  We have undertaken several projects with the purpose of determining accurate
distances to nearby galaxies to calibrate the extragalactic distance scale.
Specifically, I describe the DIRECT project which aims to derive the distance
to M31 and M33 directly, using detached eclipsing binaries and the
Baade-Wesselink method for Cepheids. I also present a ``hybrid'' method of
discovering Cepheids with ground-based telescopes using image subtraction and
then following them up with the HST to derive Cepheid period-luminosity
distances.
