Boston car rental: from downtown or airport?
 

My husband and I are spending a week in downtown Boston and then planning to visit our friends who live near Nashua, NH. My current thinking is that we will rent a car downtown, drive to Nashua, and then after visiting our friends, drop the rental car off at Logan (from where we fly home).

However, after reading about Boston traffic, I am concerned about driving in the city. Would there be any sense in just taking transit out to the airport and renting the car from there? What do you think?

If you rent at the airport, you have to drive through the heart of the city to get to Nashua. You will pay more to rent at the airport than you will in the city.
See if you can get a rental in Cambridge or Bunker Hill.

no, don't go back to the airport. Just leave Boston not during rush hour. Plan to leave town on a weekday from 10-2, or on a weekend. You'll be fine. No need to go out of your way to the airport, dragging luggage on mass transit.

And I wouldn't bother with dragging the luggage out to Cambridge either. Just get a rental close to your hotel, and ask for detailed directions to the closest highway (I93, or maybe I90 (Mass Pike)).

The traffic in downtown Boston is bad but not unmanageable, but my GPS was horribly confused by the underground streets, and it took me almost 30 minutes to find the entry for the underground highway.

I find Boston to be a very difficult city in which to drive. Streets are not at all straight, and I find signage difficult to locate when trying to drive, look at a map, and try to interpret navigation information. I can understand Doug's post above!!

I think your original plan is sensible. You'll be driving out of the city and most rental agencies are close to a main road. So you won't be driving around the city streets.

Where are you staying in Boston? Random driving in Boston can be a bit intimidating, but you can easily get directions from car rental place downtown to highway. Just rent car and drive immediately to Nashua - seems you are returning car just prior to flight, so that should also work.

Gail has it. It depends entirely on where you are staying, information we don't have, but there is not much need for you to cruise the streets.

Driving is difficult in Boston (1) because many main streets are not signed, only the cross streets (2) many intersections are called 'squares' but are not designated that way on maps (e.g., Dewey Square) (3) GPS is better with the voice turned off because they will sometimes tell you where to go based on an official name (Fitzgerald Expressway) that is not used locally and which no local would use OR they will give you a number for something like "the McGrath" that you could commute on for twenty years without knowing its highway number (4) Boston drivers have their own rules, easily summed up as (a) never look another driver in the eye and (b) never use a signal or someone will cut you off.

But all you to do is get on I-93 north to Nashua and then get off at the Logan Airport exit on your return. Both are well marked.

I lived in Nashua for many years. (Feh, but that's another story).

Your plan is a sound one. If you are staying in the Back Bay area of Boston (or, frankly, even if you're not), I'd recommend renting from the Back Bay branch of either Hertz or Avis. If you do, it becomes extremely easy to get to Nashua without dealing with much of Boston's traffic. To do so, follow this route:

1. From the car rental office, go to Arlington Street and turn onto Arlington. (Both Hertz and Avis are with 2 blocks of Arlington -- ask at the office for directions. Arlington is 1-way, and depending whether you use Avis or Hertz you'll turn right or left onto Arlington.)

2. Follow Arlington for 2 or 3 blocks until you see the sign for Mass Pike/I-90. Turn right onto the on-ramp for the Mass Pike. (It's a toll road.)

3. Follow the Mass Pike/I-90 about 10 miles to the exit for Rt 95/128. Take 95/128 North.

4. Follow 95/128 North about 10-12 miles to Rt 3 North. Take Rt 3 North to Nashua, about 20-25 miles.

The trip will take about 40-45 minutes in total, unless you leave Boston in late afternoon (3-6), when you'll be subject to rush hour delays.

Oh, one more thing: on your way back from Nashua to Logan, retrace this exact route, except take the Mass Pike/I-90 all the way to Logan Airport. It is very slightly shorter to take a different route (I93) to the airport, but that route is more complicated and easier to go astray.

Thank you so much for your replies. We will be staying at the Hyatt (1 Ave De Lafayette) and will be leaving Boston on a Friday afternoon.

You definitely do not want to rent the car before you check out of the hotel -- getting to/from the Hyatt is a challenge for anyone unfamiliar with Boston. My advice is to take a taxi from the Hyatt to the Hertz office in Park Square, then follow the directions I gave earlier. Unfortunately, you'll have plenty of company on the roads on a Friday afternoon, no matter which route you take.

Bonus info: if you're looking for a nice Asian restaurant while staying at the Hyatt, try the Penang, just a short walk down Washington St. Excellent Malaysian/pan-Asian eats at reasonable prices in a comfortable setting.

Thank you for the detailed instructions (and the restaurant recommendation!) We will follow your direction!