**DevonPow**

EveryNameIWantIsTaken

I see you are from Boston.  Can I ask you for some hotel advice?  We will be visiting New Hampshire/Maine this summer and will fly in and out of Boston.  The last time we were there we only spent an afternoon in the city, so this time we want to spend 2 or 3 days.  We'd like to stay somewhere that has easy access to the touristy things, but we aren't opposed to taking the subway to get to the heart of it all.  Any suggestions for general areas or actual hotels?  Any to avoid?  I'm not very familiar with the city and dh isn't much help in planning things like this.

wheelsonthebus

I'm sorry to jump in on this post, but I am also from Mass and my sister works in Boston. We go into Boston all the time! What price range are you looking at? Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge is AWESOME. It is within walking distance to a lot of great stuff and obviously near the T. It's is, however, on the $$$ side.

EveryNameIWantIsTaken

I would prefer to keep it around $200 a night or under but after looking at travel sites, I am finding Boston is an expensive city to visit lol.

EveryNameIWantIsTaken

Any idea how far it is by subway from the airport to downtown?  I can find plenty of decent places around the airport for a reasonable price.

wheelsonthebus

EveryNameIWantIsTaken:

Any idea how far it is by subway from the airport to downtown?  I can find plenty of decent places around the airport for a reasonable price.

 

I belive it's only a 10-15 min subway ride from the airport. Here is their web site, https://www.hotelmarlowe.com It looks like their weekend rates start at 139 a night. That's not as bad as I thought it was.

eaglesfan700

My H and I went to Boston for a long weekend last year and stayed at The Back Bay Hotel.  We really enjoyed it and it was accessible to everything.  The whole Back Bay area is a good area to stay IMO

DevonPow

Hey there! It is pretty easy to get from the airport to downtown - you need to take a shuttle bus (they run eveyr few minutes) from the airport to get on the subway, but it is usually pretty fast. I also would recommend the Harborside Inn - we had out of town guests stay there for our wedding and it is not that expensive but in a good downtown area where you can walk everywhere (right by the Aquarium/harbor/Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall). If you want to stay near "downtown" (The Public Gardens, Back Bay, Newbury Street/shopping, etc) there are a ton of hotels - the Park Plaza, The Lenox, The Hyatt, The Westin, etc. You can get often get decent deals on Priceline at them - all are fine and very close to the T, etc. Boston is actually a pretty small city, so no matter where you stay it is very easy to walk everywhere or just a quick T trip.

EnglishMajor03

Butting in-

I did a bit of research on places to stay in Maine.  It's one of of these things where no one has really stayed in a hotel close by because we have family all around.  At any rate Kittery/York are nice but can be a little expensive.  Wells is more affordable but mostly motel-type places to stay.  They're still acceptable accommodations though.

Also- it's not in Maine, but Portsmouth is quite nice.  There's no beach right there but they have a lovely park that we frequent when we hit the seacoast.  The park offers free-ish family entertainment like plays, jugglers, etc.  But it's nice to just have a picnic there and fly a kite.  They have a very walkable downtown with independent shops and restaurants.  And Hampton Beach is just a few exits away on the highway.  I'm sorry I can't be more specific but I hope this helps a little.

EveryNameIWantIsTaken

Devon, thanks for the recommendations.  I will look into those and see what I can find.

English, thanks for doing the research.  I have been looking into Wells some and also Old Orchard Beach, do you know much about that area?  It looks like a typical beach town.  Really, it looks like as far as our stay in that area, just about any area will do, so now I get to look for a specific rental, which is so hard!  Never had to do that before.  I want to go to Kittery for the shopping (of course) and we always have to hit up Bob's Clam Shack lol.  Everything is so close in that area though that to us a 45 or so minute drive doesn't seem that bad. 

EnglishMajor03

We camp at OOB every labor day.  The sad part is we've never walked the downtown (which is so nuts) but we have driven through it to get to another beach.  The downtown, as you mentioned, is typical beach-y ice cream stands and surf shops.  I think there's  a ferris wheel right in the middle of it, next to the water.  

We head to a beach about 15 minutes outside of OOB that is a state park.  It has a snack shack, bathrooms with showers. It's like $5 to park and it can get busy but it's quite nice.  I have a call into my brother about the name of it.  I'll let you know.

The only other thing I'd mention is to stay away from the zoo- York's Wild Kingdom.  I haven't been in since I was a kid but I haven't heard many good things about it recently and it looks really desolate from the outside.  I'd hate for you to get there and then be like :l whhhaaa?

Oh- and Kittery is great.  Freeport is beautiful too.  It's probably a good 45 minutes north of OOB area but north instead of south.  They have more high-end discount stores and the original LL Bean is up there.  It's a typical "Maine town". 

EveryNameIWantIsTaken

Yes, I've heard of this mythical LL Bean store that is open 24/7 lol.  My kind of shopping!  I'm so excited to plan all of this!  The last vacation we took was our honeymoon.  We've been out of town many times, but always to visit and stay with family.  Being able to plan what we want, when we want (aside from the burial which is the whole reason we are heading that direction) will be awesome!

mrsrobinsontobe

https://www.theedgewatermotorinn.com/

 

love, love, love this hotel in old orchard...check it out!