My son was picked up on a baseball team in November "06 that was going to Cooperstown the following July"07, The team had made their reservations in August"06 and informed me that a decent place to stay would be hard to find. Boy were they ever wrong! By chance, my wife and I started looking on the internet and found the big name places were in fact booked. So we looked a little deeper and found this gem! The manager, Tammie, was extremely helpful with info for places to eat and visit! The room we stayed in #31, looked brand new ( was in fact approx. 5 years old ), the room and bathroom was spotless, and the maids were very accomodating! The view from our room was breathtaking! The beachfront, although small ,was large enough to have a great time swimming and cooling off after a long game, and my kids had a fun time fishing from the dock. On one night my son (13) and I went down to the dock and actually talked and admired the stars! I plan on going back, and when we do guess where we will be staying...unless I gave away the best kept secret in the Cooperstown area! The ride to Dreams Park is around 30 minutes and the Baseball Hall of Fame 20, but the ride is very scenic!!

About 6 miles north of the town center on Route 80, Lake View Motel is friendly, clean, comfortable and totally without pretension. Everything in Cooperstown is expensive in the summer so $155, which may seem expensive for a motel room, is quite normal. At Lake View your motel room comes with air conditioning, a fridge and satellite TV. Did not notice any bugs, in fact, the room was in excellent repair and very very clean. Walls are paper thin so wish for quiet neighbors. Our wish was fulfilled on two nights of our three night stay. They make you sign a list of rules at check in so I guess rowdy guests (sports teams?) must be part of being in this baseball mecca. There is no restaurant so a car is essential, they do have Pepsi machines! You cross Route 80 to use the small marina and mini-beach on the lake, maybe not an ideal situation for small children. Despite being on the main road into town, it’s otherwise calm and serene. There doesn’t seem to be GSM telephone service anywhere in the Cooperstown area so you are at the mercy of the hotel’s phone system. I would choose this over the Holiday Inn Express (#2), Best Western (#7) or Red Carpet (#12) south of town for its lakeside location. For considerably more money, the Otesaga Resort (#1) offers all the amenities. Other modest lakeside properties nearby include Hickory Grove (#14), Lake n Pines & the Aalsmeer.

This motel has a few positives: a nice view, friendly staff, ample parking and nice-sized rooms. The bedroom furniture was fairly new, although the bed was horribly uncomfortable. As for the rest of the room, it was extremely dated, a little dingy, and in need of repair. I would have been content with this room if it weren’t for the severe insect problem! I understand that this motel is located in a wooded area, but there is no reason to have an overwhelming number of LIVE and DEAD INSECTS all over the bedroom, carpet, bathroom, and kitchen. There were crawling worm-like insects all over (including on the bedspread) and on our second night, we even found a dead spider under the covers when I turned the bed down to sleep. Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep in this motel, covered myself in bug-spray, and waited to check out. For $200.00 a night, they really need to make some repairs and hire an exterminator!

We learned that Cooperstown is a very busy place in the summer. Even on a rainy Monday it took a fifteen minute walk from the car to reach the center of the village, where restaurants and trading card shops were mobbed with visitors, many of whom were under five feet tall and wore brightly colored baseball uniforms with logos suggesting locales several hundred miles away in some cases.

It’s an entirely different world just a mile or two up route 80 along the western shores of Otsego Lake. Lake View Motel is set in a wooded spot at the edge of this attractive lake in an area whose quiet and peacefulness is a dramatic contrast to the bustle of the village.

For all its attractions for visitors, Cooperstown seems conspicuously lean on lodging options. If the Lake View Motel were located in a more competitive tourist market it might fall comparatively somewhere near the middle of the pack at best. But in Cooperstown, where family accommodations are limited to the astronomically priced Otesaga, a couple cookie-cutter chains on the outskirts of town, and a few mom-and-pop motels, the Lake View soars toward the top of the list. Like any old fashioned but well maintained property, it’s got its quirks but it’s clearly a good choice for the area.

We rented cottage unit #17 for one night for what seemed like a relatively hefty price tag of $200, given some minor faults. The unit was thoroughly comfortable, consisting of two small bedrooms, a full kitchen, a sitting area and a good sized deck with an excellent view of the lake. Furnishings were dated but clean and functional. Among the aforementioned faults: no closets; tiny bedrooms inside which the presence of a double bed, dresser and nightstand in each occupied nearly every inch of floor space; the disappearance of nearly all the floor space in the sitting area with the pullout couch extended; a loud (though effective) old fashioned wall-mounted air conditioning unit; Spartan décor, etc.

There are considerable upsides to this property as well. First, it’s a very relaxing place; the swimming and fishing docks on the lake make for a particularly pleasant place to relax and unwind. Also, service from the staff was consistently pleasant and accommodating. Overall, this is truly a nice little spot in which to unwind for a day or two.

In summary, this is a hassle-free good choice when visiting Cooperstown. Expect to pay more than you would normally, however, for relatively cramped quarters and little more than the bare necessities.