I did the Kentucky Derby for the first time this year, and had a blast. We decided that we want to hit all three races in the triple crown, but three trips in five weeks is tough. The plan is to do the Preakness next year and Belmont in 2008.

I'm looking to book hotel reservations early to keep costs down (worked for the Derby). I've never been to Baltimore/DC, so I have some questions.

The itinerary would probably be:

Thurs: Arrive from DTW in the late afternoon / early evening (probably BWI)
Fri: Sightseeing and Bar Hopping
Sat: Preakness
Sun: Return to DTW

Any recommendations on hotel locations that would be convenient to public transportation (subway or rail) and be inexpensive (<$100/night)? As drinking will be involved, I would prefer to avoid the rental car route. I'm thinking near BWI might be the best bet, but figured would throw this out to the experts here.

I would like to see DC too, but that is probably too much to cram into a long weekend.

BWI might be a good option, especially if you use a hotel shuttle to light rail to get to/from Inner Harbor and Preakness on race day. Given what you want to do, an Inner Harbor hotel would probably be more convenient, but doubt it would be within the price range.

Note that the MARC runs on weekdays, so you could also drop down to DC relatively cheap ($6 each way from BWI, $7 from Balitmore proper) on Friday.

I was at both the Derby and Preakness this year (reserved seats - not infield, though). Note that Pimlico is much less strict on what you can bring in than Churchill ^ , Barbara at the bar below the grandstand mixes the best Bloody Mary I've ever had ^ ^ , but the facility is an absolute dump It's still a blast, and the triple crown is a fantastic goal.

The traditional connection is to take light rail to North Avenue and catch a connecting shuttle bus to Pimlico. A day pass is $3.50. There's also a shuttle option from the subway (that's what I traditionally use) that connects at Rogers Ave. MTA always does a special brochure and webpage with Preakness transit info.

MARC/Light Rail/Subway: www.mtamaryland.com. DC Metro: www.wmata.com

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'll let someone more familiar with Baltimore chime in, but the location looks marginal - the football stadium will be empty, and most foot traffic will be much farther north, closer to the Inner Harbor attractions. Don't know enough to know if it's simply "less than optimal" or "stay away"

Let me know when your plans firm up next spring - I plan to be at the track.

Not the best location and I don't think I would want to walk around at night. Close enough to Inner Harbor for a cheap cab ride though.

If you have enough Starwood points, you might try a cash & points award at the Sheraton Convention Center. A group of us did so last October and it was great. Excellent location for both Inner Harbor and Camden Yards.

I dunno if your IC status or points help here http://www.harborcourt.com/ I'm not up on that program at all. Barring actual free nights, though, this room's gonna be out of your price range, I suspect, especially on race weekend.

I usually Priceline a hotel in the Inner Harbor, and after getting a crappy room at the Wyndham as a 3* bid a few years ago I only bid 4* down there. I've had good stays at the Hyatt (under $60 in Feb) and the Marriott Waterfront (something like $70-75 in summer, but in both cases these rates were last minute, bid the day of my stay). The latter is slightly less convenient if you're trying to walk from public transit. Other possibilities are the Sheraton and I think one other.

The Holiday Inn BWI is fine, too. I've gotten that one on dirt cheap bids, like 40 bucks, but many times when I'm there (as long as nothing's going on) BWI is actually harder to get a reasonably priced room. For Preakness weekend, though, rates are probably all jacked up accordingly. Floating bids probably won't even work this far out, but maybe. I've never bid anything anywhere close to this far out, so I just don't know. A few months was really my longest ever lead time for bidding. There are some even lower end properties at BWI like Microtel, Fairfield, Homestead (shudder, I've stayed at that one, don't recomend). I don't think there's a place around BWI that won't shuttle you back to the airport/light rail. There's really a ton of rooms in the BWI area, so worth checking for rates. Inner Harbor's going to be way better for the sightseeing and bar hopping day, though, I would think, unless you do go down to DC (in which case BWI is better). You'll just have to decide if the price is worth the tradeoff. If you can take the risk of Priceline (and pay this far in advance, which may be the bigger risk unless you're 100% sure of the trip), you might want to try it for the Inner Harbor 4*. Bidding is not necessarily a good option if you need a room with two beds, though. You have less of a chance that you'll get your choice with this vs with a regular reservation. I'm usually alone or with GF so it doesn't matter what bed type I get.

