How far it actually is
Our Dorchester apartments are a 15 to 20 minute drive from Boston Medical Center, about 4 to 4.6 miles. That is the drive, not the map distance - straight line it is under 3 miles, but nobody travels in a straight line through Boston.
BMC's main entrance is One Boston Medical Center Place; the emergency department is round on 725 Albany Street. Worth knowing which one you are heading for before the first morning.
| From our apartments | Drive | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Medical Center | 15-20 min | 4-4.6 miles |
| Longwood - Brigham, Dana-Farber, Beth Israel | 19-25 min | about 4.5 miles |
| Boston Children's Hospital | 19-25 min | about 4.5 miles |
| Tufts Medical Center | about 15 min | about 4 miles |
| Mass General | about 20 min | about 5.5 miles |
What BMC recommends first, and you should read it
Boston Medical Center publishes its own lodging page at bmc.org/hotels, and we would rather point you at it than pretend it does not exist. It lists nineteen hotels with distances, and several are far closer to the ward than we are:
Hampton Inn & Suites is 0.1 miles from the door. Best Western Roundhouse is 0.5. Courtyard by Marriott South Boston is 0.8, Residence Inn South End 0.9, Sheraton Boston one mile. ==BMC also tells you to mention "Boston Medical Center" when you book, because the hotel may give you a preferred rate.== Do that.
If your stay is one or two nights before an early appointment, one of those is the right answer and we would rather you booked it.
The gap in that list, and where we sit in it
Read BMC's page to the bottom and there is a second heading: Rentals. It points to Boston.com, Craigslist, FlipKey and Furnished Quarters - and next to Furnished Quarters it says minimum 30 days.
So the hospital's own advice runs: hotels for a night or two, or a furnished apartment if you can commit to a month. Between those sits the stay almost nobody plans for and plenty of people end up in - eight nights, two weeks, nineteen nights while the treatment schedule settles. Too long for a hotel room, too short for a thirty-day lease.
That is the gap we were built for. We book from a single night up to 27, and the nightly rate falls as the stay gets longer.
It is also worth noting that BMC's own list runs out to 5.7 miles - the Best Western University Hotel - which is further from the hospital than we are. The hospital already considers our sort of distance workable.
What two weeks near Boston Medical Center actually costs
Hotels near Boston Medical Center run roughly $149 to $229 a night, with the closest ones at the higher end and some reaching $434 in peak weeks. Our one-bedroom apartments in Dorchester are $200 to $230 a night.
So on the nightly rate alone we are not cheaper than a budget hotel room, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The difference shows up in three places.
The second room. A family of four near BMC usually needs two hotel rooms - call it $300 to $450 a night. One of our apartments sleeps the same family for $200 to $230, and everyone is in the same place at the end of the day.
The kitchen. Three meals a day bought out, for two weeks, for a family, is not a small number. A full kitchen turns that back into a grocery shop.
The laundry. Two weeks away means washing. There is a washer and dryer in the apartment, not in a basement down the street and not charged by the load.
What you get that a hotel room near BMC does not
The whole apartment, not a room. Bedrooms with doors, a living room to sit in that is not the end of a bed, and a kitchen table to eat at together.
Free parking on the property. You park at the door and leave the car there. No garage, no daily rate, no circling.
A full kitchen - fridge, stove, oven, and the pans and plates to use them. Laundry in the apartment. Fast Wi-Fi if someone has to keep working through it.
Free cancellation with a 100% refund any time before check-in, which matters when a treatment date moves and you have no say in it.
Getting to the hospital each day
Most guests drive - it is 15 to 20 minutes, and the car is already parked at the apartment. Leave a little earlier for a morning appointment; the run into Boston fills up from about 7:30am.
If you would rather not drive every day, the T and the commuter rail are both close by, and a rideshare to Boston Medical Center is a short, cheap trip.
We are owner-managed, so if something goes wrong at 6am you are texting the person who owns the apartment, not a front desk that opens at nine.
Apartments that suit this trip
9 Bernard Street, Apt 9B1View 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
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
My family stayed here and were so relieved at the safe neighborhood, accessibility, and welcoming nature of the home. Will definitely stay again!— verified guest review
Common questions
- How far is it to Boston Medical Center?
- About 2.7 miles from our Dorchester apartments and about 6.5 miles from Hyde Park.
- Can we book for several weeks?
- Anything from a single night up to 27 nights. Longer stays are common for medical treatment and work placements, and the nightly rate drops as the stay gets longer.
- Is parking free?
- Yes. Every apartment has its own free off-street parking, so you are not paying a garage on top of the stay and you are not circling for a space when you arrive.
- Do hotels near Boston Medical Center give discounts to patients?
- BMC publishes a list of nineteen hotels at bmc.org/hotels and tells you to mention "Boston Medical Center" when booking, because the hotel may give you a preferred rate. Several are far closer than we are - Hampton Inn & Suites is 0.1 miles from the door. For one or two nights before an early appointment, book one of those. That same list runs out to 5.7 miles, which is further from the hospital than we are.
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
- Harvard & MIT visits
- Wedding weekends
- Conventions & trade shows
- Marathon weekend
- Visiting family
- Hyde Park
- Holidays in Boston