Side Trips from Boston

Day 1: Explore Cambridge

From pre-Revolutionary days, Boston was the region's commercial center and Cambridge was the "burbs": a place more residential than mercantile, with plenty of room to build the nation's first English-style, redbrick university. Not surprisingly the heart of the community -- geographically and otherwise -- is still Harvard Square. It would be easy enough to hang here. You could, for instance, simply browse the shops surrounding the square; then wander over to the riverbank to watch crew teams practice. But Harvard Square is also the starting point for free student-led campus tours (details at www.harvard.edu), as well as for strolls along Brattle Street's "Tory Row" (No. 105 was occupied by both Washington and Longfellow). If the heady academic atmosphere leaves you hungry for learning, return across the river to see the Science Museum, especially popular with children. Alternately, spend the evening like a true Cantabrigian by taking in a concert or lecture at Sanders Theatre.

Day 2: Step Back in Time

You only have to travel a short distance to visit historic places you read about in grade school. For a side trip to the 17th century, head 35 mi southeast to Plymouth. The famed rock doesn't live up its hype. But Plimoth Plantation (an open-air museum re-creating life among Pilgrims) and Mayflower II are worth the trip. A second option is to veer northwest to see Revolutionary-era sites in Lexington (now a well-to-do bedroom community). Start at the National Heritage Museum for a recap of the events that kick-started everything; then proceed to Battle Green where "the shot heard round the world" was fired. After stopping by Minute Man National Historic Park, bookworms may want to continue to Concord to tour the homes of literary luminaries like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Conclude your novel excursion with a walk around Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau wrote one of the founding documents of the ecology movement.

Day 3: A Shore Thing

Anyone eager to taste the salt air or feel the surge of the sea should consider a day trip to the North Shore towns of Salem and Gloucester. The former has a Maritime National Historic Site -- complete with vintage wharves and warehouses -- that proves there's more to the notorious town than just witchcraft; while the latter (America's oldest seaport) demonstrates that men still go down to the sea in ships. Prefer to just beach yourself? Nature lovers can flock to Crane Beach in Ipswich, about an hour north of Boston. Part of a 1,200-acre wildlife refuge, it includes 4 mi of sand rimmed by scenic dunes. For a quick sand-in-every-crevice experience take either the MBTA's Harbor Express ferry south to Nantucket Beach in Hull or the commuter train north to Manchester-by-the-Sea's Singing Beach (a high silica content actually causes the sand there to "sing" or squeak when walked on).

Tips

If walking from one end of town to the other seems too arduous, do as the locals do and take the T. It will put you within a block of almost anywhere you want to go. An MBTA LinkPass ($9 per day, $15 per week) allows for unlimited travel on subways, local buses, and inner-harbor ferries, as well as some commuter trains.

You can usually buy Symphony Hall tickets online or through your hotel concierge. But in-the-know Bostonians get rush seats (unused subscriber tickets put on sale an hour before curtain time). Since the Soxs are in a league of their own, scoring ball tickets is trickier. If you're empty-handed, watch the action at Game On! -- a two-story sports bar attached to Fenway Park.

For a traditional lunch "North of Boston," try Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury (on-site you'll see an 18th-century gristmill and the school "Mary" attended with her "little lamb"). If you don't want to have miles to go before you sleep, book into Concord's Colonial Inn rather than returning to Boston: it was a Thoreau family residence before becoming a hostelry in 1889.