My husband and I are taking a vacation to Cape Cod this June and wish to take a day trip to Boston while there. What's the best/cheapest way to get there from Cape Cod? We would like to drive to the outskirts and take the subway in but I'm not sure of the parking situations, such as where to park for the day that won't cost a fortune, etc. Any suggestions?

Coming from the Cape, I'd park at Braintree station and take the T in. Parking is $5. You can check out the MBTA website for alternatives.

http://www.mbta.com/

This may work better on a weekend, as I'm sure the parking fills up pretty early with commuters on weekdays.

Where on Cape Cod? The drive from say the middle of the Cape to Boston may not be enormous in miles, but it can make a huge difference in driving times depending on when you go. Unfortunatley, the times you would be likely to go are those times when traffic would be the worst.

The Braintree or Quincy MBTA lots are a good choice. I would post a question here requestin info on when the lots fill on weekdays - those lots north of Boston are full well before 7:30 AM on weekdays.

During the week you will hit commuter traffic starting around Plymouth from about 6:30 AM on. This should let up after about 9:30, but then you get a really short day in Boston.

However, on weekends, you hit the Cape exodus on Saturday AM (most rentals are Sat-Sat and renters have to be out by 10 AM). Sunday AM might be a good day to try a day trip, but many things do not open until noon or so on Sundays.

As far as the return to Cape trip is concerned, you will obviously hit reverse commuter traffic from about 4 to 7 PM. So you could delay your return until after dinner in Boston.

There is a ferry from Provincetown (very end of Cape) to Boston but timing of that might not allow much time in Boston either.

So this is doable, depending on parking and timing your trip so you do not spend the day in traffic just getting close to Boston.

For some reason, I find the Braintree lot fills sooner than the Quincy lot whenever I've used the T during commuter morning hour, but that could just have been my luck on the days I've used it. Parking is inexpensive and you can take the T directly into town - you will have to factor in commuter traffic as someone mentioned, but I can't help with a time frame not knowing what point on the Cape you are leaving from.

Your other alternative perhaps, depending on where you are on the Cape, is to simply leave your car on the Cape and take the Plymouth/Brockton Bus Line directly into Boston and back. You can check out those times and places you can get the bus on p-b.com - this only works if you don't want the car for any stops along the way in or back.

there are also some ferry options, but again, that depends on where you are on the cape and might mean you going to Logan and water taxi back to downtown, which is fine on a nice day -
try looking into Bostonharborcruises.com has the schedule for fast 90 min ferry between Provincetown and Boston, -here's some info depending on where you are on
the Cape that might help.

By Bus:
Service from Boston and from Boston’s Logan Airport to Hyannis is provided by Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway (617-773-9403). (2 hrs. 10 mins.) Service from Hyannis to Provincetown is also available. Bonanza Bus Lines (800-556-3815) provides service from Boston and Logan Airport to Bourne, Falmouth and the Steamship Authority terminal in Woods Hole. (2 hrs.)

By Ferry:
Both regular and high-speed catamaran passenger service between Boston and Provincetown is provided from Memorial Day Weekend -Columbus Day Weekend by Bay State Cruise Company (Boston: 617-457-1428; Provincetown: 508-487-9284). The New England Fast Ferry Company (866-453-6800) operates between Boston and Provincetown through September; Boston Harbor Cruises (617-227-4321) travels to Provincetown through mid-October.

Lots of good advice here.

I like the P&B bus alternative. You can take it from Hyannis, Barnstable, Sagamore (just the other side of the bridge) or Plymouth. It takes you to South Station, and everything is just a short T ride from there.

If you want to drive and really plan to stay in Boston all day, I would go on the weekend (you can watch everyone lined up trying to get to the Cape) and park in the Common garage or at Post Office Square garage and take it from there. Both are right in the center of the city and are relatively cheap on the weekends.

Thanks for all your help! I think some of those options will do nicely, I'll just have to work out scheduling and such. We're planning to stay in Harwich but we don't mind having to drive 1 1/2 hours to get to the T. I like the Sunday idea...we really just wanted to hit the historical Boston areas so I would think those would be open on a Sunday.

The parking garages in Braintree and Quincy are at subway stations on the Red Line, which also stops at Park Street Station under Boston Common, a block from the main information booth and the beginning of the Freedom Trail.