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We are easily accessible to colleges and universities in the area. Lesley University is only a 2-minute walk away! The campuses of Harvard University, Tufts University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are within a 3-mile radius of the hotel.
If you’re looking to stay here while you check out the many cultural attractions that Cambridge has to offer, the museums in the hotel’s vicinity include Harvard Museum of Natural History, the MIT Museum, and the Museum of Science, all within a 20-minute trip from the hotel’s front door.
Taking a day trip into downtown Boston where you may have interest in visiting the sites. We’re a quick 20-minute train ride from the famous Boston Common, and the start of the Freedom Trail. Those with an artistic interest, The Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art are within a 5-mile drive of the hotel.
Take advantage of the total Porter Square Experience. After a relaxing night's sleep come indulge in breakfast for two at Colette Bistro. Subject to availability. Blackout dates may apply. May not be combined with existing or inhouse reservations, other promotional rates, offers, or discounts.
Cambridge Naturals is your best local source for health and wellness products. Family-owned and operated, they've been serving the local community with a wide selection of the highest quality vitamins, herbs, clean body care, yoga supplies, along with a curated selection of organic, local and unique groceries, since 1974. Their friendly staff is happy to assist you in finding the perfect products to use during your stay in town.
Whether you’re looking for child or adult literature…whether you want a new release or something from ages past…whether you want to read quietly to yourself or hear an award-winning author recite his or her work, stop by this independent, full-service bookstore in Porter Square. The staff is so enthusiastic about their work that they regularly publish a blog, and their social media quips are guaranteed to make you smile.
Lesley University is a private, coeducational university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers education, expressive therapies, creative writing, counseling, and fine arts programs. Its University Hall is just a few blocks away from the Hotel, originally constructed for Sears Roebuck and now home to the Graduate School of Education, faculty offices, science labs, studios, a 175-seat amphitheater, classrooms, and an eclectic range of retails on the building’s ground floor and lower level.
Established in 1636, Ivy-League, privately owned Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S. Some would argue it’s the most well-known; some would argue it’s the most prestigious. Regardless, it’s a name everyone recognizes, and it’s a historic spot to visit. The adjoining Harvard Square is the commercial hub of Cambridge. It’s also an iconic symbol of the city; musicians play on the street, shops vie for your patronage and the permanent chess tables at the outdoor café are always crowded.
Imagine yourself sipping a cold beer and watching a hot, newly released movie in a building that’s more than 100 years old. Now open your eyes: you might just be in Somerville Theater, a century-old independent movie theater and concert venue. Fans have enjoyed shows from stars such as U2 and Bruce Springsteen, but also visit regularly for the affordable concession and beer/wine service during first-run movies.
The A.R.T., as it’s known, is a professional, nonprofit theatre with an impressive list of awards behind its name: a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, to name a few. Housed in the Loeb Drama Center at Harvard University, the A.R.T. produces groundbreaking theater in Cambridge and beyond. More importantly, perhaps, there’s not a bad seat in the house, and the sound system is so superb that theatergoers don’t miss a note of the score.
Chocolate purists can’t get enough Taza Chocolate, whether they’re stopping by the factory or ordering it on Amazon. This Mexican-inspired treat is stone-ground, which produces an entirely unique and often surprising flavor. Taza can be stirred into hot chocolate or bought by the bar, but it’s also turning up in beer from certain local microbreweries.
Long-time residents and first-time visitors alike can’t get enough of Cambridge Historical Tours. Well-informed tour guides are dressed in period costume and lead adults and kids on a walking tour through Cambridge, entertaining and informing them all the while. You’ll learn a lot, but you’ll have so much fun you won’t even realize it’s been educational.
On the grounds of Harvard University, the Museum of Natural History is the public face of three different institutions: the Harvard University Herbaria, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Harvard Mineralogical Museum. This is the most-visited museum on the campus and the permanent exhibitions draw from Harvard’s immense and impressive collections. You can investigate the diversity of life on earth, check out a meteorite or delve into historic glass models of plants.
Each year, over 8 million men, women and children visit Harvard Square. Visitors come for a variety of reasons; this is a place of history, of books, of ideas, and of learning. It is a place of bookstores and coffee houses, of fine dining and eclectic shopping. It is a place of folk music and old theaters, of Cuban ballet and world-class music, of street-performers and award-winning pizza, of public discourse, and public art.
The Science Center is where Harvard’s undergraduates attend classes and labs in science and math. The building itself was financed, in part, by the developer of the Polaroid “Land” camera, and some think the design of the building was meant to resemble an early model of the camera. On the main floor, you can find sections of the pioneering Harvard Mark 1 computer displayed.
