Cambridge

Top Reasons to Go

Browse the new- and used-book stores, trawl the artsy boutiques, and people-watch in Harvard Square. Take a break at one of the local coffee shops.

Do the museum circuit: The Harvard Museums for art; the Semitic Museum; the Peabody and the Natural History Museum for artifacts and culture.

Visit MIT to wander the halls, visit its museum, and see Frank Gehry's Seuss-like Stata Center.

Breathe the rarefied air of Harvard on an official tour (or an irreverent unofficial one), then return to real life with a burger from Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage.

Amble down Brattle Street, visiting the 1700s era homes of Tory Row (Washington really did sleep here), and have a treat at Hi-Rise bakery in the original Blacksmith House of Longfellow's poem.