169 Best Sights in Boston, Massachusetts

One of the largest single collections by and about an American woman is housed at this library, which also includes temporary exhibits that celebrate the power of ideas and provide context to the life and achievements of Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910); there's a research room on the fourth floor that's open Monday through Thursday.

The library also serves as the welcome center for the entire 14-acre Christian Science Plaza and is home to the fascinating Mapparium, a huge stained-glass globe with a 30-foot interior exhibit that captures a moment in time in 1935. While the Mapparium requires tickets, the adjacent free and interactive "How Do You See the World?" experience brings together stories, artifacts, and panels on Eddy's inspired scriptural study and research and how it relates to modern-day life. Exhibit cases feature objects, books, and documents from the library’s collections, where you can explore how Mary Baker Eddy founded a church and a college, and at the age of 87, launched the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

The first historical society in the United States (founded in 1791) has paintings, a library, and a 12-million-piece manuscript collection from 17th-century New England to the present. Among these manuscripts are the Adams Family Papers, which comprise more than 300,000 pages from the letters and diaries of generations of the Adams family, including papers from John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Casual visitors are welcome, but if you'd like to examine the papers within the library in depth, call ahead. The Society also offers a variety of programs and special exhibits.

Founded in 1861, MIT moved to Cambridge from Copley Square in the Back Bay in 1916. Once dissed as "the factory," particularly by its Ivy League neighbor, Harvard University, MIT mints graduates that are the sharp blades on the edge of the information revolution. It's perennially in the top five of U.S. News and World Report's college rankings. It has long since fulfilled the predictions of its founder, the geologist William Barton Rogers, that it would surpass "the universities of the land in the accuracy and the extent of its teachings in all branches of positive science." Its emphasis shifted in the 1930s from practical engineering and mechanics to the outer limits of scientific fields.

Architecture is important at MIT. Although the original buildings were obviously designed by and for scientists, many represent pioneering designs of their times. Kresge Auditorium, designed by Eero Saarinen, with a curving roof and unusual thrust, rests on three, instead of four, points. The nondenominational MIT Chapel, a circular Saarinen design, is lighted primarily by a roof oculus that focuses natural light on the altar and by reflections from the water in a small surrounding moat; it's topped by an aluminum sculpture by Theodore Roszak. The serpentine Baker House, now a dormitory, was designed in 1947 by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in such a way as to provide every room with a view of the Charles River. Sculptures by Henry Moore and other notable artists dot the campus. The latest addition is the Green Center for Physics, punctuated by the splash of color that is Sol LeWitt's 5,500-square-foot mosaic floor.

The East Campus, which has grown around the university's original neoclassical buildings of 1916, also has outstanding modern architecture and sculpture, including the stark high-rise Green Building by I. M. Pei, housing the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Just outside is Alexander Calder's giant stabile (a stationary mobile) The Big Sail. Another Pei work on the East Campus is the Wiesner Building, designed in 1985, which houses the List Visual Arts Center. Architect Frank Gehry made his mark on the campus with the cockeyed, improbable Ray and Maria Stata Center, a complex of buildings on Vassar Street. The center houses computer, artificial intelligence, and information systems laboratories, and is reputedly as confusing to navigate on the inside as it is to follow on the outside. East Campus's Great Dome, which looms over neoclassical Killian Court, has often been the target of student "hacks" and has at various times supported a telephone booth with a ringing phone, a life-size statue of a cow, and a campus police cruiser. Nearby, the domed Rogers Building has earned unusual notoriety as the center of a series of hallways and tunnels dubbed "the infinite corridor." Twice each winter the sun's path lines up perfectly with the corridor's axis, and at dusk students line the third-floor hallway to watch the sun set through the westernmost window. The phenomenon is known as "MIT-henge."

MIT maintains a welcome center located at  292 Main Street in Kendall Square, where you can pick up campus maps, grab some water, and charge your phone weekdays 9 to 5.

