I visited Boston in early January to see family and was super excited to find this apartment. Left feeling disappointed.
THE GOOD:
* Awesome general location. The North End offers tons of cool local restaurants and shops. The back streets make you feel like you're in Europe or back in the 1920s (in a cool way). Easy access and walkable distances to good tourist spots.
* The actual unit is rather nice and clean. Had some issues though. See below.
THE BAD:
* The actual location of the apartment was kind of sketchy. A dark alleyway to get to the apartment. A narrow, not very nice looking hallway and stair case to get to your unit. A pipe partially blocks one of the doors. A bad first impression getting to your unit.
* Construction in the alleyway going on in January. Guy was cutting metal rods at 9am. Not fun.
*Despite the hosts insisting the heat worked, I swear our unit never warmed up. It was zero degrees outside during our trip....so you can begin to see the need for heat. Hosts were nice enough to bring over a space heater on night 2....but had no heat from the heaters all trip. Big disappointment.
* Parking is a nightmare. Yes, I'm well aware of the brief note at the end of the description but that doesn't go far enough. The surrounding streets are all one-way and you can only parallel park. Those spots are also only reserved for "residents". GOOD LUCK parking in these spots. We had to park in a pay parking lot a half mile away for our trip. $65 added on.
FINAL TAKE:
While the North End is awesome, I would not stay here again. Sketchy unit location. Parking is a nightmare. No heat in the dead of winter was a huge issue.