The HPU Parents Guide — Where to Stay & What to Do When You Visit High Point University
If your student attends High Point University, you already know the drill: you will be making the drive to High Point, North Carolina more than once a year. Between Move-In Day, Family Weekend, Homecoming, admitted-student visits, spring events and graduation, HPU families spend a lot of weekends in this city — and the first question is always the same. Where do we stay?
This is a practical guide for HPU parents: when to book, what each big weekend looks like, why a vacation rental near High Point University usually beats a hotel room, and what to do with your free hours while your student is in class or at practice.
The HPU Visiting Calendar — Know Your Weekends
High Point University runs a busy campus-events calendar, and lodging across the Piedmont Triad tightens around each one. These are the dates that matter most to parents:
August Move-In Day. The single biggest arrival weekend of the year. Thousands of families roll into the city with loaded SUVs. Hotels near campus book out months ahead, and many families arrive a day early to unpack without rushing.
Family Weekend (fall). The classic parent visit — campus events, a football or basketball game, and long dinners downtown. Expect restaurants near campus to have waits on Saturday night.
Homecoming. Alumni and current families overlap, which squeezes lodging further than most people expect.
Admitted Students & Scholarship Weekends (winter–spring). If you are touring HPU with a high schooler, these are the visits where a quiet, comfortable place to regroup as a family really pays off.
Commencement in May. The hardest weekend of the year to find a room in High Point. Graduation brings extended families — grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles — all needing beds in the same city on the same two nights.
One more calendar to check: High Point Market runs each April and October and brings roughly 75,000 visitors to town. If your campus visit overlaps with Market, book unusually early.
Hotel Room vs. Whole-Home Rental Near HPU
Most first-year HPU parents book a hotel. Most returning parents switch to a vacation rental in High Point. Here is why:
A real kitchen. After a few weeks of dining-hall food, nothing lands better with a college student than a home-cooked meal. A full kitchen also means breakfast before an early campus event instead of a hotel lobby waffle.
Room to actually gather. A living room lets your student bring a roommate or two over. Two hotel rooms give you two hotel rooms — a rental gives you a home.
Laundry. Dorm laundry is a universal complaint. A washer and dryer in your rental quietly solves it for the weekend.
Better math for bigger groups. Once you are booking two rooms — or traveling with grandparents for HPU graduation — a whole home is often the cheaper option per person, not the splurge.
Parking and quiet. Free parking at the door, no elevator lines on move-in morning, and a quiet street when you want to collapse at the end of a long campus day.
Where to Stay: Hygge High Point
Hygge High Point is a beautifully updated 1920s home just minutes from the High Point University campus and downtown. It sleeps 5 guests across 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a fully equipped kitchen, fast Wi-Fi for anyone working remotely between campus events, a smart TV, a washer and dryer, keyless entry for late arrivals, and a fully fenced yard with a propane firepit.
It is also pet friendly, which matters more than you would think — plenty of HPU families bring the family dog along, and the fenced yard means the dog is fine while you are on campus. For Family Weekend or graduation, the firepit and string lights out back turn into the easiest celebration spot in town.
Getting Around High Point
High Point is an easy driving city — no real traffic, no parking garages to fight. From a central base you are a short drive from the HPU campus, downtown restaurants, and the shops. Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) is roughly 25 minutes away, Greensboro about 20 minutes, and Winston-Salem about 30 — handy if relatives are flying in for graduation.
Where to Eat With Your Student
Penny Path Café — the independent coffee shop near campus, ideal for a slow Saturday morning before events start.
Kepley's Barbecue — serving Lexington-style North Carolina BBQ since 1948. Take out-of-town grandparents here.
Sweet Old Bill's — the local answer to "best burger in High Point." Casual, generous, always busy.
Brown Truck Brewery — craft beer in a converted warehouse with food trucks and weekend live music. A good landing spot for parents once the student heads back to the dorm.
Europa Bar & Café — the upscale pick for a graduation or birthday dinner. Reserve early on big weekends.
Boba House — Asian fusion and bubble tea downtown, and reliably a student favorite.
What to Do While Your Student Is Busy
Campus weekends have gaps. Fill them with the best of things to do in High Point, NC:
Walk the Bicentennial Greenway — 10+ miles of paved trail through forest and meadow, great for a morning run.
High Point City Lake Park — 339 acres with a lakeside loop trail, fishing piers and picnic shelters, gorgeous in the fall.
Piedmont Environmental Center — 11 miles of free nature trails and a small nature museum on the lakeshore.
The High Point Museum and the John Coltrane statue — the city raised the jazz legend, and downtown honors him with a bronze statue on Commerce Avenue.
Furnitureland South and the furniture outlets — you are in the Furniture Capital of the World. Plenty of HPU parents furnish an apartment or a house back home on a campus visit.
Booking Tips for HPU Parents
Book three to six months out for Move-In, Family Weekend and graduation — earlier for Commencement.
Add a night on either end. Arriving the evening before Move-In or Family Weekend turns a stressful morning into an easy one.
Coordinate with other families. Roommates' parents often want the same weekends; a whole home makes shared dinners simple.
Book direct where you can. Booking straight through the property manager skips platform service fees, which adds up across four years of visits.
Your Home Base for Four Years of HPU Visits
Every High Point University family ends up with a routine — the same drive, the same restaurants, the same weekend rhythm. Hygge High Point is built to be the comfortable, familiar part of that routine: a quiet, cozy home minutes from campus, with room for family, a kitchen for real meals, and a backyard firepit for celebrating whatever milestone brought you to town.
Whether it is Move-In Day, Family Weekend, or the graduation you have been counting down to, check the calendar early and lock in your dates.