Rental car in Boston?
 

I will be staying in New York City from October 14-17 and then head out to Boston for Oct 18-20, and back to JFK to fly home. Should I get a rental car in Boston? I don't have hotel reservation at this time. Looking for hotel reservation on outskirt of downtown. Thanks.

No, I think a car in Boston would be more of a liability than an asset for an out of towner.

Why do you want to stay on the outskirts of town?

Boston is not a place you want to drive - lots of one way streets, yuo can;t get there from here and no places to park/garages are expensive.

If you want to see downtown Boston stay there and don;t rent a car.

If you want to see the surroundings, then rent a car and stay there - but which ones are you interested in?

We just got back from Boston and were able to ride the T everywhere we wanted to go. I'd try to get a hotel near a T stop if possible.

One time we wanted to drive from New York to Boston. The drive up was lovely, then it took us TWO hours from our hotel near BU to get gas and find the drop off place over near the aquarium!! Poor signage, one way streets, lots of construction. AAARGH!

I know that was unusual, but really, driving in boston is nuts. Much, much faster to tak the T or a cab.

We now take the train between the cities, too.

You don't have a hotel reservation - that is a little troublesome as this is a very busy time in Boston. I suggest you fix this soon.

Ohhh, I didn't notice the dates...good luck with a hotel. My firiend just spent half of yesterday trying to get a hotel for her daughter on those exact dates. I think it might be the "Head of the Charles" regatta that weekend.

That was my point - Head of Charles regatta plus still some Parents' weekends at colleges. OP may find him/herself staying in southern Maine - does that count as outskirt of downtown.

Good luck finding hotel reservations in Boston proper at this late date, as others have mentioned, much going on. If you do have to drive into the city, we found the best place to park was at the Musuem of Science (Cambridge?) as this is inexpensive and fairly near T stop.

If you do drive in the city most garages downtown are only $10-12 all day on saturday and sunday. The are $10 after 4pm on friday as well. I wouldn't park all the way out by the museum of science, then you have to hop on the T to get anywhere. Boston Common garage is only $10 the whole day on the weekends. But if you are staying in a hotel downtown, I wouldnt rent a car. You wont use it!

We just stayed at the Westin Waterfront in Boston and it was across the street from the T and the hotel is new and nice and around $229..try direct or Expedia..you can walk to downtown and if you do get a rental car, we parked ours across the street for free vs. the $39 valet..it was way more frustrating to take the car into downtown Boston..
I would not get a hotel on the outskirts of town.

btw, you can take a china town bus to/from Boston for dirt cheap. I've taken them to DC and it was like $35 roundtrip for the 4 hr trip each way. Boston is closer.