Where should we stay overnight between Boston and Toronto?

March 26, 2006 9:30 PM

We are going to be driving from Boston to Toronto on a Thursday night and Friday with our five kids (ages 3 to 16). We want to stop somewhere half-way to sleep--ideally a hotel that is not too pricey but still decent and has an indoor pool. Perhaps a good breakfast, or just a decent breakfast. Where should we stay? And in general, if you needed to find a hotel en route from A to B, how would you do that (the second question is WAY less important than the first)?
posted by Raspberry to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

If you take 90 all the way through Buffalo and then, the QEW to Toronto, finding accomodation en route should not be a problem- the NY Thruway is very heavily travelled, and has plenty of restaurants and inns along the way. This route also has the advangage of being multilane and 65mph the whole way.

Just googling I-90 NY hotel gives a few options, including a Holiday Inn near Syracuse with an indoor pool

I cant recommend any specific place from personal experience though.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 9:43 PM on March 26, 2006

Staying overnight halfway to Toronto is more like Herkimer, Utica, Rome, or Syracuse.

If you're baseball fans, you could swing south to Cooperstown (about 240 miles from Boston) and stay at the Holiday Inn Express (with indoor pool) about 4 miles and a little bit outside Cooperstown, and then in the morning go see the baseball hall of fame (hours), then head back north to the Thruway. If you aren't all interested in baseball, non-fans will find other interesting things to look at in Cooperstown while fans are in the museum.
posted by pracowity at 4:24 AM on March 27, 2006

In general, I'd look at a map of the route and find a large town or small city approximately halfway. Then I'd look for hotel chains you're familiar with in that area. I'd always rather stay at a hotel chain that I know than some local motel that I know nothing about.
posted by kdern at 4:40 AM on March 27, 2006

The AAA publishes tourbooks containing rated listings of hotels, listed by city. When I was wee and my family was planning a driving trip, my parents would generally divide up the route into day-sized chunks, figure out what towns were nearby, and find a hotel using the tourbooks.

Of course, you do have to be a member to get these books, and some people don't particularly agree with AAA's politics. YMMV. (So to speak.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:55 AM on March 27, 2006

Best answer: Syracuse has an Embassy Suites, good for families, right at the Carrier Circle exit on the NYS Thruway. Head to Del Monicos, about 2 miles south of the circle for dinner. 4 more hours to Toronto.
posted by webtom at 6:17 AM on March 27, 2006

I can answer your second, less important question -- or at least share what I did. We drove from Philly to South Carolina with our two kids a few months ago and arranged to stay at a place halfway between the two on the way down. For the way back we figured we'd power through. But once we were down there, we realized we really needed to break the trip into two legs again, so we just did the Priceline thing. We just logged on the morning we checked out of our SC hotel and ended up being able to get a very nice hotel at about 40% off the regular price. So perhaps that might be a workable option for you?
posted by mothershock at 10:24 AM on March 27, 2006

Response by poster: What's the problem with AAA's politics? I don't know anything about this. Please don't tell me they are major Bush contributors.
posted by Raspberry at 6:31 AM on April 2, 2006