by Jed Birmingham
Princeton is fucking expensive. Forget about tuition; just being in the town as a visitor drains your bank account. If you decide to do research here, one of the biggest hurdles to spending two weeks, let alone six weeks, is the cost of lodging. The Friends of the Library are very open about this. Here is the FAQ on housing options at Princeton:
Unfortunately, housing is expensive in Princeton, especially within walking distance of the campus. There are pricey hotel options in town, including Nassau Inn and Peacock Inn. There are more affordable hotel options on the outskirts of town; many provide a shuttle service. The Erdman Center permits individuals to rent when they have rooms available. Another option is to find a short-term sublet. TigerReTail is the Princeton University community classified ad site. Local hotel options and additional lodging information can be found on the university’s website.
Please see the University’s Transportation website for information about accessible transit services around campus.
The ideal option is not listed above and that is staying at a friend or acquaintance’s place in or around Princeton. Bonus points if it is a student or professor that lives on or around campus. That was not in the cards for Keaton Studebaker and me. Between the two of us, we have covered several of the options listed in the FAQ and for me there is one clear cut answer to the question: “Where do I stay?”
First things first, let’s deal with some of the lesser options.
Keaton has been to the Sanders archive on four separate occasions and has stayed at different places than me all those times. Here is Keaton on lodging in Princeton with a little bit on gyms in town. You are not going to get that information from me because I am fat and out of shape and getting fatter every day.
I stayed at the Extended Stay America Suites at 3450 Brunswick Pike the first three times I went to Princeton. It’s not nice. I don’t imagine anyone with a real job would choose to stay here. The “free breakfast” offered consists of really bad granola bars, some small-packaged muffins (depending on the morning), and coffee that’s worse than what’s at most gas stations. It hasn’t always been the cleanest place outside my room either, but I’ve stayed at worse places. This place has gotten the job done: it’s cheap, the rooms have a kitchen (which mitigates the bad breakfast and means I can save money by cooking for myself), there’s Wi-Fi, and it’s less than a ten-minute drive to the university. I didn’t hang on to receipts, but looking at my budget notes, I think I paid a little over $500 for the week (it definitely wasn’t over $600). Maybe you already know this, but it’s cheaper to get your room (and extend your stay if you end up needing to) through a third party like Expedia instead of directly through the hotel itself.
One thing I liked about this Extended Stay is how close it is to Ludus Performance Gym (45 Everett Dr #130, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550). This is where I’ve typically gone while in Princeton. My favorite gym in the area is Diesel Gym (1485 Livingston Ave, North Brunswick Township, NJ 08902), but the extra driving after a long day digging in the archive often isn’t worth it to me. In case it’s something you care about, both gyms have chalk.
This past summer, this Extended Stay was a lot more expensive than the past three times I went. While I’ve never been a fan of AirBnBs, the cheapest place with a kitchen I could find ended up being an AirBnB in Trenton, so I caved. This was about a twenty-minute drive to the campus (with good weather — watch out for Princeton rainstorms and flashfloods) and was ten minutes away from a Crunch Fitness (2465 S Broad St, Hamilton Township, NJ 08610), which I was able to use for free for the week with a trial pass I got online. Crunch is, of course, much worse than Ludus or Diesel. However, depending on your budget and gym needs, it could be good enough, and saving some money by not having to pay for a week’s pass is also nice. The AirBnB cost me about the same as the Extended Stay. Don’t forget to bring your own soap and shampoo.
Doing things this way means you need a car to get around. This has never been an issue for me because I’ve always driven from Pittsburgh (it’s cheaper than flying). You’ll have to rent a car, which is an additional expense, if you fly in.
What becomes obvious from the FAQ and from Keaton is that you may have to stay out of town to do research for any length of time at Princeton. There are several hotels outside of Princeton. I do not know the prices of those, but I seriously doubt they are cheaper than the option I detail below.
The biggest negative about a hotel on the outskirts of town is that you must drive and park. Staying in Princeton and walking is ideal. But it is fucking expensive. Just to give you an example of how ridiculous staying in a hotel in Princeton is, I stayed one night at the Nassau Inn during my trip. That one night was $350 including all taxes and fees. I would suspect that for most people that makes a two-week or longer stay here just impossible. That said, the location of the Nassau Inn is as close as you are going to get to the Firestone Library without actually staying on campus, and it is right in the heart of all the action in town.
