We are not in Cambridge, and that is the point
Let us be straight with you: our apartments are in Dorchester and Hyde Park, not Harvard Square. If you want to walk to the Yard in four minutes, book in Cambridge and pay Cambridge prices for a room with no kitchen.
What we offer instead is a whole apartment for the kind of trip a campus visit actually is — two or three days, two to five people, early starts, and a great deal of walking. Our Dorchester apartments sit at the Ashmont end of the Red Line, which runs into Harvard Square without a change. You get a kitchen, a washer and dryer, your own rooms, and somewhere to park the car you drove up in.
Harvard is the eighth most common reason guests tell us they are in Boston, and almost none of them stay with us because we are close to it. They stay because a family of four in one apartment beats a family of four in two hotel rooms.
What a campus trip actually needs
Interview mornings start early, and nobody wants to queue for a hotel breakfast before one. Move-in weekend means bulky bags, a car, and a run to the shops — all of which are easier from a driveway than from a garage with a height limit.
Parents' weekend and reunions run late. Coming back to your own front door beats coming back to a lobby.
And if you are doing the full circuit — Harvard, MIT, BU, Northeastern, Tufts, Berklee, Simmons, Emerson — you are crossing the city anyway. A base with parking and a kitchen serves that better than a room beside any one campus.
Which line each campus is on
You will not be walking to any of these from Dorchester or Hyde Park, so the useful question is which train, and whether it is one ride or two. Harvard and MIT are both on the Red Line, which is the line our Dorchester apartments sit on — that is the one genuinely easy trip.
The rest are a change, or a drive. Every apartment has free parking, so driving is a real option, and out here you can actually leave the car somewhere.
| Campus | Nearest stop | Line |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard | Harvard Square | Red |
| MIT | Kendall/MIT | Red |
| Boston University | BU Central | Green B |
| Northeastern | Ruggles / Northeastern | Orange / Green E |
| Berklee | Hynes Convention Center | Green |
| Emerson | Boylston | Green |
| Simmons | Longwood Medical Area | Green E |
| Tufts | Medford/Tufts | Green E |
Apartments that suit this trip
17 Ellis Street, Apt AView ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
19 Ellis Street, Apt BView ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
143 Erie Street, Apt 1View ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
9 Warner Street, Apt 9W1View ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
7 Bernard Street, Apt 7B1View ApartmentFree cancellation — 100% refund any time before check-in
Spacious place. Near the city. Full of kitchen equipment. Highly recommended.— verified guest review
Common questions
- Is this a whole apartment?
- The whole apartment, to yourself. Your own front door, your own kitchen, your own laundry - no shared hallways, no front desk, nobody else in the property.
- How long can a visiting scholar stay?
- 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.
- Do you charge a booking fee?
- No. Booking direct at sparekeysstay.com carries no booking fee, and the code BOOKDIRECT takes 20% off. That is the whole reason the direct site exists.
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
- Wedding weekends
- Conventions & trade shows
- Marathon weekend
- Visiting family
- Hyde Park
- Holidays in Boston