Where to stay in Powell, Ohio
Historic crossroads storefronts in downtown Powell, Ohio, on a summer afternoon
Powell is where you sleep for the Columbus Zoo, 14 miles north of Upper Arlington — but the town itself has barely any rooms, so the real choice is between two clusters $30 apart.
Why anyone books Powell
One reason above all others: the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, which carries a Powell address and sits on the Scioto north of the town, alongside Zoombezi Bay water park. It is one of the largest and most highly regarded zoos in the United States and it is genuinely a two-day proposition for families with young children. If you are doing the zoo across consecutive mornings, sleeping 10-15 minutes away rather than 35 is worth real money in patience if not in dollars.
The second reason is northern geography. Powell sits in Delaware County at the top of the metro, close to Highbanks Metro Park on US-23, within reach of the Olentangy River corridor and about 25 minutes from the historic city of Delaware. If your trip is built around the northern parks, a wedding at one of the Liberty Township venues, or family in the subdivisions off Sawmill Parkway, Powell is where you should be. For anything centred on Ohio State or downtown, it is emphatically not.
The room supply problem
Powell proper — the old crossroads at Olentangy Street and Liberty Street, plus the residential streets around it — has essentially no hotel stock. What exists is short-term rentals in the surrounding subdivisions, generally $140-220 a night with two-night minimums and, in summer, three. Those are family houses with kitchens and gardens, which suits a zoo trip well, but they are scattered and you will drive to everything.
The two real hotel clusters are Polaris, about 15 minutes east where I-71 meets Polaris Parkway and Gemini Place, and the Sawmill Road corridor about 12 minutes south near I-270. Polaris rooms run $110-165 midweek with free parking; Sawmill runs $95-140. Against Upper Arlington's $120-170 benchmark, Sawmill saves you $25-40 a night and Polaris is roughly level. Verify on your dates, because both clusters lift sharply during summer weekends and any large event at the Polaris concert venue.
Polaris or Sawmill: which cluster
Take Polaris if you want the better hotels and an evening you can walk. The retail district there has a large shopping centre, dozens of restaurants and an outdoor amphitheatre that programmes touring acts in the warm months, and several hotels sit within five minutes' walk of dinner. It is 15-18 minutes to the zoo via Powell Road, and it puts I-71 at your door for anyone driving on to Cleveland or Cincinnati. The catch is traffic — Polaris Parkway at 5pm on a Saturday in December is unpleasant.
Take Sawmill if price is the point. The corridor between I-270 and Powell Road is chain hotels and chain restaurants with big car parks, $95-140 a night, free parking, free breakfast, nothing to look at. It is 12 minutes to the zoo, 12 minutes to Dublin's Bridge Park, and about 20 minutes down Sawmill and Riverside Drive to Upper Arlington. For a family doing two zoo days on a budget, this is the correct booking and the $30 saved per night pays for the parking and lunch at the zoo.
What is walkable in Powell itself
Downtown Powell is four corners and a few blocks: independent restaurants, a brewery on Depot Street, coffee, a couple of boutiques and an ice-cream stop, plus a small village green. You can walk it comfortably in twenty minutes and eat well in it, and on summer evenings it has a pleasant small-town feel that the surrounding subdivisions entirely lack. There is a farmers' market in the warm months — check the town's own 2026 calendar for days and location.
That is the extent of it. Powell is otherwise a car suburb of curving residential streets and no pavement continuity to speak of, and the zoo is a drive rather than a walk from anywhere you might sleep. If walkability matters to you, this is not your area and you should be looking at Worthington's village core or German Village. Book Powell for the zoo, the parks and the price, and accept that the car keys are in your hand from breakfast onward.
The zoo, and how to do it from here
Arrive at opening. The car parks fill from mid-morning on summer weekends and the walk in from the far lots with small children is its own event. Parking is charged separately from admission at the zoo, so budget for both, and check current prices and opening hours with the zoo directly — they vary by season and by whether Zoombezi Bay is operating, which is broadly a late-spring to early-September proposition. Membership can pay for itself on a two-day visit for a family, so run the numbers before you buy day tickets.
The genuine advantage of sleeping nearby is the midday retreat. From Sawmill or Powell you can leave at 1pm when the children fade, be back at the room in fifteen minutes, and return for the last two hours when the crowds thin and the animals are more active. That rhythm is impossible from downtown Columbus, 25 miles away. If you do only one day, you do not need to stay in Powell at all — drive up from Upper Arlington in 30 minutes and save the money.
Beyond the zoo: what fills the second and third days
Highbanks Metro Park on US-23 is the best free half-day in the area: around 1,200 acres of ravine and river bluff, several miles of trail, an overlook above the Olentangy and prehistoric earthworks. Go in the morning and it is quiet. The Olentangy River itself supports paddling in season through local outfitters. North of Powell, the city of Delaware has a walkable brick-fronted main street, a university campus and, a few miles south of it, a cave system that operates as a paid attraction — confirm 2026 opening months before driving out.
Closer in, Dublin's Bridge Park and Historic Dublin are 12-15 minutes southwest and give you a proper evening on foot, which Powell cannot. Polaris covers cinema and shopping in bad weather. What to skip: do not plan a downtown Columbus day from Powell unless you are prepared for a 30-40 minute drive each way plus $8-15 to park. Two such days and you should have booked a different suburb entirely.
The verdict
Book the Sawmill Road corridor at $95-140 if you are doing the zoo across two days with children and want the best price-to-drive-time ratio in the north metro. Free parking, free breakfast, twelve minutes to the gate, and Dublin twelve minutes the other way for a decent dinner. It is the unglamorous, correct answer, and it beats Upper Arlington by $25-40 a night for this specific trip.
Book Polaris at $110-165 if you want a nicer room and a walkable dinner, or if you have a concert at the amphitheatre. Book a rental in Powell itself at $140-220 only for groups of five or more, where the kitchen and the extra bedrooms make the maths work. And book Upper Arlington instead if the zoo is a single day on a broader itinerary — 30 minutes up Sawmill Road once is a fair price for being 15 minutes from campus and downtown the rest of the week.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Powell.
About 14 miles. The direct route is Sawmill Road north or Riverside Drive to SR-315 and I-270, taking 25-30 minutes off-peak and longer at rush hour. The Columbus Zoo is a similar distance from Upper Arlington, so a single zoo day does not require moving hotels.
There is no hotel at the zoo gates. The nearest clusters are the Sawmill Road corridor near I-270, about 12 minutes away at $95-140 midweek, and Polaris to the east, about 15-18 minutes at $110-165. Both include free parking and usually breakfast.
Yes, for one. The four-corners core has independent restaurants, a brewery on Depot Street and a village green, all walkable in twenty minutes. It is a pleasant small-town dinner rather than a destination, and it is a better evening than either hotel cluster offers on its own doorstep.
Summer weekends, when the zoo and the adjoining water park draw peak crowds and the north-metro hotels tighten. Winter holiday light displays at the zoo also lift December weekend demand. January to March is the cheap window, with Sawmill rooms often available under $100.
