Basic info for visitors to OSU

This is a short and biased set of suggestions for people visiting OSU.

Airport

The Columbus airport (CMH) is reasonably close to the city. Usually it takes less than 20 minutes by car to get from the terminal to campus; even at rush hour I have never seen it take longer than 30 minutes.

Lodging

The most convenient hotel is the Blackwell, on campus. It is by most accounts a very nice place to stay. It is moderately expensive (approx $160 per night), and it sometimes fills up for events. They provide a free airport shuttle.

The cheapest option is AirBnB. Good neighborhoods close to campus include: Victorian Village, Short North, Italian Village. Clintonville and German Village are also nice, but a bit farther away.

There are some regular B&B's near campus. Harrison House is a good one.

There is a row of standard business hotels along Olentangy River Road. The closest to campus is the Red Roof Inn; it is basic but reasonably priced. The Fairfield Inn and Holiday Inn are a little farther -- about 4 miles from campus -- but they provide shuttles to campus.

Coffee

There is very good coffee in Columbus, but unfortunately none of it is very close to campus. The closest high quality coffee is The Bitter Barista at Neil & King. Farther along in that direction, you come to Mission, Impero, and One Line, all on High Street. If you want the best coffee in the city, you have to go downtown to Brioso (at High and Gay) during banking hours.

If you just need caffeine, there are coffee and sandwich shops in several of the university buildings, for example in the KSA Architecture building, which is worth visiting anyway. (These are closed on weekends and during university breaks, though.) There is also Panera (on Lane near Tuttle Park) and Starbucks (of course).