The Best Hotels to Book Near Boston Public Library

Fancy having the Boston Public Library for a next-door neighbor? Well, you can if you stay at the Lenox Hotel, one of three accommodations overlooking the library. The Lenox is housed in an outstanding Beaux-Arts building from the early 1900s and has its own cocktail bar, Irish pub and fine-dining restaurant. Rooms are classy and simple, with Italian marble in the bathrooms. You’ll often receive personal gifts from the staff, such as a box of Lindt chocolates.

City living with rural chic is available at the Newbury, which overlooks the Boston Public Park and Common. Located four blocks from Boston Public Library, this contemporary hotel has everything needed for a comfortable stay, including an espresso maker, luxury bathrobes and linen, a fitness center and a library and fireplace. The design gives art deco a modern, minimalist makeover, while artwork from the illustrator Veronica Lawlor adorns the walls.

One of the top places to stay in Boston, the Charlesmark is in the Back Bay neighborhood, overlooking the Boston Public Library. The snug rooms do a lot with limited space, fitting in a reading chair, mini-fridge and good reading lights. A complimentary continental breakfast is included in the room price. For all other meals, there are scores of restaurants and cafes nearby.

It wouldn’t feel like Boston without mention of a revolution somewhere along the way, and at the Revolution Hotel, the spirit of ingenuity and change is not taken lightly. As such, the property starts with a modern, elegant design then layers smatterings of bold design choices on top, such as street art murals in the reception, bright carpets in the corridors and period paintings depicting 18th-century Boston Harbor in the rooms. Cósmica, the hotel restaurant, offers upscale Mexican dining and cocktails.

West of Boston Public Library, and just a few minutes from Fenway Park – home of the Red Sox baseball team – is the upscale Hotel Commonwealth. The Fenway guest rooms have excellent views of the stadium and the Boston skyline, as does the seating area in the foyer. TVs in the rooms have Chromecast capabilities, so there’s plenty of opportunity to watch sports even when there’s no game on. Kenmore metro station is right outside the front door of the hotel.

So close to Fenway Park that it’s practically inside the stadium is the Verb, with its upbeat and youthful character. Music is a big part of the life of this hotel, with LP players and jukeboxes keeping the tunes coming and where corridors are emblazoned with pithy phrases such as “if the music is too loud, you’re too old”. Rooms overlook the central sun deck, where the building’s pop art-colored windows reflect off the glassy surface of the communal pool.

In the main shopping district of the Back Bay neighborhood is the Colonnade Hotel, where busy lifestyles are catered to with modern amenities. Rooms are clean and the crisp white and gray tones are brought to life with natural light by floor-to-ceiling windows during the day and warmed by modern lighting fixtures in the evening. There’s a full-service fitness center with plenty of machines and free weights here. The highlight though, is the rooftop pool and bar (open from late spring to early fall).

For a stay in a slice of Bostonian history, look no further than the Omni Parker House Hotel, one of the city’s top-notch accommodations. The building opened in 1855 and is only two blocks from the Old South Meeting House, where the Boston Tea Party used to meet. This hotel sits in between the harbor and Boston Public Library, making it ideal for anyone planning to explore the city extensively. The atmosphere and decor are sophisticated.

Across the Charles River in the Kendall Square neighborhood, you’ll find the bustling campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kendall Hotel sits amid buildings where the future landscape of our technological lives is being dreamed up. Inside this lovely red brick hotel, your own dreams are helped along by clean, comfortable beds dressed in the red, white and blue of the American flag and walls painted cheerful shades of blue and yellow.