<p>I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, in Salem, at move-in week. And I am staying there again, when I go for Family weekend. But it’s certainly not 40 minutes from campus…it never took me longer than 25 minutes…from the hotel to the campus. It’s $99 a night, pretty reasonable (these days I guess), and a very nice clean hotel.</p>
<p>Maybe if there is a game, it would be 45 min, but I don’t think I’d stay that far away if I was there on a game weekend.</p>
<p>As Chuy says, it tends to be from 30-45 minutes depending on traffic.That’s great if you can make it within 25. Mapquest indicates it takes longer than that. I would stay that far away even on a gameday. It really was no problem and MUCH cheaper than anything closer. There were many people staying at the hotel who had gone to the game-many looked like oldtimers who had been there before.The LaQuinta, HIE and Quality Inn are all right by each other.</p>
<p>I know it’s not real fancy, but the Moe’s on Main Street was good, and it seats a lot of people and the kids tend to like it.</p>
<p>You all must drive faster than me. I commuted from Blacksburg to Salem for a summer and never made it that quick.</p>
<p>The Cellar has the best beer in Blacksburg in my opinion, which is mostly based on them having Brooklyn Lager on tap. The chicken ravioli is fantastic too. </p>
<p>Another food recommendation is Sycamore Deli, now located right off campus across from Rivermill (which is another great place with buffalo burgers and tater tots.) I haven’t been since they moved but I assume the sandwiches are still as delicious and unhealthy as before.</p>
<p>I would have to agree on Sycamore Deli. Just went there last weekend with a few friends and it was delicious. It’s underground so it’s quiet and somewhat small, but it definitely a nice place to have a meal! Reasonable prices as well and probably over 70 different sandwiches/wraps/soups/etc. on the menu! Enjoy!</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing ,chuy. My husband is no slow poke but I don’t think he could have gotten from Salem in under 25 minutes. VTmom, If you have some back roads that you recommend that cut off that much time, please let us know. I’m sure we will be staying in Salem again. I’ll have to try the Brooklyn Lager at The Cellar. The Sycamore Deli sounds good. Thanks for that recommendation,chuy and HokieFreshman!</p>
<p>I got the recommendation for The Cellar from my firiends over at Fodors.com - lots of Hokies on that site and they know good food. Will have to post over there again for recommendations and will let all know what they come up with. The Cellar has lots of great beers - very big selection of beers not available here in New England. Tried Purple Haze there for the first time and now its one of my faves and was able to find it up here. i think they have live music too which is cool but I’ve always been there too early for that - being a mom and all.</p>
<p>Hey,Bennnie, Even moms like live music. You should check it out sometime since you like The Cellar. Might be fun to live it up in a college town!</p>
<p>They have dogfishhead ipa on tap too, which is a fantastic ipa.</p>
<p>My husband is more of an ipa type of a guy,chuy, so I’ll tell him about that and we’ll raise a glass to you at The Cellar when we hopefully get there! Go Hokies! And keep in touch! What’s the alumni network like there in California?</p>
<p>To be honest I’m not sure as I haven’t tried to tap into it.</p>