Chrissee

In reading through some of the advice here at Fodor's, it appears that picking up and dropping off your rental car at Logan airport in Boston can be a bit of a nightmare (traffic). We are flying into Boston, spending a couple of day in the downtown area, then heading out to Leominster for a wedding. We are then coming back to Logan and flying home. We will need a rental car for the trip to Leominster and back. I saw a couple of suggestions on another post - one being that if you can, pick up your rental car outside of town if you can - the suggestions were Cambridge or Revere. Is this a logical thing to do? Is there a way to get to these places from the downtown area by the T? Once there, are there rental places near the T station? The other suggestion was to pick up the car in Boston itself and just drive out, avoiding the airport, at least for the pickup. Is it that difficult to get out of Boston, as some posters say "Don't drive in Boston if you can help it!!" Any advice would be so appreciated - thanks!

yk

Driving out of Boston is really not that bad. If you can avoid the rush hour period, you'll be just fine.

My suggestion would be:

1) Rent the car from the closest location to your hotel in downtown.
2) Return the car at Logan Airport.
3) Rent a car equipped with GPS if possible; if not possible, print out detailed directions and map so you know how to get from the car rental place to Leominster

Absolutely NO REASON to head to Cambridge or Revere just to rent a car, unless you plan to stay there.

Anonymous

I agree with yk 100%. Traveling on the T to pick up the car in a suburb would be far more trouble than picking it up in town. The car rental agency will be equipped to give you directions to head out of town, even if you don't have a GPS.

If you do have a GPS, you still need to know what to do when you emerge from tunnels, while it gets re-oriented.

china_cat

Chrissee, where are you coming from? do you drive in a city where you are? If you really aren't used to city driving at all, then yes it can be pretty bad. But if you are a reasonably experienced, confident driver than you won't have any trouble. get the car in the city and drive out.

Also, people who talk about traffic in/out of Logan...have they been here since the Big Dig was finished? yea, there is still a lot of traffic at times, but it is SOOOOO much better than it used to be. It is NOT the horror that driving in was in years past. I think yk has offered good advice, and that is what I would do.

also, driving out of Cambridge is in NO way easier than driving out of Boston. If you really feel strongly about getting out of the city, then get OUT of the city. Take the commuter rail out someplace in the Leominster direction. Call Enterprise. I'm pretty sure out in the burbs you can get Enterprise to pick you up, even at a train station. they'll take you to the local office, do the paperwork and give you the car. Rates will probably be pretty good.

gail

I responmded about other questions in your other post about same trip. Here is what I suggest.

Fly into Logan and get to hotel some way - I would take a cab but MBTA is a possibility. I just don't like to struggle with luggage on MBTA so find cab worth the extra money.

Enjoy your few days in Boston. Get back to Logan and rent the car there. Reason to rent at airport rather than downtown location (NOT Revere or Cambridge - that would be traffic/direction mess) is that it is quite easy to pick up route to Leominster from airport. You never end up driving in Boston proper.

Enjoy the wedding. Head back to Boston in the rental car in time for your flight, return car, fly home.

sharona

I agree with Gail's advice. You didn't say where you are staying in Boston but if it's not easily accessible to the Mass Turnpike (I-90) then the easiest thing is to go back to the airport and rent the car from there. Then from the airport you simply follow the signs to the Mass Turnpike West (I-90) to I-95/ Rt. 128 North to Rt. 2 West.

That's what I would do.

Chrissee

Thanks everyone for the advice! We are coming in from Niagara Falls, a small city of 75,000 population. So no, my big city driving is not that great. However, my husband will be driving and he is comfortable in Toronto so he should be ok. He read your replies and likes the idea of picking up and dropping off at the airport, so I guess we will do that. We are staying at the Onyx Hotel on Portland street - a 4 star hotel. Got it on Priceline for $125.00. I hope we got a deal - it is only my second Priceline experience. I like the idea of a cab into town but just wondering, are there hotel shuttle services available? I have visions of sitting in a cab, in backed up traffic in a tunnel, watching the meter run! However, we land at 2:15 so maybe traffic will be ok that time of day? One more question - I read a post that said the rental places at Logan are off site. Are they easy to find? Are they far? Anyone know what is the travel time on the shuttle from the rental place to the airport? Thanks again for everything.

gail

Car rental at Logan - all agencies use shuttle to rental lot. I would avoid Enterprise as it is not near most others. Beyond that, it doesn't really matter - you are riding a shuttle van anyway to car - just as at many airports.

