Boston: how to get there and around
Airports, stations, ports, where the hotels are and what the numbers say, from public data rather than a brochure.
Boston is a city of 653,833 people in United States (Massachusetts), 38 m (125 ft) above sea level. The nearest large airport is Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), 4 km (2 mi) from the centre. It has a dozen or more railway stations on record, including South Station. It is a port city: Port of Boston. Our booking partner lists 386 places to stay.
Key facts
Daylight in Boston runs from about 9 h 8 min a day in late December to 15 h 20 min in late June (computed for 42.36° latitude), which matters more than the forecast when a day is built around one flight or one crossing.
Getting there
Boston is served by 6 airports with scheduled flights within 100 km. The closest large one is Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), 4 km (2 mi) from the centre, whose 10,083-ft runway is long enough for long-haul wide-body aircraft. The alternatives are Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD, 77 km), Laurence G Hanscom Field (BED, 23 km), Worcester Regional Airport (ORH, 68 km), Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT, 71 km), New Bedford Regional Airport (EWB, 76 km).
Flights to Boston: every airport, routes and times
By rail: stations on record include South Station, North Station, Back Bay station, Forest Hills station, Ruggles station, JFK/UMass station. Trains to Boston
Buses to Boston · Driving and car hire · Ferries
Where to stay
Our booking partner lists 386 places to stay in Boston. Of the 300 with a star rating, the largest group is 4-star (151), and 17 are five-star. Across 149 properties with at least 50 reviews, the average guest score is 8.5 out of 10. Guests have left 236,402 reviews in total.
Hotels in Boston: the full picture, and book
What people come for
| Sight | Visitors a year | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Public Library | 3,818,883 | 2017 |
| Museum of Science | 1,500,000 | — |
| Museum of Fine Arts Boston | 477,427 | 2021 |
| Boston African American National Historic Site | 333,463 | 2010 |
| Boston National Historical Park | 277,170 | 2020 |
The busiest is Boston Public Library at 3,818,883 visitors in 2017. At that volume, anything with a gate is worth a timed ticket or an early start.
Tours, tickets and day trips from Boston
Nearby cities, and how to get between them
- New York City, 306 km — flights · trains · buses · car rental
- Brooklyn, 307 km — flights · trains · buses · car rental · ferries
- Queens, 297 km — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Manhattan, 299 km — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- The Bronx, 287 km — flights · trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Staten Island, 325 km — flights
- Newark, 316 km — flights
- Jersey City, 310 km — flights
- Worcester, 62 km — trains · buses · car rental · tours
- Yonkers, 284 km — flights · trains · tours
Twin towns and sister cities: Kyoto, Strasbourg, Barcelona, Hangzhou, Padua, City of Melbourne, Taipei, Sekondi-Takoradi, Haifa, Athens, Santo Domingo, Boston, Brasília.
Common questions
Which airport serves Boston?
Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), 4 km (2 mi) from the centre, plus 5 other airports with scheduled flights within 100 km.
How big is Boston?
About 653,833 people live in Boston, across 232,140,634 km² (GeoNames and Wikidata).
What time zone is Boston in?
America/New_York, currently UTC-4.
What currency is used in Boston?
The Dollar (USD). Traffic drives on the right.
How many hotels are there in Boston?
Our booking partner lists 386 places to stay in Boston, bookable on this site.
Which cities are near Boston?
New York City (306 km), Brooklyn (307 km), Queens (297 km), Manhattan (299 km), The Bronx (287 km).
Where these facts come from
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
- Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
- OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
- Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines
Data compiled 13 September 2026. Hotel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.