I need some advice about planning a trip to the Boston area to see some colleges. This summer, I’m taking my daughter on a road trip to see some colleges in Massachusetts. She really wants to see Boston area colleges like BU, BC, and Tufts. I’d like her to see Brandeis too. Our travel dates are TBD. I could really use some advice on where to stay. Although we will have a car to get to a hotel/Airbnb, I don’t want to use it in Boston.
I know a lot of people have more experience with this than I. I’m open to advice on planning the trip. I appreciate your help!
Correct. I don’t want to drive in Boston. I was worried about being able to find places. I’ll look into the places you recommended.
D is skeptical about women’s colleges, although we will be touring Mount Holyoke on the same trip and maybe Smith. Perhaps Wellesley too, if there is time. She has zero interest in Clark. We visited there on a different trip and she did not find enough about Clark she liked to offset her feelings about Worcester.
She really doesn’t know what she wants. She has romanticized Boston so much, that this trip is really to see if any of the colleges live up to her imagination. Of the colleges we’ve seen so far, she really seems to like SLACs proximal to a city, but not where everyone leaves every weekend, or in a charming town.
My D23 goes to Emerson. We usually stay at a hotel near the school and find the theatre district/Commons very centrally located to restaurants, tourist stops, shopping and public transportation. I believe the T will take you to all the colleges. Over parents weekend in the fall, we stayed at a hotel in Cambridge and it was only a 15 minutes trainride back to school. It’s 20 minutes from the airport and there are also three Amtrak terminals in Boston if that is convenient. Boston is walkable whereever you stay.
@Rostov I was confused by your post. She does want a charming town, or does not want a charming town?
If you don’t want to drive in the city, are you thinking a suburb? It will be a lot more time-consuming to visit these schools without a car I think. If you take public transportation, they are kind of all over the map.
We visited most of these schools…and never drove a car. Took public transport everywhere. Left the car where we were staying. Driving in Boston, if you aren’t familiar with driving in Boston…can be dicey.
I think it also depends on how many days you plan to be there. I think you could easily do two colleges a day using public transportation. One morning…one afternoon.
We know people who actually stayed in Framingham and used public transportation to get to these colleges. A hotel there will be less pricey. Then again…it is fun to be right downtown!
@compmom My apologies for lack of clarity. There is what my daughter claims she wants and what she has actually liked when we’ve visited places. She claims that being in/near a big city is a must. But the colleges to which she has responded most positively are in small cities/towns. She was absolutely charmed by Lewisburg, PA for example.
As for driving, I will have a car but really don’t want to be driving around inside Boston. It’s too expensive to stay inside Boston and pay those parking fees. I think I prefer staying in a suburb and taking a train in where it makes sense to do that. And drive where it’s easier to drive than take public transit. I just don’t have enough knowledge of Boston to know how to plan for that. I’m trying to save money and my nerves that can’t handle city driving well.
I agree that staying in the theater district will be easy for getting to schools like tufts/neu/bu. You should definitely check the T schedule before you come, though—they’re doing a lot of work on it this spring & partial line closures are frequent. There will be bus replacements, but the ride will take longer. But it will still be easy to Uber/lyft to those schools from downtown. Just make sure you check the closure schedule for your trip dates: Subway | Schedules & Maps | MBTA
@thumper1 Great! This is what I was thinking. Navigating Boston in a car, is not how I want to spend my time. We will be there a few days. I think she’s going to have to make hard choices about which ones to see, maybe 4-5 max. I’ll check out places in Framingham. Thanks.
Green line to BU and BC, Red Line to Tufts, train to Brandeis. It’s doable. Framingham seems a little random. You could stay on any train or subway line and take it into North Station. Look at the MBTA train map? Salem isn’t far and is on the train, as an example, though touristy. Might be fun at night. Concord, ditto, close on the train and interesting to visit. Lots of options.
The worst day is September 1…which is moving day for just about every college student in Boston. An awful time to be there if you don’t have to be.
OTOH, the pops concert and fireworks at the esplanade are well worth the crowds…if you happen to be there abutting the Fourth of July.
And I would check Airbnb. You never know what might come up. Summers in Boston can get pretty hot. Many vacationers choose to go elsewhere (like Cape Cod or north to the mountains). You might find some availability on Airbnb.
Check this thread from February. You might find some good suggestions as there are three college overlaps.
OP- the close in hotels/motels will have addresses in Brookline, Somerville, Allston, Newton. West Roxbury; Easy public transportation to wherever you want to go. A little further out (but still convenient)- Newton, Waltham (where Brandeis is), Wellesley (a gorgeous leafy suburb with a cute downtown area), Chestnut Hill where half of BC is located. You do not need to drive in Boston, Cambridge, Medford… if you aren’t a local it’s painful, and it’s expensive for anyone to park there.
If OP doesn’t feel comfortable with urban driving (particularly in an unfamiliar city), it’s possible places like Allston and Somerville may not be quite suburban enough. Chestnut Hill is a great suggestion given ease of access to the T and proximity to BC.
One thing I’d add for OP is that both Commuter Rail and the T are useful, but just be aware that the Commuter Rail generally goes less frequently and costs a bit more than the T. If you plan to get into the city using the T (which you can do from Chestnut Hill, Somerville, Allston, etc.), you can just show up and wait for the next train. If you plan to get into the city using the commuter rail (the further outside the city you go the more likely this is your only option), you will want to check the schedule and get there at the appropriate time for the next train because otherwise you could be waiting a very long time.
That’s my post.
We did the trip and had a terrific time. Eventually (after more trips are done) I’ll post on the Crossed off/Went up thread with our impressions. We were there for 5 days and visited 4 schools. It was a vacation in addition to a school visit. We did plenty of touristy things and had fabulous meals.
Based on a recommendation from that post, we stayed at the Hotel Commonwealth. It is on the Green line for the T and was very conveinient. I will note that it is about 2 blocks from Fenway so definitely avoid if there’s a home game. We used to live in NYC (before kids) without a car and DD loves cities so traveling everywhere on public transportation was part of the fun.
The Green Line extended all the way to Tufts last year, so all the colleges we saw, BC, BU, Tufts and Northeastern were on the green line. That’s why we chose to stay on that line. We bought 7 day Charlie Cards (transit passes) so we could hop onto/hop off as often as we wanted.
