Mandarin Oriental, Boston is the city’s discreet luxury address in the Back Bay, on Boylston Street and physically connected to the Shops at Prudential Center, within a short walk of Newbury Street, Copley Square and the Public Garden. It is a contemporary hotel with the brand’s Asian-inflected calm worked into a very Bostonian setting, and its 148 rooms and suites make it mid-sized rather than grand, which suits the city. The pitch is straightforward: a serene, well-run base in the middle of Boston’s best shopping and dining district.
Rooms are among the larger you will find in the city, quiet, neutral and comfortable, with good beds, marble bathrooms and, in many, views over Boylston Street or the Back Bay rooftops. Downstairs, Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud’s French bistro and wine bar, is a genuine destination rather than a hotel afterthought, strong on charcuterie, Lyonnaise cooking and a serious list. But the property’s signature is the spa: a large, much-decorated operation that is regularly rated among the best hotel spas in the United States, and reason enough on its own for some guests to book.
Service is the assured, anticipatory Mandarin Oriental standard, and the Back Bay position means you can leave the car and walk, to the shops, to the Museum of Fine Arts and Symphony Hall nearby, or into the Public Garden and the Freedom Trail beyond. It is expensive and unshowy, aimed at travellers who want quiet luxury and a great spa in a walkable, cultured part of the city rather than a lobby scene. For a refined Boston stay with dinner and a treatment a lift ride from your room, it is one of the surest choices in town.
