Getting There

By Plane

Most major U.S. carriers serve Boston's Logan International Airport, which the locals usually just call "Logan" (airport code BOS).

Boston is an increasingly popular direct destination for international travelers, although many itineraries from overseas still go through another American or European city. Because of fluctuating demand, international routes and schedules are subject to change; double-check details (especially if you're traveling in the winter) well in advance.

Logan is in East Boston at the end of the Sumner, Callahan, and Ted Williams tunnels, 3 miles across the harbor from downtown. For a preview and real-time flight arrival and departure information, visit the website (www.massport.com/logan).

The airport has four terminals -- A, B, C, and E (there's no D) -- each with ATMs, Internet kiosks, pay phones with dataports, fax machines, and an information booth (near baggage claim). Wireless Internet access is available all over the airport for $8 a day through Logan WiFi (tel. 617/561-9434; www.loganwifi.com). Terminals C and E have bank branches that handle currency exchange. Terminals A and C have children's play spaces.

Let's Make a Deal -- Southwest (tel. 800/435-9792; www.southwest.com) doesn't serve Boston, but it has helped redefine "Boston-area airport," creating two magnets for budget-conscious travelers. They're not nearly as convenient as Logan, but fares to either of these airports -- on Southwest and other national carriers -- can be considerably cheaper than those to Logan.

If you're not renting a car, try to fly into Manchester, New Hampshire. Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (tel. 603/624-6556; www.flymanchester.com; airport code MHT) is in southern New Hampshire, about 51 miles north of Boston. Under a pilot program, the airport offers free Manchester Shuttle van service to and from Boston (the Sullivan Square Orange Line T stop) and suburban Woburn, Mass.; check the website for details. In addition, Vermont Transit (tel. 800/552-8737; www.vermonttransit.com) runs buses to Boston's South Station eight times a day; three continue to Logan Airport. The trip takes 60 to 90 minutes; the fare is $20 one-way, $39 round-trip.

T. F. Green Airport (tel. 888/268-7222; www.pvdairport.com; airport code PVD) is in the Providence suburb of Warwick, Rhode Island, about 60 miles south of Boston. Peter Pan Bonanza (tel. 888/751-8800; www.peterpanbus.com) buses run to and from Boston; the fare is $20 one-way, $37 round-trip. If necessary, you can also take a cab or the local bus (tel. 401/781-9400; www.ripta.com) to downtown Providence and transfer to either the MBTA commuter rail (tel. 800/392-6100 or 617/222-3200; www.mbta.com) or Amtrak (tel. 800/USA-RAIL; www.amtrak.com). Allow at least 2 hours, and pack light.

Immigration & Customs Clearance -- International visitors arriving by air, no matter what the port of entry, should cultivate patience and resignation before setting foot on U.S. soil. U.S. airports have considerably beefed up security clearances in the years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, and clearing Customs and Immigration can take as long as 2 hours.

Getting into Town from the Airport

The Massachusetts Port Authority, or MassPort (tel. 800/23-LOGAN; www.massport.com), coordinates airport transportation. The toll-free line provides information about getting to the city and to many nearby suburbs. It's available 24 hours a day and is staffed weekdays from 8am to 7pm.

The ride into town takes 10 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic, your destination, and the time of day. Except at off hours, such as early on weekend mornings, driving is the slowest way to get into central Boston. If you must travel during rush hours or on Sunday afternoon, allow plenty of extra time or plan to take the subway or water taxi (and pack accordingly).

You can get into town by bus, subway, cab, van, or boat. If you're taking the Silver Line bus or the subway, look for MBTA fare kiosks tucked into corners near the exits closest to the public transit pick-up area in each terminal.

The Silver Line bus stops at each airport terminal and runs directly to South Station, where you can connect to the Red Line subway and the commuter rail to the southern suburbs. It takes about 20 minutes, not including waiting time, and costs just $1.70 (with a pass or CharlieCard) or $2 (with a CharlieTicket or cash) -- a great deal if your final destination is near South Station or in Cambridge.

The subway (the T) takes just 10 minutes to reach downtown, but first you have to reach the subway. Free shuttle buses run from each terminal to the Airport station on the Blue Line of the T from 5:30am to 1am every day, year-round. The Blue Line stops at Aquarium, State Street, and Government Center, downtown points where you can exit or transfer to the other lines. The fare is $1.70 (with a pass or CharlieCard) or $2 (with a CharlieTicket or cash).

