Getting to Boston from Carlisle

Driving into Boston is difficult. The curving and one-way streets are confusing, traffic is bad driving in and out on weekdays, and parking is expensive and sometimes hard to find. It is OK to drive into Boston on weekends, if you know where you are going (and have a second person to read the map), but on weekdays you might consider taking public transportation. Taking public transportation with the combination of driving, parking, waiting, riding, walking, will take about one hour and a quarter to get from our home into the center of Boston (although driving to Alewife when there is no traffic and riding the Red Line subway, could take as little as an hour).

Driving all the way into Boston and parking

The drive on a weekend with no traffic can be as little as 35 minutes to a location near route 93 in downtown Boston, but it’s best to allow 45 minutes to park and then walk from the parking garage to your destination. In rush-hour traffic it is approximately an hour or more just to drive.

For weekday parking downtown, we recommend the Boston Common Garage
The garage is located entirely underground, under the Boston Common (central park)
Up to 10 hrs: $22; 24-hour maximum charge: $27
Other downtown parking garages will be over $30 even for just a couple of hours
It is in walking distance of most of what you would want to see in Boston (although some destinations will be a longer walk).

If visiting the Museum of Science, which is also walkable to downtown, then you can park in museum garage (with validation) which is more affordable than other downtown garages.

New England Aquarium website has some information on parking down by the waterfront-Quincy market area
http://www.neaq.org/visit_planning/maps_directions_and_parking/parking/index.php

If you were to arrive in Boston after 4:00 pm on a weekday or on a weekend, then you can get better rates at other downtown garages.
There is a good parking website tool, that lets you plug in the day and time of arrival and departure near an address, and then gives you the rates for all nearby garages and lots. Just be aware that it includes small lots that may fill up on weekdays
http://boston.bestparking.com/index.php

For downtown on a Sunday all day, you might consider:
One Post Office Square, entrance from 11 Oliver Street (between Franklin Street and Milk Street), where it is $8 all day. It’s located under the little park area in the square.
One International Place, entrance from 55 Purchase Street (between Oliver and High Street),where it is $7 all day. It’s located under a pair of cylindrical high-rise office buildings.

Driving to the end of the subway line

Red Line subway at Alewife station in Cambridge (Alewife Brook Parkway and Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge)
It’s about a 25-minute drive on weekends or weekdays in the middle of the day, and up to 45 minutes to drive at weekday rush-hour. (Also remember sunglass for driving East in the morning and West in the evening.) The large parking garage does fill up on weekdays. So, either go on a weekend or not too late on a weekday, arriving by 10:00 am, or perhaps on Mondays and Fridays as late as 10:30. (But don’t leave Carlisle before 9:00, to avoid traffic; 9:30 would be a good time.) At this later time, probably only the roof level of the parking garage will still have space. It costs $7.00 to park (accepting cash only as you exit). The subway ride is $2.00 for adults and free for children under 12. The Red Line of the subway goes through Cambridge, so if your destination is Cambridge, this is also a good travel option. For Boston, you can get off at the Park Street station next to the Boston Common, which is approximately a 20-minute ride (I cannot remember). Downtown sights are an easy walk from there.

Green Line (D) at Riverside station in Newton (390 Grove St., Newton)
The is a slightly longer route. The drive is a little longer than to Alewife and much more prone to traffic on weekday rush-hour in the early morning or late afternoon/evening. So, this should be considered for a mid-day weekday trip. To get to the station, go south on route I-95 to exit 22, Grove Street M.B.T.A. It costs $3.75 to park. The parking lot is quite large, and only fills up if there is a special event. The “green line” here is an above-ground tram that eventually goes underground as part of the subway system within Boston. (I’m not sure if the price is the same low $2.00. It has been higher to get on here.) The green line brings you through a different part of Boston. For downtown, you may want to get off at Park Street (Boston Common) or Government Center. I cannot recall, but the ride to those stations would take about 35 minutes.

Taking the commuter train

There are two commuter train lines with stations about equidistant from Carlisle. You can get on at the Concord station on the Fitchburg line or the North Billerica station on the Lowell line. The price is the same for either station to Boston: $6.25 one-way for an adult and free for children under 12.

Concord station (90 Thoreau Street, Concord)
There is free parking, but on weekdays the parking lot fills up quite early, before 7:00, and addtional space at the Crosby's supermarket fills up by 8:30 am. You can look for street-side parking on nearby side streets, but I don’t have experience/advice in this. On weekends, you will find parkting. There is no place to buy tickets (the old station building is no longer used), so you can buy tickets from the conductor on the train. You can purchase a roundtrip ticket at this time. (Or buy your return ticket in Boston’s North Station, because you will be charged $2 extra for buying a ticket on the train getting on in stations where tickets are sold.) The trains on weekends are every two hours in the middle of the day, and then are hourly in the late afternoon for a return. The drive to the station is about 13 or 14 minutes, a little longer on weekdays, when you will also need time to park further away. The ride is about 45 minutes and costs $6.25 one way for ages 12 and up. Schedule.

North Billerica station (corner of Ruggles Street and Station Street, Billerica)
Parking is $4, and there are parking lots on both sides of the station stop. The parking lots might fill up by 8:30 or 9:00 pm weekdays (probably not so early on a Monday or Friday). The nearer parking lot will fill up before the further one on the other side of the tracks. You need to insert $4 (in bills or coins) into the appropriately numbered slot of the pay box. It is not an automatic machine, and there is no parking ticket or receipt. The trains on weekends are only every two hours, so on a weekend it is better to take the train from Concord, where parking is free and return trains are every hour. On weekdays trains are around every half our in the early morning and evening and every hour throughout the middle of the day. Tickets are sold in the station only in the earlier part of the morning on weekdays. The drive to the station is about 12 or 13 minutes. The ride is about 40 minutes and costs $6.25 one way for ages 12 and up. The station is a little harder to find than the Concord station. Schedule

Anderson station (185 Atlantic Ave, Woburn)
If you are leaving in the late morning or the middle of the day on a weekday, when you will not easily find station parking, you can drive further to the Anderson station (also on the Lowell line) in Woburn off route I-93, or from Commerce Way off route I-95. It’s about a half hour drive when there is no traffic, but you need to allow at least 5 more minutes to park and get to the train, because it is such a large station. It has a huge parking lot that never fills up. Parking is $4, and the train ticket from here one way to Boston is $5.75. There is a station here that is open all day, so you should go inside and buy a ticket, lest you pay a surcharge for buying a ticket on the train.

Arriving in Boston's North Station (135 Causeway Street, Boston)
Both the Fitchburg line and the Lowell line trains arrive at North Station in Boston.The station is the ground level of the main indoor sports/entertainment arena called TD Banknorth Garden (formerly the Fleet Center, formerly the Boston Garden). This station is about a 10-minute walk for the places of interest in the center of Boston (Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, city hall plaza, the Freedom Trail, etc.). So, while there is a subway station at North Station, it is not necessary to take the subway unless you are as far as the Museum of Fine Arts or the Prudential building. (To get to the subway station, you after go outside of the North Station commuter rail building and then enter the “North Station” subway entrance; they are not connected.) When you get off the train in North Station and enter the station building, you can then exit the station from either of its side entrance, but I recommend exiting out to the left/east entrance (unless you are going to the Museum of Science, which is out the right/west entrance) because there is a traffic light for crossing the street on the east side, and you get a better view of the city. To head downtown, cross Causeway street, then walk along Canal Street, continuing to head in the same direction that the train was pointed.