You can't beat the combo of top-notch theater, great Chinese food, and a tasteful hotel. That's what we found last November in Boston's Chinatown/Theater District.
Before an afternoon performance of the “Nutcracker,” we enjoyed brunch at the DoubleTree Hotel Downtown, a 268-room property around the corner from the Wang Theatre, home of the Boston Ballet.
The hotel, which opened July 2000, offers meeting/sleeping space for groups of up to 75, with an outdoor courtyard for warm-weather events and several suites with setups for small meetings.
Guests have free access to the gleaming, adjacent YMCA, with its Olympic-size pool and two levels of exercise equipment. The hotel and the Y were part of a Catholic high school that has been converted into an interesting small hotel where no two guest rooms are alike.
Feng shui is a big part of the interior design — from the tank with nine colored fish in the lobby to the guest room colors and the greenery and water ornaments throughout the hotel. Wisteria offers an excellent lunch and dinner menu at reasonable prices for a downtown restaurant.
A performance of the “Nutcracker” at the ornate Wang Theatre is a memory-making experience for adults and children alike. The world-class Boston Ballet offers six ballet productions a year, and group ticket sales are easily arranged.
We capped the day with a walk to the Boston Common and Public Gardens, followed by dinner at P.F. Changs, an imaginative Chinatown eatery featuring such delights as spicy peanut sauce chicken wrapped in iceberg lettuce and eaten like a burrito.
As we learned, there's much more to Boston than lobster and baked beans.