Hotels in Pennsylvania that allow 18-year-olds

Pittsburgh is at the western end of Pennsylvania, where the Allegheny and the Monongahela meet at the Point and the Ohio starts. The same two rivers cut the city into parts. Downtown and the Northside sit on opposite banks of the Allegheny, and Downtown and the Southside sit on opposite banks of the Monongahela.

At the eastern end, Philadelphia holds Independence Hall, known as the birthplace of the United States. The room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both signed is inside it. The Liberty Bell, still carrying its message of liberty, is part of the same national park. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are about 300 road miles apart, which puts a hotel in one of them a long way from whatever you are doing in the other.

Allentown belongs to neither end. Its downtown is going through heavy redevelopment, and its attractions include the Da Vinci Science Center. It is the third largest city in the state.

Allentown and Philadelphia sit about 60 road miles apart, with Philadelphia to the southeast. That is close enough that the two can look interchangeable while you have hotel searches open in both, and they are not. Allentown is its own city with its own downtown, and 60 road miles is far enough that booking in one of them is a different decision from booking in the other.

Pittsburgh is about 280 road miles from Allentown, off to the west, so booking in one of them has little to do with the other. That leaves Allentown and Philadelphia, and whichever of the two your plans are already tied to is where the room should be. If those plans are in Allentown, a Philadelphia booking is the wrong one however close the two cities look. Each of these cities has hotels where you can check in at 18, so the thing you are really picking is which city you want to wake up in.