Visiting Cambridge

The Commencement 2024 ceremonies are scheduled for May 29–31. Information will continue to populate this site as details for the 2024 festivities are confirmed.

Commencement guests will find it helpful to visit the MIT visitor information website, where you will find maps and other essential information.

Hotel and transportation information specific to Commencement

Graduation season is a busy time in the Boston area, which means it is essential to make hotel and dinner reservations early. This is especially important if you will be traveling with a large number of family members.

If you are driving to Cambridge, the best thing is to leave your car parked at your hotel during your stay, rather than to try to drive to different events. Parking is very difficult to find and driving in town is more trouble than it is worth.

The MBTA Red Line can take you from Kendall Square into Boston or down to Harvard Square in just a few minutes. If you have several people with you, it makes sense to take a taxi or rideshare service. The address of the main MIT building, where the columns and big crosswalk are, is 77 Massachusetts Avenue. It helps to tell the company which side of the street you are standing on, east or west. The east side is the MIT building at 77 Mass. Ave; the west side traffic is heading across the river to Boston.

When you are leaving campus, you may have more luck walking over to the taxi stand at the Marriott Hotel in Kendall Square, or requesting a pick-up at Main Street in Cambridge, rather than on Massachusetts Avenue, because the traffic is so dense in the immediate area. Visitors should be aware that cabs from out of town are allowed to pick up passengers in Cambridge only if they have been called. If you are in Cambridge, it is not possible to flag down a Boston or Brookline cab, or vice versa.