Moving to the Boston area, what's a nice town?

Question

Moving from western MASS, in with a friend who lives in Lowell right now and works in Bedford. She wants out of Lowell but not too far from work either. I would like a town that's got some quiet areas to live but isn't far from stuff to do...nightlife, etc..

Answer 1

Framingham or Natick are nice towns that aren't too expensive. You have access to the train to get to all the events in Boston without the hassle of driving. That said, there's also plenty of nice restaurants and shopping in the area. You will also have easy access to the Mass Pike so you can get to all the places that have concerts between Boston, Worcester and Providence.

Answer 2

Hi there,

Although I'm not from the Boston area (Long Island), I do travel up there four times a year, and know the area very well. I don't blame your friend from wanting to move out of Lowell. Although it's within commuting distance from Boston (30 miles away), you're much closer to New Hampshire. I also stayed up in Lowell one time for a Red Sox game, and the area was economically depressed....a lot of decrepit buildings and so on.

Since you mentioned you want to live in a quiet area but still have access to the city and nightlife, I would suggest you look into Braintree. I always stay there when I am in the area (there's a great Sheraton there). In addition to having a good mall there (South Shore Plaza), you are also at the beginning of the Red Line for the subway, and it's about half an hour ride into downtown. Although Braintree is at the opposite end of Bedford though. Bedford is northwest of Boston, and Braintree is directly south via I-93. I'd also suggest you look into Quincy too, and also Waltham. Nice areas too (Oh, just as an amusing anecdote, Patriots QB Tom Brady used to live in Quincy).-Steve

Answer 3

Try Waltham. That's generally a good area to check out and it's got some quiet areas in addition to activity in the area. It's literally like one city away from Boston and it's in the area, and there's other places concentrated around Waltham that aren't far from what you need to find.

Answer 4

You may want to try haverhill or methuen. The other option is one of the suburbs between boston and lowell. Try looking at the "northwest" section on sites like craiglist, boston.com, etc. to see what areas have the type of housing you want.

Answer 5

Try Melrose or Arlington.

Answer 6

Try framingham or Arlington.

Answer 7

Framingham is nice,,but might be too far and too slow.