MFNYC

I booked the Barnes collection for Sat, 11/17 and dinner at Amada. The plan was to stay over night saturday in Phillie, preferably nearby the restaurant. I went to book a hotel to find out it's marathon weekend, so whatever is left (which isn't much) in the prime locations is insanely expensive. Any suggestions on where we can stay that may be a bit off the beaten path, but nice with good public transportation. We'll have our car, but don't want to deal with driving and parking, and we also want to enjoy that white sangria at Amada.

PaulRabe

> Any suggestions on where we can stay that may be a bit
> off the beaten path, but nice with good public transportation

It's fortunate that the restaurant that you want is at 217 Chestnut, just one block from the 2nd Street subway stop for the Market-Frankford Line (aka the "Blue Line").
www.septa.org/maps/transit/mfl.html
As such, you can stay at just about any place on or near Market Street, even as far as 40th (I don't recommend going west of 40th Street, and I don't think there even IS any place to stay west of there), and be one subway ride away.
Unfortunately, when searching for vacancies on the Saturday night, I found the same results as you. Let's go to Plan B.

You can stay near the Airport and ride the Airport Line into Center City
www.septa.org/schedules/rail/s/AIR_1.html
Just note that the last rail ride back to the Airport is at 11:20pm.

Or you can stay on Baltimore Pike near the Secane Rail Stop.
www.septa.org/stations/rail/secane.html
The motels there are chains in a lifeless stretch of strip malls, but they're in a safe area and only a few blocks from mass transit.

Please check hotel reviews before making a reservation. An unsafe area in Philadelphia is NOT an area you want to stay in. Although I gladly live here, there are parts of Philly I don't like driving through in broad daylight -- and walking after dark is something I wouldn't do myself and I definitely do NOT recommend for visitors.

MFNYC

I have a feeling it will be the airport. I was hoping to get a priceline deal in a central location but that's not happening.

MFNYC

I booked the Best Western for $269+tax. It was all that was available under $400 in a central location, and it's a block from the restaurant. I also booked an airport hotel (Embassy) as a backup which is much cheaper even factoring in the taxi fare. I'll keep checking for a better deal, but I have a feeling it's not going to happen.

MLTimes

Did you try the Morris House? Their online system is showing room 102 available for $319, which would be worth it to me given the price of the BW. Another thought might be one of the hotels on the Main Line? I would not personally stay by the airport, but for one night it might not be that inconvenient and awful.

MFNYC

I just got a reservation at the Latham hotel, near Rittenhouse Sqm at a very reasonable rate (especially considering the weekend), $240 including tax. I must have just nabbed someone's cancellation. I booked it on octopus.com which I never have used, but googled around and it gets good reviews. I even checked the hotel website and it had a 2 night minimum so I lucked out. I just checked again, and sure enough it's no longer showing up. This is a relief, and this hotel came out to be $70 less than the Best Western!

vanne

We recently stayed at the Windsor Suites on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which is about a 10 minute walk to the Barnes Museum
and is short walk to public transportation. I think at this point they do have vacancies. We found the location very convenient. They have an arrangment with the adjacent parking ramp for guests to park for I think around $25 or $30 a night (we didn't use it, so I'm not sure).