Are You Familiar with Boston?

As Diane mentioned, the city itself is pretty small and everything is easily accessible by subway, taxi/uber, or on foot. The area that you're talking about would be known, going from East to West, as the Seaport District, the Waterfront, the Financial District, and Downtown. The North End is right there too. Some great hotels in the area are the Longwharf Marriott, the Seaport Boston Hotel, Renaissance Boston Waterfront, and The Boston Harbor Hotel, but they're no bargain. If staying in that area breaks your budget, there may be better priced options just over the river in Cambridge or Charlestown, or you can head south to Quincy. Know that parking downtown runs about $30-40 a day (and our reputation as having the worst roads and drivers is well earned LOL) so if you can find something that will allow you to avoid renting a car, that would be best.

Have fun planning!

Hi E.,

We visited Boston last year at Christmas and had a FANTASTIC time. Diane B. was so very helpful and gave me lots of great tips. Traffic there is pretty heavy and can be confusing (at least it was for us and we're used to driving in metropolitan cities). I was super glad to park our vehicle and walk/uber our way around. Parking is expensive so if you're flying in you might consider transportation to where you're staying and not messing with a rental car at all. It's a very easy city to navigate on foot or using public transportation.

We stayed at the Residence Inn, Tudor Wharf. It was beautiful and I was able to get a better deal on Priceline. We also did a trolley tour that was outstanding. You get a lot of history and perspective and can exit off at places that interest you. They offer several packages that are a good deal and take you to great places of interest.

I want to go back again and would probably try to rent an apartment or home in the Beacon Hill area or the North End. Those neighborhoods are incredible.

If you'd like more info, give me a shout or visit with Diane. She was instrumental in my family having a wonderful time.

Have a great time!

I've lived in and outside of Boston for years. First of all, it's a small city - so you can get from one section to another very easily. It's just not NYC or LA or Chicago in terms of mileage. You can also message Lori H. - she just brought her family here last year and I gave her a ton of info, but I honestly forget where she stayed. Use AAA or Groupon or the Hotwire type sites for current deals. The area you're talking about is prime real estate - but you can be in Brookline or Cambridge or Charlestown which are so incredibly close you wouldn't believe it.

The Freedom Trail covers a big expanse, and you can pick it up and leave it whenever you want. Faneuil Hall has a small museum, and adjacent to it is Quincy Market. You can walk to the waterfront from there, and you can get a good walk to the North End (the old Italian section) and Paul Revere's house as well as the Old North Church ("one if by land, two if by sea").

If you are coming in mild weather, you can do the Duck Boats which pick up 2 locations in the city, the Museum of Science and the Prudential Center. The MOS is fantastic (are you bringing your kids? it's great for all ages!) and a site unto itself. For history, you can also do the Bunker Hill area and the Tea Party ship too. Additional museums include the Museum of Fine Arts, the Aquarium, the Kennedy Library, and the Peabody Museum (natural history, geology, more) in Cambridge near Harvard.

Boston has a color-coded subway/mass transit system (subways downtown, trolleys on the outskirts, but you don't change cars in a color system). You can get a good map in a million places, but once you read green, blue, red, or orange, you can make your way easily, and there are places where they intersect. Several lines cross, for example, by the Boston Common and the Public Garden. These are great in good weather.

How long will you be here? Do you have any specific things you want/need to do?

Feel free to message me. I did a whole bunch and back-and-forth stuff with Lori, and she and her kids had a great time. Happy to help.

Pretty sure JB lives in Boston. If you don't get any good answers you can try messaging her

My husband and I went to Boston for our 20th anniversary a couple of years ago. If you stay anywhere downtown everything is easy to get to. We used VRBO and stayed in an amazing brownstone that was over a hundred years old but was updated beautifully! It was so cheap, too. We loved it! Have a great trip!

I use AAA to find this information.
I've been a member since I was 18 (36 years ago) and it's been extremely valuable over the years both for road side assistance and for travel information.
I love their maps and their apps.