The ideal would be to split your stay into both areas and cut the driving out altogether (within 1 mile drive of each place). Does that work in your case?

I think they are miles apart. Hopefully you will be going against traffic though if you stay in between the two places. Heading north on the Jones falls expressway should be light compared to all the incoming traffic.

Towson and Lutherville practically merge, so I would stay in Towson for the weekday appts there. However, if there is a hotel you like near Hunt Valley, it is not more than 10/15 minutes to Lutherville and you do not even have to get on Route 83 or York Rd. Another Road runs in between straight from HV to Lutherville.

We go through the city from Towson to Hopkins and it never takes more than 30 minutes.

In the AM, traffic will be heavier going South on 83 from Hunt valley towards Baltimore, a bit lighter leaving the city going North, and heavier all over within the city. Usually early Sat. isn't bad either way.

If you choose to stay in the city, don't stay close to the hospital.

If you plan to be in the city only one time, then don't stay half way, easier to stay where you will be going the most often.

After the surgery, will you be up and about and doing any sight seeing? Would that affect your choice?

Thanks for all of your suggestions!

If the surgery is scheduled early, we will probably stay in an area accessible to Hopkins (outpatient/main hospital) the night before surgery and night after. Patient will be have to lie flat after surgery for a day or two, so I'll be doing any take-out pickups, grocery shopping, etc. alone (60+ woman). Which areas of the city would you recommend? Nearby grocery market and ethnic food takeout would be good! "Safe" area essential.

RE "up and about" - not for a day or two. After that the patient should be up and about - and aside from blurry vision in one eye (maybe a patch?) - he should be comfortable walking around. Any suggestions? Places without big crowds preferred. We would usually head to the art museums. If vision is blurry, that may not be the best choice, so we're looking for some suggestions.

For followup visits we will look for a motel in Towson area. Any suggestions for things to do in that area?

For the followup in Timonium you can stay north on I-83.
Our daughter got married in Baltimore Memorial Day weekend. We stayed for several days at the Ramada Limited in Cockiesville.
It was better than some of the reviews indicated.
We did our laundry at Sudsville which is only 5 blocks south on the same street. (24/7 laundramat).

The area right around Hopkins is very unsafe; at least it was when I was there. I don't think you would want to go to a grocery store in that area. You could stay in the Mt. Vernon area, there used to be a hotel called the Peabody Court but there are likely others around there. There is a great museum in Mt. Vernon as well. I think the music school is called the Peabody Library (?) and it is in the heart of Mt. Vernon and is worth a peek in. The room is gorgeous and has been used in movies.

Below are some specific suggestions for hotels with easy/quick access to JH Hosp., and in great/super safe areas. Lot's of nearby grocery market and ethnic food takeout options too. All three of these are in great neighborhoods.

There are no hotels in the immediate vicinity of John's Hopkins Hospital and even if there was, I would not suggest staying in the immediate hospital area.:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/BWIWF-Baltimore-Marriott-Waterfront

http://www.harbormagic.com/AdmiralFell/admiral_fell_default.asp

http://www.mountvernonbaltimore.com/ (great value - cheap)

Thanks for all the suggestions!

The museum near Mt Vernon is the Walters Gallery. It has a small, but excellent, painting gallery and a significent sculpture gallery.

A bit North of there, in Charles Village, is the Baltimore Museum of Art. It is a wonderful museum and has a fabulous small collection of work by Cezzane, Matisse, etc. It is worth stopping just to see those. The restaurant attached to the museum is called Gertrudes. The food there is excellent.

The library someone mentioned is the George Peabody Libray. The music school is the Peabody institute.

The other great library in that area is the Enoch Pratt Free Library and it is in a lovely building.

There are several historic homes that are very worth seeing in Baltimore. Evergreen is amazing for some of the collections and there are several others.

There are some really good restaurants in Baltimore also, if you want some recs.

Also agree with everybody else. Don't stay near the hospital or wander there at night!