On July 4, 1795, the surviving fathers of the Revolution were on hand to enshrine the ideals of their new Commonwealth in a graceful seat of government designed by Charles Bulfinch. Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere laid the cornerstone; Revere would later roll the copper sheathing for the dome.

Bulfinch's neoclassical design is poised between Georgian and Federal; its finest features are the delicate Corinthian columns of the portico, the graceful pediment and window arches, and the vast yet visually weightless golden dome (gilded in 1874 and again in 1997). During World War II, the dome was painted gray so that it would not reflect moonlight during blackouts and thereby offer a target to anticipated Axis bombers. It's capped with a pine cone, a symbol of the importance of pinewood, which was integral to the construction of Boston's early houses and churches; it also serves as a reminder of the state's early connection to Maine, once part of Massachusetts.

Inside the building are Doric Hall, with its statuary and portraits; the Hall of Flags, where an exhibit shows the battle flags from all the wars in which Massachusetts regiments have participated; the Great Hall, an open space used for state functions that houses 351 flags from the cities and towns of Massachusetts; the governor's office; and the chambers of the House and Senate. The Great Hall contains a giant, modernistic clock designed by New York artist R. M. Fischer. Its installation in 1986 at a cost of $100,000 was roundly slammed as a symbol of legislative extravagance. There's also a wealth of statuary, including figures of Horace Mann, Daniel Webster, and a youthful-looking President John F. Kennedy in full stride. Just outside Doric Hall is Hear Us, a series of six bronze busts honoring the contributions of women to public life in Massachusetts. But perhaps the best-known piece of artwork in the building is the carved wooden Sacred Cod, mounted in the Old State House in 1784 as a symbol of the Commonwealth's maritime wealth. It was moved, with much fanfare, to Bulfinch's structure in 1798. By 1895, when it was hung in the new House chambers, the representatives had begun to consider the Cod their unofficial mascot—so much so that when Harvard Lampoon "codnapped" it in 1933, the House refused to meet in session until the fish was returned, three days later. Free guided tours are available; call for reservations. This is Freedom Trail stop 2.

Founded by Albert and Vera List, pioneer collectors of modern art, this MIT center has three galleries showcasing exhibitions of cutting-edge art and mixed media. Works from the center's collection of contemporary art, such as Thomas Hart Benton's painting Fluid Catalytic Crackers and Harry Bertoia's altarpiece for the MIT Chapel, are on view here and around campus. The center's website includes a map indicating the locations of more than 20 of these public works of art.

The MIT Museum is a place where art, science, and technology meet, with intriguing and extensive exhibits dedicated to the exciting worlds of artificial intelligence, MIT's renowned robotics, genetic technologies, and solar-powered vehicle Nimbus, to name a few. Allow an hour or two for a visit, and check the schedule for special programs and demonstrations by MIT researchers and inventors.

A cemetery might not strike you as a first choice for a visit, but this one is an absolute pleasure, filled with artwork and gorgeous landscaping. Opened in 1831, it was the country's first garden cemetery, and its bucolic landscape boasts peaceful ponds, statues (including a giant sphinx), breathtaking mausoleums, and a panorama of Boston and Cambridge from Washington Tower. More than 90,000 people have been buried here—among them Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mary Baker Eddy, Winslow Homer, Amy Lowell, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and architect Charles Bulfinch. The grave of engineer Buckminster Fuller bears an engraved geodesic dome.

In spring, local nature lovers and bird-watchers come out of the woodwork to see the warbler migrations, the glorious blossoms, and blooming trees, while later in the year nature shows off its autumnal range of glorious color. Brochures, maps, and audio tours are at the entrance, and the cemetery is a five-minute drive from the heart of Harvard Square.

Mt. Vernon Street runs from the flat of the Hill, past Louisburg Square, and all the way up to the Massachusetts State House. Along with Chestnut Street, it has some of Beacon Hill's most distinguished addresses, but Mt. Vernon is the grander of the two, with houses set back farther and rising taller. Henry James once wrote that Mt. Vernon Street was "the only respectable street in America," and he must have known, as he lived with his brother William at No. 131 in the 1860s. James was just one of many literary luminaries who resided here, including Julia Ward Howe, who composed "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and lived at No. 32, and the poet Robert Frost, who lived at No. 88.

