Boston
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1. Acorn Street
Beacon HillOften called the city's most photographed passageway, Acorn Street offers its visitors an iconic image of "historic Boston." Short, steep, and narrow, the cobblestone street may be Boston's roughest ride, so leave your car behind. Brick row houses—once the homes of 19th-century artisans and tradespeople—line one side, and on the other, doors lead to Mt. Vernon's hidden gardens. Find American flags, creative door knockers, window boxes, and gas lights aplenty.
Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, USA -
2. Boston Children's Museum
Fort Point ChannelThe country's second-oldest children's museum has always been ahead of the curve with creative hands-on exhibits, cultural diversity, and problem-solving. Some of the most popular stops are also the simplest, like the bubble-making machinery and the two-story climbing maze. At the Japanese House, you're invited to take off your shoes and step inside a Kyoto silk merchant's home. Children can dig, climb, and build at the Construction Zone, and in the toddler PlaySpace, children under three can run free in a safe environment. There's also a full schedule of special exhibits, festivals, and performances.
308 Congress St., Boston, Massachusetts, 02210, USA617-426–6500Sight Details
Rate Includes: $20 -
3. Boston Common
Beacon HillNothing is more central to the city than Boston Common, the oldest public park in the United States and undoubtedly the largest and most famous of the town commons around which New England settlements were traditionally arranged. Dating from 1634, the Common started as 50 acres where freemen could graze their cattle. (Cows were banned in 1830.) Don't confuse the Common with its sister park, the Public Garden, where the Swan Boats glide and flowers bloom three seasons of the year. On its Tremont Street side, State House employees, downtown professionals, and tourists gather to take a break and enjoy lunch at one of food trucks parked (April through October) at the Brewer Fountain Plaza. A few steps away, the Freedom Trail starts in front of the Boston Common Visitor Information Center. The Common's highest point, near the Parkman Bandstand, was once called Flagstaff Hill and is now surmounted by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, honoring Civil War troops. The Common's only body of water is the Frog Pond, a tame and frog-free concrete depression used as a wading pool and spray fountain during summer and for ice-skating in winter. Central Burying Ground lends the park an eerie vibe at its site on Boylston Street; in fact, the Common boasts a fair amount of haunted history. Across from the State House, on the Beacon Street side, sits the splendidly restored Robert Gould Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, executed in deep-relief bronze by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1897. In addition, this is Freedom Trail stop 1.
View Tours and ActivitiesBounded by Beacon, Charles, Tremont, and Park Sts., Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, USA -
4. Boston Public Garden
Back BayAmerica's oldest botanical garden is replete with gorgeous formal plantings, a 4-acre lagoon famous since 1877 for its foot-pedal–powered (by a captain) Swan Boats ( swanboats.com), and the Make Way for Ducklings bronzes sculpted by Nancy Schön, a tribute to the 1941 classic children's story by Robert McCloskey. Keep in mind that Boston Public Garden and Boston Common are two separate entities with different histories and purposes and a distinct boundary between them at Charles Street. The Common has been public land since Boston was founded in 1630, whereas the Public Garden belongs to a newer Boston, occupying what had been salt marshes on the edge of the Common. By 1837 the tract was covered with an abundance of ornamental plantings donated by a group of private citizens. Near the Swan Boat dock is what has been described as the world's smallest suspension bridge, designed in 1867 to cross the pond at its narrowest point. The beds along the main walkways are replanted every spring. The tulips during the first two weeks of May are especially colorful, and there's a sampling of native and European tree species.
Bound by Arlington, Boylston, Charles, and Beacon Sts., Boston, Massachusetts, 02116, USA617-522–1966-Swan BoatsSight Details
Rate Includes: Swan Boats $4 -
5. Boston Public Library
Back BayThis venerable institution is a handsome temple to reading and a valuable research library, as well as an art gallery of sorts, and you don't need a library card to enjoy it. At the main entrance hall of the 1895 Renaissance Revival building, take in the immense stone lions by Louis St. Gaudens, the vaulted ceiling, and the marble staircase. The corridor at the top of the stairs leads to Bates Hall, one of Boston's most sumptuous interior spaces. This is the main reading room, 218 feet long with a barrel vault ceiling 50 feet high. The murals at the head of the staircase, depicting the nine muses, are the work of the French artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes; those in the room to the right are Edwin Austin Abbey's interpretations of the Holy Grail legend. Upstairs, in the public areas, is John Singer Sargent's mural series Triumph of Religion. The library offers free art and architecture tours. The McKim building contains a Renaissance-style courtyard inspired by Rome's Palazzo della Cancelleria. A covered arcade furnished with chairs rings a fountain; you can bring books or lunch into the peaceful courtyard.
