Hotel at a Glance: Best Western Plus-Carrier Circle

Complimentary add-ons are the hallmark of the Best Western Plus-Carrier Circle, starting with your arrival. A free shuttle service runs from Syracuse Hancock International Airport to the hotel. After their rides, guests take advantage of freebies such as high-speed WiFi and a full breakfast spread with hot egg dishes, pastries, yogurts, cereals, and 100% arabica coffee.

• Grab dinner at the onsite restaurant or pop a quarter in the jukebox at Lucy’s Lounge, a cocktail bar that serves appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and entrees.
• Relax poolside no matter the weather thanks to its indoor setting.
• Break a sweat at the onsite fitness center with a treadmill and stationary bike.
• Peanuts and Cracker Jack: Visit the nearby NBT Bank Stadium to catch a foul ball courtesy of the local AAA baseball team.
• Enjoy the great outdoors at Green Lakes State Park, where you can swim, golf on a course designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., or hike on more than a dozen trails.

Syracuse, New York: University City Along the Erie Canal

The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 ushered in a population boom in western New York, particularly for the small towns closest to the canal. The changes were perhaps most notable in Syracuse, where they culminated in the founding of Syracuse University in 1870 on the city’s most prominent hilltop. Today, University Hill is inhabited by some 20,000 students who spend their days in the school’s Romanesque buildings and their nights in the neighborhood’s vibrant bars and restaurants.

On the city’s west end, Burnet Park spans 88 acres, encompassing a golf course, a swimming pool, and the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. On a half-mile wildlife trail, you can journey past the zoo’s more than 700 animals—including lions, snow leopards, monkeys, and meerkats.

To learn more about the vital role Syracuse has played in the industrial health of the Northeast, check out the Erie Canal Museum. Near the city center, the Museum of Science and Technology features a number of hands-on exhibits—you can climb into the simulated cockpit of an F-16 jet, walk through a giant replica of the human heart, and dig for fossils in the Earth Science Discovery Cave.

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