Situated halfway between Temple and Waco, Lorena is a small community in central Texas. This tri-city area offers dozens of attractions, like the Mayborn Museum Complex, Smith Art Gallery and nearby Waco Lake, the country's largest urban lake. Boutiques and eateries dot the city streets, while a selection of inns and hotels are found in the neighboring town of Hewitt and Waco itself, most within a few minutes of Lorena.
Situated seven miles north of Lorena, this Sleep Inn is just outside the Waco city limits in nearby Hewitt. The hotel offers 66 guest rooms and one-room suites, a number of which include a whirlpool tub. A continental breakfast is prepared daily. Other amenities include a heated indoor pool and whirlpool and a small fitness room. Over a half dozen restaurants are within three miles of the hotel, while the Cottonwood Creek Gold Course, Waco Civic Theatre and Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, which houses a collection of exhibits spanning the five eras of Texas Ranger history, are all under nine miles from the Sleep Inn.
The Hampton Inn & Suites is 10.5 miles northwest of Lorena near downtown Waco. The recently constructed hotel features simply furnished guest rooms, a large fitness room, indoor swimming pool and an expansive furnished patio. A complimentary hot buffet breakfast is offered each morning, which includes items like biscuits, waffles, sausage and eggs. The nearby Dr. Pepper Museum, located four miles from the Hampton Inn, houses one of the most comprehensive collections of soft drink memorabilia in the world and includes the original 1906 bottling plant.
Recipient of the 2010 Choice Hotels Platinum Award, this Comfort Suites sits nearly 11 miles northeast of Lorena in downtown Waco. Each of the hotel's 64 guest rooms features standard amenities and free wireless Internet access. A buffet breakfast is served daily in the dining room. Six restaurants are within walking distance of the hotel, while over a dozen others are located nearby. The Waco Mammoth Site, a 100-acre stretch of forested parkland on the Bosque River, is about eight miles northwest of the hotel. First unearthed in 1978, the site offers an in-depth look into the nation's sole recorded discovery of Pleistocene mammoths.
Nestled along the banks of the Brazos Riverwalk, the Hilton sits across the street from both the Warehouse District and the River Square shopping center. The hotel, which is 14 miles northwest of Lorena, offers recently remodeled guest accommodations, a handful of which are pet-friendly. The on-site Grille steakhouse is open daily for all meals, while the adjacent Lobby Bar mixes cocktails and serves bar bites nightly. This Hilton is about a mile from both Baylor University and the 52-acre Cameron Park Zoo. Featuring waterfalls, lakes and ponds, the zoo itself houses a collection of more than 1,731 animals.