It is located smack dab in the center of Palmer Square just a stone’s throw from a ton of coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. In the summer when I was there, the Square is hopping with people and live music both during the day and at night. The Inn is a historic landmark that has been operational in one form or another in and around downtown Princeton since 1756. Legend has it that Paul Revere and Thomas Paine drank at the original 52 Nassau Street location.
They did not drink at the Yankee Doodle Tap Room inside the Inn, which like most bars in Princeton is no bueno. Come to hang out with Jill, a local legend as a bartender, take a look at the Norman Rockwell painting behind the bar, but do not drink here. For a true American hero like me who drinks American premiums that my father drank and his father before him and so on, there was not much to choose from at the Doodle. Lots of hoppy nonsense that has destroyed beer in the United States as well as one of the most disappointing Guinness I have had in quite some time. I would have liked to see a PBR in a 16oz can or even a pony Miller High Life, no premiums but premium prices. With a small tip, my Guinness was over ten dollars. $350 for the room and $10 per beer is just not sustainable. I also did not have a car, so I did not have to worry about parking at the Nassau Inn, which I believe requires a parking pass. More money.
That said I must say my room was awesome. It was too big for what I needed. It was like a honeymoon suite. But I was on a serious business trip and just wanted something cheap, clean, and close to the library. If you are blowing in to Princeton for one or two nights and you are treating your research in the library like a vacation, I would recommend the Nassau Inn. It is like staying in a modernized historic site right in the heart of the city. Something like Trump’s renovated White House.
In my opinion there is only one option for lodging in Princeton for a trip of any length: The Erdman Center at the Princeton Theological Seminary at 26 Library Place. Point blank if it were not for The Erdman Center I would have had to forfeit my grant to Princeton. There is no way I could have afforded a rental car and lodging for the entire two weeks. The Center only has fifty-five guest rooms available. I stayed about a week in an Accessible Single (1 Twin Bed Priv Accessible Bath) for around $90 a night, and another week in an Accessible Double (1 Dble Bed Priv Accessible Bath) for $105 a night. The bathrooms were huge, and I face-timed my wife about it. I realize now that was because it was outfitted for those with disabilities. Not cool taking those rooms on my part. I am a dope. I should have gone to the Seminary and asked for forgiveness.
Personally, I would recommend the cheaper twin-bed option as the room includes a desk which is ideal for typing up your notes after a day’s research. If you get the double bed you are going to have to work in the common area which also has a microwave. During my time at the Erdman, most of the occupants seemed to be mothers with their high school kids touring the school or foreign exchange students. For a couple of days, there was a group of high school kids that were on a chaperoned trip of some kind. Despite this, it seemed like I had the Erdman to myself. I was outside smoking at all hours of the day and night and I barely saw anybody. Students of the Seminary staff the Center, and they go out of their way to help you out. They answered and even researched all my questions about where to go in town and what to do. The staffing is not a 24-hour service. So, do not forget your keycard and lock yourself out. Not that I speak from experience.
The cheapest option, which I would have done, but was not available long term, was the Single (1 Twin Bed with Shared Bath) for $80. There are also suites that go up to $140 a night, more expensive for sure, but far cheaper than any option in downtown Princeton. The Erdman has your basic amenities, but all that really matters is that there are free Wi-Fi and free parking. The parking is a huge bonus. Parking like lodging is a bitch at Princeton. The Erdman solves that problem. They give you a free parking pass to go across the street and park in the Wright Library parking lot. Even if you do not have a car, like me, I would recommend getting the parking pass when you arrive. I had visitors and the parking pass solved any issues about where to park.
Keaton had a car and here is his solution for parking:
For parking on campus, I’ve always used the Stadium Drive Garage (Stadium Dr, Princeton, NJ 08540), which is free if you register your car through their website. It’s about a 10 or 15-minute walk to the Firestone Library from the garage.
The Erdman has an excellent location, not as central as the Nassau Inn, but within walking distance of everything you could want: the library, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, record store, cigar store. The Firestone is a pleasant fifteen-minute walk from the Erdman. It is also within walking distance of an Enterprise Rental Car. I had to rent a car and a word of warning, if you do so, rent far in advance. Princeton runs out of rental cars and some rental car places will not approve one-way trips of long distances as I found out. You will need a credit card. The Enterprise by the Erdman does not allow out-of-state renters to use a debit card. Be warned. If you do rent a car only do so to get in and out of Princeton, most things are walkable and there is a robust Uber system if you need to get somewhere over a few miles away.