Places to stay near New Canaan

Hello,

We%26#39;ll be visiting the Philip Johnson Glass House the first weekend of May and looking for recommendations for where to stay for 2 nights. We usually stay in moderately priced hotels and the occasional B%26amp;B. This time, the point is to see the Glass House so we%26#39;re just looking for a decent place to spend 2 nights. We%26#39;ll be driving down so transportation isn%26#39;t an issue. We%26#39;re a bit familiar with the South Norwalk area but that%26#39;s about all. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Places to stay near New Canaan

if you want to stay IN New Canaan there are some Inns in town, but I believe one of them may have closed, not sure which.

Roger Sherman Inn

The Maples Inn

Village Inn of New Canaan

Norwalk has the Doubletree hotel, which is right off 95 exit 13 on the Norwalk/Darien border, and you can take back roads to New Canaan. There are also many hotels in Norwalk on Rt 7 where you can easily connect to the Merrit Pkwy.

New Canaan is a charming town and I think you would like staying there. Theres some nice shopping and good restaurants. Enjoy the glass house!

Places to stay near New Canaan

OOPS I forgot, Stamford has a LOT of hotel options. Marriott, Sheraton, Courtyard. Theyre all downtown where there is also plenty of shopping and dining.

Thanks lovesublime!

It%26#39;s always great to get the info from a local.

All these sound like good options.

We%26#39;ve been to Norwalk but not New Canaan and are really looking forward to the trip. We booked the tour of the Glass House last year and see from the website that 2008 is already soldout (unless you want to take the pricier curator%26#39;s tour).

Thanks again for the response!

You should consider Stamford, too, since the downtown hotels are close to lots of restaurants, the mall, movie theaters... Some of the downtown hotels are:

- the Marriott (on Tresser Blvd)

- Courtyard by Marriott (bang in the middle of

the downtown restaurants and shops)

- Sheraton

- Holiday Inn

- The Westin (farther away from the downtown

restaurants)

New Canaan is a short drive from Stamford.

Thanks ninaconn.

Sorry for the slow response. I%26#39;ve neglected this post, I%26#39;m afraid.

Stamford looks good. I%26#39;ll give a trip report when we get back. Can you believe, we booked The Glass House tour the week it opened to the public and May was the first weekend we could get? They%26#39;re already booked out for 2008. Should be an interesting tour.

Thank you both for your help!

If anyone else is as curious about the Philip Johnson Glass House as I was, you can read more at http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/. I%26#39;m looking forward to reading Buttonbox%26#39;s trip report.

Any trip reports? I grew up around the corner from the glass house and have never seen it. I had no idea 2008 was sold out.

Trip Report Philip Johnson Glass House

Just returned from our weekend in CT and trip to Philip Johnson Glass House. Thanks again for the responses to my original post regarding where to stay. Turns out, friends came into town from Vancouver so we opted to stay just one night in CT. We took a room in a motor lodge in Norwalk. Just a place to lay our heads.

We drove down Saturday morning and checked into the Glass House Visitor Center in New Canaan. Tickets were long ago sold out for the 2008 season (we bought ours last September) and they require that you check in 1/2 hour before your tour or risk losing your place.

The Glass house is now owned and operated by the National Trust. response has been so great since they opened the property for public tours that, earlier this year, they added one tour per day and all 1800 spots sold out in an hour.

The tour was great. If your a fan of modern architecture, a visit to this iconic home is a real treat. More than the structures themselves, it%26#39;s interesting to see how Johnson approached the challenge of building an all glass structure and how he managed to integrate the house into the surrounding landscape. The tour lasts 90 minutes and is limited to 10 people at a time. You spend a few minutes in each of 4 structures including the glass house, the sculpture gallery, the underground painting gallery and the gate house. The brick house is not on the tour for 2008 as they are doing some restoration work on it.

After the tour, we went to South Norwalk. Several years ago, a friend opened a CD store in SONO which has since closed but and we wanted to see the area again. We were pleased to see that the city saved the railroad switching tower and that it is now a museum run by local railroad enthusiasts. Years ago when we%26#39;d visit SONO, we%26#39;d remark on what a great, though dilapitated, building it was and that we hoped someone would save it. Nice to see it open to the public. we took the tour (about 15 minutes) and bought a t-shirt. The tour is free with a suggested donation of $5 and everyone is a volunteer. We mentioned the glass house to one of the guides and he told us that, as a boy, he%26#39;d helped his father install the kitchen unit. Interesting to hear his take on the place.

On the way home, we stopped at Mystic Seaport Village. A great place to spend a couple of hours if you like history and/or early sailing ships. I most enjoyed seeing the ropewalk. I%26#39;ve seen ropewalk buildings before but this is the first time that I%26#39;ve seen a display of how the rope was made.

Overall, it was a great trip. We%26#39;ll definitely be back to see more of what CT has to offer. Thanks again for your help!

Awesome! Im glad you enjoyed your weekend. I live in Sono now and its changed quite a bit. I have never been to the switchtoiwer museum or the Norwalk museum. Next time you visit check out Waveny Mansion in New Canaan if you can, its beautiful. And if you find yourself at Sono have dinner or just a glass of wine at Strada 18--good stuff!

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