What people actually come to Boston for
We did not guess this list. It comes from our own records - 3,899 stays and 46,000 guest messages - ranked by how often each reason came up. Sports first, by a distance: the Red Sox, then Gillette Stadium and TD Garden. Then graduation weekend, concerts and shows, the Freedom Trail, Harvard, Salem in October, weddings, conventions, the Marathon, museums and the aquarium, visiting family, work trips, moving between homes, and hospital stays.
Each of those has its own page below, written for that trip. If yours is not on the list, nothing changes: the apartments are the same, the parking is still free, and the calendar on every page is live.
Games, concerts and the big weekends
A Red Sox game at Fenway Park is the single most common reason our guests give. Gillette Stadium - Patriots, the Revolution, stadium concerts - is about 30 minutes by car, and the car is the point: our parking is free and the stadium lots are not. Concerts at TD Garden, MGM Music Hall and Agganis, Marathon weekend, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, and Salem in October, when Salem itself sold out months ago.
Graduations, campus visits and reunions
Graduation weekend is the second-biggest reason in our records and the hardest weekend of the year to find a room: hotels run $509-$699 a night in May and sell out. A whole apartment sleeps the whole family in one booking. The same goes for a Harvard, MIT, BU or Northeastern visit - a tour, a move-in, a reunion - with a kitchen for the mornings and a driveway for the car.
Hospitals, treatment and looking after someone
Some of our longest stays are the ones nobody wanted to make. Families near Boston Children's, Dana-Farber, Brigham and Mass General stay with us because a hospital-district hotel room, night after night, is neither affordable nor bearable. Boston Medical Center has its own page, and there is a plain guide to where to stay when you come to Boston for treatment, including the charities that house families free - ask them first.
Weddings, family, and the trips you did not plan
A wedding party can take several apartments in the same building and still share one kitchen table. Visiting family in Dorchester, Hyde Park or Mattapan is easier with your own front door. And some trips start today: a cancelled flight, a hotel that fell through, a hospital call. The apartments free tonight are listed live, and you can call or text - you reach the owner, not a desk.
Work, conventions and the gap between two homes
Conventions and trade shows send one traveller or a whole team; an apartment gives each a bedroom and all of them one bill. Work placements and the gap between one lease ending and the next beginning are common here too: stays book online up to 27 nights, and for a month or longer you call and we arrange it directly. The nightly rate falls as the stay gets longer.
Why one apartment instead of two hotel rooms
You get the whole apartment: your own front door, a full kitchen, a washer and dryer inside the unit, a living room everyone fits in, and a parking space that costs nothing. Every one is a licensed City of Boston short-term rental. Booking direct on this site carries no booking fee, the price you see is the price you pay, and you can cancel for a full refund any time before check-in. Our apartments are in Dorchester and Hyde Park, 15-20 minutes by car from downtown - and if you are simply working out where to stay in Boston for the first time, start there.
Apartments that suit this trip
9 Warner Street, Apt 9W2View ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
42 Glenway StreetView ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
19 Ellis Street, Apt AView ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
7 Bernard Street, Apt 7B1View ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
143 Erie Street, Apt 1cView ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
17 Ellis Street, Apt 1View ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
Daryl's place was great! It was in close proximity to the commuter rail into Boston and was the perfect home base for a few girls on a very short weekend trip. Would definitely stay here again!— verified guest review
Common questions
- Where exactly are the apartments?
- Sixteen are in Dorchester and Hyde Park in Boston; three more are in Dorchester on Glenway and Erie Streets. All are 15-20 minutes by car from downtown, with free parking at the door.
- Is there a minimum or maximum stay?
- From a single night. Up to 27 nights books online; for a month or longer, call and we will arrange it directly. The nightly rate drops as the stay gets longer.
- Can I cancel?
- Yes - a full refund any time before check-in, on every apartment, when you book direct here.
- Are these licensed?
- Every apartment is a registered City of Boston short-term rental, so you are booking something legitimate rather than an unregistered listing that could vanish.
Coming to Boston for something else?
- All 19 apartmentsEvery whole apartment we let, across Dorchester and Hyde Park
- Red Sox & Fenway Park
- Gillette Stadium events
- Coming to Boston for treatment
- Boston hospital stays
- Graduation weekend
- Concerts & arena shows
- Salem in October
- Where to stay in Boston
- Near Boston Medical Center
- Harvard & MIT visits
- Wedding weekends
- Conventions & trade shows
- Marathon weekend
- Visiting family
- Hyde Park
- Holidays in Boston