Boston Area, Accomodations
 

We are going to be in Boston for 1 day (I know, not really enough to see the city, but we haven't been there before and will be traveling through). Does anyone have suggestions for hotels in the Boston area? We don't want to stay in Boston, and would probably prefer to take some kind of public transportation into the city if possible, so something that is accessible to transportation and below $150 a night. If someone can suggest a nice town near Boston, that would work as well! We are from the DC area, so we would not mind traveling up to an hour or hour-and-a-half to get into the city from where we are.
Thanks!

There is the Hilton at Dedham Place .. rates are probably around $150 or so .. and they frequently have specials .. They are a stone's throw (walking distance) from the Commuter Train which will take you into Boston in less than 20 minutes .. It is a lovely hotel with restaurant, bar area, pool, exercise room and tennis courts in a very safe area .. Not sure what your plans are .. but there is a wonderful restaurant in Dedham Center as well ... Isabella's .. no more than 10 - 15 minutes from the Hilton ... Other hotels in the 128 loop .. Westin .. Marriot .. Crowne Plaza .. you need not be 1 1/2 hours .. plenty of nice hotels closer ... Have a great trip to a great city ... !
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/d...tyhocn=DDHDHHF

There's a mediocre but convenient Amerisuites near Boston very close to a couple of T stations...they shuttle you there or you can park your car at the station, it's in a safe area with not much around in the way of restaurants and stuff, but economical and easy to get into Boston.

hi
you could try looking at the following link to get and idea of what there is :
http://destinia.com/hotels/hotels--i...erica/33110/en
hope you find it useful

Hi, we live about 37 miles north in NH on the border of Masds. there are a number of fine lower price chains on Rt 1 north of Boston in towns like Danvers, Peabody, and Saugus. Look for Hampton INn, Best Western, Days Inn, Comfort Inn.. They may run 99-. My favorite thing to try is Priceline.com. Ask for a 3star hotel(if you want to keep it below$150-) put in your bid, expect 40% off. We got Marriot in Boulder CO for $63-, Omni outside Denver for $69- and in a ski area for $57- in summer! a charming town to stay near is Newburyport(like Alexandria), with a train into town(30 Miles). You could see if the Fairfield marriot in Amesbury(next town north 1 mile) has openings. We lived in Newburyport, you can walk everywhere, its on the Merrimac River and has oceanfront at Plum Island, great restaurants shopping, festivals...

you can usually stay much closer to Boston (than previously suggested) by staying near the airport. Try the Courtyard Marriott South Boston. Free parking which will save some $$$.

Have you considered staying in Cambridge or Somerville? That's what we did when we went to Boston. We were right near a T stop, but we weren't actually in Boston, and it was easy to get back and forth to Boston.

Depends on why you do not want to stay in Boston. Primarily cost, you don't like city hotels, have heard Boston driving stories, or some other reason. What I might recommend would depend on your reasons.

Also might be useful to know route - where you are coming immediately from and going to after Boston - might be able to suggest something close to whatever highway you are using.

If I had only one day, I would prefer not to spend as much as 3 hours of it commuting to Boston for a one-day tour, but you may have your own very good reasons for doing so. And perhaps my perspective is a little slanted since my job involves travel thruout Eastern Mass. and so more commuting would not thrill me.

Thanks for the responses. Still haven't gotten around to making a decision yet. Gail, I thought that staying outside of Boston might be better because of cost and because I assumed it would be easy to get transport into the city. We're from the DC area and getting into DC from the surrounding area is not too time consuming. If you were to commute into the city, what method would you suggest - driving or subway/metro? Would it be less of a pain to just drive into the city (on a Saturday afternoon, leaving Monday morning) and stay there, paying a bit more for a room? We are from DC, so we're used to traffic, but it is vacation after all :)

There are a couple of hotels in Braintree and Quincy that are near subway stations, or provide shuttles to and from the nearest one. But if you stay farther out, like in Dedham, then you're not using the subway, you're relying on the commuter Rail system, which runs less often especially on weekends.

In your situation, I'd stay on a subway line, probably in town in order to make better use of Saturday evening. You can get maps and schedules for subway and commuter trains at www.mbta.com . A better strategy for savingmoney wouldbe to use an online bargain booking service like Priceline.

The Big Dig tunnels in Boston area are currently under repair or about to self-distruct, depending on your level of paranoia - so driving is even more of an adventure.

Unlike DC, the MBTA subway system does not seem to go as far or as seamlessly. It connects to MBTA trains, which, as noted, do not run all that often on weekends.

Driving in on weekends, however, is not that bad, unless you are driving in around time of Red Sox game (check schedule). Central Boston is really quite geographically compact, so an event or problem quickly encompasses all of the major road systems.

Braintree and Quincy might be good choices, but am not familiar with which hotels are closest to MBTA. If a hotel website promises a shuttle, I would call the hotel directly to reconfirm the existence of this.