Coming to Boston from the UK

Hi everybody. We are coming to Boston on 22nd October for a week, and wondered if you could advise on where to stay to take best advantage of whats on offer. We would like to see a little of the foliage, if there%26#39;s any left!, and want to do the whale watching/duck tours kind of stuff. We don%26#39;t know the area at all, and have yet to make a hotel reservation. Trying to read all the hotel reviews as a nightmare, as one guy says ';It%26#39;s fantastic'; while two reviews later somebody else says ';Never again!';. We just want a reasonably priced hotel in a safe, convenient location with a good choice of local restaurants and access to the area attractions. I%26#39;ve driven thousands of miles in the USA (18 trips to Florida) without any problems, but I get the idea that driving around Boston is a whole different ball game. So advice on that would be useful. I have some mobility restrictions, as I have had cancer which has affected both my legs, and recent chemotherapy has also left me much weaker than normal. I am approaching this trip with some trepidation, and any help that you can give would be really helpful. Thanks.

Coming to Boston from the UK

Hi

We are also going to boston from the u.k.

I can understand your confusion at the hotel reviews.

We have decided to stay at the lenox and hope this is o.k.

From what I can gather there are no really bad areas although like us you will probably want to stay in the heart of boston,so you will little travelling to do.

Hope you have a great time .

Coming to Boston from the UK

Whale watching tours are scheduled out of Gloucester, MA until the end of October.

Try this general Website for a list of several tour operators.

http://www.cape-ann.com/gloucester.html

Then, search down at the bottom right hand side for the list of links to the Websites of the various tour operators. I believe that there are four. You can contact them by email for exact schedules. Some may offer tours on weekends only.

Gloucester is located about an hour to one and one half hours North of Boston by car (Route 1 to Route 128 North).

The advantage to a whale watching trip from Gloucester is that it is much closer to the whale watching area at Stellwagon Bank. It is a shorter trip and you can stay at that location longer. Kee in mind that during October the weather can be colder and the seas rougher.

You can also travel to Gloucester by commuter rail from North Station in Boston but before planning to do so in your emails inquire about location and distance from the train station to the dock of each tour operator and whether they can pick you up and drop you off or recommend a taxi service both ways.

Commuter rail schedules are found at www.mbta.org

you had better get hotel reservations ASAP. That is an extremely busy time. There are may college homecomings, foliage tours ending in Boston, cruise ships dis-embarking . . . all that weekend. I hate to recommend something that may be sold out already, but make sure you are in the city and not the suburbs because you do NOT want to have a rental car in the city. I live in the burbs and findig a hotel to stay in before a flight out that weekend, proved to be not worth it. High rates and no parking available seemed to be the norm that weekend.

hi

i was in boston this year in the spring (i%26#39;m also from england).i consider myself a confident driver(being a truck driver) but the driving in boston is very challenging as well as the normal stuff i think the big dig is still ongoing.the road signs are very confusing .we had sat nav and still got lost several times .sorry to be negative but better to be fore warned .good luck,regards tony