Harvard student guides greet you right in Harvard Square. The tour is scripted to be an entertaining, theatrical experience - you'll have fun learning about Harvard!
The Fogg Museum includes Western art from the Middle Ages to the present; the Busch-Reisinger Museum, unique among North American museums, is dedicated to the study of all modes and periods of art from central and northern Europe, with an emphasis on German-speaking countries; and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum is focused on Asian, ancient, and Islamic and later Indian art. Together, the collections include approximately 250,000 objects in all media. The Harvard Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. Integral to Harvard University and the wider community, the museums and research centers serve as resources for students, scholars, and the public. For more than a century they have been the nation’s premier training ground for museum professionals and are renowned for their seminal role in developing the discipline of art history in the United States.
Harvard museum with ancient cultures' artifacts & archeology, plus access to Natural History Museum.
Though it’s part of the Landmark Theater line, moviegoers claim this clean, comfortable theater has an independent feel to it. Kendall Square plays the big new releases, but is also known for playing smaller, independent and often foreign films. The seats are comfortable, the parking is easy and the concessions are excellent…the perfect combination for a night at the movies.
You might not think you’ve stumbled upon a mall when you take a look at this unassuming building, but rest assured almost anything you could need can be found inside. The few floors pack in 133 stores, including four restaurants, a food court and six specialty stores. Window shoppers and people watchers are welcome!
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is widely known as one of the best universities in the world, churning out Nobel laureates, National Medal of Science recipients and Rhodes Scholars with alarming rapidity. The school was formed to answer the 1861 rise in industrialization in the U.S., and today retains its primary focus on physical sciences and engineering.
The List Visual Arts Center, MIT’s contemporary art museum, collects, commissions, and presents rigorous, provocative, and artist-centric projects that engage MIT and the global art community. The List Center presents a dynamic program of six to nine special exhibitions in its galleries annually, including a program of evolving site-specific work by emerging artists known as List Projects, as well as a broad range of educational programs, events, and scholarly publications.
Just as MIT pushes at the frontiers of scientific inquiry, it is the mission of the List Visual Arts Center, to explore challenging, intellectually inquisitive, contemporary art making in all media.
The MIT Museum presents temporary and permanent exhibitions at the nexus of art, science, and technology, as well as events, programs, and weekend demonstrations.
People from around the world come to visit and learn about holograms, kinetic art, artificial intelligence and original research that has shaped the world. FebFest and the Cambridge Science Festival fill winter and spring school vacation weeks, while the very fun "Friday After Thanksgiving" chain reaction event is held nearby at an MIT gymnasium, while produced by the Museum.
The MIT Museum also has a physical and online science-themed store, and the galleries are available for small functions. Located in the Central Square Cultural District the MIT Museum is surrounded by unique restaurants, theaters, music venues and a renowned local ice cream store.
The Ray and Maria Stata Center or Building 32 is a 720,000-square-foot academic complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Assembly Row is a one-of-a-kind neighborhood that has brought outlet shopping closer to a city center than ever before. Located just 7 minutes from downtown Boston - and accessible via car, bike, dedicated Orange Line stop, and more. - it features more than 30 nationally-branded outlet shops, a variety of celebrated sit-down restaurants and cafes, a 12-screen AMC Theater, New England's only LEGOLAND Discovery Center and a six-acre waterfront park complete with bike lanes and an amphitheater.
In 2015, Assembly Row was named Curbed Boston's "Neighborhood of the Year," a "Game Changer" by Boston Globe Magazine, and one of the top 10 projects and neighborhoods reshaping Greater Boston by the Boston Business Journal.
State-owned park situated in the Back Bay area of the city, on the banks of the Charles River. Storrow Drive runs alongside it. In the park are walkways, statuary, the Hatch Memorial Shell performance stage, playgrounds, ballfields, and Community Boating. The Esplanade comprises part of the Charles River Reservation state park. Pedestrian access to the park exists at Charles Circle, Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, and Beacon Street.
The Boston Opera House is a performing arts venue located at 539 Washington St. in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally built as a movie palace, it opened on October 29, 1928 and was rededicated in 1980 as a home for the Opera Company of Boston. Completely restored in 2004, the theater currently serves as the home of the Boston Ballet and also presents touring Broadway shows.
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States, and it is widely recognized as one of the country's most reputable music schools.
The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as theSchool of Continuing Education. At the collegiate level, NEC offers the Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts, as well as the Undergraduate Diploma, Graduate Diploma, and Artist Diploma.
