@broomfield makes a good point. I forgot about Brandeis. If you fly in. Skip the loaner and use Uber for all visits and walk to H.
If you drive into town, Uber to everywhere but Brandeis. It’s not as hard using gps to get to Waltham from HS than navigating some of the patterns In Boston proper.
And also check out NEU too if you have a chance.
And if you stay at the Charles Hotel…you can go to Henrietta’s Table.
http://www.henriettastable.com
Their weekend brunch is one of the best I’ve ever had. We hosted a private breakfast there when DS graduated from BU. It was terrific.
Henrietta’s is my favorite brunch. We actually go on Christmas day.
I can’t remember the name but a darn good Indian dinner in HS is burned into my memory banks.
thanks all!
I would stay in Boston, rather than Cambridge, as you would be staying in the location of at least one of the schools. My friends and I stayed at the Eliot Hotel, which was a nice small hotel in the Back Bay, otherwise, any of the big hotels in the Copley area are good. Harvard Square is a lot of fun, but it won’t give you or your child a sense of Boston.
I’d probably stay in Copley. Easy on/off to Mass Pike. You will get the sense of being in the actual city. You can walk over to NEU or BU or quick taxi/uber. You can get over to Newbury St.
I’d take an adventure one day and get on the T over to Harvard Sq. (MIT is right there too). You can walk around Harvard and that zone for a bit and then hop on the T that takes you over to Tufts, it’s maybe a 5-10 minute T ride, and that T ride is pretty safe and clean. It will dump you in Davis Sq. From there walk up College Ave 10 minutes to Tufts campus. Davis Sq has some great restraints and some funky shops, good college kid zone.
The main issue with visiting all of these schools in the Boston are is that they are very competitive to get in nowadays.
Unless your kid is a decently strong student their chances to be admitted are pretty low to almost impossible ( Harvard/MIT). So you have to set your kids expectations and know what you are dealing with. You may end up spending a lot of time and money visiting schools that never make it on your final list. It could end up feeling like a total waste of time.
Or it could be a fun adventure if your kid likes to visit schools non stop for several days get a good sense of different kinds of schools. My kids were never really interested in college tours and there is certainly no way I could convince either of them that a multi day college visit excursion would be fun.
My kids like to eat at Border Cafe ,mexican in Harvard Sq, Redbones BBQ Davis Sq near Tufts, Sprout/Gyroscope near Northeastern.
I might even consider a side trip to Providence to check out Brown if you have a car.
@Hamurtle --thanks-- don’t think Brown is within reach for us given test scores, but thanks!
If you aren’t worrying so immediately about overnight costs, why worry about the cost of Uber? Same, if the idea was to get an idea what pocket to stay in, then find something cheaper.
My family is very skilled at quick trips, including fun and imprinting good memories. But on a short trip to a congested city, we do that by leaving the driving to others.
Plus, driving in Boston can be especially challenging. Many older cities don’t have the sort of grid newer cities do. Some roads will be narrow, with no easy alternatives. Rush hour gets broader, every year.
One reason to stay in Cambridge is you can walk around(good for talks) and see much, find a good restaurant. Easy access to the T. Medford is sleepier, Somerville is still evolving. Boston proper is fine, but depends on the neighborhood, whether it’s interesting or not.
You have a short trip, optimize by not getting stuck in traffic or getting lost. Or looking for the public transpo, unless it happens to be right there.
I suggest staying near BU, see if they have any hotels listed on the admissions page that offer a discount. You can easily drive to Tufts and Brandeis, not saying quick, just plenty of parking at both and easier to drive than take the T.
If you stay in Boston you can take the commuter rail right out to Brandeis as it is not far walk to the campus. It has been awhile but as my daughter is a Brandeis alum, we mostly stayed at what was the Doubletree right across from the Westin in Waltham and it is an easy and convenient drive from there to Medford to see Tufts as well as into Cambridge. Driving in and around Boston not my most favorite thing to do but you can manage.
Ride-hailing services and subways are the way to go in Boston, but if you have to drive, use a parking app to pre-book a parking spot. It’s a lot cheaper (about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost) than parking at the hotels (assuming you don’t need in-and-out privileges).
I just went to a convention in Boston for four days…and used Lyft with great success. You aren’t going to be traveling to a ton of different places. So…just pick somewhere to stay and go for it. I would agree that the Cambridge area is nice for what it has. But really, you could stay almost anywhere and use a combo of Lyft/Uber and the T or trains…and get to all of the schools you want to see.
I forget…are you driving to Boston?
Driving-- and we decided to stay near Copley Square and drive out to Tufts and Brandeis. thanks for all the suggestions!
My two older kids live in Boston, so we drive up and stay in a hotel a few times a month. My favorite hotel is the Boston Harbor Hotel - just a great location and service, etc. is top notch. You can easily Uber or Lyft to the schools - that’s the easiest way to get around if price is not a consideration. Boston has more Uber drivers than just about any other US city. The Bostonian is nice and reasonably priced - we stayed there last week when we attended a Bruins game. it’s right next to Quincy Market.
There is also a Courtyard by Marriott Downtown that is nice and brand new (I often use their valet parking when I visit since my son lives down the street), and it’s more reasonable (as long as nothing is going on at TD Garden). This is a great location too - adjacent to the North End and the market area.