We’re heading down to DI in early April and plan to stop in Hoover to break up the trip and stay in a hotel for a night.  Any reasons to avoid that area stop elsewhere either north of Birmingham or further south toward Pelham or Calera?

I just spent the night at the Embassy suites in Hoover fine night and free beer at night good to go.

Hoover is fine, don’t go to Bessemer.

LOL. Homewood seems to have a bigger problem at their motels.

P.S. I second the statement that Hoover is safe.

Driving thru the bad areas of Montgomery scares me more than the bad areas of Bessemer or Birmingham. I've driven thru all of them during the day and at night. The problems seem to be "targeted". The problems are at the night clubs(that you probably won't be going to) or between groups or gangs. Random people just driving thru don't seem to have any problems. There are exceptions of course but for the most part, you should be ok.

Gardendale to the north would be the demarcation line...once past the 271 exit headed south, don't stop until you get to Hoover/Vestavia.

Unless you like sharing a hotel with dopers and prostitutes, and really like having your car broken into...avoid the hotels in Homewood off the Lakeshore exit (and in no way ever...ever, ever, ever...stay in any motel off Oxmoor Rd.).

This man knows of what he speaks.

Hoover is fine.  Pelham and Alabaster are fine.  It seems I end up telling most people who ask about transiting and where to overnight, to just avoid the area altogether and stay in Clanton or Cullman.  Thing is you can get off the interstate at places that may look fine/normal but are not, like everyplace in Homewood and the Oxmoor Rd. area, 459 in Bessemer.

That knowledge came from years of patrolling the Lakeshore/Oxmoor area, and now having a part-time retirement gig where I still hear via radio the patrol guys working calls there.

Thanks for the replies!  I don’t care so much where I go, but I’ve got the wife and two little ones to protect.

Don’t stay at the Days in by Wyndham on Highway 31 right off of I-65.

That's the one that was burned by an Illegal Alien and killed 4 Black Girls. Obama deported the guy rather than prosecuting him.

Just for Info, the City of Birmingham spreads out into Shelby county. Your main concern is that it's like a doughnut for safety. The city center(think UAB and businesses) are relatively safe because the cops keep the economic center safe. That is surrounded by an old and low income ring. You can go from the city center south to Homewood relatively safely. Going West takes you thru relatively not so nice areas of Brighton, Lipscomb and Bessemer. Going East takes you to Irondale which used to be relatively nice. Going North East up I-59 takes you to Trussville(nice). Going over the mountain to the south are Homewood(ok but going down, I wouldn't stay at the Motels), Vestavia(very nice), Hoover(nice, best library in the State), Pelham(ok) and Alabaster(ok).

5hrs out from Birmingham.  Thanks for all the replies