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox may be New England's most storied professional sports team of all time. For 86 years, the club suffered a World Series drought, a streak of bad luck that fans attributed to the "Curse of the Bambino," which was spelled in 1920 when the Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. All that changed in 2004, when a maverick squad broke the curse in a thrilling seven-game semifinals series against the Yankees, followed by a four-game sweep of St. Louis in the finals. Repeat World Series wins in 2007, 2013, and 2018 have cemented Bostonians' sense that the universe is back in order. Today, home games are played at Fenway Park from April to October.
View Tours and Activities4 Jersey St., Boston, Massachusetts, USA -
7. Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum
Situated at the Congress Street Bridge near the site of Griffin's Wharf, this lively museum offers an interactive look at the past in a place as close as possible to the actual spot where the Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773. Actors in period costumes greet patrons, assign them real-life Colonial personas, and then ask a few people to heave boxes of tea into the water from aboard historical reproductions of the ships forcibly boarded and unloaded the night Boston Harbor became a teapot. There are 3-D holograms, talking portraits, and even the Robinson Half Tea Chest, one of two original tea chests known to exist. Abigail's Tea Room (you don't need a museum ticket for entry) features a tea tasting of five tea blends that would have been aboard the ships.
View Tours and ActivitiesCongress St. Bridge, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, USASight Details
Rate Includes: $32 -
8. Bunker Hill Monument
CharlestownTwo misunderstandings surround this famous monument. First, the Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breed's Hill, which is where the monument sits today. (The real Bunker Hill is about ½ mile to the north of the monument.) In truth, Bunker was the originally planned locale for the battle, and for that reason its name stuck. Second, although the battle is generally considered a Colonial success, the Americans lost. It was a Pyrrhic victory for the British Redcoats, who sacrificed nearly half of their 2,200 men; American casualties numbered 400 to 600. One thing is true: the Battle of Bunker Hill put the British on notice that they were up against a formidable opponent. According to history books, this is also the location of the famous war cry, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes," uttered by American colonel William Prescott or General Israel Putnam (there's still debate on who gave the actual command). This was a shout out to an 18th-century Prussian warning to soldiers that lack of ammunition and notorious musket inaccuracy meant every shot needed to count. The Americans did employ a deadly delayed-action strategy on June 17, 1775, and conclusively proved themselves capable of defeating the forces of the British Empire. Among the dead were the brilliant young American doctor and political activist Joseph Warren, recently commissioned as a major general but fighting as a private, and the British major John Pitcairn, who two months prior had led the Redcoats into Lexington. Pitcairn is believed to be buried in the crypt of Old North Church. In 1823 the committee formed to construct a monument on the site of the battle chose the form of an Egyptian obelisk. Architect Solomon Willard designed a 221-foot-tall granite obelisk, a tremendous feat of engineering for its day. The Marquis de Lafayette laid the cornerstone of the monument in 1825, but because of a lack of funds, it wasn't dedicated until 1843. Daniel Webster's stirring words at the ceremony commemorating the laying of its cornerstone have gone down in history: "Let it rise! Let it rise, till it meets the sun in his coming. Let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play upon its summit." The monument's zenith is reached by a flight of 294 tightly spiraled steps, a space that's unfortunately still undergoing renovation and is closed to climbers. With an opening day on the horizon, take note: there's no elevator, but the views from the observatory are worth the effort of the arduous climb. Due to high numbers, all visitors who wish to climb must first obtain a pass from the Bunker Hill Museum at 43 Monument Square. Climbing passes are free, but limited in number and can be either reserved up to two weeks in advance or on a first-come, first-served basis. The museum's artifacts and exhibits tell the story of the battle, while a detailed diorama shows the action in miniature. This is Freedom Trail stop 16.
