If I were to travel in the city, back bay, fanieul hall, copley square, public gardens, boston common...
WHERE would I find the most beautiful foliage if and when the leaves turn? Curious.

You do realize that Boston is a city don't you? I have more foliage in my back yard than Copley Square. You need to get to Vermont, New Hampshire or Western Mass. for foliage.

The best place in the city to see foliage is the Arnold Arboretum in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston. It is a huge park owned by Harvard University and has just about every kind of tree from all over the world that will grow in Boston's climate. I've seen some spectacularly colored trees there in the fall, but it's a nice place to go any time of year. It has lots of winding paths and areas of different kinds of environments (including a Japanese garden). I'm not sure, but I think there may be a T stop not too far away.

If you time it right, the foliage should be very pretty in the Common/Public Gardens/Beacon Hill/Commonwealth Ave areas - all within a few minutes walk of one another. The challenge will be arriving in Boston at the peak of color - almost impossible to predict. Sometime around Columbus Day is as good a time to choose as any.

Yankee Magazine has a great site for foliage monitoring: http://www.newengland.com/foliage/index.html

For the record, the previous posting was made by a private citizen who is loyal to both Fodor's and Yankee. Use that website just to figure out dates for foliage, if you are feeling disloyal to Fodor's -- and don't pay any attention to other travel information......

I'm bringing this to the top for Ileana

That was so sweet. Thank you for bringing it to the top. I've been looking for this post forever. My eyes were tearing from scrolling. ROFLMAO. Thank you.

Of course, the best foliage is outside of Boston, whether it be the Berkshires or further north in New Hampshire or Vermont. Nevertheless, there are some areas around the city that do offer good color (agree suggestions further above on the Arboretum and Public Gardens).
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For all 'leaf peepers', you'll be pleased to hear that it's looking like a good season. Just read this article on cnn.com.

Soggy summer could mean a colorful fall in New England

September 29, 2000
Web posted at: 8:58 a.m. EDT (1258 GMT)

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) --
New England's summer was rainy and cool. But the silver lining may be an unusually bright fall foliage season.

The wet weather and low temperatures reduced stress on the region's maples,
oaks and birches, and healthy, vigorous trees are colorful trees, as tourists are likely to find out when the leaves reach their peak colors in a few weeks.

"Most of the state should be pretty wonderful viewing. This is one of the better years we've seen in the past 10 or 15 years," said Donald Smith, Connecticut's state forester.

The fall foliage is big business in New England,with "leaf peepers" visiting from across the
country and abroad to see autumn's reds and
golds. New Hampshire alone reported that a record 6.6 million visitors spent $842 million in the fall of 1999.