Hi guys! Hoping there are some Cambridge residents/Harvard students out there. I am going to be doing a 3 week scholarly visit and was hoping to get some info on where the best place is to stay (or if there’s any places to avoid). I have been mostly looking looking at places north of the Charles River, but noticed some cheaper places for rent on the southern part of campus below the river.
Additionally, I was hoping to find out some info on group rides/masters swim I could link up with during my stay.
I know the Hyatt in Cambridge has a full 25y pool. Right on the north bank of the Charles River, which has a trail on both sides that’s great for running. Don’t know much about cycling in the area. The trail is too crowded and too many cross streets to ride on by itself, but it may lead to places I don’t know about.
The parts “below the River” would be Allston, and would be a good option for residence. Lots of students living in that area.
Harvard has two pools, a 25 yd older pool called Malkin, and a shiny 50m pool called Blodgett. If you can wrangle yourself into an athletic pass during your time here, those are the pools you’d want. Cambridge Masters swims out of there and they allow drop-ins although I think they want you to let them know ahead of time.
For riding, you’ll want to get out of the city. There is a bike path (The Minuteman) that leads out of the city which begins a little over a mile from campus at the Alewife T station. On a nice day, it will be pretty crowded with runners/kids/dog walkers/etc and you should figure on it being a warmup, although the farther out of the city you get, the less crowded. Once you get to the end, there is excellent riding in the towns of Bedford, Concord, Acton and beyond. If you go to:
and click “Search Database” and put in some of the towns I listed above, you will get cue sheets for rides which include those towns. I’d suggest the “Apple Pi” ride as a good one to start with as it is a great route and there are markings on the road for most turns (the Pi symbol with the legs pointing out which way to turn).
Harvard also has an active cycling team, so you may want to contact them to see if you can jump in on any of their rides. Not sure about the quality of any of the “show and go” group rides, but there is a Tuesday Night Worlds which goes out of Newton and is quite fast in the front group with slower options as well:
I know the Hyatt in Cambridge has a full 25y pool. Right on the north bank of the Charles River, which has a trail on both sides that’s great for running. Don’t know much about cycling in the area. The trail is too crowded and too many cross streets to ride on by itself, but it may lead to places I don’t know about.
The pool was on the roof, right? I stayed there for a week back in 2011 or 2012 and the pool was great for swimming. If I’m thinking of the same place. Easy to run around there as well with the trails that line the Charles River.