Harvard visit
 

I am taking my daughter back east for a NYC/NJ/Philly/Willamsburg/DC trip in October. She has shared she would really like to do a tour of Harvard.

I checked and can take the train from NYC to Boston in the am - spend the day in Boston and spend the night and head to NJ the next day. (a Sat) and spend the day/night with family in NJ.

I contacted Harvard and there is a tour we can go on that Friday.

Question - would you stay BY Harvard or IN Boston? I have never been to Boston and have only done a small amount of research.

Thank you in advance,

Dawn

If it's a college visit, then I'd stay in Cambridge. You'd get more of a feel for what the school and Cambridge are like outside of school hours. It's important to get the entire feel of a place on a college tour (and the feel of the town is what drove my college/grad school decisions).

If it's just to see Harvard, you can do that in a few hours, and take the very short T ride back into Boston.

kgh8m - It is just to see Harvard. She is eleven :-)

HeHe! Then definitely stay in Boston. Harvard is pretty and the college-y part of Cambridge is cool, too (MIT is prettier to me), but that would probably occupy about 2 hours of her time.

Boston has so many more things to do. And, for an 11 year old, I'd really, really recommend a Duck Tour (you can book online). That's cute and fun, and I'm 30! Boston is also incredibly walkable - so you could hit Boston Common, Faneuil Hall, a good look at the Harbor, etc. all just by an easy walk.

Great! Thank you!

What area would you recommend in Boston? We will not have a car, are arriving by train...

Hi Dawn,

The Back Bay is central to everything so any hotel there would work. Not sure what your budget is, but the Liberty Hotel is very nice and right across from a red line T stop which will take you to Harvard Sq pretty quickly.

Also, the Charles Hotel in Harvard Sq would be a great choice, it's on the pricey side though.

Thanks Wyatt - I will look into both of those. I would prefer to stay under 350.00 a night. I can hardly stomach paying more then that for any hotel room.

Silly question but is Harvard Square in Cambridge or Boston? :-)

The Charles hotel was 599.00...no way.

The Liberty is 475.00 - looks like I might have to up my budget.

The train from NYC to Boston for basically 1/2 a day and dinner seems like a lot to me, but if you are up for it - go ! you have more energy than I do :)

If you are taking the train from NYC to Boston in the morning, you likely are not arriving in Boston until close to noon - get to your hotel, check in and get right on the T and go over to walk around Harvard U in Cambridge - even if you walk around Harvard for one hour or so, getting there and back, I'd think you'd have to have eaten up at least 2 hours at the minimum -

So I'd get back to Boston so maybe you would ahve time for something fun like a Duck Tour which would give you an overview (buy your tix ahead and they leave from Pru Shops/Prudential/Copley Square area )
and maybe spend the night in the North End where after some good italian you could walk, visit one of the pastry shops for dessert, and head back to your hotel - or eat in downtown Boston or Newbury St depending on your preferences

From the train station at Back Bay you could walk to so many hotels in and around Copley Place - and that would make it easy for you leaving in the A.M. also - and be near Duck Tours, Boston Public Library, Newbury Street, Boston Public Garden and the Common -give us an idea of your price range, that would help in making suggestions -

Don't know which day you need in October, but saw this for the latter half of October:
http://hotels.travelzoo.com/lodging-hotels/463158
It appears to be in the Back Bay area.

There must be something going on during the first few weekends in October...

Also - is this tour at Harvard one of the college tours or is it a general public tour of Harvard? That would make a difference to me - I would think an 11 yr old would be bored with the college tour - listening to questions about dorm life and rules and regulations and activities, curriculum questions, etc -

if that is the case, maybe you'd be better off doing your own "tour" , visiting one of their museums and not being held down to a specific time

there's a ton going on in Boston in October - depending on your weekend - the Charles Regatta, College Parents and Visitor Weekends, all the seniors looking at schools they will be applying to - plus the holiday wknd -

Harvard Sq is in Cambridge. The Colonnade (that kgh8m posted) is a good choice.

Hotels in Boston will be pricey, but I think you can find something for under $350. What's the date you'll be here?

there are tours of Harvard for the general public as well as tours run by the admissions office for prospective students
www.harvard.edu/siteguide/faqs/faq18.html

I think you and your daughter would probably enjoy the general ones or a self-guided tour at her age.

The Sheraton commander is another hotel in Cambridge near Harvard Square, more in your price range than the Charles. I have not been inside this hotel for years but it gets ok reviews on Trip Advisor

If your daughter likes pretty college campuses/towns, and you're going to be in NJ, don't miss Princeton.

Just a quick note to second the advice given by Wyatt in here. I was going to post a longer review but those messages match mine pretty much spot on.

Thank you so much! I know it seems like a lot to me as well - it is adding a great amount of money to the budget as well as time. Having said that she really wants to go to Harvard. I was worried a "real" tour would bore her as well - but having been on them before with 20 year old son - sometimes you can slip away if it gets to be too boring.

Because it is such a limited amount of time I am wondering if just staying out by Harvard is best?

It is Friday, Oct. 10, 2008.

I'm not sure staying out by Harvard makes any real difference. The train is going to bring you into either South Station or Back Bay in Boston - so it's a choice of either dropping your stuff at a hotel relatively near one of the stations - and then making your way to Harvard and back -

or lugging your stuff on the T or getting somehow from the Amtrak stations to Cambridge upon arrival and then seeing Harvard and then taking the T into Boston to see some of the city, have dinner - and back to Cambridge to sleep to get back to the Boston Amtrak station in the morning - unless you were not going to see any of Boston and only do Harvard Square area

Personally, I'd rather stay in Boston. Go over to Harvard for the tour and be able to see some of Boston late afternoon/early evening - dinner in one of the Boston neighbohoods (Back Bay, North End, Waterfront, etc) and be near the train station for my morning departure -

but I suppose you could also defend the opposite.....

escargot - that makes good sense. I am still not 100 percent on adding this extra trip. I will talk to dd more in the am. Thank you as always for all the good feedback. I will let you all know what I decide.