Boston Itinerary Review
 

My last segment of advice-asking will be a quick trip to Boston. I'll be arriving from Provincetown at noon on a Wednesday and staying at Courtyard Brookline. Here are my thoughts:

Wednesday:

Isabella Gardner Museum
(quick dinner?)
Museum of Fine Arts till close at 9:45ish
Walk to Machine for a drink?
Cab to hotel

Thursday
Mostly a walking day:

Old State house/Old South Meeting House
Kings Chapel
Massachusetts State House
Faneiul Hall/Marketplace - do lunch here
Old North Church
Boston athenaeum (3 pm tour)
Back Bay
Newbury Street
Trinity Church
Boston Public Library – 6 pm your
Commonwealth Street
Prudential Center Skywalk
Copley Square and Boylston Street
Dinner somewhere
Drink at Fritz Lounge

Friday:
JFK Library
Charles and Beacon Street
Mount Vernon and Louisberg Square
lunch
Nicole House Museum
Boston common and gardens


I wonder if Thursday isn't WAY too much, although most of these stops will be very fast aside from the tours.

Is it safe to walk from MFA to Machine so late at night?

Any restaurant suggestions in my spots?

Anything major missed?

Thanks all!

Sounds like way too much, but each of us does stuff at our own speeds.

Suggestion: move Mt Vernon-Louisburg/Charles-Beacon/Boston Common-Public Garden from Friday to Thursday -- they're all in the immediate area of he Mass State House/Athenaeum. Move everything you've listed on Thurs after the Athenaeum to Friday, and drop the JFK library from your list. I don't know anything about the Nicole House museum so can't comment on it.

BTW, you can combine the Prudential Skywalk with lunch at Top of the Pru. The latter is pricey for dinner, but lunch is reasonable and a fantastic view on a nice day.

Thanks. Nichols house museum silly typo.

Most people I know would not recommend walking through the Fens at night unless others are about. I would be especially cautious near the allotments, private gardens on public land. These range from magical to messy but are best reserved for daylight. Over the years there has been a lot of preying on gays in this area, though of course I can't come up with any specific cases at the moment.

Some thoughts...

- Wednesday just seems too museum-heavy for me. Everyone has different preferences, but I'd break them up. Yeah, they are close by each other, but both are also accessible enough to your other stuff that making two trips out there wouldn't be a big deal - it is something like a $7 cab ride and 5-10 minutes from the Back Bay (or take the T and save $3).

- Yes, you can walk from the MFA to Machine. You can safely walk at night pretty much anywhere in Boston, save maybe some parts of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan. You have no reason to go to those sections of town.

- I don't know what you mean by walking or how long you take at each stop, but I don't think it as tight as Don. Yeah, Thursday seems heavier than the others, but a simple loop around Comm Ave and Newbury would probably be no more than an hour of walking and general "look at the architecture", but if you were taking a lot of pictures or doing significant shopping, that can obviously stretch out. Ditto for Beacon/Charles/Louisburg Square/Mount Vernon.

- Copley Square is nice, as is Trinity Church and the library, but the rest of Boylston Street is not overly exciting and lacks the kind of architectural cohesion that makes the rest of the Back Bay worth strolling (indeed, there are some truly ugly buildings on Boylston). I'd skip it unless I was shopping.

- For restaurants... The area around the museums is no-mans land for restaurants. Some pizza places, probably without seating and the like. It is out by a couple of colleges with more of a commuter demographic, so just not much over there and nothing to recommend that I can think of.

- On Beacon Hill, if you wanted to eat there rather than going further afield, 75 Chestnut, The Paramount, and the Beacon Hill Hotel and Bistro all have good food, but nothing particularly noteworthy for a destination dinner. The Paramount would be great for lunch, though. Closer by the steakhouse, Mooo is good for steak and No. 9 Park is one of the top "fine dining" places. Across the common and past the Park Plaza is one of the best Italian places in town, Erbaluce that is recommendable.

- In Back Bay, I really like Deuxave and Clio is my favorite restaurant in the city. The bar at Clio has a cheaper menu of small plates and there is a sushi bar inside called Uni that is among the best in the city. For lunch, there are a lot of decent enough places - Stephanie's is reliable and has outdoor seating. The burgers at Back Bay Social club are good, too and the place is decent enough. I find Towne to be poorly run, but the food is decent (it is mostly the service that is overwhelmed). On the other side of the Pru, in the Colonnade hotel, Brasserie Jo is very good for classic brasserie fare. For lunch, Jasper White's Summer Shack does decent fried seafood and the like.

- A bit further afield, but still close, you could go to the South End and open up to Hammersley's, B&G Oyster, the Butcher Shop, and Coppa, all of which I really like.

<i>steakhouse</i>

Should be State House.

Thanks for all the tips. I was planning on a heavy museum day Wednesday because they are so close, but MFA is also open late Thursday too so I could always go the next day and still save $2.

Is it worth maybe looking into some sort of Go Boston tourism pass kind of thing?

Can't help on the tourist pass - I've never looked at them. Sorry.

Booked lunch Friday at top of the pru hopefully that wil save on admission charges too! Will play JFK library by ear. Will re arrange too

Based on some revisions, how about the following:

Wednesday:

Explore Brookline for a tad/lunch somewhere
Museum of Fine Arts
T to Arlington
Dinner at Flour Bakery
Drink at Fritz Lounge
T back to hotel

Thursday

Old State house/Old South Meeting House
Kings Chapel
Massachusetts State House
Charles and Beacon Street
Mount Vernon and Louisberg Square
Nicols House Museum
Boston common and gardens
Faneiul Hall/Marketplace - do lunch here
Old North Church
Boston athenaeum (3 pm tour)
Isabella Gardner Museum
Drink at Machine
T back? (though is a bit of a walk)
Late dinner back in Coolidge Corner?

Friday:

Back Bay walking
Newbury Street
Trinity Church
Commonwealth Street
Copley Square and Boylston Street
Boston Public Library – 11 am tour
Lunch at Prudential Center (hopefully also with a view)
JFK Library?
Dinner with family friends