Buffalo hotel info.

For you last minute hotel seekers, I found 2 decent deals, though the hotels are about 10 or 12 miles from the arena.

The Hampton Inn Buffalo-Airport has rooms for $83 a night if you mention the Kahunaville Package (https://secure.hilton.com/en/hp/res/choose_rates.jhtml?_requestid=194502)

I went through hotwire.com and found a room at the Holiday Inn, also near the airport, for $41 a night.

I know these hotels are a bit far off, but I didn't want to go through the hassle of scoping out rooms in downtown Buffalo.

In anycase, hope this helps.

Hello all. Just got 2 rooms at the holiday inn-airport on priceline for $38/each/night! Come one, come all!!

to clarify................those two rooms are already claimed......but others should stay at the holiday inn as well!

For those who care, the airport is not a huge hike to the arena. You take the Kensington (Route 33) basically until it ends, and there you are. Maybe 20 minutes of freeway driving, unless it's rush hour.



Post Edited (04-03-03 12:34)

Also, for those who are still looking or looking to upgrade, keep checking back at the sold out hotels as things might open up as cancellations come in. I was able to score rooms at the Hyatt Regency today even though it had been sold out every time I checked before. Not cheap but not horrible either ($120/night), and being able to park once and walk to everything is key.

I also live in Buffalo. Whatever hotel you are at, be it around the airport, around the Buffalo Marriott (same area includes a Super 8 motel and Red Roof Inn) or near the Walden galleria mall (Buffalo Sheraton)- all are within a 20 minute drive of HSBC arena. Anyone driving from those places into the city around 10am Thursday won't have a problem with traffic. The only (slight) difficulty will be parking because it's a buisness day. In that case, you're best option would be to take the subway (metro rail) from UB South Campus. There's a big park & ride lot there where there's always space. The subway costs about $2 round trip from there- take it "inbound" to the last stop- HSBC arena. Once downtown, everything- the Hyatt, the convention center for the NCAA festival, and the arena are all within walking distance.
The park and ride lot is accessible from Main St. near the intersection of Main St. and Bailey Ave.
If you're coming from the Buffalo Marriott area (Millersport Highway), take it southbound, 2 miles later merge with Bailey Ave. at a "Y" and about 10 seconds later you're at Main St. Turn RIGHT and you'll see the park and ride lot soon on your LEFT.
If you're coming from the airport/walden gallaria area take the 33 expressway (Kensington expwy) inbound towards Buffalo, get off at Eggert Rd. Turn RIGHT off the exit ramp. Proceed on Eggert for about 2-3 miles until you reach the intersection with Main St. Turn LEFT onto Main St. Go through the light at Bailey Ave and you will then see the park and ride lot soon on your LEFT.

Any advice for those of us traveling up from the south (Hamburg)

Thanks for the subway info! Sounds like a really good idea.

If coming from the Hamburg area, to keep it simple you should probably still take the subway although at first glance it may seem illogical because the UB South Campus station is the northern terminus, while Hamburg is just south of Buffalo. The subway only runs one line from UB south campus down to HSBC arena.
So if coming from Hamburg, you can either leave early in the morning (~7-8am should ensure you a parking ramp spot) and get a parking spot with all the other buisness folk, or just take I-90 east to the kensington expwy (rt 33) and follow my directions from above to get to the subway.
Realistically you MAY be able to find a space downtown near HSBC around 10am but considering it's a work day and the fact that there'll be an extra 20,000 out of towners down there, it'll likely be a tough task.

By the way, if anyone wants to taste what I consider the BEST chicken wings in all of Buffalo (many other Buffalonians agree) go to Duff's restaurant! It's easy for everyone to get to also. It's at the corner of Millersport Highway and Sheridan Dr. Anyone staying around the Buffalo Marriott site (including Super 8 motel, Red Roof Inn, Hampton Inn Amherst, Residence Inn by Marriott) is right on Millersport highway. Those of you at the Courtyard Inn by Marriott are right on Sheridan Dr. Those of you around the airport hotels can take I-90 east to I-290 west and go to Millersport Highway south. Duff's is at the corner of Millersport and Sheridan.
Trust me, if you like wings, this is the place to go! Unless your taste buds are made out of steal, don't get anything hotter than "medium" or possibly "medium/hot". Your sinuses will quickly clear either way!

I'll second that. The Anchor Bar is the "originator," and the wings are good there, but it's too crowded and pricy, and doubtless all the tourists will be there. Duff's is a cheap, little place with no ambience to speak of, but the buckets of wings and the baskets of fries are primo. I'll be there at least once, possibly twice, during the four days in Buffalo.

Hallelujah and God Bless Duff's.

Beeeej

We were planning to see Niagara Falls while in Buffalo anyway, so we booked a room at the Quality Inn Niagara Falls for $44 on Orbitz. Expedia and one other booking site wanted $76. Planning to ride the "rails" from SUNY-Buffalo to the arena.

The whole Metro idea sounded like a great way to avoid downtown parking, but I checked the schedule and it seems they don't have any trains going back out after around midnight, so should I want to get back to my hotel after hitting the bars for a little while or something, it seems like the Metro isn't going to work. No plans for extended hours for the Frozen Four? Would I need to take a cab?

