Allston
Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part, Allston is administered collectively with the adjacent neighborhood of Brighton. The two are often referred to together as Allston–Brighton. Boston Police Department District D-14 covers the Allston-Brighton area and a Boston Fire Department Allston station is located in Union Square which houses Engine 41 and Ladder 14. Engine 41 is nicknamed "The Bull" to commemorate the historic stockyards of Allston.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Allston
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636, and named Harvard College in 1639 in honor of its first benefactor, Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.
2.7 km · private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts · Wikipedia - 02Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1861 to advance "useful knowledge", the university has played a significant role in the development of many areas of technology and science.
3.4 km · private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, founded 1861 · Wikipedia - 03Boston University
Boston University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont.
2.7 km · private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States · Wikipedia - 04Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area.
3.5 km · art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, United States · Wikipedia - 05Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world.
3.8 km · independent college of contemporary music in Boston, Massachusetts, United States · Wikipedia - 06Boston College
Boston College is a private Catholic Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order, the university has more than 15,000 total students, making it the seventh largest Catholic university in the U.S. by enrollment.
3.7 km · private research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States · Wikipedia - 07Northeastern University
Northeastern University is a private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male institute before being incorporated as Northeastern College in 1916, gaining university status in 1922.
3.9 km · private university in Boston, Massachusetts, USA · Wikipedia - 08Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is the law school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United States.
3 km · law school of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts · Wikipedia - 09Harvard College Observatory
The Harvard College Observatory is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, and was founded in 1839.
3.2 km · observatory · Wikipedia - 10Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts.
3.2 km · art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, United States · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
One of the best activities in Allston-Brighton is people-watching, for whatever your motivations. You'll find an exciting mix of ethnicities and age groups, from upper middle class college kids to Vietnamese immigrants to the local Russian community.
From Wikivoyage: Allston, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Things to do in Allston largely include just walking about and enjoying the area. There are a lot of little boutiques, excellent friendly coffee/tea shops, some interesting crowds, and a relatively easy-going atmosphere. It's also an excellent area for photography.
- 01Charles River Canoe & Kayak
1071 Soldiers Field Rd (T: Harvard),.
- 02Community Rowing
20 Nonantum Rd (Bus to Watertown Yard and walk),.
- 03Harvard Stadium
- 04Alumni Stadium
140 Commonwealth Avenue (Boston College),.
- 05Conte Forum
- 06Harrington Athletics Village
2125 Commonwealth Avenue (Boston College).
From Wikivoyage: Allston, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Allston
- Airports
- Boston Logan (BOS), 10 km · Rhode Island T. F. Green (PVD), 74 km · Bradley (BDL), 136 km
- Stations
- Boston College station, 3.2 km · Kenmore station, 3 km
- Providence/Warwick → Allston78 km · quickest by road, 2h 3m · $7–10
- Portland → Allston4071 km · quickest by air, 9h 2m · $450–690
- Hartford → Allston145 km · quickest by road, 2h 28m · $13–17
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Allston
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Allston. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inLong Wharf is the most popular; offering MBTA connections to the Charlestown Navy Yard, Logan Airport, Hingham and Hull, as well as a seasonal ferry to Salem.
- Get inBoston Harbor Cruises offers other seasonal ferries, decamping to the Boston Harbor Islands, or heading out to Provincetown.
- Get inThere is another ferry from here to Hingham, and a seasonal one to Winthrop.
- Get inWater taxis are plentiful all along the waterfront, servicing 28 different points between downtown, South Boston, East Boston, and Charlestown.
- Go nextHead down to the wharf and take a ferry out to the Boston Harbor Islands.
From Wikivoyage: Boston/Downtown, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01253 km
- 02265 km
- 032,731 km
- 042,747 km
- 052,849 km
If you know how people move in Allston – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Allston
Allston is 6 km from Boston, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Chestnut Hillvillage in Massachusetts3.7 km
- Fenway–Kenmoreneighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States2.9 km
- Brightonneighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States2.3 km