Where in NH is good to be if you commute to Boston?

[anarchicluv]

My wife and I are planning the move in our heads right now and I'm interested to know where in NH is good to be if you commute to Boston?  The job I have now and hope to have when I get there would allow me to live in NH but commute to Boston at most once a week.  Any thoughts?

[d_goddard]

Derry or Windham, close to I-93
You can be in downtown Boston in 30 minutes, less if no traffic.

[Nat F]

If you commute into Boston proper there's nowhere that's "good" unless your definition of good includes the possibility of an hour or more in a car each way if traffic is bad.  That said there's a lot of people who do it.  Generally the town along the two interstates are best (Manchester, Londonderry, Derry, Pelham, Windham, Salem along I 93 and Portsmouth, Hampton, Seabrook along I 95) but just about any town in that area (including Nashua, Merrimack and Bedford along Rt 3) is do-able.  Once you get further west than that you'll spend too much time getting to the highways and further north than that it's just too far, though your tolerance may differ.

-Nat

[Braddogg]

Bus: There are buses that runs from Boston (South Station and Logan Airport) to Londonderry, Manchester, Hanover, Lebanon, New London, Nashua, and Concord.  www.concordtrailways.com.  J'Raxis makes the trip from Manchester to Boston and back five days a week, and from what I hear it sucks.  I took the bus a few times when I was living in Boston, and it did, indeed, suck.

Car: Nashua and Manchester are fairly close to the NH-MA border, and driving from Boston to Manchester took me about 45 minutes, maybe a little longer, without any real traffic.  Rush hour traffic, though, is going to be a pain; if you could swing it so that you went into the office late and stayed late (or came in early and left early), your driving time would probably be cut significantly.

My advice would be to look for some place along Route 93, as that's going to give you a clear shot into the city without having to pay any tolls on the NH side (yet).  Manchester might be convenient: close enough to the border, but still more NH than MA.  Nashua has a reputation for being "Massachusetts Lite."  Plus, there are a bunch of Free Staters already here.

[anarchicluv]

Thanks for your reply's.  It sounds like Manchester or Nashua might be the best bets.  I don't relish this commute, but it'll be worth it for the chance to participate in the 2nd American Revolution.

[JonM]

Manchester is a bit of a hike from Nashua.  Try Windham, if you can find a cheap house there your property taxes will be comparatively low, as the median home price in that town is over $600k.

[41mag]

I thought there was a regular train that ran from Exeter to Boston? 

[toowm]

When I drive from Windham to Cambridge, MA in the mornings along I-93 it is about 90 minutes. Back home is 45 minutes or less, because other cars are getting off. Do check out Nashua, because I-93 is getting worse and will be under construction for 3+ years. Traffic is better in the summer and fine now during non-rush hour, except for (leaf) peepers heading north on Friday afternoons.

[J’raxis 270145]

Bus: There are buses that runs from Boston (South Station and Logan Airport) to Londonderry, Manchester, Hanover, Lebanon, New London, Nashua, and Concord.  www.concordtrailways.com.  J'Raxis makes the trip from Manchester to Boston and back five days a week, and from what I hear it sucks.  I took the bus a few times when I was living in Boston, and it did, indeed, suck.

It's quite pleasant if you enjoy traveling down I-93 south slowly enough to actually make out all the cracks and potholes in the Massachusetts pavement...

The "07:00–08:45" bus to Boston gets in at 08:15-08:30 during the summer, but 09:00–09:15 this time of year. The evening buses out of Boston that leave at 16:15, 17:15, and 18:15 get back to Manchester at pretty much any random time after their scheduled arrival time.

[JonM]

Where in Boston is always a good question.  A friend of mine took a bus to Boston from Newburyport that brought him to South Station if I recall, which was not far from work.  If he took the commuter rail in, that dumps you at North Station, and it could take upwards of half an hour to get from North Station to South Station.

[anarchicluv]

Where in Boston is always a good question.  A friend of mine took a bus to Boston from Newburyport that brought him to South Station if I recall, which was not far from work.  If he took the commuter rail in, that dumps you at North Station, and it could take upwards of half an hour to get from North Station to South Station.

It's on 101 Federal Street, just West of I-93.

[JonM]

I think that's around where my friend was working, much closer to South Station, so commuter rail isn't really the best solution.  For once a week, well it really depends on which day, doesn't it?  Thursday and Friday are worse than Tuesday and Wednesday, Monday can be a crapshoot.  If your commute day is Wednesday you might be decent.  The bus to South Station at least lets you catch up on your reading.

If you want to get a sense of things, go to maps.google.com and plug in that address, be a bit freaked out about the line art of the buildings they've added to the map, and click on Traffic.  You can zoom out pretty far and see what the I-93 commute looks like on various days of the week and times of the day.

For more specific info http://www.smartraveler.com/scripts/bosmap.asp?city=bos&cityname=Boston

[maxxoccupancy]

I've known people who live in Manchester and commute to the Boston area for work.  To be honest access to the freeway was a big issue.  There are parts of Manchester that can add almost 20 minutes to the commute just reaching the freeway.

Manchester does offer good access to the rest of the state and to Mass, but make sure that your house is close to a freeway entrance.  Avoid South Willow and that area if possible.

The same is true with Nashua.  However, the actual time on freeway from Manch to the border is only about 15 minutes if there is little or no traffic.

[burnthebeautiful]

I thought there was a regular train that ran from Exeter to Boston? 

I thought there were no train-tracks in NH at all (except for the Hobo Scenic Railroad that goes between Weirs Beach and Merrimack and I think some other towns, which is a tourist-attraction and not a commuter train).

[Kat Kanning]

There are some other train tracks in NH.