My wife and I are planning a few days in Boston in late may, and could use some advice on best location to stay for walking to most of the sites (or short cab ride). We found a B&B a few doors down from Cheers that looks nice, but a little more than we're looking to spend. (&175/nt, but after tax, and exchanging to Canadian $ is over $230/nt) We found another for $130/nt at Columbus and W Newton. Is that going to be a little far for walking to Boston Common and other touristy stuff?

Definatly catching a Sox game, but what else is considered a "cant miss" in Boston?

Thanks for the input!

Ruckus

You get what you pay for. The first B&B sounds like it's either in Beacon Hill or Back Bay, which is a very convenient neighborhood. The West Newton/Columbus location is in the South End, which is up and coming but not as covenient. It is "walkable". Prices are high because of May graduation month.

Can't miss - Freedom Trail

The rest, depends on your interest. Museum of Fine Arts, Gardner Museum are both great. Harvard Sq & Brattle Street, JFK Library, John Adams Historic site, Boston Public Library, Trinity Church, walk around Beacon Hill...

I loved the glass flowers at Harvard, as well as the museum of natural history.

http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/on_exhib...ollection.html

I tried to find a memorable Boston Cream Pie, but failed. I wanted a slice, but the two I tried were round individual cakes. I like to set a research goal for myself when I travel!

We stayed at a B&B in the South End last year around the same time and had a wonderful time. It was about a five-minute walk to the Back Bay area which was perfectly convenient and we really loved the atmosphere in the South End. There are some really great restaurants there – we ate at Sibling Rivalry, B&G Oysters, Hamersley’s Bistro, Aquitaine, and Butcher Shop (our favorite!) and greatly enjoyed just being able to walk back to our B&B at the end of the evening.

We enjoyed the following while we were there in May, in no particular order:
- Walking the Freedom Trail
- Visiting the JFK Library/Museum - this was really fantastic
- Browsing the shops and art galleries on Newbury
- Walking through the Common and Public Garden on a Saturday or Sunday
- Having a drink at Liberty Hotel's Clink Bar
- Take a walk along the Charles and cross over into Cambridge
- Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum - it is a beautiful space and has some great pieces

Enjoy!

Kailani- interesting that you enjoyed the glass flowers. I went a few weeks ago and was hugely disappointed. I thought the display cases were terrible... The Nat Hist Museum reminds me of old museums full of dusty stuffed animals.

yk: I've always liked the Harvard Natural History Museum and have been several times -- maybe not cutting edge in presentation, but has plenty of interesting goodies.

kailani: re Boston cream pie -- the Parker House restaurant invented this, so one would think their version is the most authentic. It's a little different from what one usually encounters at other places, though -- theirs is a round individual serving, mixes white and dark frosting on top, and has nuts in it. It's also the only worthwhile food item they serve, in my experience.

Yikes, in addition to changing the hotel's name, apparently the OMNI Parker House has changed the original recipe, which did not involve any nuts or non-chocolate icing!

Re: "definitely catching a Sox game" Check the schedule - Red Sox are in town only 5/19-24 and then not until second week in June. If that is "late May", games are sold out and you will have to buy on secondary market.

Can't advise on lodging since I live here, but 1st location is far better than 2nd. If you like it and there are vacancies, book it now - late May is still college graduation season and also popular tourist time.

MBTA.com is website for public transit system - you can even enter the name of a place (not just address) and get trip routing.

Boston Common is only as significant as a fraction of its counterparts. The Public Gardens, or Comm Ave, or walking the Charles, or the salt and pepper bridge, or the Northend, or the Southend, or the Waterfront of taking a bus to Castle Island for burgers and watching airplanes land. There is so much more to Boston, and the Commons is just a whisper of what one can see.

Boston Common is simply a walk thru, not a destination.

If $ is tight I think that the SE property might be fine. Especially that time of year!

Gail,

yeah, we're going to have to to to stub hub or something, but I cant go to Boston and not see Fenway!

Thanks for all the responses so far!!

Ruckus - If you can't get tickets to the game, you can always do a Fenway tour. Even it you get tickets its worthwhile. The tour takes you to the Monster seats, press box and a few other places you wouldn't get to go to while at a game.

The best part of Boston is just walking around, Newbury St, Beacon Hill, Charles St, Comm Ave, and the Esplanade are all great walks. Have dinner in the North End if you like Italian. The South End has more trendy dining.

May is a great time in Boston.

Boston is great in May!

We loved seeing a Sox game, doing the Freedom Trail, going to the Public Gardens, and doing the Duck Tour. We also went whale watching, but that may be seasonal. Don't forget to go to the North End for Italian food and get some cannoli and gelato. Regina's Pizza is fun - it's been there for about 80 years. Have a great trip!

As someone who works in Boston, I'd recommend the first B&B you mention--you'll be much more centrally located.

