Looking to stay in Boston for longer than a week and was wondering if it's best to bite the bullet, spend more and stay right downtown, or if it's better to maybe stay a few miles out, save money, and use the transit system. Do locals/ tourists have any advice? Is the train/ bus system reliable?

Also, does anyone have recommendations on Airbnb/VRBO vs hotel? which is better, safer, etc.

New to all of this, so I'm more than willing to listen to any and all advice. Thanks so much!

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johnjaspers1965 t1_jadkmki wrote on February 28, 2023 at 5:49 PM

The hotels downtown and right next to Fenway park have a lot of character. It's just a cool experience to be right in the city. However, the T is it's own experience. Sort of like riding the subway in New York. You gotta do it at least once in your life!

terminal_e t1_jads1v1 wrote on February 28, 2023 at 6:36 PM

The MBTA is actively in shambles, and at various times train routes are being replaced with bus shuttles.

You basically need to brew a pot of coffee/tea, and digest:

https://www.mbta.com/alerts/subway

Before making real plans.

Unfortunately, this is the state of the Bay State. I also don't have my arms around how exhaustive this URL is from a timeline perspective - nothing for April is seemingly cited, but does that honestly mean April won't have any of these planned service outages, or just that they haven't been scheduled yet?

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jjgould165 t1_jaf2o5m wrote on February 28, 2023 at 11:42 PM

It is more about what you are comfortable with, especially if something breaks and you have to react on the fly. When we were in London there was a tube strike and we had to scramble a bit, luckily a Bobby was able to help us out. Boston is wicked safe so don't really worry about that.

If you don't want to stay right downtown, look at Somerville, Quincy, Cambridge, Malden, Revere. Many of the hotels do a pick up/drop off situation from the local transit stop.

Avoid coming over the 3rd week of April, everything is expensive and full.

Menacing_Anus42 t1_jaej5wj wrote on February 28, 2023 at 9:28 PM

IMO save and use the transit system. But don't go too far because it can be a real trek from some areas.