The Grainger College of Engineering
Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center

Logistics and Hospitality

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Logistics and Hospitality


If the below does not answer any of your questions, please contact us via uiucquantumcircuits@illinois.edu.

Conference Venue


The scientific program will take place at the Illini Union, centrally located on the UIUC campus. While Champaign-Urbana isn’t extremely large, there are some things to consider when planning travel and accommodations. The following is a summary of the essentials.

Getting to Champaign-Urbana (CU)

Fly to Indianapolis (IND), which is a 1 hr 45 minute drive from Urbana-Champaign. We find this a very convenient option because there are direct flights from most cities to IND, and it is small and easy to navigate. You will need to rent a car (or share a rental car with someone) or arrange a private taxi for the drive if you choose this option.

Fly to Chicago (ORD or MDW) and drive 2-2.5 hours with a rental car, take a shuttle (Peoria Charter), or arrange a taxi (~$300 each way) from the airport. From downtown Chicago, you can also take Amtrak (~2 hrs) between downtown Chicago (CHI) and Champaign (CHM). Peoria Charter and Amtrak provide service to downtown Champaign (see below).

Fly to the local airport in Urbana-Champaign (CMI), which has connections 2x-daily from Chicago and 2x-daily from Dallas. Please note that it can take >10 minutes to get an Uber/Lyft to pick up at CMI so it is best to pre-arrange a taxi to pick you up (a list of companies is on the CMI airport website), or check if your hotel provides a shuttle (some do). Alternatively, rental cars are a good option. There is no public transport between downtown and CMI.

Given that driving is often the most convenient option, we have set up a simple spreadsheet for people to self-organize carpooling. This is pre-populated with all registered participants coming from out of town and that agreed their information can be shared with other participants. The table is hopefully self-explanatory; participants should independently get in touch with each other if travel plans align.

 

Local Information


Note that C-U has three downtowns: Champaign, Urbana, and UIUC Campustown (which is where the conference is held at the Illini Union). It is about 25 minutes to walk (or <10 minutes to drive) between Champaign/Campus and Urbana/Campus.

We also have a good bus system (MTD; $1 per ride) that gets you to most places between Champaign, Campustown, and Urbana (the website has a handy route planner tool). A bus ride from downtown Champaign to the Illini Union is about 10 minutes.

Rideshares (Uber/Lyft) are usually available, but wait times may be a few minutes longer than in larger metropolitan areas.

Metered and street parking is available on the UIUC campus. A map of campus parking is available here.

Note: The best choice of hotels and restaurants may depend on how you are planning to travel.

 

Hotels


Options for hotels include the Hyatt Place Champaign (Link to hotel block; 25 minute walk to venue, 8 minute bus ride), the Illini Union (in the venue), the Hotel Royer Urbana (20 minute walk to venue, 5 minute bus ride), or the Hampton Inn Champaign/Urbana (15 minute walk to venue). There are plenty more options, but these are in convenient locations, in our opinion. There are also multiple AirBnB’s available in the Urbana/Champaign area.

 

Food and Drink


Here are some options that we personally enjoy (but there is much more, and we haven’t tried everything). Note that most options are not located very close to the conference venue; most of Campustown’s offerings are very much geared towards the (large!) undergraduate student
population of UIUC.

Restaurants: Northern Cuisine, SGD Tofu, Dim Sum House, Sakanaya
Bars: Murphy’s Pub

Restaurants: Black Dog Smokehouse, Neil St. Blues, The Space, Seven Saints, Mo’s Burritos, Watson’s Shack & Rail, Smith Bros, Maize
Bars: Punch, Hound’s Rest and Hound’s Court, Esquire Lounge, Quality

Restaurants: The Yard, Siam Terrace, Masijta
Bars: Parcadia, Gallery Art Bar, Analog Wine Bar, Rose Bowl Tavern, Yellow Rabbit, 25 O’Clock Brewing

Restaurants: Ishi (reservations needed!), San Maru, Caprae
Breweries: Riggs, Tryptych