mommybryant

Hi all, We are a family of four traveling from Birmingham, Al to Boston and surrounding areas. We plan on coming sometime next summer after graduations are over, maybe mid to late June. Is that a good time?? We will be flying in on Southwest and wondered if Providence or Manchester would be preferable to fly into. Is either one closer or more scenic or interesting for our first night on the East coast?? Any suggestions will be appreciated. Then we will rent a car and drive into Boston and do the usual touristy stuff, i.e. Freedom Trail, look at old cemetaries, Paul Revere's house, Boston Commons, try to see a Red Sox game, take in a ferry ride or whale trip, Quincy Market, and whatever else I figure out. Should I consider downtonw or Back Bay for a hotel? I had hoped to stay at John Jeffries house, but the rooms only sleep 3. I will search the boards plenty in the next few weeks planning this trip for good info. But help with the Southwest arrival and departure airport would be so great. Thanks in advance!

Anonymous

Mid- to late June will be an excellent time to visit.

None of the activities that mentioned would require the use of a car; it will only be a burden to drive and park it in the city. I don't know about Manchester, but you can get a bus directly from TF Green airport (which serves Providence but technically is in Warwick RI) to South Station, the main bus station in Boston, and from there catch a taxi to your hotel.

lollylo25

Fly into Providence or Manchester ONLY if you get a good deal on airfare or if this is the only airport.... Other than that, you will see nothing of interest in one day in either of these places.
June is a great time, but weather in New England can be unpredictabe, and rain/humidity may be likely. Take umbrellas. I suggest you not have a car,and stay in Back Bay for sure, or Copley Square, Beacon Hill. A car will only complicate your trip and hinder you. Boston has a good public transportation system and it's cheap.
To get from Providence or Manchester to Boston you can take a train which will let you off at South Station and from there it is really close to the places I mentioned to stay. Boston is a walking city, small and doable, and in June it will be a great vacation. Watch out for the drivers though!

annieO

We have flown into Manchester twice on Southwest but we've been going to Maine. Each time, there were quite a few Bostonians on our flights. Manchester is also a smaller airport. If you don't land late at night, you could drive to Portsmouth for the night. Since I haven't been to Boston, I don't know the logistics of getting to Boston from there.

We were there in June both times & didn't encounter humidity and little rain. When I checked the rates for next year, Southwest was half the rates of the other airlines flying into Manchester (at least for us).

socialworker

Definitely preferable to land in Providence, IMO.

china_cat

If you spend the first night in Providence, you could take a bus or train into Boston, and never get a car.

On the other hand, if you have a bit of time, you could fly into Providence and go to Newport RI for your first night and see a couple of the mansions.

Mid/late June is a very nice time to see Boston. Weather can be quite nice (if it doesn't rain too much, of course).

gail

If you save money by flying SWA into Providence or Manchester, you will more than exceed that savings in rental car and parking fees. You do not want a car in Boston - except perhaps for a day trip and then you can rent one for the day from downtown Boston location.

Hotels - downtown, Back Bay, Copley areas are prime. Be careful - Boston hotels are pricey and many visitors try to save money by booking hotels that sound like good locations but are actually awful. Ten miles outside Boston downtown can take an hour or more on public transit and the cost for a family of 4 adds up fast. If you stay in one of the above areas everything will be either in walking distance or a very short and convenient subway ride. I would shorten my trip by a day to save money rather than staying outside of these areas to save money.

Route from either city takes an hour - witout traffic, with Providence being a little faster. Not much to see along either route, but Providence is a far more interesting city if you choose to spend a night in one or the other.

Check websites of either airport for transportation options into Boston. I know that Flightline (a company that runs large vans for airport transportation - website of same name) had a pilot program that was going to be extended from Manchester to downtown Boston. I would also post here with title like "Ground transportation Providence( or Manchester) to downtown Boston. Others will have more exact info than I.

It sounds like you have already done some researc since you are listing the prime activities and asking the right questions. Have a good trip. There is a collection of regular posters here from Boston area and any of us will try to help.

mommybryant

Wow! Thanks everyone so much for your suggestions. I think we will just land in Providence then after reading everyone's suggestions. (We have free vouchers from using the SW credit card and saving our rewards). The ground transportation to Boston was the only reason I was thinking of getting a car. We are walkers and welcome seeing the city by foot. Thanks for the tip on finding ground transportation from the airport website. That was my concern. Yes, I have gotten a few library books and read some posts already, but much more to be done. I am excited! It looks like such a beautiful area to explor and my boys (15 and 11) are the perfect ages.

rmw555

Hi - Agree with the previous posters who suggest Providence over Manchester & taking the train to South Station. If you can possibly avoid renting a car, you really should do so -- otherwise it will be an expensive (street parking is a nightmare) headache (Boston is very difficult to navigate if you're unfamiliar with the one-ways).

As for timing, you might want to check the websites of the larger colleges/universities to make sure you miss graduation season (in addition to Harvard and MIT, check Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, Wentworth and Suffolk).

Hotels - try Quikbook.com - they usually have good deals and unlike other discount sites (e.g. hoteldiscounts.com) you don't have to prepay and the hotel cancellation policy applies. I'd check via mapquest before making a reservation, to be sure the hotel is truly in downtown Boston (or Cambridge) and is near a T stop(Boston's subway system) - many suburban hotels advertise themselves as being "Boston" but aren't.