As far as hotel shuttle - call hotel directly (even if it is indicated on website). They will tell you and if they do have shuttle, tell you exactly where to meet it.

Traffic at 2:15 will mostly be going opposite way than you.

Since it seems important to you to have everything lined up for easy transitions for this trip - take a cab. Getting to hotel on MBTA involves airport shuttle to Blue line and then transfer to another line - I think that is too much of a pain.

yk

If you decide to rent from Logan airport, you'll need to get back to the airport from the hotel (either by T or by taxi or shuttle), then stand at the curb side and wait for the car rental shuttle.

All the major car rental companies lots are located next to one another (except Enterprise), just outside of the airport proper.

If you choose to take the T, you'll need to take the Green Line from North Station (0.2 miles from the hotel) to Government Center Station; then change for the Blue Line to Airport Station. At the Blue Line Airport Station, you need to take the shuttle bus to get you to the airport terminal. The T costs $2 per person.

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Alternatively, if you don't rent from the airport, there is an Avis location at Government Center (0.5 miles from your hotel). If you rent it at Government Center, you can quickly get on I-93 and be on your way to Leominster.

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What day of the week will you be renting the car and driving to Leominster? I assume the wedding is on Saturday? If you're planning to drive on a Saturday morning, the traffic is usually very light in Boston.

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To me, the total time and cost it takes to get from your hotel back to the airport then to the airport car rental place with luggage in tow, is just too cumbersome.

I'd much rather rent from the Avis location near your hotel and be on my way 10 minutes later.

Anonymous

I've rented from that Avis office. You could leave one person at the hotel with the luggage, the other person could either walk or take the T (North Station to Government Center), rent the car and swing back past the hotel to pick up the other person and the luggage, the highway entrance is right there. So much less trouble than schlepping out to the airport.

Ackislander

The advantage of an off Logan, non-Boston rental (Kendall Square in Cambridge on the Red Line) is no airport/convention center taxes.

If budget is more important than convenience, look into it. If budget is less important, check into city pickup/Logan return. If there is no dropoff fee, you are golden. If you stay in the Back Bay/Pru/Copley area, I know there are rental cars in Park Square because I have rented there.

Anonymous

They're staying at the Onyx, a few blocks from North Station.

Chrissee

We will be renting the car and driving on Friday afernoon.

china_cat

oh, do NOT go to the airport on Friday afternoon. You are definitely far better off renting near government center and getting out of dodge before about 3PM. If you go all the way to Logan, and try to head west out of there you will have a nasty trip in rush hour traffic.

gail

I still believe, considering all info, that OP would be better renting at Logan. It is incredibly simple to get onto MassPike from Logan - not all that easy from North Station area, near hotel.

And life gets even easier returning rental car at airport immediately prior to flight home.

But either way, try to head out of Boston on a Friday afternoon before 3 PM if possible.

china_cat

i was thinking about that section of route 128 that goes from the Pike to route 2, which is probably the way she wants to go to Leominster, its going to be awful on a Friday. But I checked the map and realized that even if she gets on 93 north from gov't center, its pretty difficult to go west from there, you end up going all the way up to 495 and south again, which is even worse.

so maybe I agree with Gail after all. Only make sure you are leaving the airport by 3PM. You really don't want to be stuck any later than that getting out of the city because Friday at 4PM, that drive will be ugly all the way.

yk

BUT why can't Chrissee get on I-93S from Government Center and then get on Mass Pike that way?

Anonymous

That's what I'd do, yk.

gail

Anyone want to give OP directions from hotel to car rental to entrance to I93 at Govt Ctr? They are all within less than amile of each other and I can't imagine giving her directions.

yk

I've created a GOOGLE MAP with driving directions for the OP.

These directions include:

STARTING at Gov't Center
Driving from Gov't Center to Onyx Hotel (assuming to pick up their luggage)
Driving from Onxy Hotel to get on I93 S and then I90 W(Mass Pike) then Rt 128 N then Rt 2A West

http://tinyurl.com/5jf2u6