View Tours and ActivitiesMonument Sq., Boston, Massachusetts, 02129, USA617-242–5641Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
9. Charles Street
Beacon HillYou won't see any glaring neon signs, in keeping with the historic character of the area, but Charles Street more than makes up for the general lack of commercial development on Beacon Hill with a plethora of clothing, antiques, and gift boutiques, plus cafés. Once the home of Oliver Wendell Holmes and the publisher James T. Fields (of the famed Bostonian firm of Ticknor and Fields), Charles Street sparkles at dusk from gas-fueled lamps, making it a romantic place for an evening stroll.
Between Beacon and Cambridge Sts., Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, USA -
10. Crane Beach on the Crane Estate
BeachThe 1,200-acre Crane Beach on the Crane Estate, an hour's drive to the north of Boston in the 17th-century village of Ipswich, has 4 miles of sparkling white sand that serve as a nesting ground for the threatened piping plover, a small shorebird. It's one of the most stunning beaches in the state. From Route 128 North, take Exit 20A and follow Route 1A North for 8 miles. Turn right on Route 133 East and follow for 1½ miles. Turn left on Northgate Road and in ½ mile, turn right on Argilla Road and follow for 2½ miles to the entrance. Arrive early or come later in the afternoon as the parking lot does fill up and you could be turned away. Admission fees range from $2 to $30, depending on the time of year, day of the week, and whether you arrive on foot, by bike, or by car. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming; walking; sunset.
Argilla Rd., Ipswich, Massachusetts, 01938, USA978-356–4354 -
11. Emerald Necklace Conservancy
The six large public parks known as Boston's Emerald Necklace stretch seven miles from the Back Bay Fens to Franklin Park in Dorchester, and include Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Pond, Olmsted Park, and the Riverway. The linear parks, designed by master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted more than 100 years ago, remain a well-groomed urban masterpiece.
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12. Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Government CenterFaneuil Hall (pronounced Fan-yoo'uhl or Fan-yuhl) was erected in 1742, the gift of wealthy merchant Peter Faneuil, who wanted the hall to serve as both a place for town meetings and a public market. It burned in 1761 and was immediately reconstructed according to the original plan of its designer, the Scottish portrait painter John Smibert (who lies in the Granary Burying Ground). In 1763 the political leader James Otis helped inaugurate the era that culminated in American independence when he dedicated the rebuilt hall to the cause of liberty. In 1772 Samuel Adams stood here and first suggested that Massachusetts and the other colonies organize a Committee of Correspondence to maintain semiclandestine lines of communication in the face of hardening British repression. In later years the hall again lived up to Otis's dedication when the abolitionists Wendell Phillips and Charles Sumner pleaded for support from its podium. The tradition continues to this day: in presidential-election years the hall is the site of debates between contenders in the Massachusetts primary. Faneuil Hall was substantially enlarged and remodeled in 1805 according to a Greek Revival design of the noted architect Charles Bulfinch; this is the building you see today. Its purposes remain the same: the balconied Great Hall is available to citizens' groups on presentation of a request signed by a required number of responsible parties; it also plays host to regular concerts. Inside Faneuil Hall are dozens of paintings of famous Americans, including the mural Webster's Reply to Hayne and Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington at Dorchester Heights. Park rangers give informational talks about the history and importance of Faneuil Hall every half hour. There are interactive displays about Boston sights, and National Park Service rangers at the visitor center on the first floor can provide maps and other information. On the building's top floors are the headquarters and museum and library of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, which is free to visit (but a donation is welcome). Founded in 1638, it's the oldest militia in the Western Hemisphere, and the third-oldest in the world, after the Swiss Guard and the Honourable Artillery Company of London. The museum is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 am to 3 pm. When such men as Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster debated the future of the Republic here, the fragrances of bacon and snuff—sold by merchants in Quincy Market across the road—greeted their noses. Today the aroma of coffee wafts through the hall from a snack bar. The shops at ground level sell New England bric-a-brac. This is Freedom Trail stop 11.