The Museum of African American History was established in 1964. Today, exhibits across one floor of the Abiel Smith School building (the first public school in the nation built specifically for Black children) recognize Boston's African American community, from slavery through the abolitionist movement. Visitors can also take National Park Service guided tours of the adjacent African Meeting House, built in 1806. It was from this church in 1832 that William Lloyd Garrison formed the New England Anti-Slavery Society.

Opened in late 2024, this whimsical entrée into the Seaport District has locals and visitors alike licking their lips. Check out 14 immersive, interactive exhibitions across two floors inspired by the eponymous dessert, including a sprinkle pool, a carnival, and the Hall of Freezers. It should go without saying that there are samples of the real thing—as many as you can eat, in fact.

Located at the north end of Union Park, the Holocaust Memorial is the work of Stanley Saitowitz, whose design was selected through an international competition; the finished memorial was dedicated in 1995. During the day the six 50-foot-high glass-and-steel towers seem at odds with the 18th-century streetscape of Blackstone Square behind it; at night, they glow like ghosts while manufactured steam from grates in the granite base makes for a particularly haunting scene. Recollections by Holocaust survivors are set into the glass-and-granite walls; the upper levels of the towers are etched with 6 million numbers in random sequence, symbolizing the Jewish victims of the Nazi horror.

Eight-block-long Newbury Street has been compared to New York's 5th Avenue, and certainly this is the city's poshest shopping area, with branches of Chanel, Tiffany & Co., Valentino, Max Mara, Longchamp, and other top names in fashion. But here the pricey boutiques are more intimate than grand, and people live above the trendy restaurants and ubiquitous hair salons, giving the place a neighborhood feel. Toward the Massachusetts Avenue end, cafés proliferate and the stores get funkier, ending with Newbury Comics and Urban Outfitters.

The only Mt. Vernon Street home open to the public, the Nichols House was built in 1804, and its design is attributed to Charles Bulfinch. It became the lifelong home of Rose Standish Nichols (1872–1960), Beacon Hill eccentric, philanthropist, peace advocate, and one of the first female landscape architects. Nichols inherited the Victorian furnishings, but she added a number of Colonial-style pieces to the mix, and the result is a delightful mélange of styles. To see the house, you must take a guided tour, and space is limited.

Built in 1865, Old City Hall is a historic site and served as the municipal seat of government for 38 of Boston's mayors, including famous ones like John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, James Curley, and Kevin White. In its courtyard, find Richard S. Greenough's bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin and a mural marking the original site of the Boston Latin School. Today, Old City Hall is an office building. While you can't really venture too far inside the building, do go up and check out the murals around its entrance.

In the 19th century, this graceful, gambrel-roof, early-Georgian structure—built in 1718 on land once owned by religious rebel Anne Hutchinson—also housed the city's leading bookstore. We'll preface this by saying that the only way to see inside this amazingly historic Freedom Trail site is to order up some fast food. Sadly, that's the current role this literary gem plays, but anyone stopping by can also read the plaque on the wall that shares more about its history. From 1845 to 1865, literary lights including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Charles Dickens visited here where many of their works were published by James T. "Jamie" Fields (founder of Ticknor and Fields). This is Freedom Trail stop 7.

Members of Old South Meeting House, of Tea Party fame, decamped to this new site in 1873, a move not without controversy. In an Italian Gothic style inspired by the art critic John Ruskin and with an interior decorated with Venetian mosaics and stained-glass windows, the "new" structure could hardly be more different from the plain meetinghouse they vacated. The sanctuary is free and open to the public seven days a week.

From vaudeville to film to opera to concerts the Orpheum has seen it all in its storied 172 years. Built in 1852, it is one of the oldest theaters in the United States. Unfortunately, the city has grown up around it, and passersby might just miss finding it, as it sits back from Tremont Street. To get inside the Orpheum today, you must purchase a ticket to one of its special events.

