Where to Stay in Arcadia: Hotels, Inns and Rentals

The Chain Option

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Arcadia by IHG sits at 2709 SE Hwy 70, which puts you on the main drag heading into town. With a 4.1 rating from 382 reviews, it is the most-reviewed lodging in Arcadia. That tells you something: it is the default for people who want a predictable room, a breakfast bar, and no surprises. It is not the most charming option, but it is the most reliable. If you are here for the rodeo and you want to be close to the highway, this is your anchor.

Down the road, the Knights Inn Arcadia at 504 S Brevard Ave and the Economy Inn at 324 S Brevard Ave both carry a 3.2 rating. The Knights Inn has more reviews—356 to the Economy Inn's 227—but the scores are identical. These are older motor-court style properties on the south side of town. They are cheap, they are central, and they are what they are. If you book one of these, you are not here for the amenities. You are here for the rodeo, the cattle, or the peace and quiet of a town where the median home value is $158,900 and the median gross rent is $886.

The Surprises

The Oaak Tree Hotel at 6 W Oak St Unit 33 is the outlier. A 4.7 rating from 264 reviews makes it the highest-rated hotel in town, and it is not close. It sits on Oak Street, which puts you right at the edge of the Arcadia Historic District—the 370-plus buildings placed on the National Register in 1984. You can walk to the brick downtown that was rebuilt after the Thanksgiving Day fire of 1905. The name is odd. The rating is not. This is the place to book if you want to be in the middle of things without the chain-hotel sheen.

The Arcadia Bed & Breakfast at 606 E Oak St is the only true B&B on the list, and it carries a 4.9 from just 37 reviews. That is a small sample, but it is perfect. A B&B on Oak Street in a historic district is exactly what you want if you are here for a wedding, a weekend, or a slow look at the courthouse square. It is a different pace from the highway hotels, and the rating suggests they are doing something right.

One more oddity: Cross Creek Office on Cross Creek Dr. It is listed under hotels, but it has a 4.8 from 37 reviews and no street number. That is a mystery, and in a town like Arcadia, a mystery is fine. It might be a converted office building. It might be something else. The reviews are strong. If you are curious, call ahead.

The Rentals and Resorts

Desoto Landing Apartments at 2019 SE Heron Cove is a vacation rental with a 4.0 from 46 reviews. It is on the water side of town, south of the highway, and it is the only apartment-style option on the list. For a longer stay—rodeo week, a cattle sale, a family gathering—this gives you a kitchen and a door that locks like a resident's, not a guest's.

Little Willie's RV Resort at 5905 NE Cubitis Ave is the serious RV option, rated 4.1 from 249 reviews. It is north of town, out on Cubitis, which is cattle country proper. If you are hauling a trailer, this is your spot. The rating is solid, and the location is right for anyone who wants to be close to the ranch land without being in the middle of town.

Little Acres at 2086 Gene's Little Rd is a vacation rental with a 4.5 from just 2 reviews. That is a tiny sample, but the name fits the place. It is out on a dirt road, and that is the point. If you want to wake up to pasture instead of pavement, this is the one.

Dixie Plaza at 12865 US-17 is rated 2.3 from 3 reviews. It is listed as a resort, which is generous. Skip it.

The Odd One Out

CSP Contracting at 161 Polk Ave is listed under inns and B&Bs with a perfect 5.0 from 7 reviews. A contracting company that also rents rooms? In Arcadia, that is not strange. That is just how it works. Seven reviews is not a lot, but a perfect score is a perfect score. If you want to stay somewhere nobody else knows about, this is your answer.

The Bottom Line

Arcadia is not a resort town. It is a cattle town with a historic district, a famous rodeo, and a downtown that was rebuilt in brick because the last one burned down in 1905. The housing stock reflects that: 374 vacant units, 43 seasonal homes, and a median age of 32.7. People live here. They work here. And when the rodeo comes each March—the Granddaddy of 'Em All, four days of bareback bronc riding, barrel racing, and bull riding—the town fills up fast.

Book the Oaak Tree if you want to be in the historic district. Book the Holiday Inn Express if you want to be sure. Book Little Willie's if you are towing. Book Arcadia Bed & Breakfast if you want someone to cook you breakfast. And if you are here for the rodeo, book early. The town has 3,405 housing units, but it only feels like a small town until the third weekend in March. Then it feels like the center of the cattle world, and every bed in DeSoto County is spoken for.