Explore

Here you’ll find maps and information on local attractions plus get directions and recommendations on things to see and do during your visit to Cambridge.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.4 MILES

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, 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. 

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 0.1 MILES

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. 

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 0.7 MILES

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 Theatre, 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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.3 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.4 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.1 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.5 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 2.2 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 3.3 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 2.9 MILES

Massachusetts University 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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 3.4 MILES

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!

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.3 MILES

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 for the many hours of entertainment and education you’ll receive.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 6 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 6 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.6 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 0.4 MILES

Cambridge Naturals is your best local source for health and wellness products. Since 1974, this family owned and operated store has 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. Their friendly staff is happy to assist you in finding the perfect products to use during your stay in town.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 0.9 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.1 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.6 MILES

The Harvard Art Museums, among the world’s leading art institutions, comprise three museums (the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler Museums) and four research centers (the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, the Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art, the Harvard Art Museums Archives, and the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis).

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.6 MILES

Harvard museum with ancient cultures' artifacts and archeology, plus access to Natural History Museum.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 2.0 MILES
Celebrating the many facets of Mount Auburn Cemetery, America's first landscaped cemetery.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.8 MILES

Fresh Pond is a sanctuary of upland forests, meadows, wetlands and wildlife on the western boundary of densely populated Cambridge.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 1.8 MILES
The Cambridge Public Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts is part of the Minuteman Library Network. It consists of a main library and six branches, located throughout the city.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 3.1 MILES
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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 2.8 MILES

The MIT Museum presents temporary and permanent exhibitions at the nexus of art, science, and technology, as well as events, programs, and weekend demonstrations.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 3.0 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 3.0 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.4 MILES

State-owned park situated on the banks of the Charles River in the Back Bay area of Boston. In the park are walkways, statuary, the Hatch Memorial Shell performance stage, playgrounds, ball fields, 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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 6.6 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.6 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 6.1 MILES

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). 

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 6.8 MILES

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. 

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.4 MILES

The Prudential Center is a 23-acre complex situated in the Back Bay District between Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue. The complex contains office buildings, hotels, green space, a shopping mall, and the Prudential office tower. At the base of the tower is a beautiful shopping mall with more than 70 retails stores. The mall walkways are covered with atrium-style glass ceilings that are known as arcades.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.8 MILES

The Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America. It was decorative and flowery from its inception, featuring meandering pathways for strolling.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 6.0 MILES

The starting point of the Freedom Trail, Boston Common is the oldest park in the country. The park is almost 50 acres in size. Today, Boston Common is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that winds through many of Boston's neighborhoods.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.5 MILES

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. 

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.2 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 24 MILES

The Salem Witch Museum examines one of the most enduring and emotional events in American History... the Witch Trials of 1692. The main presentation is based on actual trial documents. Visitors experience the drama of that dark time though thirteen life-size stage sets, figures, lighting and a stirring narration as they are witness to the web of lies and intrigue of the Salem Witch Hunt.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.6 MILES

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.

DISTANCE FROM HOTEL: 5.3 MILES

The New England Aquarium, which opened in 1969, is a global leader in ocean exploration and marine conservation. The Aquarium is one of the premier visitor attractions in Boston, with over 1.3 million visitors a year, and a major public education resource.