The stately Federal-style manor in Bowdoin Square was designed by Charles Bulfinch for former Boston mayor and lawyer Harrison Gray Otis. Today, the National Historic Landmark serves as the headquarters for the heritage organization Historic New England, and visitors can stop in for guided tours that offer insight into wealthy domestic life during the early 1800s. Due to its age, this building is not ADA accessible.

If this Congregationalist church at the corner of Tremont and Park streets could sing, you'd hear Samuel Smith's iconic hymn "America," which was first sung here in 1831. But that's only one fun fact about this historic site. It was designed by Peter Banner and erected in 1810. The Handel and Haydn Society was founded here in 1815. William Lloyd Garrison began his long public campaign for the abolition of slavery here in 1829. Just outside the church is Brimstone Corner, and whether the name refers to the fervent thunder of the church's preachers, the gunpowder that was once stored in the church's crypt, or the burning sulfur that preachers once scattered on the pavement to attract potential churchgoers, we'll never know—historians simply can't agree. This Freedom Trail site is not open for tours, only services. This is Freedom Trail stop 3.

One of the first four stops on the first subway in America, Park Street Station opened for service in 1897, against the warnings of those convinced it would make buildings along Tremont Street collapse. The copper-roof kiosks are National Historic Landmarks—outside them cluster vendors, street musicians, and partisans of causes and beliefs ranging from Irish nationalism to Krishna Consciousness. The station is the heart of Boston's subway system; "inbound" trains are always traveling toward Park Street.

2025 marks the 250th anniversaries surrounding Paul Revere's Midnight Ride and the start of the American Revolution. Special programming related to the anniversaries is offered all year long throughout the city, including at the Paul Revere House. Originally on the site was the parsonage of the Second Church of Boston, home to the Rev. Increase Mather, the Second Church's minister. Mather's house burned in the great fire of 1676, and the house that Revere was to occupy was built on its location about four years later, nearly 100 years before Revere's 1775 midnight ride through Middlesex County. Revere owned the house from 1770 until 1800, although he lived there for only 10 years and rented it out for the next two decades. Pre-1900 photographs show it as a shabby warren of storefronts and apartments. The clapboard sheathing is a replacement, but 90% of the framework is original; note the Elizabethan-style overhang and leaded windowpanes. A few Revere furnishings are on display here, and just gazing at his silverwork—much more of which is displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts—brings the man alive. Special events are scheduled throughout the year, many designed with children in mind, such as role-play by characters dressed in period costume serving apple-cider cake and other Colonial-era goodies, a silversmith practicing his trade, a dulcimer player entertaining a crowd, or a military-reenactment group in full period regalia.

The immediate neighborhood also has Revere associations. The little cobblestone park in North Square is named after Rachel Revere, his second wife, and the adjacent brick Pierce-Hichborn House once belonged to relatives of Revere. The garden connecting the Revere House and the Pierce-Hichborn House is planted with flowers and medicinal herbs favored in Revere's day. This is Freedom Trail stop 12.

Known to many locals as The Prado, this makes a perfect time-out spot from the Freedom Trail. Bookended by two landmark churches—Old North and St. Stephen's—the mall is flanked by brick walls lined with bronze plaques bearing the stories of famous North Enders. An appropriate centerpiece for this enchanting cityscape is Cyrus Dallin's equestrian statue of Paul Revere. Despite his depictions in such statues as this, the gentle Revere was stocky and of medium height—whatever manly dash he possessed must have been in his eyes rather than his physique. That physique served him well enough, however, for he lived to be 83 and saw nearly all his Revolutionary comrades buried. Take a seat at one of the benches and enjoy your to-go treat from any of the North End Italian trattorias and bakeries.

The campus of Mass General Hospital is a fitting site for this small museum dedicated to the hallowed medical institution's past, present, and future discoveries. Shiny copper and glass walls enfold interesting exhibits on topics like patient care, fMRI development, depression and dementia, and targeted cancer therapy. Interactive displays ask visitors to try out mirror therapy and train for laproscopic surgery like a doctor would. Historical artifacts—some quite terrifying—are peppered around the space for an eye-opening lesson in our forefathers' medical techniques. A few temporary exhibits and films rotate in and out.

