Traveling to Boston in October

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not stay in the Seaport area. Area is really dead and quite a walk to anything. Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square is lovely, there is an Intercontinental on the water, as well as a couple of great Kimpton hotels. Things to see would include the Freedom Trail, a Duck tour, Fenway Park, Cambridge/HarvardSquare as well as a wander around the North End.

I'm not current on restaurants, but The Modern in the North End is great for cannoli and coffee, I've found the Italian restaurants there a bit inconsistent.

We stayed at the Seaport World Trade Center for a wedding and walked easily to Quincy Market and the North End as well as trying many of the new restaurants on the waterfront. If you haven't been in a while, you will be pleasantly surprised how built up it is.

[Anonymous]

Oh, you're going to have fun! I just graduated from Boston College a couple years ago.

The weather will be gorgeous, leaves turning fall colors and just wonderful weather. You may be in time to watch the Head of the Charles Regatta - are either yours or your DH's alma maters going to be participating in the race? The regatta draws a TON of universities and prep schools. But even if you don't have a boat in the race, it's lots of fun. You can get some hotdogs or donuts and have a picnic on the riverbank, watching the boats go by and seeing everyone support their school teams.

I don't know what hotels to recommend because I'm not sure what your budget is, but I do think it's worth it to stay at one of Boston's amazing heritage hotels. The Fairmont, The Taj, The Langham, The Liberty (it's right in Beacon Hill!), etc are all landmarks. And totally beautiful inside!

You should absolutely do Boston's historic walking tour, the Freedom Trail, because it's a wonderful way to see the city and enriching because you get to appreciate how much history there is. And you should definitely dine in the Seaport district - it has ridiculous views of the Boston Harbor and is really the "happening" place in town if you're into that sort of thing - full of great restaurants and bars.

Oh and reserve a night at The Beehive if you like great food and live music.

Apart from that, just soak in the area by foot as much as you can. Boston is very walkable, and by walking you'll see and appreciate so much more. Brookline's Coolidge Corner has a beautiful independent movie theater and one of my favorite independent bookstores, the Brookline Booksmith (actually, Boston is teeming with ancient independent bookstores that are as old as America - visit them!).

You can even walk from Coolidge Corner to Harvard Square in Cambridge (a 1-hour walk approximately) which gives you a view of Boston's great student neighborhoods like Allston and Cambridge. Oh, and Allston has some of the best low-budget dining! Harvard Ave in Allston is full of amazing Korean restaurants, the best being Kaju Tofu. They are up there with some of the best Korean places you'll eat at anywhere in the world, and are not only very inexpensive but very trendy. At Kaju Toju you should avoid lunch hour though, the wait is too long.

Likewise, if you are staying at a hotel in the Back Bay, just walk to Beacon Hill or the North End. Everything is 15 minutes from everywhere else. Walk everywhere! Boston is such a pleasure to explore by foot because of the urban density and it's geographically just tiny. It's a very small city which punches above its weight, so it appears bigger than it is. Bring comfortable walking shoes and take advantage of the great weather by just walking everywhere.

If you want to catch an off-Broadway show, the universities are responsible for great theatrical entertainment, especially Boston University, Tufts, Emerson and Harvard. You can check online to see if any good shows are going to be playing when you're in town. I highly recommend taking advantage of interesting student plays because there's always something special.

The Boston MFA is also a wonderful art museum if that subject interests you. It has huge permanent collections and the rotating exhibits are always great (I know they have Sargent's watercolors now). I don't think you'll find a better curated art museum in America. There are a lot of other museums worth visiting but when I was at Boston College I was a repeat visitor to the MFA.

There's a lot of amazing dining options, depending on what you want. So just look at Yelp for that, or if you have specific preferences I can recommend something. If you're whisky fans, I recommend ending an evening at Saloon in Davis Square, Somerville. Actually, you should definitely visit Somerville. Tufts University is in Somerville and it's an amazing, artsy, thriving neighborhood! Porter Square, Powderhouse Square, Davis Square, etc are all full of amazing restaurants and bars and shops.

I could go on forever. There's a lot to do in Boston, all depends on what your tastes are!

[Anonymous]

Boston is extremely walkable. Think opposite of DC.

[Anonymous]

Yes don't assume just because you could take the T you need to.

Not sure how expensive it is but the Rowes wharf hotel is another possibility-- take the water taxi from the airport and it's convenient to the North End and Faneuil Hall.

Also don't think you need to go to union oyster house.

[Anonymous]

Just FYI. Went to Boston one year Columbus day weekend. Highs were in the 30's. It was unusual but it can happen. Pack accordingly.

[Anonymous]

We stayed at the Seaport World Trade Center for a wedding and walked easily to Quincy Market and the North End as well as trying many of the new restaurants on the waterfront. If you haven't been in a while, you will be pleasantly surprised how built up it is.

The Seaport is the oldest and closest in hotel in that area. I was there last year and yes, the Seaport is fine, but as far as I could see the area is Mostly a characterless collection of chain restaurants and hotels. I'd prefer pretty much any other part of the city.