Logan Airport to Boston: every transfer option compared

Four real ways out of Logan

Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS) sits closer to downtown than almost any other major US airport, which is both the appeal and the trap. The distance is short, but the harbor and two tunnels sit between the terminals and the city center, so the short distance does not always translate into a short trip. There are four practical ways to make the crossing: the Silver Line SL1 bus, the Blue Line by way of a free shuttle, a taxi or rideshare through the tunnels, and a harbor ferry. None of them is wrong. Each one trades off differently against luggage, arrival time and where in the center you actually need to end up.

This guide lays out what each option involves in practice, without promising a travel time in minutes — traffic in the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels, T service gaps, and ferry schedules all move around too much for a fixed number to mean anything by the time you read it.

The Silver Line SL1: free one way, standard fare the other

The Silver Line SL1 is a bus, not a train, despite carrying an MBTA color-line name. It picks up at every Logan terminal and runs to South Station in downtown Boston. In the terminal-to- city direction, the ride is free: no CharlieCard tap, no fare gate. The free ride only applies outbound from the airport — the return trip toward Logan is charged like any other T ride.

At South Station, the SL1 connects to the Red Line and to several Commuter Rail lines, which makes it a workable first leg even if downtown proper isn’t your final stop. The tradeoff is what you’d expect from a bus: stops at each terminal before departing, boarding with other passengers and their bags, and a walk from the South Station bus berth to whichever T platform or street exit you need next. With one carry-on it’s straightforward. With a stroller, several checked bags, or a tight connection, it gets more effort than it looks like on paper.

The Blue Line: a free shuttle, then a standard T fare

The second T option runs through the Blue Line. Massport operates a free shuttle bus between each Logan terminal and the Airport T station, where the Blue Line fare applies as normal from that point. This route makes sense if your destination lies along the Blue Line itself — the North End edge, Maverick Square, or a transfer point further along the line — rather than South Station specifically.

Like the SL1, this route means moving from a terminal curb to a shuttle bus to a train platform, which is a different kind of trip than stepping into a car at the curb. Worth knowing: neither T route runs on the CharlieCard for the airport leg itself (the shuttle and the free Silver Line segment are simply free), but a CharlieCard or contactless payment is what you’ll want ready for the fare once you’re past that first free segment, and for anything else you do on the T afterward.

Taxi and rideshare: through the tunnel, at a price

Taxis line up at a designated stand at each terminal, and rideshare pickup follows a separate, marked area at Logan — Massport’s own signage handles the routing at the airport, and it changes often enough that it’s worth following the terminal signs on the day rather than a description written months earlier. Both taxis and rideshares reach downtown by crossing the harbor through either the Ted Williams Tunnel or the Sumner Tunnel, with a toll built into the fare and, for rideshares, an additional airport pickup fee layered on top.

This guide does not compare rideshare companies by name or quote fares, since both change too often to print responsibly — but the general shape holds: a car is typically the fastest door-to-door option because it skips the bus-to-train transfer, and it’s the most forgiving option with luggage, a group, small children, or a late-night or early-morning arrival outside T service hours. It’s also, unsurprisingly, the most expensive of the four options on a per-person basis for a solo traveler, and the value gap narrows fast for a group splitting one car. If you’d rather not manage the pickup logistics yourself on arrival, a pre-booked car service is worth the small premium over a rideshare, since it removes the search for a pickup zone with bags in hand.

a pre-booked car service straight from your Logan arrival to your Boston address

The harbor ferry: the scenic option, weather and season permitting

A ferry crosses Boston Harbor between Logan and the downtown waterfront, landing near the Seaport or Long Wharf depending on the route in operation. It is, on a clear day, the most enjoyable of the four options — open water, the skyline ahead, none of the tunnel traffic. It is also the least practical for most arrivals: service frequency drops well outside the warmer months, weather can cancel or delay a crossing outright, and it isn’t built for heavy luggage the way a car is. Treat it as a option worth checking for a daytime arrival in good weather with light bags, and verify the current schedule and route directly with the operator rather than relying on a fixed timetable — it shifts by season.

Comparing the four options honestly

Option	Cost	Best suited to	Watch out for
Silver Line SL1	Free to South Station	Light luggage, daytime arrival, connecting to Red Line or Commuter Rail	Bus-to-platform walk, standing room at busy times
Blue Line (via free shuttle)	Free shuttle, standard T fare on the train	Destinations along the Blue Line	Shuttle-to-train transfer, T service hours
Taxi / rideshare	Toll plus fare, rideshare adds a pickup fee	Heavy luggage, groups, late-night or early arrivals	No fixed price, traffic in the tunnels varies
Harbor ferry	Ferry fare	Fair-weather daytime arrivals, no rush	Seasonal and weather-dependent, limited luggage capacity

Matching the option to your arrival

A few honest rules of thumb, none of them absolute:

• Landing during the day with one bag: the Silver Line SL1 is the least expensive and least complicated choice, and it lands you at a transit hub rather than a single stop.
• Landing at night or very early morning: the T does not run around the clock, so check current MBTA hours before counting on the SL1 or Blue Line — outside those hours, a taxi, rideshare, or pre-booked car is the realistic option, not a fallback.
• Traveling with a group or a lot of checked luggage: a car splits the cost per person and removes the transfer entirely, which tends to be worth the premium.
• Landing on a clear afternoon with time to spare and light bags: the ferry is worth checking, purely for the view — but confirm it’s actually running that day before planning around it.
• Heading straight to a cruise ship rather than downtown: the routing is different enough from a downtown drop-off that it deserves its own comparison — see the Boston cruise port transfer guide rather than treating this page as a substitute.

