Where to stay in Riverside Bend
Calm water and wooded shoreline of Griggs Reservoir along Riverside Drive in northwest Upper Arlington
The reservoir edge of northwest Upper Arlington trades restaurants for five miles of shoreline, and rooms within a ten-minute drive start around $115 midweek.
The stretch of river this actually means
Riverside Bend is the loose name for the northwest edge of Upper Arlington where Riverside Drive swings with the Scioto and the water widens into Griggs Reservoir. It is a strip rather than a neighbourhood: two-lane state route on one side, dammed river and wooded bank on the other, and residential streets climbing east away from the water. Griggs Reservoir Park runs for miles along it with boat ramps, picnic shelters, fishing spots and a paved path that never crosses a major road.
This is the most scenic address in Upper Arlington and the least convenient. Sunrise over the reservoir in October, with mist sitting on flat water and rowers already out, is the single best free thing in the city. Then you turn round and realise the nearest coffee is a drive. Understand that trade before you book, because everything about staying here follows from it — the price, the transport, the shape of your days and whether you enjoy them.
Who it suits
Paddlers and rowers first. If you own a kayak, canoe or paddleboard, or you plan to hire one seasonally on the reservoir, staying within five minutes of a ramp changes the trip. Runners and cyclists come second: the riverside path lets you put in ten flat miles without stopping at a light, and it connects north toward Dublin and south into the wider Columbus trail network. Birdwatchers get herons, kingfishers and winter waterfowl without leaving the parking area.
It also suits people whose real destination is somewhere else north or west. Dublin's Bridge Street district is fifteen minutes up Riverside Drive, Muirfield Village and the Memorial Tournament crowd sit in the same direction, Powell and the Columbus Zoo are twenty to twenty-five minutes on, and Hilliard is a short hop west. If your week is a tour of the northwest suburbs rather than a city break, basing here saves you the daily crawl through Route 315 traffic.
Who should book somewhere else
Anyone without a car should rule it out immediately. Bus coverage along this corridor is sparse and subject to change, and there is no walkable cluster of shops to fall back on — check the COTA planner if you want to test it, but plan for rideshare at $15 to $25 into the city. Anyone travelling for nightlife, galleries or a restaurant crawl should be in the Short North or Grandview instead; you will spend more time driving than eating if you try to run that trip from here.
Two more groups should think twice. Nervous night drivers will not enjoy Riverside Drive after dark: it is unlit in stretches, curves hard, and deer come down to the water at dusk. And families relying on a hotel pool and breakfast buffet will find nothing at the water's edge — the actual rooms are inland, and the reservoir view they came for requires a short drive each morning. That is fine if it is expected and irritating if it is not.
What a night costs
There are no hotels on the reservoir itself. Rooms come from the same suburban stock that serves the rest of Upper Arlington: the chain properties toward Lane Avenue and the Olentangy corridor, and the larger clusters around Dublin's Sawmill and Frantz Road areas to the north. Expect roughly $115 to $165 midweek and $140 to $210 at weekends, plus around 17 to 18 percent in combined taxes, which you should confirm with the property. Parking is free almost everywhere in this half of the city.
Short-term rentals in the streets set back from Riverside Drive are the alternative, at roughly $140 to $250 a night for two or three bedrooms, occasionally more where a garden actually looks at the water. Two calendar spikes matter: Ohio State home Saturdays, which lift everything within ten miles by two to four times, and the Dublin golf week in late spring, which does much the same to the northern hotels specifically. Check the tournament's official dates before assuming a quiet Tuesday in June.
What is within walking distance
From the water, honestly: the water. Griggs Reservoir Park's shelters, ramps and shoreline are the walk, and it is a good one — several miles of it, with benches, fishing platforms and enough tree cover to survive a July afternoon. Smith Nature Park lies a short distance inland with woodland loops, and Fancyburg Park to the east adds playgrounds and open grass. For a morning of exercise before a day of driving, that is a strong inventory and better than most suburbs offer.
What you cannot walk to is anything you buy. Groceries, pharmacies, coffee and restaurants all sit inland along Fishinger Road, Tremont Road and Lane Avenue, five to ten minutes by car. Plan a supermarket run on arrival if you are self-catering. There is no bar within walking distance, no cinema, no bus stop worth building a day around. If the phrase nearest coffee is a drive bothers you when you read it, that is a useful signal.
Days out that make this base worth it
Put the reservoir first: hire a kayak in season, ideally on a weekday morning when the water is glass and the ramps are empty; hire availability shifts year to year, so confirm with the operator rather than turning up hopeful. Then ride the path north to Dublin for lunch and back, roughly a two-hour round trip at an easy pace. Add Quarry Trails Metro Park, ten minutes south off Dublin Road, for a climbing wall, a waterfall overlook and a quarry lake that does not look remotely like central Ohio.
For a car day, the northwest is genuinely good: Dublin's historic district and its riverside park, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium about twenty-five minutes north, Highbanks Metro Park's bluff trails beyond that, and Powell for a slower afternoon. Coming the other way, the Ohio State campus is twelve minutes and downtown twenty. That geographic spread — city one way, countryside the other — is the strongest single argument for taking a room out here rather than closer in.
Verdict
Book the reservoir edge if you will use the water or the trail, and if at least one person in the party genuinely enjoys driving. Three to five nights is the sweet spot: long enough that the morning path becomes routine, short enough that the lack of a high street never grates. For a party of four with bikes on the back of the car and a golf or zoo day planned, this is the smartest base in Upper Arlington, and it costs no more than staying somewhere flatter and duller.
Otherwise, compare it honestly with three alternatives. Kingsdale, three miles east, keeps the low prices and adds a supermarket you can walk to. Grandview Heights, six miles south, gives you a hotel room and a high street for $140 to $230. Dublin, fifteen minutes north, has more rooms and its own walkable core if the northwest is your whole trip. Skip Riverside Bend if you are car-free, here for one night, or planning to eat out every evening.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Dublin.
Swimming is not the activity here — the reservoir is a water supply body used for boating, paddling and fishing, and posted rules govern what is allowed at the ramps. Treat it as a paddling and shoreline destination, and check the current park regulations with the managing authority before getting in the water.
About twelve to fifteen minutes by car outside peak hours, going east on Fishinger or Lane Avenue then down toward the river. On home football Saturdays allow forty-five to ninety minutes, or park in Upper Arlington and cycle the last few miles on the riverside and Olentangy trails instead.
No. Upper Arlington has virtually no hotel stock, and none of it sits on the water. Your options are chain rooms five to ten minutes inland at roughly $115 to $165 midweek, or a short-term rental on the streets behind Riverside Drive at $140 to $250, a handful of which genuinely look toward the river.
Yes, it is the best asset in the area. The paved shared-use path runs for miles beside Riverside Drive with few road crossings, links north toward Dublin and connects into the wider Scioto and Olentangy trail network. Early morning in September and October is the pick of the year.