Just getting into a cab at the airport costs an appalling $9.75 ($7.50 in fees plus the initial $2.25 fare). The total fare to downtown or the Back Bay usually runs $20 to $35, and may be as high as $45 in bad traffic. Depending on traffic, the driver might use the Ted Williams Tunnel for destinations outside downtown, such as the Back Bay. On a map, this doesn't look like the fastest route, but often it is.

The Logan Airport website (www.massport.com/logan) lists numerous companies that operate shuttle-van service to local hotels. One-way prices start at $14 per person and are subject to fuel surcharges as gas prices fluctuate.

The trip to the downtown waterfront in a weather-protected boat takes about 7 minutes and costs $10 one-way. Service is available from early morning through early evening, with reduced schedules on weekends; at press time, all four providers operate year-round. The free no. 66 shuttle bus connects the airport terminals to the Logan ferry dock. Leaving the airport, ask the shuttle driver to radio ahead for water-taxi pickup; on the way back, call ahead for service.

Three on-call water-taxi services serve the downtown waterfront and other points around Boston Harbor: City Water Taxi (tel. 617/422-0392; www.citywatertaxi.com), Rowes Wharf Water Transport (tel. 617/406-8584; www.roweswharfwatertransport.com), and Boston Harbor Water Taxi (tel. 617/593-9168; www.bostonharborwatertaxi.com). The MBTA (tel. 800/392-6100 or 617/222-3200; www.mbta.com) contracts out scheduled ferry service to Harbor Express, which runs to Long Wharf, behind the Marriott Long Wharf hotel.

Some hotels have their own shuttles or limousines; ask about them when you make your reservation. To arrange private limo service, call ahead for a reservation, especially at busy times. Your hotel can recommend a company, or try Boston Coach (tel. 800/672-7676; www.bostoncoach.com), Carey Limousine Boston (tel. 800/336-4646 or 617/623-8700; www.carey.com), or Commonwealth Limousine Service (tel. 800/558-LIMO or 617/787-1110; www.commonwealthlimo.com).

Unless you need it right away, seriously consider waiting to pick up your rental car until you're starting a day trip or other excursion. You'll avoid airport fees, tunnel tolls, hotel parking charges, and, most important, Boston traffic.

By Car

Renting a car for a long trip will almost certainly be more expensive and less convenient than any other means of reaching Boston, and I can't recommend it. It's not that driving to Boston is difficult. But parking is scarce and wildly expensive, gasoline gets pricier by the day, traffic is terrible, and the drivers are famously reckless. If you're thinking of driving to Boston only because you want to use the car to get around town, think again.

If you have to drive, try to book a hotel or a special package that offers free parking. If you pay for parking, expect it to cost at least $25 a day downtown, and build that into your budget.

Three major highways converge in Boston. I-90, also known as the Massachusetts Turnpike ("Mass. Pike" to the locals), is an east-west toll road that originates at Logan Airport and links up with the New York State Thruway. I-93/U.S. 1 extends north to Canada. I-93/Route 3, the Southeast Expressway, connects Boston with the south, including Cape Cod. To avoid driving downtown, exit the Mass. Pike at Cambridge/Allston or at the Prudential Center in the Back Bay. I-95 (Massachusetts Rte. 128) is a beltway about 11 miles from downtown that connects Boston to highways in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York to the south, and New Hampshire and Maine to the north.

Note: The Mass. Pike's FastLane program is compatible with New York's EZPass; your regular transponder will work in designated lanes in all states that use these systems, including New Hampshire and Maine. If you have a prepaid device from another highway system, check before you leave home to see whether you too can zip (at the speed limit, 15 mph) through the special lanes.

The approach to Cambridge is Storrow Drive or Memorial Drive, which run along either side of the Charles River. Storrow Drive has a Harvard Square exit that leads across the Anderson Bridge to John F. Kennedy Street and into the square. Memorial Drive intersects with Kennedy Street; turn away from the bridge to reach the square.

Boston is 218 miles from New York City; driving time is about 4 1/2 hours. The 992-mile drive from Chicago to Boston should take around 21 hours; from Washington, D.C., it takes 8 to 9 hours to cover the 468 miles.

In an emergency, you can call the State Police on a cellphone by dialing tel. *911. The American Automobile Association (AAA; tel. 800/AAA-HELP; www.aaa.com) provides members with maps, itineraries, and other travel information, and arranges free towing if you break down. The Mass. Pike is a privately operated road that arranges its own towing. If you break down there, ask the AAA operator for advice.

