Cambridge · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Kendall Square
Peter Halvorsen The Nordics
These are my five favourites in Cambridge, out of the 83 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.6 down to 4.5.
All five are within 1.9 km of Kendall Square.
Highest rated of the five
The Kendall Hotel
★★★★★4.6 from 715 reviews
The Kendall Hotel comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.6 from 715 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $474 a night on the dates we checked.
83 hotels in Cambridge qualified for this list and five made it. Four Seasons Hotel Boston is the one I would book if the first is full.
Why it works for this trip
- Air conditioningthe one that decides a summer trip
- Restaurantdinner downstairs on the night you land
- Bara drink without going back out
- Family roomscots and larger rooms rather than a squeeze
- Kitchenettebreakfast on your own schedule
All five, ranked
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1
The Kendall Hotel
★★★★★4.6 from 715 reviews
600 m from Kendall Square, about a 8 minute walk
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
- Kitchen
- Kid friendly
- Air conditioning
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2Four Seasons Hotel Boston
★★★★★4.7 from 1,762 reviews
1.9 km from Kendall Square, about a 24 minute walk
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3Ginkgo House on Harvard
★★★★★5 from 694 reviews
1.9 km from Kendall Square, about a 24 minute walk
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4Mandarin Oriental, Boston
★★★★★4.7 from 1,007 reviews
1.9 km from Kendall Square, about a 24 minute walk
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5Kimpton Marlowe Hotel
★★★★★4.5 from 1,567 reviews
700 m from Kendall Square, about a 9 minute walk
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
- Pet friendly
How this list was put together
83 Cambridge hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Kendall Square second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Peter Halvorsen The Nordics
Twenty-six years of teaching means 26 long summers. Trains and driving through most of Europe, now further afield, usually alone with a tent. Keeps every train ticket since 1994.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.