Boston for 1 week in october

[Frazzled74]

I have finally settled on our New York , second base as Boston area.
The idea is to spend 3 nights in a hotel in NYC , then rent a holiday home in Boston or nearby for 1 week. We won’t have a car so need good transport links to do a bit of sightseeing but don’t really want to be right in the city if possible. What areas can you recommend. It doesn’t strictly need to be in Boston but we will be flying home from there so want to be near.

If you want something right outside the city you should look for somewhere on the commuter rail lines (MTBA). Just be aware that the stations are not always that close to the centre of towns so check. Once you are in Boston, coming in to either North or South station it's easy to either walk or get the T (underground) to the sights.

You could look at Salem, for example, the station is right in town there. There are other seaside places as well - Newburyport is nice but maybe too far to come into Boston every day (and the station is a hike out of town too).

I’d ditto chemenger’s suggestion about staying on the commuter line, but looking at where the station actually is. I’d also add that commuter fares can add up when paying for a family.

If you’d consider staying in town, we stayed here last October: www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/bostw-residence-inn-boston-harbor-on-tudor-wharf/. It was great- just outside the centre but in walking distance of the North End and right next to Old Ironsides. Charlestown is nice to wander around as well and has a nice historic pub with good food, the Warren Tavern.

I don’t know if maybe one of the stops on the green line (subway) like Newton/Chestnut Hill might work- residential commuter areas so I don’t know if you’d find a holiday let, but it might be worth looking into.

I don’t know if it will continue in to the Summer, but at the moment you can get a whole weekend of unlimited travel on the commuter trains for $10. Children up to 11 travel free.

I can see the hotel wicked recommends from my window, it’s a good location, right on the freedom trail but out of the city centre bustle. The hop-on-hop-off trolley tour goes that way too if you like that sort of thing.

That’s a great deal! We had a one way trip from Concord to Boston and a round trip to/from Salem (4 people) and it was really quite expensive compared to what I’d pay here to go to/from Edinburgh. And the ticket office at North Station doesn’t take international credit cards? Don’t know if they were talking rubbish or not when mine was refused,, but they said they frequently had to direct tourists to the cash machine first as they are the only place they know of in Boston that doesn’t take them?

Oh, and another reason I liked the Marriott- free breakfast buffet and they didn’t charge for our no show the first night when we missed our connection in Shannon and got stuck there overnight. The T&Cs made it clear that there were no changes or cancellations within 24 hours of arriving so I fully expected to be charged (we did phone to explain) but we weren’t.

*72 hours, not 24

I’m warming to a hotel now, Marriott free breakfast is swaying me, and location looks great.

There is another Marriott, the Courtyard, which is just opposite North Station, slightly closer to the action. It’s still quite quiet, only busy when there is something happening in TD gardens (sports and concert venue). We live across the road. Being more in downtown Boston rather than Charlestown might mean it’s more expensive, I’m not sure. I’ve heard good things about the Boxer Hotel too, also close by.