Boston Marathon Hotel (Read 1367 times)

I found 2 choices because I flew out and did not have a car.

1)  Stay right near the finish line - walk to the expo, walk to the busses out to the start, walk back to the hotel after the race.  Be right in the glorious and expensive epicenter.

2)  Take the Charlie on one of its lines to a reasonable priced hotel.  Take the Charlie back to the expo center, to the buses in the morning and back to the hotel after the race.

2 different experiences - One @ $100 a night the other @ $200-$300 a night.

I chose #1 and it was an expensive race.

I am sure someone who has chosen #2 can help with good places to stay on a Charlie line.

I was wondering this same thing.  When I looked on the BAA site, they have JB listed as the offical airline, and it goes on and on about how great an airline it is.  Then they list the offical parking garage.  OFFICAL PARKING GARAGE, yeah, ok. 

But where is the list of hotels?  Am I missing it? Maybe that will get updated when reg opens?  But I'd like to get on that nice and early.

Uh, it's not called the "Charlie". It's the T.

 

But yeah, there's no reason to stay near the start / finish. Just stay near a T station, Red line is probably best (Green line is jammed up on marathon day). Also, though this is more relevant if you're booking late, consider Craiglist for a room for a few days. I did that a few years ago, and now have a regular place every year for $50 / night, right next to a T stop. Even includes a mushy cat.

Staying near Copley Square / Boston Common is very handy if you are traveling with your family but it's super expensive.  I just sucked up and paid to stay at the Westin Copley since my wife was with our 1 yr old - great for them, not for my wallet.  If I was traveling solo or with friends, I'd have found a cheaper option further out and rode the T.  Some hotels will shuttle you around if they are a bit further out.

Visitors to Boston who try to save money by staying way outside the city end up spending their whole trip driving back and forth in traffic, lost.  It is much nicer to get in once and stay in, where you can walk or ride the T to anything. 

So there's really no cheap way to have a pleasant experience, unless you know somebody with a room to lend you.

That said, you don't have to pay the stratospheric rates of the hotels right in Copley Square.  It's almost as easy to stay anywhere else near the T and the prices do drop from ridiculous down to merely expensive.  You don't need to be within the city of Boston proper, the parts of Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline with good T access are all nice and convenient (Brookline a little less than the others because the Green line is inferior to the Red). 

Consider, for example, something like this.