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Traveling to Boston, Martha's Vineyard and Newport

Traveling to Boston, Martha's Vineyard and Newport

Old Mar 30th, 2014, 04:15 PM
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Traveling to Boston, Martha's Vineyard and Newport

My husband and I are planning a week long vacation in June. We plan to fly into Boston and spend a couple days there. We are thinking about also going to Martha's Vineyard and maybe Newport. We are very open to suggestions about where we should visit outside of Boston, but would like to visit at least 1 or 2 places outside of Boston. We are 30 years old. We are looking for a vacation full of good food and drinks, having fun and seeing all of the "must see places" that we can. I would love any suggestions and recommendations about anything to do with our trip. Places to stay, where to eat, what to see, what to do, where to go. I would also appreciate some suggestions on the most feasible order to do our trip in.
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Old Mar 31st, 2014, 03:22 AM
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For what is going on in Boston and where the hot spots are for eating and drinking, go to Improper Bostonian, our local entertainment weekly, on the web.

For transportation, the MBTA website will explain all the cheap transportation passes you can get for the T subway-streetcar and bus lines. Parking can cost something north of $40 a day, so you don't want to bring a car into the city.

Any guidebook from your library or online will point out the historical sites like the Freedom Trail and tell you about the museums like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Institute of Contemporary Art. A harbor cruise or whale watch from Long Wharf can be fun in the right weather, and the T operates several inexpensive ferry lines.

Lodging is expensive in Boston, so we would need to know your budget to give advice.

You can take a bust to Woods Hole and then the ferry to the Vineyard, or you can fly from Logan. Newport is harder. You may need a car. Closer is Cape Ann. You can take a train to Salem and a catamaran back. If you come ack on the latest ferry, the skyline views of Boston are fabulous.
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Old Mar 31st, 2014, 04:09 AM
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Good advice from Ackislander. If you do decide to go up to Cape Ann by train or ferry, you might look into renting a car there rather than in Boston to explore Rockport, Gloucester, Salem, Marblehead etc. There are nice B&Bs in that area.

Flying to Martha's Vineyard might make the trip a bit easier, check Cape Air and Jet Blue from Boston. You might want to do that part of your trip before you go to Boston. June is early for beach areas because the water is still quite cool, but we often have nice warm days between the cold rainy ones but there is no control of that. Have a plan B in case of bad weather.

Look into lodging asap for all the areas you want to visit.
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Old Mar 31st, 2014, 11:58 AM
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If you rent a car to drive to Newport, you might consider driving from there to New Bedford to get the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. Yes, you will pay for parking the rental car in New Bedford for a couple days (its a passenger only ferry), but this might be worth it if you are only going for a day or 2. It avoids the really bad traffic getting onto the Cape to get to Woods Hole, shortens your driving, and is probably cheaper to park.
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Old Mar 31st, 2014, 01:18 PM
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There's also a ferry from Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to the Vineyard in the summer, but I am way too cheap to be comfortable with a rental car soaking up charges.

In theory, you could fly into Providence and get a bus/van to Newport, then a limo to Quonset Point, ferry to the Vineyard, and fly to Boston on Cape Air and home from there.

But that's a lot of moving around for a relatively small benefit.
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Old Mar 31st, 2014, 02:25 PM
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I think after further research we are just going to do Boston and MV this trip. I would love some hotel and restaurant suggestions. We are looking to pay in the low 200s a night for a room.
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Old Apr 1st, 2014, 01:14 PM
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What are your dates in June? Boston prices vary greatly depending on what else is going on in town. Last Minute Travel is a good site for Boston. It is a mystery hotel site, but you can often determine the hotel by the photos, or my zooming in on the map. I've helped friends get room through LMT often. Also check travelzoo. Often the Kimpton Hotels have good deals there.

I would recommend for better hotel rates that you go to MV during the week, and spend the weekend days in Boston.

What sort of food do you like and do you have a budget?


If you like baseball, you may want to check if the Red Sox are in town for your dates. Even if they are not, the tour of Fenway Park is fun.
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Old Apr 1st, 2014, 01:41 PM
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Good advice from cw on staying on the Vineyard during the week and spending the weekend in Boston.

It makes a lot of sense to stay in the Back Bay-Copley Square. I haven't used Last Minute Travel above but Priceline used to be very, very good to me when we were between condos in Boston, but read
betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com if you are not experienced Priceline users.

Beware of anything that has a hyphenated location like Peabody Boston or Boston Revere. Those are all in suburbs, sometimes a long way out or scary edge-of-city locations.
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Old Apr 1st, 2014, 01:56 PM
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and you need to decide how you are getting to M/V, and how you are getting around once there before people can recommend lodging. Having a car makes a bit of difference. Although I will say, my favorite place to stay is in Edgartown. There are many nice inns in town. Its been enough years since I've been there that I hesitate to offer any specific recommendations.

there's been a ton of discussion about Boston hotels of late. A search will probably turn up many suggestions.

I generally agree with the suggestion that you do Boston on the weekends with one caveat...how early in June are you coming? Commencements run up into the first week in June (specifically, MIT is June 6th this year), and that can have a dreadful effect on hotel availability and prices. I think you are safe after that date, however. Late May is the worst.
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