Where Should You Stay When Visiting Cleveland Clinic?

 

 

 

For an international medical observer arriving in Cleveland for the first time, finding a place to stay can seem simple enough. Open Google Maps, find Cleveland Clinic, and look for housing as close to the campus as possible. That sounds logical. In practice, it may be exactly the wrong way to choose.

Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus is enormous, stretching across many city blocks, and the neighborhoods surrounding it can change considerably within a relatively short distance. A rental advertised as a “five-minute walk to Cleveland Clinic” may certainly be close to the hospital, but that does not necessarily make it the best place to live for a month or several months. That matters particularly for international visitors who have never been to Cleveland and are trying to judge a neighborhood from photographs and an online listing. 

 

Over the years, we have seen medical visitors arrive after booking inexpensive apartments immediately around the Clinic, only to discover that the property, neighborhood or amenities were quite different from what they expected. Some moved shortly after arriving.  There are, of course, good properties near the hospital as well. But the better ones immediately surrounding the Clinic also tend to be among the more expensive choices.

 

With the Cleveland Clinic Student Housing Portal now being discontinued, visitors will have to do more of this evaluation themselves. And one useful rule is simple: Do not choose your Cleveland housing by walking time alone.  For visitors who want to stay in an established neighborhood and still be able to reach Cleveland Clinic without a car, two areas are particularly worth comparing: Little Italy and Larchmere Blvd area.  Most people may already know Little Italy by its name itself. It is lively, attractive and filled with restaurants and cafés. It has long been popular with students and medical visitors.

 

Larchmere is less well known to people arriving from outside Cleveland, but it offers many of the same advantages: restaurants, cafés, neighborhood shops, grocery options, public transportation and the ability to reach Cleveland Clinic on foot or by bicycle.  And surprisingly, the difference in walking time is very small.  Using the same destination in the center of Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus, Google Maps shows a walk from Little Italy of about 30 minutes. From Larchmere Living, it is approximately 34 minutes.  Four minutes.  That is important because Little Italy furnished housing can often be more expensive, while comparable accommodations in Larchmere may provide more space or better value.

 

There is another reason those Google walking times can be misleading.

Cleveland Clinic is not one building.  A guest working on the eastern side of campus may have a much shorter walk from Larchmere than the 34-minute estimate suggests. The dialysis area, for example, is roughly a 10-minute walk from Larchmere Living.  At the opposite extreme is the JJ Building, one of the farthest Clinic buildings from Larchmere. It can add approximately another eight minutes. For many international observers, however, JJ is primarily associated with first-day orientation. Their regular department may be considerably closer.  Google Maps also tends to route pedestrians around some of the large Clinic buildings. Once you know the campus, pedestrians can often enter from the east and continue directly through the medical complex.  So perhaps the better question is not, “How far am I from Cleveland Clinic?”  It is:  “How far am I from the building where I will actually work?” 

 

What about Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights? 

Both are attractive residential areas and very good places to live. But they are generally farther from Cleveland Clinic.  Depending on the exact address, commuting can take considerably longer, and a car may become necessary or strongly preferred.

That makes them somewhat different from Little Italy and Larchmere, where living without a car is realistic for many visiting medical professionals.

 

And one Cleveland geography point is worth clearing up: Larchmere is its own neighborhood. It should not be confused with Shaker Square or Buckeye, even though online descriptions sometimes incorrectly group them together.

 

Walking isn’t the only option

For guests staying at Larchmere Living, there is another inexpensive alternative.

Regular bicycles are available for $45 per month, and e-bikes for $90 per month.  For someone who does not feel like walking half an hour twice a day, a bicycle can turn the trip to the Clinic into a much shorter commute without the cost or inconvenience of renting a car.

 

Public transportation is another option, particularly during Cleveland winters when snow, ice or bitter cold can make walking less attractive.  In that respect, Little Italy and Larchmere are fairly comparable: both allow a visitor to combine walking, transit and other transportation rather than depending completely on a car.

 

There is also something to be said for living with people who understand why you are here

An international medical observer has rather different housing needs from a typical tourist or long-term apartment renter.  Most arrive with luggage, not furniture. They may stay for only one or two months. They are often unfamiliar with Cleveland, American transportation, local neighborhoods and even basic things such as where to buy groceries.  And many arrive alone.  Larchmere Living has housed international medical observers, physicians, researchers and students for many years. That creates a different environment from simply renting an anonymous furnished apartment.  There is a good chance that the person in the next room or next apartment is also working or studying at Cleveland Clinic and dealing with many of the same questions.  For a visitor arriving thousands of miles from home, that can matter.

 

And what if Cleveland becomes home?

Some visitors eventually stay much longer than they expected.

For physicians, researchers and other eligible employees who establish themselves in Cleveland, both Larchmere and Little Italy are also located within the Greater University Circle housing-assistance area.

Programs such as Greater Circle Living may provide qualifying employees of participating institutions with assistance toward renting, buying or rehabilitating housing in the area.  So these neighborhoods can make sense not only for someone staying for a month, but also for someone who eventually decides to remain in Cleveland.  Four minutes can be a poor way to choose a home  If Little Italy is a 30-minute walk to your part of Cleveland Clinic and Larchmere is 34 minutes, the decision probably should not come down to those four minutes.  Where will you buy groceries?  Can you walk to dinner?  Will you need a car?  What does the neighborhood feel like after work?  Does the housing provider understand short-term international medical visitors?  And, perhaps most importantly, what are you actually getting for your money?  Those questions are harder to put into a Google Maps search.

 

But when you are going to live somewhere for the next month, three months or perhaps much longer, they may matter considerably more than being able to say your apartment is “five minutes from Cleveland Clinic.”