I have held a reservation at Ramada Plaza Suites so at least I have somewhere booked. We will have a car, so parking is something of a consideration. I also don't mind staying outside of Pittsburgh itself if it's an area where it's easy to commute to the university. Also, I have heard rumors about major road construction outside of Pittsburgh. We'll be coming from Philadelphia. Will we need to find alternative routes? Thanks!!!

Stephanie

I work in the Univ area in one of the hospitals. I see daily a Best Western at the Boulevard of the Allies, there is a Holiday Inn on Lytton Avenue. There is also a Wyndham on the corner of Forbes and a side street (can't think of the name of it now). All within easy reach of the campus. Oakland's zip code is: 15213 if you want to do a search. Hotels in the Univ are hard to find. You might want to explore the Shadyside area (about 1 mile away from the campus area), there may be apartments available that you can rent out daily or weekly.

bjboothman

Leslie, I live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh (my son is a senior at Pitt) and I can assure you that there is major road construction every year on all sides of the city. This weekend we have two tunnels closed, one on either side of the city. I don't think you need to reroute, there will be detours posted. I'd guess you will come on the PA turnpike, get off at Monroeville and take the parkway east to Oakland. That puts you on the east side of the city and you should avoid "some" of the road closures.

You might want to visit the Penndot site at http://www.dot.state.pa.us/ or the local paper www.postgazette.com to keep up with some of the road closures. Good luck!

marykc

Our daughter Kara went to nursing school at the univ. of Pitt. We spent four years going back and forth. our favorite place to stay was in station square. Its so pretty and very clean there. There is shopping and lots of great restaurants, all within walking distance of one another. There are a few motels there. It gets you away from all the city congestion, while being only five minutes from campus. However, on her graduation night it actually took us an hour to get there. Thats to be expected, though. We did reserve our rooms four months in advance.
Good luck, Pitt is a great school.
Mary

lesliec1

Thank you for your advice! Stephanie--I actually considered that Best Western you mentioned until I read an online review that said "only stay here if it's the last hotel room left in Pittsburgh!" Oh well, so much for that idea... Those other hotels close to the Univ. were all booked, but I'll keep them in mind for next time. Marykc--I visited Station Square on the Pitt Parents' Tour. I will check out the motels in that area. The mall is a bit of a dud, but there are a million restaurants there! Thanks again for your suggestions.