With one of the world's outstanding anthropological collections, the Peabody Museum is among the oldest anthropology museums in the world. Its collections focus on Native American and Central and South American cultures and are comprised of more than 1.2 million objects. The Hall of the North American Indian is particularly outstanding, with art, textiles, and models of traditional dwellings from across the continent. Check out the Wiyohpiyata exhibit's drawn images from a Lakota Sioux ledger book from the battlefield, and Encounters in America's exploration of the pre-1492 civilizations through Classic Maya and Postclassic Aztec. Of special note is the museum's only surviving collection of objects acquired from Native American people during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Sandwiched between Marginal Street and Boston Harbor, the gorgeous, 6½-acre waterfront Piers Park features a grassy, green retreat from urban life and sweeping views of downtown Boston to the southwest. It is so named because of its many long piers that jut into the inner harbor. For a bit of historical knowledge: it's also in close proximity to the site where naval architect Donald McKay built his reputedly fast clipper ships. Take a stroll down the promenade and let the kiddos enjoy the large playground.

The well-groomed beaches of Plum Island, located in the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, are worth the effort of the trek from Boston. The water is clear and blue, but quite cold. You can easily find a secluded spot to sunbathe or bird-watch, a popular activity, but make sure to call in advance in late summer to ask about greenhead flies; they can be vicious here. From I–95 follow Route 113 East (becomes Route 1A South) 3½ miles to Newbury. Then, take a left on Rolfe's Lane and a right onto the Plum Island Turnpike. Amenities: parking (fee); toilets. Best for: swimming; walking; solitude.

About a mile northwest of Harvard Square lies Porter Square, an area that consists of several blocks along Mass Ave. that boast shopping centers and eateries. As you walk north (away from Harvard) past the heart of Porter Square, you'll find ethnic eateries all along a few blocks (several Asian ramen and sushi spots can be found in the 1920's art deco Porter Exchange building), many of them excellent and far cheaper than Harvard Square restaurants. There are also quite a few unique shops along the way, including thrift shops and music stores.

The 52-story Prudential Tower, or "the Pru," dominates the acreage between Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue. Its enclosed shopping mall anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue is home to over 60 stores and restaurants and is connected by a glass bridge to the more upscale Copley Place. The popular food emporium, Eataly, located in the Pru, offers a great spot for a quick bite or DIY fixings for an Italian feast. As for the Prudential Tower itself, the architectural historian Bainbridge Bunting made an acute observation when he called it "an apparition so vast in size that it appears to float above the surrounding district without being related to it." Later modifications to the Boylston Street frontage of the Prudential Center effected a better union of the complex with the urban space around it, but the tower itself floats on, vast as ever. In 2023, the Pru's top three floors welcomed a reimagination of the famed SkyWalk called View Boston, an incredible vantage point to view all of Boston with 360 degrees of observation complete with sky-high dining and bar options.

Just north of the city, Revere Beach, the oldest public beach in America, has faded somewhat since its glory days in the early 20th century when it was a Coney Island–type playground, but it still remains a good spot to people-watch and catch some rays. The sand and water are less than pristine, but on hot summer days the waterfront is still packed with colorful local characters and Bostonians looking for an easy city escape. Most of the beach's former amusements are gone, but you can still catch concerts at the bandstand in summer, especially during the annual International Sand Sculpting Festival in July. You can reach Revere on the T by taking the blue line to the Revere Beach or Wonderland stops. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; showers; toilets. Best for: swimming; walking.

Get a feel for "lifestyles of the rich and famous" at Rowes Wharf, where a six-story arched rotunda frames gorgeous views of Boston Harbor complete with megayachts and a water-set gazebo. Well-heeled patrons stay and dine at Boston Harbor Hotel and its upscale restaurants. During summer months, stop by any weekday night for free live music performances or film screenings, hosted by the hotel.