Finding an economy hotel near Boston is like finding a needle in the haystack. The Cambridge Gateway Inn, formerly the Suisse Chalet, is the needle found. It offers travelers a clean, affordable place to stay and is located five minutes from the Alewife T Station on the Red Line. The hotel, under new management, is doing its best to spruce up the place. New carpeting, wallpaper, and a renovated lobby area are recent additions. Guests may be taken aback at its location along busy Route 2. Aside from the traffic, The Gateway's neighbors are worth a mention. Lanes and Games is on one side, an abandoned club owned by the City of Cambridge is on the other. The hotel management tells us that the abandoned building will someday become apartments. For now, however, it is what it is.

Get in touch with your inner bowler. Head to Lanes and Games and find out how much fun it is to bowl. The kids will enjoy the 34 candlepin lanes and you'll appreciate the bumpers. There's nothing worse than a string of gutter balls. There are 20 ten-pin lanes upstairs for the "grown-ups", as well as three pool tables (kids should be under adult supervision for the pool tables). Also upstairs, you'll find a restaurant/lounge that's good for a quick bite. In addition to standards like burgers and pizza, it offers kid favorites like PB&J. If you go during the day, you'll find there's no "lounge action". When the kids have bowled their last frame, they'll almost certainly be drawn to the arcade area. Here you'll find an air hockey table, several pin ball machines, and other arcade type games. Caveat: a couple of pretty violent games that involve fake guns lurk here. Luckily, littler kids won't be able to reach them.