Hilliard
The cheapest decent rooms near Upper Arlington: motorway chains, a small restored old town, big parks and free parking everywhere.
Restored railway depot and brick storefronts in Old Hilliard, Ohio
Why people stay in Hilliard
Hilliard is a city of about 38,000 people some six miles southwest of Upper Arlington, and it exists on this list for one honest reason: price. The hotel clusters near the I-270 and I-70 interchanges at Hilliard-Rome Road and around Mill Run put a clean mid-range room at $72 to $95 a night, which is $30 to $50 less than anything comparable closer in, with a free car park and a free breakfast attached. If your trip is about family in Upper Arlington, a tournament, or a conference on the west side, this is where the arithmetic points.
Nobody will tell you Hilliard is charming, but the small centre called Old Hilliard, around Main Street and Center Street, has been steadily restored: a railway depot, brick storefronts, antique dealers, a couple of coffee places and the Hilliard Station Post food and events space. It takes half an hour to see and it is a pleasant half hour. Beyond that, Hilliard is roads — Cemetery Road, Fishinger Boulevard, Britton Parkway, Hilliard-Rome — with subdivisions and shopping centres hung off them.
At nine on a Friday the interchange hotels are lit up, the chain restaurants on Fishinger and Mill Run are still seating, and Old Hilliard is dark apart from one or two bars. There is no district to wander after dinner. What there is instead is space: Homestead Park, Weaver Park, the Heritage Rail Trail and the Franklin County Fairgrounds, all with enormous free car parks and playgrounds that keep small children occupied for hours. That is a real advantage for families and a complete irrelevance for couples wanting a city evening.
Book Hilliard if you are driving, travelling with children, or watching your budget. Skip it if you want to walk to dinner from your room, if you dislike interchange landscapes, or if your week is really about downtown Columbus — the drive in is 20 to 25 minutes and the rideshare home after midnight is $35 to $45, which erases the saving in two nights. Note also that Memorial Tournament week in June fills even these hotels and doubles the rate.
Two clusters matter. Mill Run, around Fishinger Boulevard and Hilliard-Rome Road just inside I-270, is the better one — mid-range chains at $79 to $110 with restaurants, a cinema and a supermarket within a short walk, and only 12 minutes from Kingsdale in Upper Arlington. The second cluster sits further south at the I-70 and Hilliard-Rome interchange, cheaper at $72 to $90, noisier, and surrounded by truck stops and fast food. Take the first unless the price gap is decisive. Avoid the very cheapest properties on the frontage roads at I-70 regardless of the star rating, and avoid booking anything in Hilliard the first week of June without checking Memorial Tournament dates. Every hotel here has free parking, so never pay a resort or parking fee on the west side.
Things to do in Hilliard
Fifty-three-ninety-six Franklin Street, near Old Hilliard. A genuinely strange and excellent private museum of pre-1950 television sets, mechanical scanning discs and early colour hardware, much of it working. Admission is a small fee, around $5, and it opens limited hours — mostly Saturdays and some weekday afternoons. Ring or check the site before driving over.
Main Street between Center Street and the railway. Restored brick storefronts, several antique and vintage dealers, a couple of independent coffee shops, and the Hilliard Station Post green space with food and seasonal events. Free parking on the street. It is a compact 30 to 45 minutes, best on a Saturday morning when the shops are actually open.
Forty-six-seventy-five Cosgray Road, west of the town. Around 200 acres with one of the biggest playgrounds in central Ohio, paved loop paths, sports fields, a restored barn and a summer concert series. Entry and parking are free. It is the single best reason to bring children to a Hilliard hotel rather than a downtown one.
A paved multi-use path following the old railway alignment through Hilliard, linking neighbourhoods, Municipal Park and Old Hilliard. Flat, wide and quiet, good for beginners and pushchairs. Pick it up near the depot on Main Street and ride west; there is no bike hire in town, so bring or rent wheels in Columbus.
Forty-one hundred Columbia Street. The county fair runs for about a week in mid-July — livestock barns, harness racing, a midway, deep-fried everything — and admission and parking are cheap. Out of fair week the fairgrounds host flea markets, dog shows and gun shows most weekends, which are also worth a wander.
Fifty-two-forty Cemetery Road. A long-running Cuban-Southwestern diner in an unglamorous strip, and the one Hilliard restaurant people drive across the city for. Breakfast and lunch are the strong meals; plates run about $12 to $18. Queues on Saturday morning are normal and move steadily.
What to see
Hotels in Hilliard
No hotels are listed in Hilliard yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Every hotel we cover in Hilliard
- avid hotel Columbus Northwest Hilliard by IHG 2★ · 4.4/5
- Best Western Hilliard Inn & Suites 2★ · 4.4/5
- Holiday Inn Columbus Hilliard by IHG 3★ · 4.3/5
- Homewood Suites Columbus Hilliard 3★ · 4.1/5
- La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Columbus West Hilliard 3★ · 4/5
Getting around Hilliard
This is a car base, and it works well as one: free parking at every hotel, park and shopping centre, with I-270 and I-70 both minutes away. From the airport allow 30 to 35 minutes and $45 to $55 by rideshare, crossing the whole city. Upper Arlington is 12 to 15 minutes northeast via Fishinger Road or Trabue Road to Kingsdale and Tremont Center. Downtown Columbus is 20 to 25 minutes on I-70 outside rush hour, longer at 8am. COTA runs west-side services along the Broad Street corridor and to a park-and-ride, but coverage inside Hilliard is limited and infrequent, so do not plan an evening without a vehicle.
Questions about Hilliard
It is the best one on this list. Mid-range chains at Mill Run run $79 to $110 with free parking and breakfast, and Kingsdale or Tremont Center are 12 to 15 minutes away by car via Fishinger Road. The trade-off is that you cannot walk anywhere interesting from your room in the evening. If you have a car and a budget, take the saving.
Mill Run, near Fishinger Boulevard and Hilliard-Rome Road just inside I-270. You get restaurants, a supermarket and a cinema on foot, quieter surroundings, and a shorter drive to Upper Arlington and Dublin. The I-70 interchange properties are $10 to $20 cheaper but sit among truck stops and drive-throughs with constant motorway noise.
Yes. COTA coverage inside Hilliard is thin and does not run usefully in the evening, distances between the hotel clusters, Old Hilliard and Homestead Park are two to five miles, and there are stretches without pavements. Every hotel, park and shopping centre parks you free, so the car costs nothing beyond the rental and fuel.
Memorial Tournament week at Muirfield Village in early June, when the whole northwest side sells out and $79 rooms become $200 or more; Ohio State home-game weekends in autumn; and the Arnold Sports Festival in early March. January through March midweek is the trough, with clean chain rooms routinely at $72 to $85.
