Victorianist seeks hotel in Austin

April 22, 2008 4:40 PM

AcademicTravelFilter: Thanks to my habit of writing about obscure books, I need to detour to Austin TX this summer in order to read a bad Victorian triple-decker at the Harry Ransom Center, UT-Austin. As I will not have a rental car and would prefer not to die of heat stroke, I'm in search of recommendations for adequate hotels either within walking distance (I know there's a Days Inn or something similar about 1/2 mile away) or on one of the bus/shuttle lines. (This thread was illuminating about the aforementioned bus/shuttle lines, but not quite what I'm looking for.)
posted by thomas j wise to Travel & Transportation around Austin, TX (9 answers total)

I don't remember anything specific offhand, but as a former intern at the library, I remember having to answer questions like this for visiting scholars (I just don't remember what the answers were). I think we had a standard sheet with lodging and travel information. If you email one of the book curators, I'm sure they'll pass on the information to the right underling.

And have a great time. The librarians there are amazing people. Are you reading something from the Wolff collection?
posted by bibliowench at 5:03 PM on April 22, 2008

I think the doubletree on 15th street is the hotel closest to Campus if you want to walk. The Mansion at Judge's Hill is closer - I used to live across the street and walk to campus - but is far more expensive.
posted by sanko at 5:05 PM on April 22, 2008

Close to the HRC side of campus are a couple of B&Bs -- Austin Folk House and Star of Texas Inn, if they are within your budget. It's about a 5-10 minute walk to HRC -- and I say this as someone who a) walks pretty slow and b) suffered through a 1 mile walk to class the summer we had 110 degree weather. The Days Inn is on the wrong side of campus from the HRC and in a not-terribly-nice part of town. From the B&Bs you'll cross the Drag to get to campus, and that's also where you'll find cheap places to eat.
As far as bus transit goes, anything up or down Guadalupe/Lavaca will be pretty easily reachable -- Bus #1 runs back and forth along that route pretty frequently, and that, again, is the right side of campus for you.
posted by katemonster at 5:14 PM on April 22, 2008

Check out the Hotel San José, or the Austin Motel. Both are on South Congress, which has lots of buses running along it.
posted by umbú at 5:31 PM on April 22, 2008

There will be a hotel opening a block from the HRC in August. You didn't mention a budget, but I'm sure rooms will be pricey.
posted by donajo at 7:44 PM on April 22, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! I'll probably head for one of the B&Bs.

Bibliowench: Yes, it's in the Wolff collection.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:55 AM on April 23, 2008

Hotel San Jose and Austin Motel are both:
1) expensive
2) really hard to get reservations for unless it's months in advance
3) in a high-traffic area
4) not that close to UT (across the river even)

The B&Bs would be your best bet.
posted by fructose at 7:54 AM on April 23, 2008

Fructose, I think you may be lumping together the San Jose with the Austin Motel. I don't know the OP, and she doesn't mention a price range, so I included the San Jose because it is a pretty beautiful place design-wise, and it might be up her alley.

A quick room check on the Austin Motel and the Austin Folk House B&B, for example, came up with the Austin Folk House B&B being significantly more expensive as the Austin Motel.
posted by umbú at 10:14 AM on April 23, 2008

oops. than, rather than as.
posted by umbú at 10:15 AM on April 23, 2008