Thanks for the info, Sassafras... now it is all coming back to me.

Do you know the name of the neighborhood near Roland Park and Homeland that has the wonderful tulip garden in the springtime?

I have always coveted a house around that square.

Are you thinking of Guilford? I can see the charm there! My favorite house in Baltimore is in that area, but, unfortunately, on a busy street. Oh, well, I couldn't afford it anyway. Still, I look at it lovingly every time I go by. You are so familiar with it, did you once live in Baltimore?

I think it is in Guilford but it is a specific spot there; I would know the name if I came across it. Beautiful tulips bloomed in the central square in May and June and it was surrounded by 3 story "mansions". I think they were selling for only 400k or so. Yes, I lived in Baltimore from 78-87. Mayor William Donald Schaeffer's days.

The spot is Sherwood Gardens. The garden club there plants tulips every fall and after they bloom in Spring, you can go and dig bulbs to help pay for planting new ones - 80,000 bulbs last year. I always plan to do it, then forget.

We retired about 10 years ago and moved to Baltimore. You should look at prices in Guilford now.

Yes, yes, yes! That is it exactly; I knew I'd know it when I heard it. Those homes would be 1-2 million plus in California.

I've been reviewing real estate in that area for the past hour, sassafras. I have to doubt that it was ever in the 400K range! It was unbelievable to me even back then.

They probably were in that range when you were here. During the housing boom, houses in Baltimore were way under the East Coast market and they really shot up. Lots of young people started buying here and commuting to DC to work.

In the early 90s you could buy 3 story row houses in Fells point for $20-30,000. Nothing in Baltimore city was in the million range. We bought kind of mid-way through. Houses like ours had doubled in the three years before we bought and doubled again in the three years after. Many in Guilford shot up into the million range and there are condos near the harbor in that range now. Fortunately for us, our house is in a mid-range market, so when things fell, ours didn't, but Guilford and Roland Park did.

I just took a look also, and it is actually amazing to see things in the 500,000 range. They've dropped more than any other area of the city. Out of most people's range, plus I think a lot of people bought in there who were really stretching it, then lost jobs, etc. Taxes in the city have also sky rocketed while the county is still low.

Interesting to look back isn't it? If you are in California, I love it and used to want to move there.

FYI, the hotels in the Inner Harbor area will probably give you a discount by virtue of your Johns Hopkins visit. They did when my hub was there a few years ago.

The Inner Harbor area is very close to the entrance to Rte 83 which would easily get you to Timonium/Lutherville area. IMHO, I think going against travel (which you would be doing in the a.m. going north on 83) is a great idea.

Good luck with the surgery.

I love real estate so I am fascinated by the perspective you have on that market, sassafras. I would have loved a Fells Point row house in the 20-30k range! I lived in Original Northwood which was a quaint lovely pocket neighborhood near Memorial stadium off Loch raven blvd. I bought my first house there for 80k when I was 21, sold it for 125K 4 years later. Zillow has it at 227K now. I think it was only up to 132K ten years ago.

Those houses in Sherwood gardens would likely be 5 million plus in nice areas in California (I live in San Diego).

I was shocked at property tax rates in Baltimore!

Hopkins Hospital is in such a bad neighborhood... as bad as the neighborhood is, I was still surprised at real estate prices there...10K for a row house, granted it is a tear down. It makes their continuous expansion very affordable.

Wendy236, sorry, we've kind of Hi-jacked your thread. Just one more note to Ncounty.

You did really well - both buying and probably leaving it when you did. Northwood is still a lovely little neighborhood. I love it and looked at some gorgeous houses there that were only a bit more than my row house. The surrounding areas are so unsafe now, however, that it is a real problem for owners in Northwood and older people (like myself) feel more vulnerable. Hope it changes someday. I live in Rogers Forge in Towson, near the University. Quiet, sweet and - safe for an "older" person to walk.

My timing, better to be lucky than good, Sassafras!

I'm sure Wendy will chime in if she has more questions. We're just playing background music, lol.