Originally Posted by tev9999
Thanks for the quick reply.
I just found I can get the HI Express at the Stadiums for $135/nt. I might grab that for now and see if anything else opens up in the future.
Is this a decent location for sight seeing? We also want to hit an Orioles game, if they are in town that weekend. I just looked it up on trip advisor and the review seem a little bit too great, but I would expect the HI standard.
I beg you to reconsider this location. You will not want to walk back from Camden Yards - especially since this will be a night game (games on the day of Preakness always start at 7:35). Nor will you want to walk anywhere around the outside of the hotel at any time. It's marginal to call this area marginal. Proximity to such lovely stadiums doesn't change what happens AFTER everyone goes home. Plus, this hotel is south of the stadiums, where the best parts of Downtown (Inner Harbor, etc) are North and East. And, there are no cheap cab rides in Baltimore. If you can get a cab at this hotel in the evening, it will easily be $6-8 for the short ride up the road intow downtown. I also recommend against Staying at BWI. It will be extremely inconvenient. You want to stay downtown.
Hotels on Preakness weekend in Baltimore are not going to be cheap. I have a few suggestions. But please indulge some other direction first.
First off, it's not necessary for you to have a rental car. You can take the light rail from BWI into downtown Baltimore - $1.50 per person each way - loads just beyond the Int'l terminal about every 20-30 minutes and will take about 20-30 to get to the Pratt Street stop.
Whether you exit at Pratt St or Camden Yards, you are about a five-to ten-minute walk to any number of hotels: The Sheraton Inner Harbor, Marriott Inner Harbor (not to be confesed with Marriott Waterfront) and the newly-renovated Hyatt are a 10 minute walk tops from the light rail. If Holiday Inn is your thing, there is a downtown location which is OK - and it's about a three-minute walk from the Light Rail - just West of Howard Street. Also in the area are a host of other hotels - and if you would like to PM me, I'll happily give you the lowdown on what to expect.
I would normally not encourage visitors to Baltimore to make use of the light rail on a tourism stop - but since you're going to Preakness, it is a great option with benefits. On Saturday morning, the gates open at 7AM. You can take the Light Rail to the Cold Spring Lane stop. Not far from there, MTA Shuttle Buses (complimentary) will bus you right to the gates at Pimlico. The buses run throughout the day in both directions. And believe me, that is one area where you DO NOT want to try and park, unless you have VIP parking. On the way back, a simple light rail ride downtown will put you at the gates of Camden Yards.
Like I said, feel free to post more and/or PM me and I'll do my best to help.