Visiting Brown

My daughter will be visiting Brown University in July. Do I need to rent a car? How is public transportation from the airport and around the city? I don%26#39;t have a hotel yet, so any suggestions would be great. Also ideas for fun would be helpfultoo. We like ethnic restaurants, art museums, music... Thanks!

Visiting Brown

Hello,

You really don%26#39;t need to rent a car while staying in Providence. Any of the downtown hotels will work for you except for The Marriott Downtown Providence. That one is just a bit further outside the city center. Courtyard by Marriott, Biltmore, Hilton, Westin Renaissance and Hotel Providence would all be fine.

There%26#39;s a variety of ways to get to Providence from the airport in Warwick. Shuttle, Bus, Taxi are all reliable. That%26#39;s all they do all day long. Public Transit in the city is very good. You%26#39;ll have no problem hopping on a bus at Kennedy Plaza (Downtown) to take you anywhere your feet won%26#39;t. Since the Downtown is compact, you won%26#39;t need a bus to get around much at all. Even Federal Hill is easily walkable from Downtown. Brown is up on the Hill and and about a half mile walk from Downtown. The only problem is that it%26#39;s a STEEP hill to walk up. You might want to take public transit for that unless you want a good workout.

The great thing about Providence is that for a mid sized city, it has some seriously good restaurants. They take their food seriously in that city, especially Italian cuisine. Downtown, Federal Hill (Italian) and even up around Brown has plenty of ethnic restaurants to choose from. Trust me, you will not go hungry there. I suggest you look at the restaurants on the left of the page to see what might interest you.

Definitely head to Rhode Island School of Design%26#39;s (RISD) Museum on Benefit Street. Benefit Street is a street you%26#39;ll love walking down with it%26#39;s incredibly beautiful and historic homes. It%26#39;s halfway up the Hill. I also suggest you check out Johnson %26amp; Wales University Culinary Archives Museum. Oh, and if you happen to be visiting on a weekend when a WaterFire event is planned, be certain to check that out. You%26#39;ll like it!

Once again, for a mid sized city, Providence has quite a good nightlife scene. With several colleges near the Downtown, much of it is geared for the younger crowd, but there%26#39;s still plenty to keep the older crowd happy as well. Your hotel Concierge will hopefully steer you to the type of place you%26#39;re looking for. Hope this was helpful and gives you an idea of what the city is like. It%26#39;s really an easy city to get around.

Visiting Brown

Thank you for your suggestions. We are looking forward to our visit. I also thought it would be fun to visit Harvard as well. Is that a doable day trip without a car?

Thanks for your help!

Harvard is certainly doable from Providence. You can walk over to Providence Station and take a MBTA Commuter Rail train to South Station in Boston. Once at South Station, get on the Subway (Red Line inbound). Take it to the Harvard stop and you%26#39;re there. Commuter Rail from Providence is $7.75 per person each way, while the Subway will be $2 per person each way.

http://www.mbta.com/

Thanks for the help--I can%26#39;t believe how easy it is to get from one place to another.