Cambridge/Boston/Maine Trip -- Small Budget Ideas
 

I'll be in Boston with my young adult daughters for 3.5 days on a slim budget. Ideas for lodging and activities? Would like to get to Maine also. Ideas? Thanks much.

What does a "slim budget" mean? Can you give us an idea of how much you'd like to pay for lodging? How many people will there be?

For "cheaper" hotels IN Boston, I'd start by looking at:
Residence Inn in Tudor Wharf
Park Plaza Hotel
Courtyard Marriott on Tremont Street
Hotel 140 at 140 Clarendon
John Jeffries Guest House
Holiday Inn Express near North Station on Friend Street

Residence Inn has kitchenettes in the rooms, so that will help with your budget if you decide to cook simple meals in your room.

Many things in Boston can be enjoyed for free - Freedom Trail, walking around Harvard Sq, USS Constitution. Tours for the Boston Public Library is free, so is tours for State House. SEe this thread for more ideas: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rroundings.cfm

Where in Maine would you like to go? Is that included in the 3.5 days? (If yes, I'd recommend AGAINST it; as 3.5 days is just *perfect* for exploring Boston. If not, let us know how many days you'd have for Maine.) What type of transportation will you have - will you have a car?

Also, what TIME OF YEAR will you be visiting? Hotel rates vary a great deal depending on the season. Anyway, the more info you provide, the better we can help you with suggestions.

And where you come from, how you are arriving (car, train, or air) whether you have been to Boston before, what you like to eat and do.

I would agree that it would be a waste of time to go to Maine on this trip, since the good parts are between 2 hours and half a day away.

When is most important. There will be no inexpensive places to stay around 4th of July or the last ten days of August and beginning of September. That's when all the parents bring their kids to college.

Check out the Boston Globe travel page destination guides, here's one example of an article for things to do in Boston:

http://www.boston.com/travel/explore...stPop_Emailed1

Some things that are free or cheap except for getting there:

-JFK Museum and Library, Dorchester, via Red Line and shuttle bus
-Mass Department of Archives and History next door to JFK Museum. many famous historical documents
-Harvard Yard, via Red Line to Cambridge
-Harvard Museums, Natural History, Glass Flower collection
-A walk through the Common, Public Garden, and Back Bay Green or Red Line to Park Street, then walk. Walk out Commonwealth Avenue (looks like Paris) and back on Newbury Street (shopping), detour to Boylston to see Copley Square and tour the old part of the Boston Public Library
-A walk along the Charles River Esplanade -- Red Line to Charles St/MGH
-Freedom Trail from Common to Constitution in Charlestown -- MBTA ferry back to Long Wharf (cheap)
- A walk on Beacon Hill -- Mount Vernon Street, Chestnut Street, Cedar St, Charles Street
- A walk along the waterfront to Christopher Columbus Park, then into the North End for Italian food

Cheap places to eat
Redbones BBQ and many others in Davis Square, Somerville, on the Red Line
Mr Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Sq
Dolphin Seafood on Mass Ave, just beyond Harvard Sq toward Central Square
Chinatown (off Boylston St T stop on Green Line)

Oops, I forgot about going to Revere Beach on the Blue Line subway. How cool is that? Lay out, eat clams or roast beef at Kelly's and be a local!