Hello!
My husband and I are driving from Montreal to Boston in a few weeks. It's our first time! We are musicians in our mid-thirties and are wondering in which neighborhood to stay for the week-end. Any cool places for live jazz or songwriters? Any good, down-to-earth restaurants with good wine (we prefer to stay away from the hipster scene) to recommend? Any ideas of things we can do a little off the beaten track?

Merci! All ideas are welcome!

Jojonana

A good first step to take on restaurants (especially given how vague your question is on things like cuisine and price point) would be to do a board search. Boston restaurants have been extensively discussed here.

Also, take a look over at the Chowhound website, which has a wealth of great ideas.

Giving us more parameters on price point and food type will help a lot as well.

I had a really nice meal at Aquitaine on my visit in April. Here is more from my website:

http://web.me.com/tomfielding1/Tom_%...ton%2C_MA.html

We really want to splurge during the weekend, so price is not really an option, at least for one of the suppers.

I will check out Aquitaine and Chowhound website.

More importantly though, in what area should we stay?

Merci for the input!

August 8, New York TImes, Travel, there is an aritcle "36 Hours in Boston" which may be helpful.

Have a look at the Boston Phoenix for music listings:

http://thephoenix.com/

Cambridge and Somerville are two cities with many venues for local music.

You may want to stay in Cambridge, although Boston is just across the Charles River, so either would be fine.

Since you will have a car you will want to inquire about rates for parking wherever you stay. You may actually want to avoid downtown Boston with a car. You will be able to use public transportation within the Boston/Cambridge area, much preferred since the distances are short and the parking most difficult.

What is your budget for a hotel?

Thanks so much for the replies! Budget for hotel of about $200-250 a night.

and thanks for the NY Times Travel tip! EXACTLY what we needed!