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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,730 posts, read 23,683,846 times
Reputation: 14576
I live in metro Boston, but my favorite home away from home in New England is Burlington, VT. Lake Champlain is huge and awesome, Green and Adirondack mountains nearby, Montreal is close, Burlington has a clean, attractive, vibrant, and walkable downtown. It's a quintisential college town and beautiful area. I like the laid back vibe in Vermont mixed with traditional New England character. It's an orginal and great hiking & skiing to boot.
Boston and Massachusetts. To me it has just the right blend of urbanity and natural beauty. Boston itself is a fantastic city (especially if you're in school) with a lot to do. It's also close to cities like Providence, New York, Philadelphia and Montreal. Also in MA, it's tough to beat the charm of Cape Cod and the Islands. The Berkshires and Western Massachusetts are a gorgeous, rural landscape with scenic rolling hills and quaint New England villages. Definitely Massachusetts for me. And Boston is THE city in New England. Every other city is secondary at best.
I'm going to give an honorable mention to New Bedford. It's off of most everyone's radar, but it's a very historic seaport city (one-time whaling capital of the world and home to Melville where he based Moby Dick off of his adventures on the Acushnet, underground railroad hot-spot and home to Fredrick Douglass, etc) and it's chalk full of rich architecture (13 blocks of downtown are a national historic park), gas lamps and cobblestone streets. You'd be hard-pressed to find a historic district in much better shape. To top it off, the city is right on Buzzard's Bay and has great beaches within the city limits. Ethnically, it's ultra diverse. You won't find better Portuguese food anywhere else in the country (highest percentage of Portuguese immigrants in the US). It's also a hot spot for Korean, Guatemalan, Italian and Brazilian cuisine. New Bedford has a burgeoning arts scene and a vibrant music scene for a small city. To top it all off, housing costs are much lower than many other nearby areas. Personally, I think it's the most underrated city in New England.
What's your favorite state or city in New England?
I'm thinking of going to school around there.
Can you please be more specific as to the types of things you're looking for in a place to live, so folks can have more to go on other than their "favorite"? It will be more beneficial to you. Thank you.
Boston is close to Providence, but those other cities are a 4+ hour trip by car. Considering that one can fly to quite a few places in that amount of time, I think that assertion is a stretch. The best claim is proximity to New York, especially if you can afford Acela.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lrfox
Boston and Massachusetts. To me it has just the right blend of urbanity and natural beauty. Boston itself is a fantastic city (especially if you're in school) with a lot to do. It's also close to cities like Providence, New York, Philadelphia and Montreal. Also in MA, it's tough to beat the charm of Cape Cod and the Islands. The Berkshires and Western Massachusetts are a gorgeous, rural landscape with scenic rolling hills and quaint New England villages. Definitely Massachusetts for me. And Boston is THE city in New England. Every other city is secondary at best.
I'm going to give an honorable mention to New Bedford. It's off of most everyone's radar, but it's a very historic seaport city (one-time whaling capital of the world and home to Melville where he based Moby Dick off of his adventures on the Acushnet, underground railroad hot-spot and home to Fredrick Douglass, etc) and it's chalk full of rich architecture (13 blocks of downtown are a national historic park), gas lamps and cobblestone streets. You'd be hard-pressed to find a historic district in much better shape. To top it off, the city is right on Buzzard's Bay and has great beaches within the city limits. Ethnically, it's ultra diverse. You won't find better Portuguese food anywhere else in the country (highest percentage of Portuguese immigrants in the US). It's also a hot spot for Korean, Guatemalan, Italian and Brazilian cuisine. New Bedford has a burgeoning arts scene and a vibrant music scene for a small city. To top it all off, housing costs are much lower than many other nearby areas. Personally, I think it's the most underrated city in New England.
Boston is close to Providence, but those other cities are a 4+ hour trip by car. Considering that one can fly to quite a few places in that amount of time, I think that assertion is a stretch. The best claim is proximity to New York, especially if you can afford Acela.
I know you can fly to many places 4-5 hours, but traveling by air is expensive and quite a hassle. A 4 hour flight turns into 7-10 hours (assuming there are no delays) of getting to the airport,checking in, going through security, cramming into a tiny seat, taxi time, flying, taxi to the gate, getting bags, and finding transit to the city itself. Acela makes a big difference, but it's almost always cheaper to fly.
I know I can get from Boston to New York, Philly and Montreal on a tank of gas and to me, that's a good measurement of distance. Montreal is especially easy since the route between the two is rarely ever prone to traffic. It's about a 4.5-5 hour drive from Boston to Montreal. That's the same as the flight time to, say, Phoenix. I don't think most people would consider them to be the same travel time due to all of the hassles (and additional time) involved with getting from BOS-PHX.
I guess I'm using "close" relatively speaking. Outside of the Northeast, 4 hours constitutes as pretty close. I know a good number of people who would consider the 1 hour drive to PVD to be a hassle and a burden. I know other people who relish the though of a 4hr drive to NYC or a 5 hour drive to Montreal. Personally, I'm in the latter category. I don't think 4-5 hours is too far, especially by car (or fast train).
Location: Pittsburgh (via Chicago, via Pittsburgh)
3,887 posts, read 5,498,707 times
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Boston and Salem
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