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.

Thanks for all of the input.

There will probably be 6 to 12 people going on this trip. Our Derby roster this year dropped from 12 to 9 within a couple days of the trip, so I don't want to try a priceline bid or any kind of prepaid rate. This trip should be a little more firm come March/April since air travel will be involved.

It would be great to stay in the inner harbor area, but I don't think the prices will work out for anyone's budget - unless we fit 12 people into one room.

Thanks for the input on the HI by the stadiums. I'll drop that from consideration.

For now I think I'll book something out by BWI with access to the light rail. I notice several hotels advertise free 24 hour shuttles to the rail station. Are there any with direct (walking) access? IC and SPG properties are my preference, both for points and my corporate discount there.

Most everything is shuttle; I guess the Four Points, being on airport property, might allow you to walk to the airport light rail station, but I've never stopped there to know for sure.

Note that the Arundrel Mills properties (Hampton and a Marriott sub, I think) are also across the parking lot from a brewpub in the mall, and should offer airport/MARC/light rail transport. These certainly aren't walking distance from anything else, though.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there's basically squat to eat around the BWI area outside of the hotels themselves. McD's, Wendy's, a bad convenience store (well, bad for groceries, I've never tried the deli in there), that's about it. It really surprises me given the number of limited service hotels out there. Expect to eat somewhere else entirely, or in the hotel if you choose something with full service. Given that, something in walking distance to Arundel Mills doesn't sound like a bad idea.

Note that the shuttle to the *rail* station generally refers to the BWI Rail Station where the Amtrak and MARC trains stop. This isn't the same as the light rail which can take you into the Inner Harbor and such. You probably won't be making use of the heavy rail station unless you actually go to DC. That said, I gather if they're going to keep someone on call to go to the Amtrak station they can take you to the light rail instead.

6-12 people pretty much rules out some of the ways of getting hotel rooms I mentioned, as I'm sure you're aware. Just be aware of what you're getting into at BWI: no services within walking distance or even really within driving distance (I've driven all around there; any services beyond the gas or fast food and that movie theatre down there are a ways away unless something new has come up). So choose your hotel accordingly. The standard issue HI there really is adequate and does have a restaurant/room service (though I don't think it's 24 hour room service). I've never stayed at the Four Points, and I can't think of any other IC/SPG properties there. Lots of Marriott and Hilton.

BWI is the suburbs, I wouldn't recommend it. Anyone know for sure what the hours are for the light rail? We were looking for reasonable hotel rates last year and I thought the light rail hours weren't going to work out. We ended up a the Sheraton on a cash & points deal. Definitely keep watching the hotel properties around inner harbor, that is your best bet - I don't know how PL divvies up Baltimore to give you other suggestions on what areas to bid on.

G'Luck.

OK:

1. The light rail runs every 20 minutes during Monday-Friday at that time. and every 30 minutes on the weekend. Total hours are 6A-10P Monday-Saturday, and Sunday 11A-7P. There are no extended hours around Preakness, but trains that Saturday will run every 20 minutes to Camden Yards. Also, after O's games, last light rail leaves 30 mins after end of the game.

2. You will need to take your hotel shuttle back to the airport, to the International Terminal, and walk downstairs. On your return, you will take the BWI-specific light rail (NOT Cromwell!) back to the airport and have the shuttle pick you up at Int'l bag claim.

Cromwell station is near the airport, but no airport's shuttle will take you there unless they're feeling VERY generous. You'll need to go to the airport, which is more well-lit and safer anyway.

