Headed to Boston this July for a girls’ weekend away. Any suggestions for a hotel that is nice (though not necessarily 4 star), centrally located, and in a safe neighborhood? We plan to do the usual touristy stuff (shopping, touring, side trips to Salem or Cape Cod).
Thanks so much for your help!
Newbury Guest House on Newbury street (shopping, centrally located, safe neighborhood) came highly recommended by a friend I had a few years ago (we’ve since lost touch). I’ve never stayed there myself, though.
I think rooms are between $120 & $160 a night.
Can’t beat the location, though parking would be a pain.
For hotels with parking, the Copley Place Marriott and Sheraton both have garages and are located in the Back Bay.
The Omni Parker House (home of Parker House Rolls and Boston Creme Pie) sometimes runs fantastic deals on sites like hotels.com and priceline, so check them out. They are located near Park Street, good location for touristing.
HTH
And I’ve always wanted to stay at the Copley Plaza hotel, but I’m not sure what their rates are. A beautiful old hotel next to Trinity Church.
When we moved to Boston we stayed in the Charles Hotel for a month (my dad’s company gave us three days to find a house and they were like “no”) as we searched for a place to buy. It’s in Harvard Square.
I’ve stayed at the Marriott Copley, and the Millenium Bostonian, and FWIW, the MB was far better. (I don’t know the rates, I was on gov’t rates of $192 per night). The Marriott Copley had a crappy view and small room compared to the MB. The MB is literally right next to Faneuil Hall, so you got that going for ya. Huge room, and a huge bathtub! I took a bath all three nights I was there because it was like a swimming pool in there.
Best hotel I’ve ever stayed in, which really isn’t saying much as I’m usually at the Motel 6.
I had to take a last minute business trip to Boston once, and due to a general lack of available hotel rooms in the city that week, the company put me up in the Custom House. It was by far the best place I’ve ever stayed in - I had an entire (huge) suite to myself (living room, bedroom, bathroom, dining room, and kitchenette), and an incredible view of the city! As I recall, the rates were only about $200 per night, which I thought was quite reasonable for what I got.
The Hotel Buckminster was where my parents stayed when they came to visit me. It’s located right in Kenmore Square, which is a pretty nice area worth seeing even if you don’t stay there. I don’t think it was outrageously priced and their room was nice.
Oh one word of caution. I stayed at the Radisson in Cambridge once and I’d advise against it. It was out of the way from any train stations so you had to take a shuttle or a cab to even get to the train station or to the hotel from the station. Also the area around it isn’t that scenic, although you might get a room over looking the Charles River if you’re lucky. The room wasn’t anything great either.
Not sure which Radisson you stayed at but there is one about 10 steps from the Kendall Square T stop. It’s probably the least walk from any hotel to a T stop in the entire Boston area.
Qwertyasdfg probably means the one on Memorial Drive - probably one of the least-convenient-to-the T hotels in the area.
I’m not familiar with a Radisson near Kendall. Not to say that it doesn’t exist 
just that I don’t know much about it. There is a Marriott at Kendall, too, which is convenient to the red line T (on top of it, as a matter of fact).
Other hotels which are, IMO, very inconvenient to the T:
Doubletree on Storrow Dr/Soldiers Field Rd
The Hotel at MIT
Any of the hotels near the waterfront convention centers (World Tracde Center, Bayside Expo Center, etc)
Sorry, I was thinking that Marriott at Kendall Square was a Radisson!
Never mind - ignore my other post. :o
If you are planing to go to Salem or the Cape, you might want to consider staying outside the city and renting a car (if you aren’t driving in). There are several beautiful hotels in Waltham, which is about a 20 minute drive from the city or a 10 minute one to the end of the Red line. Also, along Moody street in Waltham there are dozens of fine resturants, that offer Boston quailty with Boston prices. I’ve never been to Il Capricio, but it’s said to be the best formal Italian restuarant outside of the North End. Which makes getting reservations nearly impossible, but you know. Oh and the beaches in Gloucester are less than 45 minutes away from Waltham.
You can’t tell at all that I grew there, can you?
Heh - I’ll agree with you that the Kendall Square Marriott is VERY convenient to the T. 
I stayed at the Tremont Boston Hotel last fall. It’s in the Theater District on Tremont, just a couple blocks from Boston Commons and the T station there. It was less expensive than a lot of the other downtown hotels and within walking distance of Faneuil Hall (although a bit of a walk) and Copley Place, and one T stop from Downtown Crossing. The rooms are a bit small, but for about $100 less per night than some of the other hotels, I was certainly fine with that. (Note: all of the websites for it say “formerly Wyndham Tremont.” That kind of confused me at first but it is the same hotel.)
Thanks for the advice, all. The only other time I’ve visited Boston was about 8 years ago. My husband had one of those business functions and they put us up in the Four Seasons. Needless to say, it’s a bit out of our price range now.
I do hope that they’ve finished construction on that underground highway. I vividly remember the taxi driver showing us these barricades that blocked a portion of a road that led to nowhere and honking off about how the new highway was a huge fiasco and the “biggest waste of taxpayah’s money evah.”
We hadn’t planned on renting a car but rather getting a taxi or shuttle from the airport to our hotel. I hope they run some sort of shuttle to Salem.
You’ll want the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail out of North Station (orange & green subway lines both run to North Station).
There are also buses, but the commuter rail is faster & more direct.
Salem is a Zone 3 stop, $3.75 each way (buy tickets at North Station or you’ll have to pay a $2 surcharge to buy on the train).
When you get to the Salem station, walk away from the water, cross the bridge that separates the station from the town, and it’s pretty easy to find the hot spots from there. They’re sort of off to the left-ish.
The parts of the Big Dig that adversely affected you 8 years ago are pretty much done (though the completion date of the project itself seems farther away every day :rolleyes: ). You’ll find the waterfront, North Station & North End much more pleasing to the eye, and easier to naviate, because a lot of the elevated highway & green line track is gone.
Good luck!