Any tips for getting to/from Penn State?

<p>We are planning to visit there the end of March to check things out and it seems so difficult to get to if you’re coming from out of state. If anyone has advice it would be most welcome.</p>

<p>How do most distant travelers get there—do you fly into Pittsburgh/Philadelphia and then drive several hours (sounds exhausting), or do you fly into State College after connecting to a smaller plane? (How is that small plane?) Do you current students who live out of state find it easy to go home for visits?</p>

<p>Anyone tried the travel service at <a href="http://www.statecollegeflights.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.statecollegeflights.com&lt;/a> ?</p>

<p>Also, which of the hotels do you recommend that's in walking distance of PSU? </p>

<p>Many thanks.</p>

<p>hotels within walking distance... hmm. the options of relatively nice hotels close by are the atherton, the days inn, and the nittany lion inn. the small plane from pitt/philadelphia isn't bad (I think it's a dash 8). pittsburgh to sc is around 2.5 hours by car, philly 3.5.</p>

<p>Also, you can get a flight into state college. After all, they have to ship the football players out!</p>

<p>Philly and Pittsburgh are both 3hrs away. Pitt is closer but not all highway like the trip from Philly. Hotels are everywhere and there are shuttles to the airport from campus.</p>

<p>You'd be hard pressed to get to SC from Pittsburgh or Philadelphia in three hours; Baltimore is probably the closest major airport. Another possibility is flying in and out of Harrisburg. Are you talking about hotel shuttles, maf5000?</p>

<p>If you are flying in from LAX, you would go to Philly and then transfer to state college. About 9 hours, I believe. Fare about $350 if you book ahead of time. That is what I would recommend--or fly into Pittsburgh and transfer to State College. You can rent a car there or just take a shuttle. If you stay at the Nittany Lion Inn you won't need a car as it is right on campus and there are plenty of shuttle buses.</p>

<p>There have been some changes in airline service to SC; I don't think you csn fly through Pittsburgh (USAir) any longer. Some possibilities are United through Dulles, Delta through Cincincati and Northwest through Detroit. Best to check with a travel agent.</p>

<p>ok, I guess they did finally phase out the pittsburgh flights... I know they were going with one per day for a while, but that appears to have stopped. usair goes from philly though, and then there are the three possibilities 1moremom mentioned.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help so far everyone. I found a good deal from the west coast connecting in Cincinnati on Delta - about $375. I simply hate connections but seems like we have no choice, where we're flying from. And Delta's total flight time was the quickest by far. USAir & United were nearly twice Delta's price and we'd have to wait 2-3 hours to connect--hmm I think NOT. We also considered flying in to Harrisburg and then driving (hour & a half), but turns out we'd have to connect just to GET to Harrisburg, so that was also clearly the lesser choice.</p>

<p>Now, please make the snow leave by end of March? :)
Hoping for crocuses, daffodils......</p>

<p>maf5000, i sent u a mail for q on pennstat smeal. tnx.</p>