Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Which area of Boston and itinerary

We will be arriving in Boston on either 10 or 11 July for the weekend and leaving on Monday 14. We haven%26#39;t yet decided between 3 or 4 nights there.





Which area of Boston would you recommend we stay in so that we have easy access to the main sights? We prefer small hotels or B%26amp;Bs and are considering Cambridge.





We would like to be near to a choice of restaurants.





The only things we have planned to do so far are the Freedom Trail, take a photo of the Cheers bar (without going in) and a tour of Fenway Park. As we can%26#39;t get tickets to a game without overpaying we would quite like to watch it in a bar maybe (either Friday or Saturday) but not a rowdy drunken bar.





In respect of the Fenway Park tour, what day is likely to be least busy and what time of day?





Thanks





Which area of Boston and itinerary


Lots of great B%26amp;Bs in Camridge, with attractions of its own, and an easy ride on the Red line subway into the sights in Boston.





Here are some resources.....



Places to stay in Cambridge



(nearest subway stop in parenthesis)





A Friendly Inn (Harvard)



http://www.afinow.com/





Harding House (Central)



http://www.cambridgeinns.com/harding/





Irving House (Harvard)



http://www.cambridgeinns.com/irving/





A Cambridge House



http://www.acambridgehouse.com/





Mary Prentiss Inn (Harvard)



http://www.maryprentissinn.com/





A B%26amp;B in Cambridge (Harvard)



http://www.cambridgebnb.com/





On www.bnbboston.com/cambridge/cambridge_1_e.htm



Prospect Place B%26amp;B (Central)



Birdhouse Suite (Kendall)



The Scholar (Harvard)



And lots of others





…harvard.edu/events/…biogeographylodging.pdf



opens a document originated by Harvard Univ. with a list of nearby accomodations





web.mit.edu/housing/och/guest_houses.html



another list, this one by MIT (Mass. Institute of Technology)





subway map



www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/subway/



Which area of Boston and itinerary


Hi,





You will be very surprised how easily walkable Boston is when you get here. Neighborhoods look so far away on a map when they%26#39;re really not far at all. Staying in any Boston neighborhood like Back Bay, Downtown, Financial District, Beacon Hill, Fenway, North End, they are all walkable. Anywhere is accessible by using the T. It%26#39;s cheap, conveinent and efficent. The only areas I wouldn%26#39;t recommend are the airport and South Boston waterfront. They are the least desirable. There%26#39;s other neighborhoods of Boston not desirable, like Dorchester and Roxbury, but they are further away from the main area of the city and usually not sought out by visitors. Any of the areas I listed above are perfect for Boston. Be somewhat cautious in selecting Cambridge as well. While the T covers most of the hotel areas, there are a few less than desirable areas mainly because of lack of access to the T to get you into Boston. The hotels along the Charles River in Cambridge are the best ones with a couple of exceptions, the Hyatt being one.





Some hotels worth looking into depending on your budget are Jurys. It%26#39;s a very popular hotel with the UK crowd. So is the Lenox. Hotel Commonwealth, Nine Zero, Onyx, and XV Beacon are a few more smaller, wonderful hotels to consider.



The Charles Hotel and Hotel Marlowe are solid choices in Cambridge.





B%26amp;B%26#39;s I recommend in Boston are The Charles Street Inn, Clarendon Square Inn and the Gyphon House. There%26#39;s several more good ones as well.





Never worry about being near restaurants in Boston. They are never far away. Every neighborhood has good choices and the others are a short walk or T ride away.





I always recommend taking a Duck Tour to first time visitors. They are a good laugh and give you a good oversight of the city of Boston as well as a bit of Cambridge.





There are several upscale type bars to watch the game around Boston. Stay away from the immediate area surrounding Fenway Park which will definitely be rowdy. Don%26#39;t worry about that either. There are many places, if not all, in every neighborhood that will have the game on. Just pick one that suits your mood.





The Fenway tour is the unknown. You%26#39;ll never know how many people will show up for the time you select, since there%26#39;s no reservations for the tour. It could be 10, it could be 100. Being that it will be July, plan on it being more than less. The best time to go would proabably be the first or second tour of the morning. First tour is at 9am and tickets for the first or second tours of the day can be purchased at the Red Sox store, not the Fenway Ticket office. The store is right at the park on Yawkey Way.





Feel free to ask any questions you have while planning your trip.




I would also suggest not giving up on the Sox tickets. Try their website as you get closer to the game since they do release some tickets.




I would go down to Fenway the day of the game and try to buy ';Standing Room Only'; tickets, which are released just before the game starts. As the name implies you don%26#39;t get a seat, but the seats aren%26#39;t very comfortable at Fenway to begin with and it%26#39;s a lot easier to get to the bathroom if you%26#39;re having a few brews while watching the game. If you can%26#39;t get tickets, you can always go to the Cask n Flagon to watch the game.




How soon before the day do they release more tickets on the website? We are travelling around in the 2 weeks before arriving in Boston and will not have easy access to the internet.





The games we are looking at are Friday and Saturday 11 and 12 July against Baltimore Orioles. Not knowing a lot about the game, are these big games? Just trying to assess our chances of getting tickets on the day. As we only have a few days in Boston, I don%26#39;t want to spend all day queuing for tickets if there is little chance of getting them.





BTW, thanks for the accomodation suggestions.




Head to www.stubhub.com for tickets in advance. it%26#39;s a safe and reputable site where tickets are bought and sold in advance. shipping, or pick-up is available. by the way, i just quickly checked tix for fridays game againbst baltimore, and there%26#39;s plenty of good tickets available.








I have been checking out some accomodations (with the help of TAs reviews of course) and have narrowed it down to the following:-





Clarendon Square Inn



Charles Street Inn



Gryphon House



Colonnade hotel



Jurys



Langham





Decided to stay in Boston, not Cambridge.





I do prefer B%26amp;Bs and small hotels to chains so have not really looked at the Marriots etc.





Of these, the Clarendon Square and Charles Inn are the most expensive but include breakfast, but is there something about B%26amp;Bs not being able to provide a cooked breakfast?





If we choose a hotel on a room only basis, are there some good places nearby to get breakfast?




Decided to book the Colonnade.





Any reasonably priced breakfast/dinner recommendations?




Depends on what you call reasonable, but the Brasserie Jo right at your hotel is fantastic. Good prices and the food is excellent.




Actually now I have looked at the menu it looks reasonable at $14





The one at the Langham for instance is $23





I have found in the past that some hotel breakfasts tend to be priced as though its all good quality freshly prepared food when you are actually getting a buffet thats been sat around drying under the lights.





I have a website called Citysearch that lists restaurants so I will check that out.





Thanks

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