It's impossible to say this often enough: When you reach your hotel, leave your car in the garage and walk or use public transportation. Use the car for day trips, and before you set out, ask at the front desk for a route that avoids construction (it's everywhere).

By Train

Boston has three rail centers: South Station, 700 Atlantic Ave. (at Summer St.), near the Waterfront and the Financial District; Back Bay Station, 145 Dartmouth St. (between Huntington and Columbus aves.), across from the Copley Place mall; and North Station, on Causeway Street under the TD Banknorth Garden. Amtrak (tel. 800/USA-RAIL or 617/482-3660; www.amtrak.com) serves all train stations, and each one is also a stop on the MBTA subway. At South Station you can take the Red Line to Cambridge or to Park Street, the system's hub, where you can make connections to the Green, Blue, and Orange lines. The Orange Line connects Back Bay Station with Downtown Crossing, where there's a walkway to Park Street station. North Station is a Green and Orange Line stop.

Amtrak runs to South Station from New York and points south and in between, with stops at Route 128 and Back Bay. Its Downeaster service (www.thedowneaster.com) connects North Station to Portland, Maine, with several stops en route. At press time, continued funding for this route was uncertain; check long before you plan to travel to be sure it's still operating. The MBTA commuter rail runs to Ipswich, Rockport, and Fitchburg from North Station and to points south of Boston, including Plymouth, from South Station.

Bear in mind that the train might not be cheaper than flying, especially for long trips. Like the airlines, Amtrak adjusts fares depending on demand, so plan as far ahead as possible to get the lowest fares. Discounts are never available Friday or Sunday afternoon. Always remember to ask for the discounted rate.

Standard service from New York takes 4 1/2 to just under 6 hours. High-speed Acela Express service is scheduled to take just over 3 hours. From Washington, D.C., count on a grueling 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours for the slowest service, 6 hours for Acela service.

By Bus

The bus is the only way out of many small New England towns. If you're coming from almost anywhere else, consider long-distance bus travel a last resort. The exception is the New York route, which is so desirable that Greyhound and Peter Pan have upgraded service. It's frequent and relatively fast (4-4 1/2 hr.), and the price is about half the regular train fare. If you can catch an express bus, which makes only one stop, it's worth the extra $5 or so.

The bus terminal, formally the South Station Transportation Center, is on Atlantic Avenue next to the train station. The major lines are Greyhound (tel. 800/231-2222 or 617/526-1800; www.greyhound.com) and Peter Pan (tel. 800/343-9999; www.peterpanbus.com). Other operators include American Eagle (tel. 800/453-5040 or 508/993-5040), Peter Pan affiliate Bonanza (tel. 888/751-8800; www.bonanzabus.com), Brush Hill Tours (tel. 800/343-1328 or 781/986-6100; www.brushhilltours.com), Concord Trailways (tel. 800/639-3317; www.concordtrailways.com), Plymouth & Brockton (tel. 508/746-0378; www.p-b.com), and Vermont Transit (tel. 800/552-8737; www.vermonttransit.com).

High- & Low-End New York Bus Options -- Many travelers find standard interstate bus service inadequate; for others, it's too swanky. Both have options on the New York-Boston route.

Business-oriented LimoLiner (tel. 888/546-5469; www.limoliner.com) service connects the Back Bay Hilton, 40 Dalton St., to the Hilton New York, 1335 Ave. of the Americas (with an on-request stop in Framingham, Mass.). The luxury coach seats 28 and has Internet access, work tables, leather seats, and an on-board attendant. The one-way fare is $89.

At the other end of the spectrum is the so-called Chinatown bus, the generic term for service between Boston and New York's Chinatown. I've seen too many news reports and heard too many anecdotal accounts of poor maintenance and unsatisfactory service to give this option an unqualified recommendation, but it's madly popular with students and other bargain-hunters. The one-way fare is about $15. The largest operator is Fung Wah (tel. 212/925-8889 or 617/345-8000; www.fungwahbus.com), which connects Boston's South Station and Canal Street in Manhattan. Two recent entrants to this cutthroat competition are BoltBus (no phone; www.boltbus.com), which offers on-board WiFi service, and MegaBus (tel. 877/GO2-MEGA; www.megabus.com). Boston-New York fares start at $1 and top out around $20, subject to fuel-price adjustments.