It's a great walking city and you and your boys will have lots to do! Some things to check into: The Museum of Science (has an IMAX & planetarium, good if it rains), the Freedom Trail, Duck tours (odd vehicles that are a combo of boat & bus so you drive through the city and also on the Charles River). Boston Common is really just a park - not much to see. Walking around Newbury & Boylston Streets in Boston, or Harvard Square in Cambridge, would probably be more interesting (both have lots of shops & cafes). If you are here for a few days you might want to look into the fast ferry to Provincetown, on Cape Cod -- you can go there and back in a day and it's a great town. As for the Sox -- tickets are not easy to come by, so I would start looking early and not make any promises to the kids.

Have fun and thanks for coming!

Anonymous

I'm pretty sure that the trains (Amtrak and Commuter Rail) do not serve the airport, but the Peter Pan bus line does. So it would be simpler, faster, and probably cheaper to take the bus rather than the train.

bachslunch

Depending on how much time you have, Providence can keep you pleasantly occupied for a day or two, as can Newport, which is reasonably easy to reach. Plus you can take the commuter rail or Amtrak from Providence to Boston.

There's little of interest to see in Manchester, NH, and taking public transport to Boston from there is more cumbersome.

gail

Timing of mid-late June should avoid all college graduations.

charli

Forget the suggestions to add Newport, Cape Cod, etc. to your BOSTON vacation. You could spend weeks in Boston and not see everything. To add extraneous destinations just adds confusion, never mind additional costs. Stick to your plan. Fly to PVD, take the bus to Boston and have a great time. If you want water sights, there are cruises throughout Boston Harbor and the islands there. This is a fabulous city!

mommybryant

Thanks Charli! I tend to agree with you, but still want to see Cape Cod. How much, I dont know. You tell me?? We had about decided to fly into Providence on a Friday afternoon and drive to the Cape..spend two nights...(one full day) and then drive to Boston. Thought a car might be useful in exploring the Cape and other areas of interest. Havent found a hotel yet, but thought of locating near a T, just outside of town where we could park the car for free. Then we will have our transportation back to the Providence on the way out. But dont want to spend a lot of time commuting either.

We would still have seven (7) whole days to explore Boston (from Monday through Sat, leaving on Sunday. So we have plenty of time. Would also like to include a whale watch tour. What other nearby destination should we include??

rb_travelerxATyahoo

Checking for my nephew, who will be going from Boston to Providence next month:

PeterPan bus will cost $22/person

MBTA Commuter rail will be $7.75 between downtown Providence to South Station

If you're traveling real light, the RIPTA bus will cost $1.75 each from TF Greene Airport to Kennedy Plaza Providence, with about a 1/4 mi walk to the rail station. About a 1/2 hr city bus ride, so a taxi is probably not very costly.

Note: MBTA rail does not go all the way to Providence on weekends.

You may find lodging in Warwick or Providence much less expensive than Boston, with good "walking" environment downtown - if u want that as a way to spend your first night -- I'd do that only if arriving late in the day.

gail

OP - Traffic Providence to Cape on a Friday afternoon in the summer will be nasty - but Sat AM is not much better, so staying the night near Providence won't help. Not impossible - just nasty. Anytime after 3 PM is bad - but depending on time of flight and how tired you are, have dinner and leave Providence around 7 PM and it should be better. Sunday afternoon in oppostie direction will not be any better - if weather is good, the later the worse it will be. If it is raining, people leave earlier.

For Boston your idea of finding a hotel near MBTA with free parking and taking MBTA into Boston sounds like a reasonable one - until you try to find such a hotel. Do a search here on Boston lodging - a few such hotels exist, but most are in undesirable areas - ugly, some a little sketchy. And just because a hotel lists itself as 1/4 mile to MBTA does not mean it is actually walkable - it could be on a major highway (several in Dorchester are like that). Be careful of hotel actual location - since cost of lodging in Boston is so high, many deceptively list themselves as things like Waltham/Boston - and they are actually only a few miles from the city but multiple transfers on public transportation.
Find a hotel, post name here, Boston people will comment.

Anonymous

It doesn't make sense to choose a hotel based on its having free storage for the rental car, and end up commuting into the city. Give up the car, then rent another one or take the bus back to the airport.

emalloy

There is a passenger ferry that goes from Boston to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. If you don't need a car that would be a much easier way to see a bit of the Cape and you could take a whale watch from P town.

mommybryant

Is Provincetown the best location to catch a whale watching tour, or should we go from somewhere else?? Still thinking about the car since that is the cheapest way to transport 4 people from RI + I have rented an apt, instead of a hotel, and will have free parking on the street. Thought it might come in handy for more out of the area trips if we should choose. WE will have a full week in Boston, after the two days spent on the Cape.

Anonymous

There are also whale watching tours out of Boston and the north shore, but they all head out to the same part of the ocean. So IMHO it doesn't make sense to go to P'town first in order to take a whale watch, that's like choosing to change planes instead of taking a nonstop flight.

Where is the house that you rented? If it has on-street parking, it's not downtown.