Neighborhood
The area is safe, walkable, and primarily residential. Here are our favorites.
Restaurants & pubs
Mystic Station — mysticstationmalden.com Awesome craft beer selection and great food for omnivores. Not pet friendly.
Idle Hands Brewery — 89 Commercial St, Malden — idlehandscraftales.com Flights and taproom with a dog-friendly patio. About a half hour walk or 10 minute drive with ample parking. Dog friendly.
Faces Brewing — facesbrewing.com Hosts lots of local shows, strong music scene, great beer selection and menu. Not pet friendly.
Avoid: Wonder and all associated restaurant brands — ghost kitchen at 49 Station Landing, Medford. Shows up in Grubhub and other delivery apps. Expensive, not fresh, all recipes licensed from real restaurants nearby. If you see "49 Station Landing" in a delivery app, skip it.
Cafés
Jitters Cafe — 20 minute walk or 3 minute drive, near Pine Banks Park. We love the Nutella croissant. Serves Atomic coffee. Not pet friendly.
Cafe Reynard — 89 Commercial St, Malden — cafe-reynard.com Takes over Idle Hands during the day, roasts their own coffee in small batches. Local baked goods and pastries. Nice dog-friendly patio. Dog friendly.
Starbucks — 30 Commercial St, near Malden Center T. Half hour walk. Parking is tough but doable.
Delivery apps
Walks
Forestdale Cemetery — right across the street from the house. Wide, paved, quiet walking through an arboretum with a lovely pond. Some trails in the back connect to Pine Banks Park. This is the best place to walk KK and Ziggy — very clean with garbage cans for poop bags. Dog friendly.
Pine Banks Park — 20-minute walk or 5-minute drive. Large park with wooded trails, open fields, and a pond. Has a dedicated dog park for off-leash play. Great for longer walks than the cemetery, and connected via the trails at the back of the cemetery. Dog friendly.
Groceries
Delivery — Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, Walmart, and Instacart all deliver to the address.
Walkable — Stop & Shop is in Malden Center, about a 20–25 minute walk or short drive.
By car or T — Trader Joe's is at Assembly Row (Orange Line, 3 stops south). There's also a large Walmart on Route 1 in Saugus if you have a car.
Boston
Malden Center station (Orange Line) is about a 20-minute walk or short drive — downtown Boston is roughly 25 minutes by T from there. Some favorites:
Boston Duck Tours — a classic. Amphibious vehicles that tour the city and splash into the Charles River. Departs from the Museum of Science and the Prudential Center.
Public Garden — beautiful park with swan boats (seasonal), right next to Boston Common. The Freedom Trail starts here — a free self-guided walk through 16 historic sites across the city.
Newbury Street — Boston's main shopping and dining street, lined with boutiques, galleries, and great restaurants. A few blocks from the Back Bay T stop.
North End — Boston's oldest neighborhood and little Italy. Great for dinner, and the cannoli at Mike's Pastry or Modern Pastry are worth the trip.
Beacon Hill — stunning Federal-style brownstones and gas-lit streets, great for an afternoon wander. Right next to Boston Common.
Shopping
Assembly Row — assemblyrow.com — Orange Line, 3 stops south. No car required. Movie theater, riverside park, outlets, and tons of restaurants. Free parking up to 3 hours if you drive. About 30 minutes by T including walking. Parla XXI is our favorite for cocktails; Union Square Donuts is a house favorite.
Route 1, Saugus — car required. Square One Mall and all the chains. Note: Route 1 is fast-moving without proper merge lanes, similar to a freeway. Kane's Donuts is worth a stop if you go.