View Tours and ActivitiesBoston, Massachusetts, 02109, USA617-523–1300Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
13. Fenway Park
Fenway Park is Major League Baseball's oldest ballpark and has seen some stuff since its 1912 opening. For one, it's the home field for the Boston Red Sox, which overcame the "Curse of the Bambino" to win World Series championships in 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018. Ticket-holding Sox fans can browse display cases mounted inside Fenway Park before and during a ballgame; these shed light on and show off memorabilia from particular players and eras of the club team's history. Fenway offers hour-long behind-the-scenes guided walking tours of the park; there are also specialized tour options.
View Tours and Activities4 Jersey St., Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, USA617-226–6666-toursSight Details
Rate Includes: $21 -
14. Harvard Art Museums
Harvard SquareThis is Harvard University's oldest museum, and in late 2014, it became the combined collections of the Busch-Reisinger, Fogg, and Arthur M. Sackler Museums. All three were united under one glorious, mostly glass roof, under the umbrella name Harvard Art Museums. Housed in a facility designed by award-winning architect Renzo Piano, the 204,000-square-foot museum is spread over seven levels, allowing more of Harvard’s 250,000-piece art collection, featuring European and American art from the Middle Ages to the present day, to be seen in one place. Highlights include American and European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from the Fogg Museum; Asian art, Buddhist cave-temple sculptures, and Chinese bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler collection; and works by German expressionists, materials related to the Bauhaus, and postwar contemporary art from German-speaking Europe from the Busch-Reisinger Museum. In addition to the gallery spaces, there's a 300-seat theater, Jenny's Cafe, a museum shop, and the Calderwood Courtyard, plus conservation and research labs.
View Tours and Activities32 Quincy St., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA617-495–9400Sight Details
Rate Includes: $20; free Sun. -
15. Harvard Museum of Natural History
Harvard SquareThe Harvard Museum of Natural History (which exhibits specimens from the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Harvard University Herbaria, and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum) reminds us nature is the original masterpiece. Cases are packed with zoological specimens, from tiny hummingbirds and deer mice to rare Indian rhinoceroses and one of the largest Amazon pirarucu ever caught. View fossils and skeletons alongside marvelous minerals, including a 1,600-pound amethyst geode. Harvard's world-famous Blaschka Glass Flowers collection is a creative approach to flora, with more than 4,300 hand-blown glass plant models. The museum combines historic exhibits drawn from the university's vast collections with new and changing multimedia exhibitions, such as In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers: An Exploration of Change and Loss and Lily Simonson: Painting the Deep, plus a renovated Earth & Planetary Sciences gallery.
View Tours and Activities26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA617-495–3045Sight Details
Rate Includes: $15; ticket includes admission to adjacent Peabody Museum -
16. Harvard Square
Harvard SquareTides of students, tourists, and politically charged proponents are all part of the nonstop pedestrian flow at this most celebrated of Cambridge crossroads. Harvard Square is where Massachusetts Avenue, coming from Boston, turns and widens into a triangle broad enough to accommodate a brick peninsula (above the T station). The restored 1928 kiosk in the center of the square once served as the entrance to the MBTA station, and is now home to lively street musicians and artists selling their paintings and photos on blankets. Harvard Yard, with its lecture halls, residential houses, libraries, and museums, is one long border of the square; the other three are composed of clusters of banks, retailers, and restaurants. Time in the Square raises people-watching to a high art form. On an average afternoon you'll hear earnest conversations in dozens of foreign languages; see every kind of youthful uniform from slouchy sweats to impeccable prep; wander by street musicians playing guitars and flutes; and wonder at how students reading textbooks out in the sunshine can get any work done among the commotion. The historic buildings are worth noting. It's a thrill to walk though the big brick-and-wrought-iron gates to Harvard Yard on up to Widener Library, the University's flagship library. More than 50 miles of bookshelves snake around this imposing neoclassical structure, designed by one of the nation's first major African American architects, Julian Abele. It holds more than 3.5 million volumes in 450 languages, but is unfortunately not open to the public. Across Garden Street, through an ornamental arch, is Cambridge Common, decreed a public pasture in 1631. It's said that under a large tree that once stood in this meadow George Washington took command of the Continental Army on July 3, 1775. A stone memorial now marks the site of the "Washington Elm." Also on the Common is the Irish Famine Memorial by Derry artist Maurice Harron, unveiled in 1997 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of "Black ’47," the deadliest year of the potato famine. At the center of the Common a large memorial commemorates the Union soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. On the far side of the Common is a fantastic park and newly renovated playground.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA -
17. Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
The ICA mounts temporary exhibits by the contemporary art world's brightest talents, as well as curated pieces from its permanent collection, all of which are as cutting edge as the breathtaking, cantilevered edifice jutting out over Boston Harbor that houses them. The ICA's fourth floor is where most happens: incredible art and stunning water views. The Poss Family Mediatheque serves as a great resting spot for families. Live programming, from film festivals to outdoor live music concerts take place regularly. Don't miss the ICA Store on the ground level, where you can pick up an inventive trinket of your own.
