Walking from Kendall Square to Harvard Square?

<p>I'm wondering what the walking time is between Kendall Square and Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. I am aware that both places are along the red "T" line, and I have walked in the environs of each, but never between them in one walk. And how is the safety of the walk? Would you make that walk at any time of the day or night? On the walk, what is the intermediate time to Central Square? I love Boston for its walkability, and have been all over Boston, but I'm less familiar with walking in Cambridge.</p>

<p>How much do you like walking? :) I've made that walk, but I don't particularly like it -- it's a bit of a haul. It's easy to get from Kendall to Central (10-15 minutes, at most), but the Central to Harvard leg is longer.</p>

<p>The Central area is the only part that could be described as marginally unsafe, and Central has gotten safer even over the five years I've been in Cambridge. As a small female, I'm completely comfortable walking by myself in Central during the day. I would be a little warier of walking by myself at night, but many of my single female friends live in the vicinity, and they don't have problems.</p>

<p>Cambridge is super-safe during the day (though as molliebatmit said, I agree, Central square is a little bit shady), but late at night safety is an issue. (When I was enrolled in Harvard Extension School, I occasionally as in, maybe 2-3 times from September to June - got emails about safety alerts - usually, these involved people after midnight (2AM or something) being robbed or mugged in the Harvard Square area. But during the day, it really is very safe - speaking from a LOT of experience here :-) )</p>

<p>But, if the issue is cross-reg or wanting to get to Harvard for some other reason, why not take a bus? There's a bus that goes directly from 77 Mass ave to Harvard square. In any case, I think that bus and T take about the same time- ~20 minutes from Kendall to Harvard I would estimate. But walking is probably quite a bit longer... though I'm not sure, because I always take the T or a bus.</p>

<p>I do like walking. I thought of the idea of posting this thread while in a walk from my home to the public library along our city trail system, which is about a mile one way. I'll have a chance to visit Cambridge later this month, and it has been my consistent experience that one gets to know more about a town by walking through it than by riding public transportation through it, just as one learns more by riding public transportation rather than by driving.</p>

<p>This August I spent a few days in Cambridge doing some research while my daughter enjoyed one of the orientation programs. Each day, I walked from the Marriott Hotel in Kendall Square to the Houghton Library on the Harvard Campus. It was a 40-minute walk each way.</p>

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It was a 40-minute walk each way.

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<p>Sounds about right.</p>

<p>Hey, oasis, great to hear from you in this thread. Colder weather in Cambridge than in Taichung, I suppose? Our trip to Cambridge is occasioned by HMMT. I just heard minutes ago that my son's team, which looked to be short-handed after one team member was unable to make the trip, is now back up to full strength (in number of mathletes, anyway).</p>

<p>Yeah I actually haven't been on CC for 2 months? I guess? I really haven't been here much since coming to MIT (when I have "free time," I just blog on MIT Admissions, lol).</p>

<p>I actually spent IAP in Spain with a Spanish study-abroad program that MIT offers. It's pretty nice. Before that, I was in Taichung for 2 weeks (left right after finals!). As of right now, I actually just landed in Boston 3 hours ago. Did my fair share of traveling since December ;)</p>

<p>I'm actually hoping to volunteer for HMMT! I joined their mailing list on October/November and has been following on what's going on. It sounds like it's going to be a nice tournament. But then, I don't really know whether I would have scheduling conflicts with all the other stuff that I might be doing. February's pretty packed...=/</p>

<p>Going back to the topic, I don't know why you would want to make the Kendall -> Harvard Square walk more than once though. I mean, it's nice the first time getting to know the environment but at the end it just gets really tedious (especially the long stretch from Central to Harvard where there really isn't much in the middle).</p>

<p>The shortest path from Kendall Sq to Harvard goes up Broadway and bypasses Central Square; this is even less interesting in terms of scenery than going up Mass Ave.
The prettiest route is along the river; this is substantially longer (over an hour).
I hope you and your son enjoy the visit and the HMMT; my youngest son (high school freshman) will be going; his older brother went a few times and enjoyed it.</p>

<p>to address the temporal part of your question more thoroughly:</p>

<p>i've walked from harvard to random hall (a couple blocks south of central) at around 2 or 3 AM several times, but i was with a group of two or three friends each time. it's kind of sketchy just because everything is deserted, and a bum yelled at me once for not giving him change, but i never felt like i was in serious danger.</p>

<p>Kendall to Harvard is easily walkable if you're able-bodied. The amount of time it takes depends on your walking speed. :) I'm guessing it's about two miles.</p>

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Going back to the topic, I don't know why you would want to make the Kendall -> Harvard Square walk more than once though.

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<p>Some people like walking. I have made the walk from Kendall to <em>Davis</em> (or vice versa) several times when the weather is nice and I'm not in a rush. The Kendall/Harvard walk is nice, and sometimes there's stuff that you want to do along the way (grab a bite to eat, stop in a CD store or bookstore).</p>

<p>If you stay on major roads/in well-lit areas and are aware of your surroundings (and don't act like a deer in the headlights), Central is not so bad even at night. Most Central Square-area muggings (I looked at a chart once) happen near Mass Ave, but a little ways off it. Don't take shortcuts through dark alleys.</p>

<p>I have walked all over Cambridge and Somerville, and know my way around them a lot better than I do Boston proper. I'm happy to give thoughts/advice on walking in the area. :)</p>

<p>I still say that taking the bus is > than walking (or waiting for that matter: <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.0297%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.0297&lt;/a> - from the RSI thread) ;)</p>

<p>In August at 90+ it is a 40 minute walk. During temperate times I usually take about 30. It is a nice walk during the day and is far better for you than the subway or the bus assuming you have the free time. When visiting MIT I travel to Harvard Square at least twice a day, then again I run a lot when I am at home and even do a little on the track at MIT for exercise so maybe I am not a good example. It is a nice casual walk, but I would keep my eyes open at night.</p>

<p>You should bike. I get there in 15-20 min bike ride. And my bike sucks.</p>