While it may feel overly academic to visit a library on vacation, a trip to the BPL need not feel like a chore. Situated on one side of the impressively imposing Copley Square (which also houses Trinity Church) the library was designed by the New York firm McKim, Mead, and White and opened in 1895 (a Philip Johnson-designed addition was added in 1972). Noteworthy features include several vast murals by prominent artists, including a series by John Singer Sargent, and an Italian Renaissance-inspired interior courtyard with bubbling fountains and arched pathways.
Copley Square, named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. The Square has a number and variety of important architectural works that have been built there, many of them official landmarks: Old South Church (1873), Trinity Church (1877), Boston Public Library (1895), Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel (1912), John Hancock Tower (1976) and Bostix Kiosk (1992). The Square is also just a few blocks away from Newbury Street shopping district, Commonwealth Avenue, Charles River, Boston Common and Prudential Center.
Glass covered arcades connect different portions of the complex. The Boylston and Newbury arcades are located near the Boylston Street entrance. The Prudential and Back Bay arcades intersect in a central court. The mall is joined with the Hynes Convention Center and Copley Place via walkways and passages, which is extremely convenient. There is also a public garden near the central court, where free concerts and events take place during summer.
There are many points of interest in or near the Prudential Center, including the Prudential Skywalk, an observatory on the 51th floor, and Top of the Hub restaurant on the 52nd floor of the central tower. Copley Place is next to Copley Square, where Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library are located. During the New Year's eve First Night celebration, the Hynes Convention Center and Copley Square are major venues for exhibits and performances. Just to the west is Kenmore Square and historic Fenway Park, to the east is the Public Garden, Cheers Beacon Hill and Boston Common. One block north is the Newbury Street shopping area.
The Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America. It was decorative and flowery from its inception, featuring meandering pathways for strolling.
To fully tell and understand the story of the Boston Tea Party, a flotilla of all three ships is necessary. With only the Beaver at the site of the museum for so many years, many people have the impression there was only one ship that was off-loaded during the Boston Tea Party. The new Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum will illuminate the importance and the significance of this historic event with replicas of all three ships involved. On the night of the Boston Tea Party, three ships that had sailed from London carrying cargoes of British East India Company tea were moored in Boston Harbor. The vessels were built in America and owned by Americans. The Beaver and the Dartmouth were whalers, and the Eleanor was a full rigged ship.
In the 1920s, Matty Hughes, ever the entrepreneur, saw a golden opportunity on the sparkling waters of the Charles River and Boston Harbor. He started offering 30-minute river cruises for 10 cents, then shorty expanded operations by helping locals escape the summer heat with regular service to the Harbor Islands.
BHC now offers over 500 trips per day in peak season, with 48 vessels and over 250 year-round employees, plus a seasonal workforce topping 600. It is the largest maritime employer in the City of Boston and the largest private passenger vessel operator in the nation.
Perched on the bank of the Charles River, the Museum of Science offers interactive, hands-on exhibits illustrating scientific principles in a user-friendly fashion. This is a great stop if you’ve got kids of any age, and the somewhat-hefty admission price is mitigated by the many hours of entertainment and education you’ll receive.
One of the most comprehensive art museums in the world and the fourth largest museums in the United States; the collection encompasses nearly 500,000 works of art. More than one million visitors arrive each year to experience art from ancient Egyptian to contemporary, special exhibitions, and innovative educational programs.
The Museum has undergone significant expansion and change: 2010 marked the opening of the Art of the Americas Wing, with four levels of American art from ancient to modern. In 2011, the west wing of the Museum was transformed into the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, with new galleries for contemporary art and social and learning spaces. Improved and new galleries for European, Asian, and African art have opened through 2013, and more to come.
Even if you’re not a baseball fan, you root for the Red Sox when you’re in Boston. And, if you’re lucky, you see them play at legendary Fenway Park. It’s the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball and, after many years of renovations and additions, is proud of a number of quirky features like Pesky’s Pole and the Green Monster.
This historic stone chapel, which was completed in 1754, was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1960. The design is one of the finest from Peter Harrison, a noted colonial architect, and the King’s Chapel Bell (rung at every service) was the last cast by Paul Revere. A visit, whether for religious reasons or curiosity, is truly a walk through history.
Faneuil Hall has been a Boston landmark since 1742, when it was designed as a marketplace and meeting hall. Samuel Adams and other patriots made impassioned pleas from its steps, and speeches such as those became the launching pad for America’s attempt to become independent from the British. Quincy Market, adjacent to Faneuil Hall, serves as a 250-year-old center for residents and visitors. Here, you’ll find more than 50 shops, 14 restaurants and a wildly popular comedy club.
"7/10 Stay here for the neighbourhood vibe"