2-Star Hotels in Centereach

Getting anywhere on Long Island is always a challenge and finding good value hotels is even harder. I arrived at this quiet grotto surrounded by nature at the end of a harrowing drive up from New Jersey and by the time I got up to a modern, clean, well-equipped room I didn't want to leave. I had been thinking of HI Express as a sort of budget line, but not this one though the value was good and much less than the rate currently showing on this page. It's the setting well away from the highway in a forest setting that makes it a destination hotel, though they might do more to make that nature space more practically usable. There is a large lawn area with chairs, benches, a shady gazebo, but much more space that could be used this way. Only negatives: there is only a Chili's restaurant nearby. A 10:00 drive south on 347 will take you to a bunch of good shopping center restaurants (recommend Umbertos), but that's after the usual NJ challenge of having to drive a thousand miles in one direction to get to a U turn that will allow you to go in the other direction. Also, too much ambient light in the room at night, largely caused by a telephone/clock thing that tries to emulate a lighthouse which I could not fully smother to death with one of the giant pillows, along with the lights of all the other electronics in the room and a (welcomed) bathroom nightlight that reflects against a mirror in the hall space and right back into your eyes (solved by fully closing the bathroom door). Two nights here and I was ready for the racecourse drive back to NJ and further south. Recommended.