The MBTA fare, in practice

Once you’re past the free airport segment — whether that’s the Silver Line SL1 into South Station or the Blue Line after the Massport shuttle — you’re on the same fare system as the rest of the T. A single ride on a CharlieCard runs on the order of 2.40 USD in 2026, with a transfer to another bus or subway line included free within a two-hour window; check mbta.com for the current number before you travel, since this is a fare that moves. The T is made up of five color lines — Red, Green, Orange, Blue and Silver — and none of them run around the clock, so a very early or very late arrival outside normal T service hours changes the calculation back toward a taxi, rideshare or pre-booked car, whatever the fare itself would otherwise cost.

Two things worth knowing before you assume “the T” covers everything: the Commuter Rail is a separate network from the subway and bus lines above, with its own ticket and its own fare structure, and it’s what actually reaches the suburbs and day-trip towns rather than the T itself. And if you see shared bikes at a dock near your T stop, that’s Bluebikes, a bike-share system with no connection to MBTA fares or cards at all.

Getting around once you’re downtown

Whichever transfer option you take, arriving at South Station, an Airport-line T stop, or a downtown ferry landing is really just the start of getting oriented in Boston. From South Station, the Red Line reaches Cambridge and several downtown stops directly. If you’d rather see the city’s layout in one loop before committing to a neighborhood, the hop-on hop-off guide is a reasonable way to get a first read on downtown Boston, the North End and Beacon Hill before picking where to spend real time.

For a first full day, the Freedom Trail is the obvious anchor — see the self-guided walk if you’d rather set your own pace after a long flight, or a guided walk if you’d prefer someone else handle the route on day one.

a private guide who can meet you soon after you land and build the day around your arrival time

If your Logan arrival is really the start of a trip that includes the Cape Cod or the islands, it’s worth planning that leg separately from the airport transfer itself — see the Cape Cod and Provincetown day trip guide for how that connection actually works, since it involves a further transfer of its own from Boston, not a direct route from the airport.

For a harbor-side first look at the city rather than heading straight inland, a waterfront and Seaport walking tour is a reasonable way to spend the first afternoon if you landed near the water via the ferry route above.

a guided walk along the Seaport and downtown waterfront on the afternoon you land

If your first stop is a day trip, not downtown

Not every arrival is headed straight to a downtown hotel. If Salem or the North Shore is the actual plan for the day, remember that the Commuter Rail you’ll need for that leg is a different network from the T you just used to leave the airport, with its own separate ticket — it does not run on a CharlieCard. The same goes for a first day built around Plymouth or the Lexington and Concord battle road: both are Commuter Rail or day-trip territory from Boston, not a direct route from Logan itself. The Commuter Rail day trips guide covers how that ticketing actually works once you’ve made it into the city.

If the plan instead is to spend that first afternoon out on the harbor rather than heading inland, the Boston Harbor Islands are a separate trip from the Logan ferry route above — reachable once you’re already downtown, not from the airport directly.

a Boston Harbor Islands ferry for the afternoon, once you’ve dropped your bags downtown

What to check before you go

Prices, tolls, rideshare pickup zones and ferry schedules at Logan change often enough that nothing above should be treated as fixed. Confirm current Silver Line and Blue Line operating hours on mbta.com, current tolls and pickup procedures with Massport’s own airport site, and ferry schedules directly with the operator before your arrival date — particularly if you’re landing late, landing off-season, or connecting straight on to a day trip out of the city.

Seasonal timing matters more than most travelers expect. Landing during fall foliage season (late September through late October) or around Patriots’ Day in April, when the Boston Marathon closes streets along its route, can add real delays to a tunnel crossing that would otherwise be routine. Salem in particular gets busy through the whole of October for Haunted Happenings, which affects Commuter Rail crowding on the North Shore line more than anything at the airport itself, but it’s worth planning around if a Salem day trip is part of the same visit.

an amphibious city tour that covers both the streets and the harbor in one loop

Logan Airport transfers: frequently asked questions

Is the Silver Line SL1 really free from the airport?

Yes, from any Logan terminal to South Station. The fare only applies on the return trip toward the airport, like the rest of the T.

Do I need to pay for the Blue Line shuttle from Logan?

The Massport shuttle bus between the terminals and Airport station is free. The Blue Line ride itself costs the standard T fare once you board.

Is a taxi or rideshare faster than the Silver Line?

Usually door-to-door, since it skips a bus-to-T transfer, but travel time through the Ted Williams or Sumner tunnel varies with traffic and time of day, so treat any fixed estimate with caution.

Does the Logan ferry run all year?

Service frequency drops outside the warmer months and in poor weather, so check the current schedule before counting on it, especially for an early or late flight.

Which option works best with a lot of luggage?

A taxi or rideshare avoids the stairs, transfers and standing room that come with the Silver Line and Blue Line, which matters more with checked bags or a group.

What if I land late at night?

The T does not run 24 hours a day, so a late landing after the last Silver Line or Blue Line departure leaves taxi, rideshare or a pre-booked car service as the realistic options.

Where does the Silver Line SL1 actually drop me off?

At South Station, which connects to the Red Line and to Commuter Rail lines (a separate system with its own ticket, not part of the T subway network), so it can work as a first leg toward downtown, the Seaport or a same-day trip out of the city.