We'll be in New England for 5 days. Day 1 and 2 will be spent wandering around Boston. Never been here before, but we're gonna take the 'T' into Boston.

The problem is Day 3. I'd like to visit both Lexington and Salem.

We'll be starting in Braintree with our rental car on Saturday Oct 10th.

Our interests are historical in nature, but Salem seems kinda cool, too. Is trying to see both places too much for one day? If not, which one should we see? Will traffic on Saturday be a problem?

thanks

You could, in theory, see some of both in a day, but I would not recommend it. Braintree to Lexington/Concord area is about 30-45 minutes in no traffic (and you would get to deal with the most confusing highway naming area I have encountered everywhere - the same road is called 93N and 95S plus also referred to as Rte 128 at the same time). Although this is Columbus Day weekend, on Sat traffic should not be so bad. If you got an early start you could have lunch someplace in downtown Lexington - an affluent town with a cute downtown area and several decent restaurants.

Then head up Rte 128 towards Salem - about another 45-60 minutes. A little early in Oct (good thing) to be overwhelmed by seasonal witch stuff. I am not a huge fan of all the witch museums and exhibits, but the Peabody Essex Museum is wonderful. You could find some seafood there or in nearby towns and head south, thru Boston area (not the city itself, on the highway) back to Braintree.

A very long day, but possible. If you choose only one, decide what type of thing you prefer. Or see what the weather is like - the Lexington/Concord thing is much better in decent weather since there is more outside walking.

If you get going early, you could easily do both. As gail says, Braintree to Lexington/Concord is only a half hour or so and you could spend two or three hours there see "the rude bridge that arched the flood" , visit the park service vc, and then head to Salem. The National Park service does tours of some of the houses there and the Peabody Essex is a neat museum. The waterfront area is very walkable and there are plenty of places to eat.

I would focus on Lexington AND Concord, and forget about Salem. Per some of our North Shore posters here, traffic to Salem is horrendous every weekend in October, not just Halloween. The Rt 114 into/out of Salem is only 1 lane each direction, and crawls slowly...

Of course, you *could* visit both, but you'll be spending more time commuting and less time actually sightseeing.

If you take a look at the Minute Man national Historic Park scehdule of Event: http://www.nps.gov/mima/planyourvisi...=2009&prk=mima
You'll see that there are plenty of additional activites are offered that day. Over in Concord, you can visit the Concord Museum (very well done), Old Manse, Orchard House, Walden Pond etc.

http://www.concordmuseum.org/
http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to...old-manse.html
http://www.louisamayalcott.org/

P.S. If I were you, I'd start the day with visiting Verrill Farm in Concord and have one of their weekend $2.95 breakfast sandwich. http://www.verrillfarm.com/currentevents.html

Then to Concord to visit North Bridge, Orchard House, Old Manse for the rest of the morning. Have lunch at Colonial Inn in Concord. http://www.concordscolonialinn.com/

Then head over to Lexington and start at the Minute Man National Park Visitors Center and spend your afternoon at the Park. If you still have time and energy left, end your day with a stroll around Walden Pond.

I agree that you should focus on Lexington and Concord and skip Salem. To do justice to your visit, you can't do more than one of the two areas in a single day.

I don't know anything about Salem (never been) and we loved our recent visit to Lexington and Concord, but I also think you don't have to spend the whole day there (you could easily do so, but a 3 hours will give you a pretty good glimpse of the area, of Minute Man National Park, the bridge, the authors homes, Walden Pond, and downtown Lexington).

yk, if you didn't, you should repost your autumn picture of Walden Pond.

FWIW, we thought downtown Concord was WAY cuter than downtown Lexington.

okay, sf7307, since you insist...

Taken on October 12, 2008 at Walden Pond:
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...8/IMG_2474.jpg

If you're done with Concord & Lexington early, but don't want to drive all the way to Salem, please consider visiting Lincoln, MA next door. My favorite place is Gropius House. Nearby is DeCordova Sculpture Garden which is a great outdoor place.

http://www.historicnewengland.org/vi...es/gropius.htm
http://www.decordova.org/

Here's a photo of Flint's Pond from DeCordova, also taken on the same day as the Walden Pond photo:
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...N/IMG_2458.jpg

Salem and Lexington/Concord are all enjoyable to visit, but if you really want to see what's in these towns in detail, I'd do one or the other, not both. Each can easily take a day to visit. Both are interesting for those who enjoy history, but forced to choose, I'd opt for Lexington/Concord.

I would also recommend sticking with Lexington and Concord and having a nice lunch in Concord.

Though if you do want to see everything, it is perfectly possible.

Decide what you want to see in Salem. The Peabody Essex Museum (www.pem.org) is the one must see there, in my opinion.

I would leave Braintree early, and go straight to Salem. Shouldn't take more than an hour and there won't be lots of traffic on Rt. 93 going through Boston. Tour Salem in the morning, then get on Rt. 95/128 and go to Lexington and Concord. Depending on time, you might have to choose between the two--I'd go to Concord.

It's an easy drive back to Braintree from Concord and Lexington.

thanks to all. these are exactly the opinions that i was looking for.

yk, your photos were just jaw-dropping, thanks for sharing.