Keep in mind that it will take you AT LEAST an hour and a half to get to the Preakness shuttle stop via light rail. The rail ride itself is, by timetable, 50 minutes. Add wait time at BWI, plus shuttle time from the hotel, plus your time to get to Pimlico from the Light Rail stop. At least 90 minutes -but plan on two hours that day. On the way back, if you want to go back to your hotel before the game, you do it all in reverse - and then back again to go to Camden Yards. You can take everything with you for both Preakness and Orioles, as the light rail from the area near Pimlico goes right through Camden Yards on your way back to the hotel. You'll just add hours to your day if you want to go back to the hotel.

Light rail direction for staying at BWI: It can be confusing, since certain trains go certain places. Heading North: Take only trains that say "Hunt Valley"; and Heading back to your hotel, take only trains that say "BWI".

What other posters have said is true. There is very little to do/eat at the airport hotels. There is a Ruby Tuesday, a movie theater, a Bob Evans, and that's about it - but again, good luck getting the hotel shuttles to take you there. They are not walkable.

As far as places to stay - Holiday Inn Airport is decent. Four Points at the airport - you may as well stay downtown for the summer rates you'll pay there most times, and it is NOT walkable to the airport. Read the SPG thread for some reviews as well. There is a new Westin opening at BWI, but I think that's 2008.

Bottom line: If you really want to save the money by staying at BWI, you should consider renting a van for all of yourselves - at least to get to the light rail downtown so you have SOME flexibility. Staying at BWI and relying on light rail, if you are known as the "group planner", you may end up with a group of frustrated fellow travelers at the amount of time it will take you to get places.

It's clear that, if it's within the budget, the Inner Harbor is where you'd want to stay. I don't think anyone is disputing that.

If downtown is too expensive and you're looking for alternatives, I'm not sure BWI is as dire as it's been made out to be. First, the MTA site shows last light rail service departing Camden Yards at 12:02 am, arriving BWI 12:36. Not sure why shinbal has shorter hours, so I guess it's worth checking with MTA to confirm.

Second, if you're arrving BWI, you're going to have to deal with airport-area transport at least twice, anyway. You're out all day Friday, and Saturday should be a full day if you do Preakness right. It's going to be a pain to get to/from Preakness under any of the mass transit options - but again, it's an all-day affair, and you'll be in it with a lot of other Preakness-goers. Depending on where you stay, though, Thursday could be a problem around BWI - it's true that the area where most of the hotels are clustered really offers nothing.

So, assuming Inner Harbor is out and you want to avoid renting a car, there may be other options (north - Hunt Valley?), but no one has offered anything yet. Otherwise, you'll have to decide how much of a premium Inner Harbor is worth. You've got a variety of opinions on how practical BWI really is, but it can be done if you want to.

Heh, I forgot about Bob Evans and Ruby Tuesday. Wow, the rest of that post looks like a clear reason to stay elsewhere just for the logistics of it, or perhaps rent a vehicle.

There isn't really anywhere else reasonable to stay without a rental car, though, is there? I dunno much about Hunt Valley, but it's hard to imagine the ride from one end to the other on the light rail would be good, or that it would be any more accessible on foot than the BWI area. Inner Harbor seems like it. Given that this is only a few days, with this many rooms you may easily still save vs Inner Harbor even if you rent a passenger van (or multiple cars) and then stay...where? I dunno, somewhere outside of Inner Harbor and BWI for sure. BWI is not always that much cheaper than Inner Harbor. Places to the north and west will be more convenient to Pimlico, but I'm not sure of logistics if you don't want to drive and park there. I will say that I've never had a big problem driving to and parking in the Inner Harbor area if you wanted to do that for sightseeing.

Just more to consider....

There are 3 hotels at Arundel Mills Mall now and there is a bus that goes from the mall to the airport. I believe it runs about every 30 minutes but only up until about 11pm. You would have plenty of food options staying near the mall.