Where to stay in Bexley, Ohio
Tree-lined residential street with brick houses in Bexley, Ohio
Bexley is one of the most attractive suburbs in central Ohio and has close to zero hotel rooms — so here are the four realistic bases within 10 minutes of it, priced against Upper Arlington's $120-170.
The problem with booking Bexley
Bexley is a small, wealthy, tree-heavy city of about 14,000 entirely surrounded by Columbus, sitting roughly 4 miles east of downtown. It has a genuine main street, a university, an art-house cinema, the Ohio Governor's Residence and some of the best domestic architecture in the state. What it does not have is hotels. The zoning and the scale never allowed for them, and the result is that searching for a Bexley hotel returns properties that are not in Bexley at all — they are on the Broad Street corridor, near the airport, or downtown.
So this is a guide to sleeping near Bexley rather than in it. The short-term rental market inside the city is thin but real: a handful of carriage houses and upstairs flats in the streets off Main and Broad, typically $130-200 a night with two-night minimums, more during Capital University graduation and family weekends. If you want to wake up in Bexley, that is the only route. Everything else is a five to fifteen minute drive from somewhere else.
Who Bexley suits as a destination
Visitors to Capital University, film-goers heading for the Drexel Theatre on East Main Street, and anyone who enjoys walking a suburb for its houses. The residential streets north of Broad — Parkview, Cassingham, Roosevelt — are a serious architectural walk, and the Ohio Governor's Residence on North Parkview opens for tours on limited schedules that you should confirm with the residence's own office rather than a third-party listing. Jeffrey Mansion and its surrounding park give you a free hour of grounds and a playground.
It does not suit visitors whose plans are on the west side. Bexley to Upper Arlington is 10-11 miles across the whole city, which is 20 minutes on a good day via I-670 and SR-315 and closer to 35 at 5pm. It is also the wrong base for Ohio State game days — you are 8 miles from the stadium with the entire downtown between you and it. And it is a poor fit for anyone who wants a hotel front desk, a pool or a breakfast buffet, because none of those exist within the city limits.
What you can walk to in Bexley
The Main Street strip between Cassady and Drexel is the walkable core: the cinema, an old-line pizzeria that locals argue about, an Italian restaurant, a natural-foods market, coffee, a bakery and the public library are all within a half-mile stretch. From most rentals in the northern grid you are ten to fifteen minutes on foot from that strip, and the pavements are continuous, lit and shaded. Capital University's campus sits immediately south of Main and adds a green cut-through plus a concert hall that programmes regularly during term.
The second walk is Broad Street, four lanes wide and lined with the largest houses, running west toward Franklin Park and its conservatory — a 25-minute walk from central Bexley and worth doing on a clear morning. What Bexley does not offer is nightlife; the strip is quiet by 10pm and there is no bar district. If your evening plan involves more than a restaurant and a film, you will be driving to downtown, German Village or the Short North, all 10-20 minutes away.
Base one: Downtown Columbus
The obvious substitute. Downtown is 4 miles west on Broad Street, a straight 12-minute drive outside peak, and it has the metro's largest concentration of rooms. Expect $160-260 midweek in the convention and Arena District hotels, plus $20-40 a night for parking, which is the sting. Against Upper Arlington's $120-170 with free parking, downtown costs you $60-140 more all-in per night.
It is the right choice if your trip also includes theatre at the Ohio or Palace, a Blue Jackets game, COSI with children, or a convention. It is the wrong choice if Bexley is genuinely the point, because you will pay a premium for a district you are driving out of every morning. If you do book downtown, take the eastern edge near the Discovery District or Topiary Park rather than the riverfront — it shaves five minutes off every Bexley run and tends to price $20-30 lower.
Base two: the airport corridor, and base three: Easton
John Glenn Columbus International is only about 4 miles northeast of Bexley, and the hotel cluster around International Gateway and Stelzer Road is the cheapest realistic base at $95-140 midweek with free parking and free shuttles. It is charmless — you are among car-hire lots and freight buildings — but it is a ten-minute drive to Main Street and a fifteen-minute drive downtown, and for a family visiting Capital University it is hard to beat on price.
Easton Town Center, 6 miles north, is the comfortable option: a large outdoor shopping and dining district with several hotels at $140-200, free parking, and an evening you can walk. It suits travellers who want somewhere pleasant to eat without planning, and it puts you 15 minutes from Bexley via Stelzer or I-270. Skip Easton if you dislike shopping centres or if your dates coincide with a big retail weekend, when the traffic around Morse Crossing becomes genuinely tedious after 4pm.
Base four: Upper Arlington, and when it makes sense
Booking Upper Arlington to visit Bexley sounds perverse — it is the far side of the city — but it works when Bexley is one item on a longer list. If your trip includes Ohio State, the medical centre, Grandview, Dublin or the Scioto trails, Upper Arlington's $120-170 rooms with free parking are the efficient centre of gravity, and Bexley becomes a single 20-minute outing rather than a daily commute.
The route matters: take Lane Avenue or Fifth Avenue east to SR-315 south, then I-670 east and exit at Nelson Road or James Road for Broad Street. Twenty minutes off-peak, thirty-five at rush hour. Do that drive once, on a Saturday morning, park free on Main Street, do the cinema-and-lunch version of Bexley, and drive back. That is the correct amount of Bexley for most visitors, and it costs you nothing in nightly rate.
The verdict
If Bexley is the reason for the trip — a Capital University weekend, family in the neighbourhood, a wedding at Jeffrey Mansion — take a short-term rental inside the city at $130-200 and enjoy waking up in a place with real streets. Book early for graduation weekends and confirm the minimum stay, because two nights is standard and three is common in May.
If Bexley is one stop among several, do not chase it. Book Upper Arlington at $120-170 with free parking if your other days point west, or the airport corridor at $95-140 if they point east and you want the lowest price. Downtown is defensible only when you are using downtown too, given the $20-40 nightly parking. And skip Easton unless you actively want a shopping district as your evening — it is the priciest of the four for the least connection to Bexley itself.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Bexley.
There is no meaningful hotel supply inside the city limits — it is a small, almost entirely residential and small-retail municipality. Overnight options within Bexley are short-term rentals, typically $130-200 a night with two-night minimums. Listings advertised as Bexley hotels are almost always on the surrounding Columbus corridors.
About 10-11 miles and 20 minutes off-peak, using Broad Street or I-670 west to SR-315 north. At 8am or 5pm allow 30-35 minutes; the I-670 and 315 interchange is the bottleneck. There is no rail alternative, and the bus version of that trip requires a connection downtown.
The airport corridor around International Gateway and Stelzer Road, roughly $95-140 midweek with free parking and airport shuttles. It is about a ten-minute drive from Main Street in Bexley and fifteen from downtown. It has no atmosphere at all, which is precisely why it is cheap.
It is on North Parkview Avenue in Bexley and does open to the public, but on a limited and changeable schedule that usually requires booking in advance. Check directly with the residence's own office for 2026 tour availability rather than relying on a secondhand listing or an old blog post.