In case people wanted to know, the main area downtown to hit the bars at night or get something to eat is a street called West Chippewa St. It's right near all the other downtown event areas including the Hyatt, the convention center, the HSBC arena, and Dunn Tire Park. The bar and restaurant area that it encompasses lies on W.Chippewa just west of Main St (the street that the subway runs down.) There's roughly 30 or so bars, clubs, and restaurants in that area to suit anyones' fancy. A couple that I like are Darcy McGee's (an Irish Pub with genuine stools, tables, and fixtures imported direct from Ireland, of course the Guiness flows smoothly there too), Brinks (a recently renovated pretty cool place to chill with a beer- can also get lunch or dinner), and 67 West (a loud bar with lots of faces). For those who like clubs, "Level" is a euro-style club with all the smoke, lasers, and techno music you could ever want, and "Soho" is the standard of the need-to-be-seen crowd. There's also a cool coffee place called "Spot" for those who'd like a more mellow end to their evening, as well as your standard Starbucks for those that can't live without their frapuccino.

It's true, the last train to leave the downtown area for UB South campus is around midnight so if staying later, you would indeed need a cab from the bars back to your car at UB South campus (which shouldn't cost more than $5-6). Cabs are plentiful down around Chippewa.
Go to the subway's website at the below address for schedule information:
[www.nfta.com]

Anyone know how much the arena/NC$$ plans on charging for parking? I got raped for $20 in Providence on Saturday, before realizing that I could park in the mall for only $15 on Sunday.

Would I be better off with some sort of Park-n-ride, especially if I planned on driving back to Ithaca Thursday night?

ha ha sucker! There were plenty of lots that cost less than $8 for the day, not to mention plenty of free parking if you could stand to walk more than 200 yards.

The trains probably don't go past midnight because you don't want to be in that area of Buffalo after midnight.

As for parking, there is a lot right next to the arena that is used for events and costs 10 bucks (about) for Sabres games. I do not know if it will be used exclusively for this event or if it will be open for normal parkers.

Jason wrote:

ha ha sucker! There were plenty of lots that cost less than $8 for the day, not to mention plenty of free parking if you could stand to walk more than 200 yards.

Yeah, we were running late and took the first lot off the highway. We suck worse than UNH.

Greenberg-

You missed the $7 lot at the conventino center, abotu 100 feet from the ticket office at the dunk!

Sadly, if you followed the directions the Dunk provided on the web it basically took you right to the cheapo parking lot. If you went on Mappoint and got directions (from the north, anyway), they took you past the Dunk and right to the expensive $20 parking. Fortunately we were an hour and a half early so were able to drive around until we found the better deals.

And they wonder why we didn't drain the beer barrels in Providence? We had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to afford the tix. I wasn't about to part with much more cash in town. Besides, it's not like we could leave between games to grab a bite to eat, drink too much, and then snooze it off watching the "what the hell are you?" Buckeyes play.

LGR!

Actually, I noticed that if I were to follow the directions on the web, I would be making an illegal right turn. It said to make a right at the bottom of the ramp when you get off the highway. Well, that right was at a light, and prominently displayed was a No Right Turn sign right there. I never even saw that parking lot. But alas, I parked for free out by the Capitol.

There are several lots downtown near the HSBC arena. The lot spoken about above which is right across from the arena truly does exist and indeed probably only costs ~$10. However, KEEP IN MIND that this will be a buisness day and if you plan to arrive around the arena anytime after 9am (you won't be able to enter the interior of the arena until 11am) you WON'T get a spot in that lot and you'll be hard pressed to find a spot elsewhere in the immediate vicinity. Other lots include the lot within the base of the HSBC Tower (tallest building in Buffalo- can't miss it), also the lot across the street from HSBC Tower, the Dunn Tire Field ramp. There's also a lot adjacent to the Buffalo convention center (where the NCAA festival will begin at 9am). You can walk from the BCC to HSBC arena in about 15 minutes.
The other remaining option which I HIGHLY suggest is the Buffalo Metro subway. You can park for FREE and ride round trip for ~$2 from either the UB South Campus station or LaSalle station.
Here's the info from the official local organizing committee website:
[www.centericecrewbuffalo.com]
and [www.nfta.com]
"Park in one of the Metro Rail lots at either the LaSalle station or the UB South Campus station. Lots serving the UB South Campus station are the following: UB lot at Main and Bailey; NFTA lots next to station on Main Street; and Allen, Townsend and Abbott lots accessible from Main Street as well. These are the northernmost stops on the system. Parking is free and the Metro Rail fare is $1.25 (each way). Trains run every few minutes per schedule (from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.) and can drop you off anywhere downtown or as close as a slapshot away from HSBC Arena."

Mike,

Do you think there is any chance they might reserve that lot for the event usage to favor tourism over everyday commerce? I know I am talking about Buffalo leadership here, but theres a chance, right?

They 'may' reserve that lot across the street from the arena for event parking but it's unlikely because it's also across the street from the other HSBC office building and kitty-corner from the Buffalo News building. The independent company that owns it probably doesn't care who parks there, as long as it gets filled by 9am.
Besides, it probably only contains 500 spots at the max so it's unlikely we'd all find a spot there between the hours of 9-10am.