Hiking
Backpacking
Canoeing
Rafting
Skiing
Biking
Amusement Parks
National Parks
Route 66 Cities Beaches

Outpost

Lodging

Boston

Colonial Coast
Restaurants
Freedom Trail
North Shore
We strongly recommend The Shawmut Inn for your stay in Boston. This is one of the best kept secrets in town. Right across from the Boston Gardens (TD Bank North Arena) (above right), it is near the north end of the Freedom Trail, the south end of the Bunker Hill Bridge, and a few blocks from Fanueil Hall and downtown restaurants. You are thus within walking distance of everything you came to see. We pay $109 a night. This an old but recently redone hotel. The rooms are small by modern standards but quite nice (above left). The Shawmut has no restaurant but there is a complementary breakfast in a second floor lounge and a free Boston newspaper at the front desk. You park in a 24 hour guarded lot three blocks away. The Shawmut has a very modest entrance (right) and the lobby and front desk are upstairs. Service is very professional, fast, efficient, and friendly. Near the entrance are various fast food outlets, a drug store, and a convenient store. For being next to a four lane major traffic artery, the Shawmut Inn is surprisingly quiet inside. For groups or families, this is the best lodging deal we can find in downtown Boston.
The Milner Hotel is our second choice. This is another older hotel, a five story brownstone with small rooms and no restaurant. But the 64 rooms are clean and well serviced. Our main reason for ranking The Milner second is location. It is up on the hill, two blocks from Boston Common, just off Stuart Street. The trolley shuttle stops at the corner to connect you with Fanueil Hall, Little Italy, Freedom Trail and downtown. The Milner does have advantages. It is right in the Theater District and adjacent to Chinatown. This is not a hotel for groups but would be fine for couples, since each room is designed for two people. The Milner offers guarded garage parking. It serves complimentary breakfasts and 3 pm cookies and brownies. It's a little noisier than the Shawmut, but this is less of a problem because of the side street location. $94 a night. You are right next door to the Charles Playhouse and the Blue Man Group, and the Shubert theatre is a block away. If you were drama enthusiasts and wanted to include an evening play or two in your Boston stay, this would be the hotel for you.
We really like The Bullfinch because it's unique. This is an old "flat iron" building, a warehouse converted to a hotel. The long, narrow profile kept rooms small---there are showers but no tubs and the usual chest of drawers is missing---but they're tasteful and plush. The really neat rooms are the "junior suites," the ones facing us here in the picture at right, the triangular rooms in the sharp corner of the building. They're a little bigger, but the odd triangular layout takes some getting used to. Most rooms are for two, but there are some quads. Rates begin at $130 but in June, or if you're bringing a group, there's room for negotiation. This hotel is two short side blocks down from the Shawmut and the Gardens so it has that same ideal location, just blocks from Little Italy, the Freedom Trail, Fanueil Hall and Bunker Hill Bridge. You're also close to the Science Center.

Bathrooms might be tiny, like you have on a cruise, but they're marble and glass and very impressive. Rooms do offer high speed internet, with an Ethernet cable sitting ready. Plug it into your laptop and surf away.

This is the only hotel we recommend with its own full service restaurant, and it's a good one : The Angus Beef Steakhouse.

The Bullfinch uses the same parking garage as the Shawmut. You can see it in the photo, in the background, between the building and the right edge. We unload our luggage, park the vehicle and leave it until we check out.

The Trolley turns at the Bullfinch for its return route, so you can take it up to the Commons, Back Bay or a Red Sox game. .

The Chandler Inn is a classy small establishment even further around the hill than the Milner. Its 56 refurbished rooms have all the amenities and you would be right across the street from the Boston Center For Performing Arts. The basic rate is $140 a night but if you're coming in early June they'll negotiate. There's no restaurant but there are plenty in the area, including the great Chinatown eateries 15 minutes away. You could splurge on one of the deluxe rooms and get a plasma large screen wall mounted tv plus an ipod mount alarm clock. They advertise high speed internet but we found it pretty slow. Their web site does not seem to want to reveal rates, so we recommend you phone. Two blocks from the nearest trolley shuttle and four blocks from Boston Common. 30 minute walk from Faneuil Hall. Neighborhood is mainly million dollar condominiums, You're three blocks from Copley Plaza, Boston's new upscale megacomplex of shops, restaurants and hotels. There's no parking, but commercial parking garages wirth 24 hour supervision are close by.
The Oasis Guest House has some of the best rates and facilities in town but is the furthest hotel from anywhere. It's not even close to any restaurants. The Oasis is on Edgerly Avenue one block South of Symphony Hall, across from the Mary Baker Eddy Library and Mapparium. Rooms run from $70 - 110 and are very nice. There's a complimentary breakfast and a daily wine and cheese taster. Rooms have large windows and unlike the other hotels, these look out on leafy landscapes. A cozy living room features a fireplace. What saves Oasis is the Trolley system. It is across Christian Science Plaza from the trolley stop. A 15 minute ride brings you to the northern terminus of the Freedom Trail, along the rear plaza of the Old North Church, and around the front of Faneuil Hall. In the evening, the other half of the route takes you through Beacon Hill and The Back Bay en route to Christian Science Plaza. This arrangement deserves some consideration. It solves the problem of driving and parking in Boston, allows you to stay reasonably close to downtown, and gives you the same room rates as you would obtain out in the suburbs. Oasis could offer the best of both worlds --- but you will have to make reservations well in advance, and make sure you don't miss the last outward bound trolley. You can buy a two day trolley pass.

The John Jeffries House is our final recommendation but we know people who stay there every time they come to Boston. The biggest problem is finding it the first time. As you come off Bunker Hill Bridge, turn right onto Causeway, come past the Shawmut and Bullfinch, and rather than the sharp left turn onto Merrimac, make the half left onto Staniford. Follow that to Cambridge Street, turn right, and head west toward the Longfellow Bridge. The John Jeffries House is on the left as you approach the bridge. For a century it was a nurses' dorm for Massachusetts General Hospital across the street. In 1980 it was converted to an inn. Each room retains the private bath and kitchen from the nursing days, but breakfast is served each morning in the common lounge, and a very nice common sitting room looks out over the river. A well tended garden allows relaxation after a day of exploring Boston. The Jeffries House is in the fashionable Beacon Hill District, three blocks from The Common. Fanueil Hall is a one mile walk. Harvard is across the Bridge. Cheers is right up Charles Street. Rooms run $99 a night. Make Sure You Specify No Basement Room as they have no windows. You will hear sirens at night.

Like Us On Facebook (OutpostUSA.org) To Receive Our Daily Outdoor Adventure News and Travel Notes And To Post Comments
This Year's Unique Visitor Tally : 1,003,492 Contact us at Omlordw@aol.com Meet our writers at Staff