25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston, Massachusetts, 02210, USA617-478–3100Sight Details
Rate Includes: $15, Closed Mon. -
18. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The FenwayA spirited society woman, Isabella Stewart came in 1860 from New York to marry John Lowell Gardner, one of Boston's leading citizens. "Mrs. Jack" promptly set about becoming the most un-Bostonian of the Proper Bostonians. She built a Venetian palazzo to hold her collected art. Her will stipulated that the building remain exactly as she left it—paintings, furniture, down to the smallest object in a hall cabinet—and so it has remained. Gardner's palazzo includes such masterpieces as Titian's Europa, Giotto's Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo. Eight balconies adorn the majestic Venetian courtyard, and themed rooms include Raphael, Spanish Cloister, Gothic, Chinese Loggia, and a magnificent Tapestry Room for concerts, where Gardner entertained Henry James and Edith Wharton. On March 18, 1990, the Gardner was the target of a sensational art heist. Thieves disguised as police officers stole 12 works, including Vermeer's The Concert. None of the art has been recovered. Because Mrs. Gardner's will prohibited substituting other works for any stolen art, empty expanses of wall identify spots where the paintings once hung. The heist is the subject of a 2021 Netflix documentary, This is a Robbery. The modern Renzo Piano–designed addition houses a music hall, exhibit space, and conservation labs.
View Tours and Activities25 Evans Way, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA617-566–1401Sight Details
Rate Includes: $20, Closed Tues. -
19. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The library-museum is both a center for serious scholarship and a focus for Boston's nostalgia for her native son. The stark, white building (another modernist monument designed by I. M. Pei) at this Dorchester Bay–enclosed site pays homage to the life and presidency of John F. Kennedy, as well as to members of his family, including his wife, Jacqueline, and brother Robert. The library is the official repository of JFK's presidential papers and displays re-creations of his desk in the Oval Office and of the television studio in which he debated Richard Nixon in the 1960 election. Permanent exhibits focus on his life before politics, the 1960 Presidential election, the Peace Corps, and the U.S. space program (currently under renovation). Two theaters show films about JFK's life. There's also a permanent display on the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The facility also includes a store and a small café.
Boston, Massachusetts, 02125, USA617-514–1600Sight Details
Rate Includes: $18, Closed Mon.–Wed. -
20. King's Chapel
DowntownBoth somber and dramatic, King's Chapel looms large. Its distinctive shape wasn't achieved entirely by design; for lack of funds, it was never topped with a steeple. The first chapel on this site was erected in 1688 for the establishment of an Anglican place of worship, and it took five years to build the solid Quincy-granite structure seen today. As construction proceeded, the old church continued to stand within the rising walls of the new, the plan being to remove and carry it away piece by piece when the outer stone chapel was completed. The builders then went to work on the interior, which remains essentially as they finished it in 1754; it's a masterpiece of proportion and Georgian calm (in fact, its acoustics make the use of a microphone unnecessary for Sunday sermons). The pulpit, built in 1717, is the oldest pulpit in continuous use on the same site in the United States. To the right of the main entrance is a special pew once reserved for condemned prisoners, who were trotted in to hear a sermon before being hanged on the Common. The chapel's bell is Paul Revere's largest and, in his judgment, his sweetest sounding. For a behind-the-scenes look at the bell or crypt, take a guided tour. You won’t be disappointed. This is Freedom Trail stop 5.
58 Tremont St., Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, USA617-523–1749Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5
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