tokenadult

It's time. Oldest S has other reasons to travel east this summer, and we'd like to build a visit to Princeton into the trip. We're thinking a weekday in mid-June, and I've checked to make sure that campus info sessions and the Orange Key tour happen on the dates in mind. (Engineering tours do NOT happen when we will be in the area.)

The visit will be brief, and mostly just the admission dog and pony show. But what else should we absolutely, positively do if we are in Princeton? (I was last there, for a professional visit to ETS, back before my son was born.) Where should we stay? What would be a good place to mosey around on our own to get a sense (as much as that can be done during the summer) of life at Princeton? All information and opinions eagerly sought.

Best wishes to all the rest of you with summer college tour plans.

sherpa

I've stayed in Princeton twice and both times I got 3 or 4 star hotel rooms for around $70-80 using hotwire.com.

tokenadult

Wow! That was a fast response. I've never tried hotwire, ever, but that's a phenomenal price for Princeton.

siliconvalleymom

If you are taking younger kids along with you, the Cotsen Children's Library (part of the Department of Rare Books) is really neat...they have books, games and a reading loft.
Our youngest was also really entertained by the "tiger" tour and the "gargoyle" tour...we bought booklets in the Princeton bookstore that list the locations of all of the above on campus and our daughter tried to find them as we walked around the campus.

tokenadult

Thanks for the tip. The younger kids won't be along this time, but maybe some other time.

ec1234

stay at the nassau inn-- its relatively inexpensive over the summer, when there are fewer conferences and no graduation. That way you can walk around the town and campus easily. Since it's summer, you have to go to bent spoon!

tokenadult

Yum. Great name for an ice cream store.

sherpa

I'd recommend breakfast at PJ's Pancake House on Nassau Street.

2by2

We had our 3rd visit this spring, the others had been during the summer. I would say to spend the extra money and stay at Nassau Inn. It is the best way to experience the town and the school imo. There is a great little inexpensive and delicious icecream shop right across from the Inn not on nassau the other direction. We went this spring because we hadn't seen the campus while the students were there. I'll say it was as wonderful during the spring as it was in the summer. We also took the train from the station right on campus into NYC, you can get a pass at the visitor center to the library which was a bit interesting I guess. Enjoy!!

1of42

Bent spoon is great ice cream (Ed Levine said about it in his Best Bites of 2007: "I had never heard a word about the ice cream at the Bent Spoon until I came across it at the tail end of an outdoor event in a freezing rain. This is ice cream good enough to forget any inclement weather. In fact, this is four season ice cream, just creamy enough, intensely flavored, and perfectly balanced. Start with the ricotta ice cream and go from there.").

Thomas Sweet's on Nassau Street also has great ice cream. The third great ice cream place in Princeton is Halo Pub - it's likely the one 2by2 was referring to in her post (though it could've been Bent Spoon, which is also right around there).

Make sure to stop by Hoagie Haven if you're in need of some good sandwiches for lunch - it's incredibly good (we're talking so good that, when my [Canadian] high school's tennis team goes down to Princeton annually during spring break for a training trip and to play local schools, they all come back with Hoagie Haven T-shirts). Not particularly healthy - good old greasy sandwiches - but incredibly tasty.

Weasel8488

I second the idea of taking a trip into NYC from Princeton on NJTransit since your son will be making similar trips fairly often if he attends. Having to make that trip is a good way for your son to figure out if Princeton is too isolated for his tastes.

Then there's Nassau Inn, Bent Spoon, Hoagie Haven, PJ's Pancakes, etc.

As far as on campus stuff goes, make sure that you see what all of the residential colleges look like. I've not been on an Orange Key Tour recently, but I doubt they show you Wilson College (ugly 1960's architecture). It's important for your son to know that going to Princeton does not necessarily mean he will be living in gothic splendor.

tokenadult

I appreciate all the detailed information. The schedule on this trip won't allow exploring how to get to New York or Philadelphia, but I used to make that trip, so I'll be sure to mention how that works to my son.

sherpa

Although I recommended hotwire for a cheap room, I agree with 2by2 that the Nassau Inn is the better way to go. The location is unbeatable.

tokenadult

I had fun using hotwire to search for hotels in my town. I take it that one doesn't usually get $79 rooms at the Nassau Inn through hotwire, right?

danas

Unlikely, but got the Hyatt, which has free shuttles to campus, for $89 within the last month.
But who knows? That's the thing with hotwire.