1 night near Boston MA?

[CarolineForbes]

I’m shortly travelling to Boston for four nights and then spending three nights in Salem. Our last night we haven’t booked accommodation yet so we’re looking for somewhere nearby to visit and enjoy.
Can anyone recommend somewhere?

Relevant info:

We won’t have a car so will be travelling by train/uber
Two females 20s/30s
We’ll be checking out of Salem in the AM and then have the rest of that day, a night and most of the next day before leaving Logan International for a night flight
Interests - historical, musical theatre, vegan food, beautiful sites, cities/towns rather than rural. We do drink but not really looking to party.

Hoping someone can give us some recommendations!

Hi Caroline Forbes,
From my customers' feedback, hte best neigbourhood in Boston is Back Bay. It's right in the centre, has the most expensive (and most beautiful) real estate as well as the best shopping. You're also very close to the Public Library, Public Garden and luxury shops and indie boutiques as well as plenty of sidewalk cafes.
Depending on when you're going, on a warm day in Boston, this is one of the best places to dine outside. Back Bay’s Marlborough Street is beautiful and not packed with tourists. Plus, a little bit north, you're within walking distance from the Theatre District, the restaurants and bars of Tremont Street, and the art museums of Fenway.
The Taj Boston is a great hotel right in Back Bay, and a cheaper option is the Boston Park Plaza.
Hope this helps .
Chris

Hi,

Thanks we’ll be sure to use your tips while we’re in Boston. We were hoping to see somewhere outside Boston the last night so still open to advice on that :)

Concord is a lovely little town. It’s About an hour out of Boston by commuter train from North Station. I’m not sure how easy it would be to get there from Salem., other than going into Boston and back out. The Louisa May Allcott house in Concord is excellent if you have ever read her books, there are also several other museums ands it’s a nice town to just wander round. The first shot of the war of independence was fired there.
It’s definitely getting cooler here now, make sure you bring plenty of warm layers and when it rains it really rains so be prepared! Still ok to sit out in the middle of the day if it’s sunny (and it was really hot some days last week) but evenings are cold and it gets dark quite early.
There has been a deal where a $10 ticket gave unlimited travel on the commuter rail network at weekends, a day trip out to concord is definitely worth doing on that.

I’m living in Boston at the moment so feel free to ask anything. I haven’t been here that long but I’m possibly one step up from a tourist when it comes to local knowledge.

Why are you going to Salem for 3 nights? Unless visiting people I would say it is a (tacky) afternoon visit at most.
I like Cape Ann and Rockport.

I could stay in Salem and Marblehead for three days (but not much more)

If you want to go to a town, there are places like Lunenberg, Lynn, and Reading to the north of Boston. But I'm not sure that you'll get too much out of visiting those unless there's something particular going on in the town.

I'd stay in Cambridge that night - you can easily spend a day wandering around the Harvard and MIT campuses , among the shops and cafes and along the river.

Look at the train (fast, clean and not too expensive) but also download the Uber app before you go and get it set up. It's a very economical way to travel, particularly with more than one of you and luggage.

I’ve only been to Salem for a day trip and I did find it tack and disappointing. Given that the point of the witch trials was that they were not witches it is a town obsessed with witchy tat and fortune tellers. There is a very good art gallery though and the national park service run excellent guided walks. The Halloween displays are meant to be spectacular. Marblehead is nearby and very pretty.

You can get a ferry from Boston to Salem, which might be fun. You’ll need to check that it’s still running when you’re here though, I think it’s seasonal.

Lyft is similar to Uber, it’s worth having both apps for busy times in Boston (if it’s raining wait times go up significantly for example).

Hi thank you all for your replies and all the advice you’ve offered @chemenger @B00dym4ry and @OlennasWimple

We’re in Salem 3 nights as it was the minimum booking over Halloween. But we have been there for a night before and enjoyed it and figured there’d be a lot going on for Halloween so we’ll enjoy it :)

I’ll check out the places you’ve all said and also be sure to pack an umbrella and my coat that has a hood! I’ll download the Lyft and Uber apps now.

I'd second a stay in Cambridge / Harvard, it's got a great feel to it and some very interesting museums. We stayed in the quaker meeting house once, which was great. You can easily walk over the bridge or get the underground into Boston too

We’re just back from Boston. < I’m originally from Mass>

Concord is lovely but would be a pain to get to from Salem. You could take the train into Boston and then one out to Concord but it would take quite a long time. We took an Uber from Boston to Carlisle on a Sunday afternoon and it was $55 before tip. Salem to Concord would probably be a bit more. If you didn’t mind that sort of price, I’d definitely do Concord. The Concord Museum is closed just now, but as chemenger says, there’s quite a few museums, plus the Old North Bridge plus the Sleepy Hollow cemetery plus Walden Pond (though that’s a bit of a hike). It’s then easy to get back into Boston via the commuter fail.

If you didn’t fancy that, I’d go to Rockport for the last day/night.

A final tip for Boston. Don’t queue for cannoli in Mike’s Pastries in the North End, go to Modern Pastries on the other side of Hannover St, the queue is far shorter and the pastries are just as good. Mike’s is full of tourists.

Thanks for the tips! We are here now! Been awake since 4am - jet lag
Can’t wait to get out and explore soon once my sister wakes up

Welcome to the US from Maine I am probably a few hours north of you.

Hope you have a great time.

Shame about the weather! For a day like today the aquarium, the Gardiner art gallery or the Science Museum. Normally I recommend the top of the Prudential Tower, but not today🙁. If you are in need of a pick me up on Boylston St. the cafe in the public library is lovely but the chocolate cafe (called something like Cocolate by the Bald Man) has great hot chocolate and waffles.

Don’t consider getting the ferry to Salem if it’s windy. We had the most horrific experience on the Provincetown ferry last weekend. Never again.

Thanks @redneckstumpy
@chemenger I take your point on the ferry - the weather really hasn’t been great. We spent a lot on Uber’s yesterday!
We did the Boston Public library, the Cheers bar, the Samuel Adams brewery tour and then saw a movie at the Coolidge theatre. The free beer made me a bit drunk on the tour
Even though it’s pretty grey today we figured this would be the best day to do outdoors things so we took the advice someone gave above and have walked over to Cambridge side of the river.

Noooo, go to Bova’s! Modern as a second choice, but definitely not Mike’s!

If you are up by the Pru and have a little extra time, go to the Mapparium at the Mary Eddy Library. Not many tourists know about it and I think it’s pretty cool, though my children were underwhelmed. I may have oversold it to them! DH liked it!

My teens loved the Mapparium, I haven’t been yet. There is a victory parade for the Red Sox if you’re still here Caroline.