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State College · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels near The Pennsylvania State University

Marc Delacroix

Marc Delacroix France

Updated 1 September 2026 · 18 State College hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in State College, out of the 18 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.6 down to 4.2.

All five are within 2.7 km of The Pennsylvania State University.

Hotel State College

Highest rated of the five

Hotel State College

★★★★★4.6 from 148 reviews

Hotel State College comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.6 from 148 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $220 a night on the dates we checked.

18 hotels in State College qualified for this list and five made it. The Nittany Lion Inn is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. Hotel State College1

    Hotel State College

    ★★★★★4.6 from 148 reviews

    500 m from The Pennsylvania State University, about a 6 minute walk

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    • The Nittany Lion Inn2

      The Nittany Lion Inn

      ★★★★★4.5 from 1,475 reviews

      900 m from The Pennsylvania State University, about a 11 minute walk

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      • Comfort Suites State College near Penn State3

        Comfort Suites State College near Penn State

        ★★★★★4.6 from 541 reviews

        1.8 km from The Pennsylvania State University, about a 22 minute walk

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        • Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, State College (Penn State Area), PA4

          Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, State College (Penn State Area), PA

          ★★★★★4.6 from 944 reviews

          2.7 km from The Pennsylvania State University

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          • Graduate by Hilton State College5

            Graduate by Hilton State College

            ★★★★★4.2 from 347 reviews

            800 m from The Pennsylvania State University, about a 10 minute walk

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            How this list was put together

            18 State College hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to The Pennsylvania State University second, then took the top five.

            Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

            The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

            What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

            Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

            Marc Delacroix

            Marc Delacroix France

            Closes the shop two weeks each winter and goes wherever people make something fermented. Dairies in the Basque country, the Caucasus and rural Sardinia.

            Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.