Boston Mama's...

[pampamz]

Is Burlington a nice place to stay? It looks like that is where we are headed right now. We are ok with taking transit into the city for our sightseeing, vs. paying a small fortune for a downtown suite hotel.

Burlington or Waltham, that is the question...

[AddiesMom]

Waltham is closer, plus less time in Rt 95/128 traffic.

[wencit]

Really? Gah, I guess I can't trust my SIL to point me in the right direction! x(

I found 4 major cities with suite hotels in them: Waltham, Lexington, Woburn, and Burlington. Put it simply, which one is the easiest & fastest to get to a T stop?

Thanks!

[ett]

>Really? Gah, I guess I can't trust my SIL to point me in the
>right direction! x(
>
>I found 4 major cities with suite hotels in them: Waltham,
>Lexington, Woburn, and Burlington. Put it simply, which one
>is the easiest & fastest to get to a T stop?
>
>Thanks!

I just looked at your hotel locations from your earlier reply. The Lexington Quality Inn is closest to the Alewife T station (red line). Next would be the Waltham Doubletree. Woburn and Burlington are further.

[wencit]

Thank you!

And my SIL is right in that Lexington & Waltham are about 15-20 minutes away from a T station? Even further for Woburn & Burlington, right? Just trying to gauge how long it will take us to drive.

Many thanks, I really appreciate your help.

[AddiesMom]

The Riverside Green line T station is right below the Mass Pike on Rt 95. Waltham is the next few exits above the Mass Pike. I worked 2 more exits south of the T station and I could be at a meeting at the Doubletree in Waltham in 15 minutes.

Just an FYI... My company used to do deliveries hotels in Boston every morning and evening, 7 days a week. We would not do Burlington and Woburn since too far out of the way, but we did Waltham!

[mominma]

Not so much information about hotels, but if you start your day early and wanted to drive into the City, the best parking rates in the Copley area are the Copley Garage - in before 9 and out before midnight for $18.

Burlington is a suburb North of the city. They have a big mall with a Rainforest Cafe and Cheesecake Factory as well as many other restaurants. Also, about a 1/2 hour north could get to the North Shore Beaches. Traffic on 128 can be tough, but there might also be activities in the area to do. If you wanted to spend each day in Boston, I am not sure I would stay there. If there are other places in MA, it might be a good choice.

Waltham is very close to the Alewife Red Line and Riverside stations as other mentioned.

Good luck with your choices.

When we go into Boston, my kids enjoy the Frog pond (and playground), swan boats, duck tours, Children's Museum, Aquarium, Museum of Science, etc.

If you stay outside the city, you might want to check out the Drumlin Farm in Concord, Davis Farmland in Berlin (little further out), Discovery Museum in Acton.

Good Luck with your choices.



Melissa
DS 9/00
DD 3/03
It's a GIRL 8/30/05

[wencit]

Thanks, Michelle. I didn't realize Burlington was so far out of the way.

[ett]

>Thank you!
>
>And my SIL is right in that Lexington & Waltham are about
>15-20 minutes away from a T station? Even further for Woburn
>& Burlington, right? Just trying to gauge how long it will
>take us to drive.
>
>Many thanks, I really appreciate your help.

Yes, Lexington and Waltham are about 15-20 minutes from a T station.

[pastrygirl]

Dittoing the others who said Waltham and Lexington are better/closer choices. I wouldn't recommend that anyone stay in Burlington or Woburn for a Boston trip -- they're very out of the way. I used to live in Waltham and it was a 10-minute drive into Boston. You can drive to the Alewife T station and park all day in a huge garage. (I don't know what the rate is now, but it used to be $2 to park all day.) Lexington would be a better choice for driving to Alewife.

The green line (Riverside station) is S-L-O-W. I'd choose the Red line over it any day, even if you stay in Waltham. You might have more stops, but it moves so much more quickly. I always got out at MGH or Park Street (the first two stops once you're over the river in Boston) and walked around from there.

ETA: I forgot to answer about stuff to see! I don't go into Boston much now that I have a baby, but pre-baby I always loved walking through Boston Common and the Public Garden, going on the Swan boats, a Duck Tour (though I probably wouldn't take small children since you can't use carseats), window shopping down Newbury Street, going to the North End for some yummy Italian food and desserts... Once my son is more active, I don't know if he'd find any of that fun, though!

Cristina
mom to Toby, 6/10/06