Amherst, Massachusetts is a lovely town situated in the Pioneer Valley. But Amherst is also quite a bit smaller than other recent CUNY sites (Boulder, CO; Davis, CA; Boston, MA; Gainesville, FL). In fact, Amherst is arguably the smallest, most rural venue for CUNY since our conference was founded, with Chapel Hill in 2008 coming in second place.
It’s adorable here. We love our little New England hamlet. But our location comes with some logistical challenges for out-of-town folk who need to travel to join us. This post is dedicated to the finer points of travel and lodging in the Pioneer Valley.
Travel
Information about travel options to Amherst is documented in detail at this link. We have two airports that are accessible to Amherst: Bradley Airport in Hartford CT, and Logan Airport in Boston MA (Albany International Airport in NY is a possible third option). Bradley is about a 45 minute drive to Amherst, and Logan is approximately a 1h30 drive.
Peter Pan operates a bus that goes from Logan Airport to Amherst MA: it is a 4 and a half hour ride and costs approximately $36 at the time of writing. Another transportation option is Valley Transporter, which operates a shuttle service to Amherst from both Logan and Bradley airports. These shuttles must be booked in advance, and the price ranges from $57 for a single passenger to as low as ~$30 per passenger if you book with 8 people at once. So if you are traveling with a group, booking a Valley Transporter together is a good cost-saving option. It is also possible to get a Lyft or an Uber from the airport, though it can become quite costly.
Alternatively, you might find it convenient to rent a car while you are here, to drive from the airport to Amherst.
Finally, there is Amtrak train service to nearby Northampton (10 minute drive) and Springfield (30 minute drive), so you might wish to consider train travel as well.
If you have questions about how to get yourself from the airport to Amherst, MA, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with us at cunyumass@gmail.com.
Lodging
CUNY is being hosted on the UMass Campus, in the UMass Campus Center. This means that there is one hands-down winner for the most convenient lodging option:Hotel UMass. Hotel UMass is situated above the conference venue, in the same building. However, space at Hotel UMass is limited, so if walkability to the conference site is valuable to you, please book early. We have reserved a block of rooms with a reduced rate; the reduced rate is available until 2/19/2020 with the code CCH20C. Please note that on the Hotel UMass website, it will tell you there is no availability during the CUNY dates unless you put the conference code into the drop-down menu under ‘rate options’. Once you do this, you will be able to see any remaining rooms in the CUNY block (which is nearly the whole hotel).
Do not delay in booking Hotel UMass if you want to be close to the conference and the party! It is almost certain to sell out.
Other than Hotel UMass, what other options are there? Here is our rundown of walkable lodging options, along with walk times to the conference site. Other options that are accessible to the conference site, but not easily walkable, are listed at the bottom of this post.
Inn at Boltwood (28 minute walk to conference venue). The Inn on Boltwood is a higher-end lodging option situated right on the town green. It’s got a lovely restaurant with a noted mixologist tending bar, and lots of nice amenities available (including in-room fireplaces!). You can walk to campus, but it takes about a half an hour; there is also a bus that regularly shuttles between UMass and Amherst College, right by the Inn’s entrance.
University Lodge (16 minute walkto conference venue). The University Lodge is a relatively inexpensive option situated between the campus and the downtown. While there is no public transportation from the University Lodge to campus, it is a relatively short walk to the conference venue, and also a walk to downtown Amherst.
Allen House Inn (35 minute walkto the conference venue). While a bit further away, the Allen House Victorian Bed and Breakfast is perhaps the housing option with the most local character. A good option if you’d like some Victorian digs for your visit to Amherst!
AirBnB is also a solid option for Amherst; if you are looking on AirBNB, we recommend trying to find lodging near the center of downtown Amherst if possible. Downtown is both walkable to the conference venue (~30 minutes) and close to restaurants and nightlife in the evening.
One final option that we recommend considering is the Hotel Northampton. Hotel Northamptonis not walkable to the conference site, but there are convenient buses to from near the hotel to UMass (http://www.pvta.com/schedules/B43.pdf). Northampton is Amherst’s slightly larger sister city, and Hotel Northampton is located right downtown; staying here will allow visitors easy access to Northampton’s restaurant and nightlife scene. AirBnB is also a good option in Northampton, and we again recommend staying closer to downtown.
These are the options recommended for folks who will not have cars with them when they come. If you are coming with a car, then there are many more options open to you! See a full listing here.
Pioneer Valley
OK, so you’ve made the long trip to Amherst, learned a lot about psycholinguistics, and are looking to have a little fun with the rest of your time here. What is there to do? Here is our list of favorite day trip options if you have a day free in the Pioneer Valley in March:
Sugar shacks (cabanes à sucre): March is prime sugar season in MA, when the sugar maples are tapped to make maple syrup. If you’d like to get fresh maple syrup ladled over a stack of pancakes, head over to one of the local sugar shacks. You can find a map of area sugar shacks here.
Mass MOCA: https://massmoca.org/is one of the country’s largest museums for contemporary art, and it is located in North Adams, about a 1 hour drive from Amherst. Located in a renovated lightbulb factory, it is a sprawling, immersive museum experience and well worth the trip if you have the time.