Boston has so much to see and do--it really depends on what interests you.

You can do all or part of the Freedom Trail--it starts right near the Boston Common, so at the first B&B you'd be right nearby. Of all the stops, I'd recommend at least one of the cemeteries, the Old State House (Dec. of Independence was read from the balcony there), and Old North Church. If you follow the trail that far, you're in the North End and can have an excellent lunch or dinner--or Italian pastry and coffee, if it's not a mealtime.

The Museum of Fine Arts is a world-class museum. Right now there's a special exhibit on Renaissance artists that I'm eager to get to. If you like art, you might also consider the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on the Fenway, a small museum that you could see pretty comprehensively in about two hours--or go through even faster if you don't linger over everything like I tend to do.

I haven't been to the Aquarium in several years but have always enjoyed it; the Museum of Science is also pretty good.

If the weather is fair, walk the neighborhoods--stroll through the Public Garden, which is beautiful, and take a swan boat ride: one of the best bargains still around. (Try to read the old children's book Make Way for Ducklings first--even if you're adults.) Duck tours are pretty expensive--I guess I'd pick something else to do instead.

There are some interesting gems in Copley Square: Trinity Church has some beautiful stained glass, and the Boston Public Library has some murals by John Singer Sargent. You have to pay to tour Trinity, but--this sounds terrible--if you say you're worshipping you can go in and sit quietly and just look around. And of course you can just stroll into the library and look at the murals for free. Also in Copley Square, I believe you can ride up to the top of the Hancock Tower for a good view--check on that, though. Once you're in that area, you can stroll up and down Newbury Street for some good window shopping. Bouchee is a nice place to eat there--if you stop for lunch, it's not terribly expensive. I believe you can get a sandwich for less than $10. http://www.boucheebrasserie.com/ (I used to work a few blocks away and miss it.) If you're interested at all in genealogy, stop by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, www.NewEnglandAncestors.org, at 99 Newbury Street. You have to pay a day fee of $15 to use the research library, but it's pretty amazing--and the main rotunda of the first floor is amazing (which you don't have to pay for).

It's an easy ride on the Red Line of the subway over to Cambridge. You could walk around Harvard Yard. The Fogg Art Museum is closed for reconstruction, unfortunately. I agree with yk that the glass flowers are disappointing. They're interesting to see but I dare say the exhibits aren't state of the art.

The JFK Museum is slightly south of town but really interesting and on a beautiful piece of land. The Adams site, which someone else mentioned, is very, very interesting, too--my favorite historic site that almost no one I know has been to. It would take you about half an hour to get there on the Red Line (it's in Quincy, south of Boston), and you then get take a set tour. You'd have to allow about half a day.

If you love baseball and baseball history, then indeed Fenway Park is not to be missed. Go Sox.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the advice - there is so much to do - I don't know how we'll fit it all in just 3 days!
There is one more thing that we need direction on...we aren't huge fans of seafood (crazy, I know!), but LOVE english-style fish and chips - can you point us in the right direction?

There is a restaurant on the waterfront about a block from Columbus Park, on the edge of the North End, called Boston Sail Loft. It is a bar and restaurant built on pilings over the water, overlooking boats etc. It is much more of a neighborhood bar than a tourist restaurant, and the food is not gourmet by any standards. But I ate there regularly from 1982 until about five years ago when we sold our waterfront condo. The menu didn't change in all that time, and the battered English style fish and chips didn't change either. You can get a black and tan or even straight Guinness to drink with them. They also have excellent fried clams. Chowder not good, but nachos will feed a crowd of happy people. Fries tend to be soggy, so ask for them extra crispy. They can toss 'em back in the Fryolator for another quick round. Hope it is still fun.

I can't speak to fish & chips in Boston, as I rarely order that when out to eat in the city. Legal Seafood is a great seafood restaurant--perhaps other posters know whether the fish & chips there are good.

On the north shore in Essex, about a half hour's drive north of Marblehead, is Woodman's, which is renowned for fried clams. It's a destination for many.

You can do much better in Essex than Woodman's along that same stretch of road (Route 133). The Village, Periwinkles, Farnham's, Blue Marlin, Lewis, Tom Shea's....all of them offer up superior seafood, IMHO. Sure, Woodman's gets the press, but any of the above get my vote (I live about 6 miles from there and this is where my family has always eaten our seafood!)

Also further down 133 into Gloucester are an amazing array of restaurants, seafood and not.

Also, most of the Irish pubs serve Fish and Chips regularly...try Mr. Dooley's on Broad Street or the Grand Canal near the Boston Garden arena or Kinsale in Government Center.

I knew that other places are superior to Woodman's but didn't know which ones--glad you mentioned them all, amyb. I don't like fried clams myself so have never been to any. One of these days I'll get to one of them for something else. . . .