Staying outside Philadelphia (where?!), Help!

We recently made reservations at French Creek State Park, which is a little bit out of Reading and about an hour from Philadelphia. However, our travel plans have been changed and Fr. Crk. has no cabins available during the week of 9/3 to 9/8. Does anyone recommend anywhere to stay, preferrably on the western side of Philadelphia, besides a motel/hotel? We are from Georgia and just want to see Philadelphia and we are on a fairly tight budget, but could spend up to $500/week on accomodations. Nockamixon State Park (north of Bucks County) has a cabin opening, as does Sun Valley Campground (near Lancaster). I%26#39;m just trying to make everyone happy! I%26#39;d prefer to just stay in a hotel outside Philly and take the train in, but the thought of that is not appealing to my husband at all. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance, Staci

Staying outside Philadelphia (where?!), Help!

Nockamixon is not bad facilities wise and the drive from there is a fairly decent shot into Philly (45 miles), or you can get to a train station pretty easily in bucks county (about 20 miles).

I don%26#39;t know Sun Valley per se, but I don%26#39;t think I%26#39;d like to make the ride from Lancaster to the city each day.

I could not find a hotel in the area that was less than $90 per night plus taxes, which does not fit your budget (caveat, I probably could, but I limited it to places you would actually want to stay in). That said, you may want to factor in the cost of driving 90 miles in and out of the city with parking each time into your plans.

A couple of questions, how many people? Just you and your husband or are kids involved? How many days do you plan to go into Phila? Other stops planned? (I%26#39;m thinking of suggesting splitting your stay)

Staying outside Philadelphia (where?!), Help!

I know that you mentioned Western PA for camping, however, I do know that there are lots of places at the Jersey Shore ( approx. 1h 20m from Center City Philly). Out of curiosity, I googled some camp grounds. This one place in particular has cabins available for $65 per day. With that said, you could do 1 or 2 nights in Philly and the others at the beach ( plus lots to do in Cape May County).

Just thought I would throw that out there : )

capemaycabinresort.com/cape-may-cabin-info.h鈥?/a>

Thanks so much for your reply! There are actually five of us, two adults, three children 12 and under. I would like to visit the city two days at least, preferably three, but I%26#39;m open to suggestions on that. I%26#39;m going to lunch now, but am looking forward to hearing from you again! What a tremendous help this website is!

Thank you!

Staci

Hi Heather223,

Thanks for the Jersey Shore suggestion. I%26#39;d love to visit there, too, but I%26#39;m afraid that is going to be too far for us to drive. We%26#39;re starting in New River Gorge state park in WV, then driving up so that we can visit Philadelphia. I%26#39;m afraid of the very long drive, but NJ is on the list for a future visit as we%26#39;ve never been there.

Take care,

Staci

The Buena Vista Campground has cabin rentals and is about midway between Philly and the Jersey shore (about 45 minutes to either one driving). I believe there%26#39;s also a train station about 10 min. away that can take you to Philly and Atlantic City.

The Nockamixon cabins are good, and the area is pretty, but the train fare into town would be steep, not to mention a 1 hour 15 minute trip each way. The closest station is Doylestown, which would be about a 20 minute drive, but the fares would hit between $4.75 and $7.00 per person each way, depending on when you travel and where you get the tickets. That could kill your budget, I suspect. I always suggest using Hotwire (or similar) to get a hotel in town. It is almost always cheaper than staying outside and traveling in. One of the Local Experts will doubtless chime in to help out here.

I figured that you already had a certain trip mapped out. Definitely try to do the Jersey shore at some point ~

With the number of people you have, I am torn, because you might need 2 rooms..

But breaking it down, lets assume Buena Vista (closest campground noted is $65 per night plus fees and is 30 miles away. Assuming $.30 per mile cost (conservative, includes wear, tear, etc, bridge tolls and/or train tickets/parking, realistically, you are over $100 per night.

A 3 star on Hotwire will run about $110 per after tax and lets add $20 for parking (can probably do better), so for $30 per night more, you save several hours of travel each day with three kids.

This assumes one room in a hotel, at 2 rooms if needed, math goes totally the other way....

As Owlyn suggested, I can assist with Hotwire. There is a 3* hotel that is listed at $89/night for the dates of your stay. With tax, it comes in at $486, within the constraints of your budget. I believe it is the Hilton Garden Inn and that is a very good hotel, I have had multiple stays there without issue. Centrally located within Center City, nice rooms with plasma TV%26#39;s, a fridge and microwave and an indoor pool/hot tub for the the kids. The rooms are large and you can request a rollaway. We have fit our 3 kids in the room without issue.

The downside? You%26#39;d have to factor in parking in Philly for your stay, which is costly. When we have stayed in that area, we use a parking facility (no in/out privledges) that is on the other side of Market, right down 12th Street, about 3 blocks away at most. It is $13/day - and for 5 days, it would cost you $65 to park. Not super-cheap, but better than the lot that the hotel uses - that will cost you $22/day.

If you are interested in this option, let me know, and I will try to find the name of that lot. I think it is worth the extra $$ to stay in the city - Philadelphia is very walkable and there is the Phlash bus that makes like 20 stops within the city at all the major attractions, etc...and is very inexpensive. You probably won%26#39;t find a cheaper hotel outside of Philly for $89/night and you will easily pay a lot more in train fees to travel in from the burbs daily than the money it will cost you to park in the city.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need additional assistance.

Suzanne