Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Boston is a Cinderella city, aglow with delights that for some end all too soon. With the T (subway and bus) making its final runs between midnight and 1 am and taxis sometimes scarce, most nightspots follow accordingly, with "last call" typically by 2 am. Though night owls may be disappointed by the meager late-night options, except in Chinatown, visitors find plenty of possibilities for stepping out on the early side. The martini set may stroll Newbury and Boylston streets in the Back Bay or Downtown, selecting from swank restaurants, lounges, and clubs. Coffee- and tea drinkers can find numerous cafés in Cambridge and Somerville, particularly Harvard and Davis squares. Microbrew enthusiasts find viable options at sports bars and brewpubs, especially near campuses and sports arenas. For dancing, Lansdowne and Boylston streets near Fenway Park have a stretch of student-friendly hangs, DJ rooms, and techno clubs. The thriving "lounge" scene in Downtown’s cooler hybrid bar-restaurant-clubs provides a mellower, more mature alternative to the collegiate indie clubs. Tourists crowd Faneuil Hall for its pubs, comedy spots, and dance scenes. The South and North ends, as well as Cambridge and Somerville, cater to the "dinner-and-drinks" set, while those seeking rock clubs should explore Allston and Cambridge, especially Central Square. College-owned concert halls regularly host homegrown and visiting ensembles. Prominent among these are Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Berklee College of Music’s Performance Center, MIT's Kresge Auditorium, and Agganis Arena at Boston University.
You can't miss the place with its big blue facade, and once inside, you'll be embraced by the congenial atmosphere and amazed by the beer menu offerings. There are about a half-dozen to a dozen original brews on offer, from wheats to West Coast IPAs. Fun fact: the workers who run this brewery and pub also own it.
This local brewery is "malt-forward" and a female-owned and LGBTQ+-friendly place. It's a great spot to catch women's sports on TV or just kick back on the weekend with friends. Some prepackaged snacks and nonalcoholic beverages are available, but the main focus here is on the brews.
You may feel like you're in Dublin when you're sipping well-poured pints, eyeing the dusky atmosphere with wood-paneled walls, and eating black-and-white pudding or rib eye roasted in Guinness inside Cambridge's oldest wooden mercantile building. Musicians jam Wednesday evening, Saturday late day, and Sunday afternoon.
This genuine Irish pub has doubled as a bohemian oasis since 1969. Drink Guinness and Bass on tap and many Irish whiskies; hear light rock, Irish, or country music nightly, usually by 10:30 pm; shows are 21-plus. Narrow and cozy, the Plough is a comfy, noisy den for locals and students, yet a fine place to have lunch alone. The cover charge varies, but the popular weekday beer and burger specials remain the same. Fun fact: literary magazine Ploughshares was founded here.
