Towns
Where to Stay Near Framingham, MA and Natick: Group Guide
Updated
Deciding where to stay near Framingham, MA usually comes down to a choice between the hotels strung along Route 9 and something quieter a town or two west. Framingham and Natick are the commercial middle of MetroWest, busy and practical, with a few places that deserve more attention than they get. Here is what is worth your time, and how the area works from a base in Southborough, about 15 to 20 minutes away by car.
Garden in the Woods
This is the one to plan a day around. Garden in the Woods is the botanic garden of Native Plant Trust, on Hemenway Road in the north of Framingham. It covers 45 acres of glacial terrain with a brook, a pond and wetlands, and it grows more than 1,000 species of New England native plants. Nothing here is a bedding display. It is woodland gardening, run by a conservation organization whose day job is protecting the region's rare plants.
The main path is a mile-long loop with a crushed-gravel surface. Native Plant Trust suggests an hour to an hour and a half, which is about right if you read labels. There is a lily pond, a natural play area for children, and a shop selling native plants, seeds and books.
Things to know before you go:
- The garden is seasonal. It is open from spring into late November, with daily hours in the main season and a shorter week in autumn. It also closes for a few days in October to set up a members' evening event. Check the official page for the current hours and admission before you drive over.
- Dogs and other pets are not permitted. Service animals are welcome.
- Spring is the famous season, when the woodland wildflowers bloom. Autumn is quieter, and this year the shop has run a fall plant sale.
From Southborough town center it is roughly 10 miles, about 20 to 25 minutes. If gardens are the point of your trip, see our garden lovers' weekend guide, which pairs this one with Tower Hill and others.
Art, campus visits and a concert
The Danforth Art Museum belongs to Framingham State University and sits on the Framingham Centre common, on the second floor of a building it shares with its art school. It is a small museum with a focus on American art, easy to see in an hour. The museum's own advice is to put "14 Vernon Street, Framingham" into your GPS instead of the museum name, and to park free at the rear of the building.
Framingham State University itself is a few minutes from the common. For graduation, move-in or a campus tour, Southborough is about 15 minutes west, an easy run along Route 9 outside rush hour. Our graduation weekend guide covers the other colleges in reach.
In Natick, The Center for Arts in Natick, known as TCAN, puts on concerts, comedy and films in an 1875 firehouse in Natick Center. It is a good evening out if your group wants live music without going into Boston.
Water and woods
Cochituate State Park in Natick is a day-use park on Lake Cochituate, run by the state DCR, with swimming, boating, windsurfing and fishing. It gets busy on hot weekends. DCR charges for parking in season, with a much higher rate for out-of-state plates, so check the park page if you are driving a rental car.
Callahan State Park, on the Framingham and Marlborough line, is the opposite sort of place: no beach, no facilities to speak of, just fields, ponds and miles of trails used by walkers, riders and mountain bikers. It is known locally as a dog walkers' park, and you will meet a lot of dogs.
Shopping, if you must
Natick Mall on Route 9 is one of the largest malls in New England, and the surrounding stretch of Natick and Framingham (locals call it the Golden Triangle) has nearly every chain store you can name. Useful when someone forgot dress shoes for the wedding. It is also the reason Route 9 crawls on Saturday afternoons and through most of December. Go early.
Where to stay near Framingham, MA: hotel or house
Framingham and Natick have plenty of business hotels, and if you are one or two people with a meeting on Route 9, take one of those.
Groups are a different calculation. Eight or ten people in a hotel means five rooms on three floors and nowhere to sit together except the lobby. Southborough Garden Retreat is a private whole-house rental in Southborough with four bedrooms plus sofa beds (it sleeps 14 comfortably), a handmade dining table that seats 12, and a chef's kitchen. There is over an acre of garden with a pond, a gazebo and a patio with a gas grill. After a day on Route 9, the quiet is noticeable.
The trade-off is the drive. You will be 15 to 25 minutes from most of what is listed here, and every outing starts in a car. Times vary with traffic, especially on the Mass Pike and Route 9, where the evening rush can double them. If your event is in Natick center and runs late, a hotel next door may suit you better.
Note that the house is on a quiet residential street and is not a party venue. Daytime gatherings are by arrangement only.
Approximate drive times from Southborough town center
- Framingham Centre and the Danforth: about 15 minutes
- Garden in the Woods: 20 to 25 minutes
- Callahan State Park: 15 to 20 minutes
- Natick Mall: about 20 minutes
- Cochituate State Park and Natick center: 20 to 25 minutes
Useful links
Bringing a group?
Southborough Garden Retreat sleeps fourteen, with a library, a glass plant room, a projector room, a gym and an acre of garden. It is a Guest Favorite on Airbnb, rated 4.95.
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