Accomodations Question For Geauga Lake

Greetings -

I am looking for some feedback on lodging in the Geauga Lake area. I have found a hotel in Warrensville Heights that is only a few minutes from the park. I am curious about the area. Is it clean and safe? Thanks for the feedback.

We've tried several and found that the Holiday Inn a few miles away is the best. The area is not a neat little town, or a neat little interstate exit. it's a sprawling, unzoned jumble of homes, shopping strips, small industries, four lane intersections and restaurants. It's not especially clean, but we've never heard of a problem with safety.

Warrensville Heights is not my idea of a good neighborhood. My suggestion is to stay in Solon, Aurora, Streetsboro, Hudson, Twinsburg or Macedonia.

Just south of the park on the main road are two great hotels...theres the Geauga Lake hotel and about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile down the road further is a really big and really nice hotel. Cant remember the name of it though. sorry. I'm pretty sure The Geauga Lake hotel is cheaper.

The Hilton Garden Inn in Twinsburg is very nice. I stayed there on business and not to visit the park, so I don't know how it is during the park season. There are several restaurants right near it - I know one is Cracker Barrel, plus there was also some fast food and other sit down restaurants. According to their website they are 6 miles from Geauga Lake.

Sandi

I would have to agree with Jeff on this one. There are only two hotels within a mile or two of the park, one being the park's own hotel. But there are plenty of hotels within about 15-20 minutes of the park that I think would be good. The Beachwood/Highland Hills area has many hotels, and is maybe about 15 minutes from the park (more during rush hour).

DO NOT under ANY circumstances go to Warrensville Heights!!!!!

The ones in Aurora (less than 1/2 mile down the road):

Geauga Lake Hotel (forget the real name, not too great)

The Bertram Inn (highly overpriced, but VERY classy)

In Streetsboro- it is 10 minutes South on State Route 43, which is the road Geauga Lake is on:

Comfort Inn, Super 8, Microtel, Fairfield, Townplace Suites, Econolodge, Wingate Inn (very nice), Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, etc!!

Plus you have all the fast food, sit down restaurants, gas stations, and stores you will need!!

I live in Streetsboro, it is the best bet. Plus, its right off the turnpike (I-80) AND I-480.

A very safe, vacation friendly small town. Maybe a couple friendly-country-redneck folk, but by NO means is it a gang filled inner city. No danger here! :) *** Edited 2/21/2005 12:36:53 AM UTC by Janet***

Streetsboro without a doubt would be the best place to stay. It's a quick drive down the street to get to the park from any of the hotels.

I must disagree that the Bertram is overpriced. They have a LOT of special rates. For CoasterCon last year, we stayed for about $80 a night. It was a palace compared to the "slum" section of Cedar Point's Hotel Breakers. And, half the price.

But then again... the back seat of our Accord is a palace compared to that ancient section of the Breakers.

The Bertram is very nice. I've done the "corporate retreat" nonsense there.

Funny that this topic came up, because last night I was searching for this very same info on www.travelhero.com. What I found to be the best for my needs was Econolodge in streetsboro. It had a few good ratings and the price was right.

I've never stayed there, but from what I have found, It looked pretty nice for the price.

All of the places there in Streetsboro are in a nice recently developed area. Go a block in any direction and there isn't much of anything. A safe bet, right at the turnpike, and if it's cheap, I say go for it. There are even a few decent places to eat there.

Are Solon and Aurora really that bad of speed traps for Urbanowicz to mention in his book?

Probably. Solon has a 25 zone that always has cops in it, so I just don't speed there. Aurora I'm not sure. For me at least, I can approach from two directions, either from Streetsboro (turnpike) or from 43 through Solon (via 422 to 91 to 43). Both have quite a bit of summer traffic to deal with because of the park, and clearly the enormous property tax (lots of nice houses) are not enough for them.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your input. BTW....what about Independence?

Independence has some nice hotels. The traffic is a nightmare on and off of 77, but if you aren't trying to get around from 7 to 10 am or 4 to 7 pm on a week day, it's no big deal.

Jeff - Thanks for all the help. I decided to select a hotel in Streetsboro. I found the hotel on Travelocity then went to the chain's website and found rock-bottom room rates for making a reservation online. The room not including taxes is $56.25. This will make for a nice weekend. I am attending Coastermania the day before @ CP and I have taken advantage of the room rate of $58 dollars at Breakers Express.

Well if you're driving there from CP, then that's really convenient because you've got turnpike most of the way "home" from CP. Just be sure to take U.S. 6 east from the park to Rye Beach Rd., then get on S.R. 2 east to S.R. 57 south. The turnpike is a block up from there. (What I'm getting at is don't take U.S. 250 from the park to get to the turnpike, because that's way out of the way.)

The Bertram Inn's business price is about $100 per room per night. Stayed last year and found it to be exquisite after a day in a park.

Only tip I have about the area is do *not* rely on signs to get you to the park. A few years ago when it was still Six Flags that was relatively easy to do. The website said to get off the turnpike by following the signs.

Since the park was bought out, many of those "six flags" signs are now missing and have yet to be replaced. Get decent directions to your hotel and to the park though and you should be good to go.