Historic Hotels & Inns in Cleveland

The neighborhoods

Where to stay, by area

Public Square & Tower City

Public Square is downtown’s transit hub: Tower City, beneath the 52-story Terminal Tower (completed 1930), is where every RTA rail line stops, including the Red Line from the airport, and the HealthLine starts here for its run out Euclid Avenue. Hotel Cleveland opened here in December 1918, on a lot that has held lodging since Mowrey’s Tavern in 1815; the hotel says it connects directly to Tower City Center and is steps from Rocket Arena and JACK Cleveland Casino. Arriving by train from the airport and walking into the hotel complex makes it the easiest car-free base.

Euclid Avenue, East 4th & Playhouse Square

Euclid Avenue, the old Millionaires’ Row, is downtown’s spine, and four of the historic hotels are inside the Euclid Avenue Historic District: Hyatt Regency Cleveland at The Arcade, in the 1890 Arcade that runs through to Superior Avenue; the Residence Inn Cleveland Downtown, in the 1898 Colonial Hotel above the 5th Street Arcades on Prospect Avenue; and the Kimpton Schofield (1902) and Metropolitan at The 9, whose rooms are in Marcel Breuer’s 1971 tower, across East 9th Street from each other. East 4th Street is the evening block for cocktails and the House of Blues, and Playhouse Square’s five restored 1921–22 theaters line Euclid between East 14th and East 17th streets, east of the hotels; none of the historic hotels is in Playhouse Square itself.

Warehouse District & the Mall

The Mall is the centerpiece of the Cleveland Mall historic district, and the Drury Plaza Hotel Cleveland Downtown occupies its 1930 Walker and Weeks Board of Education building, with Cora Holden’s 1931 murals restored in the lobby; the Drury lists Progressive Field, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Browns’ stadium each half a mile away. On downtown’s west side, around West St. Clair Avenue and West 9th Street, the Warehouse District keeps 19th-century commercial buildings such as the 1875 Hoyt Block and the nine-foot-wide 1853 Hart Building. No verified historic hotel is inside the district; the closest are Hotel Cleveland on Public Square and the Drury on the Mall.

University Circle

About four miles east of downtown, University Circle holds Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Severance Music Center (1931) and the free-admission Cleveland Museum of Art, with Little Italy up Mayfield Road. Glidden House, a 1910 Glidden family mansion on the Case Western campus with a modern addition, puts the museums a short walk away, and the Tudor Arms, in the 1930 Cleveland Club building, sits next to the Cleveland Clinic, half a mile from Case Western and Severance, with a free shuttle within two miles. The HealthLine stops at the Cleveland Clinic, Adelbert Road and East 105th, and the Red Line serves Cedar-University and Little Italy-University Circle stations.

Before you book

Planning your stay

Getting around

Cleveland Hopkins (CLE) is about 12 miles from downtown, and RTA’s Red Line leaves the airport’s lower-level station every 15 minutes for most of the day, roughly 4 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. daily, reaching Tower City under Public Square in under 30 minutes for a $2.50 fare; it continues east to University Circle. The HealthLine bus runs from Public Square out Euclid Avenue past Playhouse Square to the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western and University Circle, and RTA’s 1-, 2- and 4-day passes ($5, $10 and $20) are designed for visitors. Downtown is walkable: the Drury lists Progressive Field, the Rock Hall and the Browns’ stadium each half a mile away.

Parking

Downtown hotel parking is mostly valet: the Drury charges $40 plus tax, and published rates at the Residence Inn, the Hyatt, the Kimpton Schofield and the Metropolitan run around $49 to $57 a night; Hotel Cleveland has listed self-parking in its own garage at about $48 a day. In University Circle, Glidden House charges $15 a night, and the Tudor Arms has listed self-parking at about $20 a day. The City’s Willard Park Garage caps at $12 a day and its Lakefront lot is $6, but event rates reach $60 and $50 and neither allows overnight parking; downtown street parking is $1.50 an hour, Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and free on Sundays outside special-event zones.

When to go

Summer is lake season and baseball season: the Guardians open at home on April 1, 2027 against the Yankees and close the regular season at Progressive Field on September 26, and the Cleveland Orchestra moves to Blossom Music Center, about 30 miles south. Fall through spring is indoor season: the Orchestra’s 2026–27 season at Severance runs to May 29, 2027, Franz Welser-Möst’s last as music director, and Playhouse Square’s Broadway series runs from Mamma Mia! (January 5 to 24, 2027) to The Phantom of the Opera (April 14 to May 9, 2027). Winter brings lake-effect snow to the snowbelt south and east of Lake Erie; in the Thanksgiving 2024 storm, NWS Cleveland recorded 2 to 5 feet there, heaviest east of the city.

Accessibility

All RTA buses, trains and HealthLine vehicles are ADA-compliant and rail operators carry ramps for platform gaps, though some rail stations are still being upgraded. The Hyatt at The Arcade’s mobility-accessible rooms have 32-inch doorways, Hotel Cleveland, the Metropolitan and the Residence Inn list elevators and roll-in showers, and the Drury’s pool has a lift. Glidden House and the Tudor Arms don’t state physical accessibility on the pages we checked, so ask before you book.

Before you book

At Glidden House, only the 8 Mansion Suites are in the 1910 house (the other 52 rooms are in an addition); breakfast is included, and cancellation is free up to 48 hours before arrival. For Cleveland Clinic visits, the Tudor Arms sits next to the Clinic with a free shuttle within two miles, and the Kimpton Schofield says it’s under 4 miles away on the HealthLine, with no pet fee; neither publishes a patient rate. Downtown, check Browns, Cavaliers, Guardians and Playhouse Square dates before you book, since event-day garage rates reach $60.