Wellesley or Lexington? (Boston, Arlington, Natick: home, public schools, living in)

[Jhutt]

Thanks everybody for your past replies. We have narrowed our search to Wellesley and Lexington. I will be commuting to the Financial district and I don't mind driving. I was wondering if the train in Wellesley is reliable and it if it a pain to commute from Lexington. Can you please also tell me the differences between the two towns. Is Wellesley very snooty? I would prefer a town to be relaxed but I don't want to judge Wellesley so fast. Our budget is 1.5 mil-2.0 mil. My wife is Swedish so it would be nice to live in a town with other Europeans. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[scarletfire]

I live right near Wellesley and am there all the time for shopping, amenities, etc and have found people very nice and the town quite attractive with lots of activities. I've only taken the train from there a few times but found it pretty easy. It's not a long ride.

[brightdoglover]

You do NOT want to take a car down to the financial district. Not that I know of, anyway.
I think Wellesley might be a bit more "old family" and less diverse. Lexington gets a lot of the tech people from other countries, being more convenient to Burlington, Bedford, etc. They're both wonderful towns.
You don't mind driving, but taking a car into downtown Boston really bears no resemblance to "driving." If you are willing/able to take a train, that would be the way to go, and I guess that means Wellesley. Really, do take a rush-hour drive to the financial district a couple of times and see if it's OK with you.
Best wishes on your move. Both towns are lovely.

[autoxtl]

I grew up in Wellesley, but live in Lexington these days. Lexington is probably more multi-cultural than Wellesley, as someone previously pointed out, and I will confirm that many foreign nationals seem to pick Lexington as a home base for their stay in the US. Commuter rail from Wellesley works, but is probably less reliable (in terms of being "on time") than the MBTA's bus & subway lines, which is how you get from Lexington Center (or any other points on the #62 or #76 bus lines) to downtown. I commuted from Lexington Center to South Station for about 5 years, and will say that, despite gripes you may hear about the MBTA, it got me there 97% of the time with no issues (the other 3% were not very fun, so I'll skip that). Typically about 20 minutes (on the #76, the #62 is a bit slower) from Lexington Center to Alewife (Red Line) and another 20 minutes to South Station. Originally, I tried driving to Alewife, but found the bus would often be faster, as it's sometimes very slow to get out of the Alewife garage at peak hours. It's not impossible to drive downtown (not that I am encouraging it), and that could be better from Wellesley, where you can take the Mass Turnpike Extension into town, skip past the Financial District to (new Big Dig) Exit 25 (South Boston) and head back toward South Station and the Financial District to find parking. At least that's typically how I did it when I drove [I worked near the Children's Museum on Congress Street]. Best of luck.

[missionhill]

Don't know if "snooty" is the right word but I have Wellesley roots and it's my sense that people in Wellesley are very pleased with themselves for living in Wellesley. They take a measure of self satisfaction in it. Maybe it's the rarified company of the Hunnewells. Family joke: a boy kept saying he'd rather live in Natick. This was back in the '20s, by the way. The joke being that, of course, no right minded adult would prefer Natick to Wellesley. Similar jokes at the expense of Needham. To Brightdoglover--I think you're probably right even though the old family types will say it's all crass new money now in Wellesley. Anyway, Wellesley is certainly very nice but I'd guess that people in Lexington live a bit more outside the social class boundaries that make (or used to make) Wellesley such a social hothouse.

[Jhutt]

Thanks everybody for your responses. I am going to try the commute in Lexington to see if it is "doable".

[DreamworksSKG]

You can always drive route 2 to alewife and take the Red Line to Downtown Crossing from there.

[DreamworksSKG]

Also if you drive mass ave, to Broadway in Arlington there are some spots on Broadway and on the side streets down by Boyle's market you can park all day for free....(I've parked there all day several times and never had a problem)
you get the 87 bus to Davis Square to the Red Line. (Will save you money for parking at the lots/garage and traffic jam time on route 2 into Alewife)

[4panthers]

I live in Lexington, and my husband commutes downtown. It's not a problem. Lexington is more "international", as other posters have mentioned. My children are in the public schools here. The education is great. The composition of the class is very international with a large population of the families being in high tech.

[thisiswater]

Frankly? There's a reason people call Wellesley "Stepford." Also, check out Wellesley MA's The Swellesley Report :-)