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Accommodation Information

 

HOTELS

 

The conference will take place on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. We have reserved blocks of rooms at two hotels a short walk from both the conference venues and the Square, the downtown area with a high concentration of good restaurants. Since all breakfasts, two lunches, and one dinner will be on your own, it makes sense to be close to the Square. We highly recommend booking early so you can stay at one of those two hotels. Both offer complimentary parking.

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The room blocks are for three nights - Thursday, March 26th to Sunday, March 29th. Please:

1. Plan to attend the entire conference (arrive Thursday and leave Sunday).  We keep our conferences small to facilitate a lot of informal interactions and this atmosphere is greatly harmed when people pop in, do their presentation, and then vanish.

2. Make your hotel reservations as soon as possible as a) we have only reserved just enough rooms and  b) the conference coincides with a very busy weekend in town due to alumni events and a home baseball game.

 

The Inn at Ole Miss is the on-campus hotel. It is a ten-minute walk from the hotel to the conference location. We have reserved 12 rooms there. The rate is $129 and you can reserve online or by calling 1-888-486-7666 and mentioning "Astrobiology Conference." If you book online, enter reference code 4793. The deadline for reserving a room is February 26, 2020.

 

The Courtyard by Marriott Oxford is off-campus, but is conveniently located and only a fifteen-minute walk to the conference location. We have reserved 40 rooms there. The rate is $129 for a single room. You can reserve online or by calling 1-662-638-6014. To get the group rate, mention "Astrobiology Conference." The deadline for reserving a room is March 5, 2020.

 

Other hotels on the Square are the Graduate and the Chancellor's House. Both are within walking distance of campus (with a longer walk to campus but greater proximity to the Square). Other hotel options include the Hampton Inn Oxford/Conference Center and Homes2 Suites by Hilton Oxford. There are also many bed-and-breakfast options and weekend rentals available throughout Oxford, Mississippi.

 

Graduate students interested in staying for free in the apartment of a local graduate student should contact Neil Manson about arrangements.

 

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GETTING TO OXFORD

 

The University of Mississippi is 70 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee. It is about a four hour drive from Nashville, Tennessee and about five hours from St. Louis, Atlanta, or New Orleans.

 

The nearest airports are Memphis, Tennessee (MEM) and Tupelo, Mississippi (TUP), both about an hour's drive away. But the Tupelo airport is considerably smaller with fewer flights, and the University of Mississippi does not run a shuttle service to that airport. So if you fly, you are advised to fly into Memphis.  

 

From Memphis, you can arrange to take the University of Mississippi shuttle ($85 one-way, $135 round-trip), but you must schedule the shuttle at least two full weeks in advance of your arrival.  You can also rent a car and prices for car rentals out of Memphis are very low (about $150 for three days).  The Amtrak line "The City of New Orleans" makes a stop in Marks, Mississippi, a small town 40 miles west of Oxford. If you plan on traveling by train, you will need a ride from Marks to Oxford and back.   It might be possible to arrange a few limited free  shuttles to and from Memphis or Marks - if you are interested in this possibility, contact Neil Manson ASAP.

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PARKING

 

Parking is provided for free at the conference hotels.  If you are not staying at one of these, the only conference day for which parking is likely to be an issue is Friday, March 27th.  If you need to park on campus that day, order a Visitor Permit online (you can find parking maps at the same website).  Weekend parking is free - but not necessarily easy to find!

 

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ACCESSIBILITY

 

Contact Neil Manson if you need any special accommodations.

 

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FOOD

 

Oxford is a foodie destination. Because the conference coincides with an alumni weekend and a home baseball game, the restaurants are likely to be very crowded, so make reservations if you can. Most restaurants mentioned should have menus accessible online. Be aware that vegetarian/vegan options are limited, but almost every place will make you something to your specifications upon request.  Here are some of Neil Manson's recommendations (in order):

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Breakfast:

1. Big Bad Breakfast (tremendously good, but a fairly long walk from the hotels) 

2. Bottletree Bakery

3. Oxford Canteen (also a fairly long walk from the hotels)

4. Fill-up with Billups.

 

Lunch and dinner on the Square (cheap and casual):

1. Ajax

2. Boure

3. Proud Larry's

4. Old Venice Pizza Co.

 

Lunch and dinner on/near the Square (fine dining):

1. Snack Bar (tremendously good, but a  fairly long walk from the hotels

2. City Grocery

3. St. Leo

4. McEwen's

5. Lenora's

6. Jinsei.

 

Lunch and dinner off the Square (fine dining - both well worth the 15 min drive)

1. Grit [in Taylor, MS]

2. Ravine

 

Bars:  Every lunch and dinner place mentioned above has a bar. Upstairs at City Grocery is particularly nice. In addition, there are excellent bars at some of the hotels: the Coop (at the Graduate) and the Green Roof Lounge (at Courtyard by Marriott).  The Growler has a wide selection of craft beers.

 

Note that the students really start hitting the Square after 8:00 p.m. If you don't want to be elbowing loud college students, avoid Funky's, Blind Pig, Moe's, Rooster's Blues House, Roundtable on the Square, the Levee, the Annex, the Cellar, and the Library.