If you visit Boston between April and September, you’ll need to take a ride on the city’s beloved Swan Boats, a fleet of paddleboats that have been gliding across The Lagoon in the Public Garden for 120 years. The Public Garden itself, located in the heart of downtown, is a horticultural museum and the nation’s first botanic garden.
If you visit between December and March, you can ice skate on Frog Pond, the ice skating rink in the Boston Common, America’s oldest public park. The 50-acre area was set aside in 1634 as a military “trayning” ground and common pastureland, but it has always been a place where city dwellers convene for anything from a political rally to sunbathing. Adjacent to the Public Garden and across from the State House, these two beautiful green spaces are an oasis in the heart of the city.
Freedom Trail and Little Italy
Boston’s Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile, red painted path that connects most of the city’s historic sights. From the Common, you can walk all the way to the Bunker Hill Monument and the Charlestown Navy Yard where the U.S.S. Constitution, familiarly known as “Old Ironsides,” is berthed.
You can also take a less ambitious version that leads you past Charles Bulfinch’s gold-domed State House (completed in 1798), King’s Chapel and Burying Ground (built in 1688), Old South Meeting House (built in 1729 as a Puritan meeting house), Old City Hall (also the site of the first public school in the nation), Old North Church (where the lantern was hung to signal that British troops were moving “by sea”), and Paul Revere’s House (the oldest house still standing in Boston).
Since this stop is in the heart of “Little Italy,” Boston’s North End, feel free to put history aside and have lunch at one of the many pizzerias/trattorias here, such as Antico Forno (93 Salem Street), Nebo (90 North Washington Street), or Pizzeria Regina (11 Thatcher Street).
Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market
Historical premises are only a few of the more than 15 designated stops on the Freedom Trail, along with Faneuil Hall (built by merchant Peter Faneuil in 1742 as the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty), Quincy Market, and the North and South Markets that now make up the huge urban destination know as Faneuil Hall Marketplace. While the historic structures remain, the markets are filled to the brim with modern shops, bars, restaurants, pushcarts, kiosks, and some historical exhibitions.
The area is also home to two landmark restaurants, Ye Olde Union Oyster House and Durgin-Park, both famous for New England and “Yankee” specialties like scrod, clam chowder, pot roast, and baked beans (they don't call it "Beantown" for nothing!"
Shop Newbury Street in Back Bay
Shoppers will want to stroll around Back Bay and trendy Newbury Street, a potpourri of brownstones, stylish shops, and first-class eateries. The “Rodeo Drive of the East,” Newbury Street is where the likes of Hermés, Barbour, Burberry, MaxMara, and Ermenegildo Zegna have set up shop. For more high-end shopping, you’ll find Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney’s New York, and Lord & Taylor at Copley Place and the Prudential Center, also in this neighborhood.
While in this part of town, head over to The Fenway — not the park where the Red Sox play — but an area also known as Back Bay Fens. A short walk from bustling Kenmore Square, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a fifteenth century Venetian palace was created at the turn of the century by art enthusiast Mrs. Gardner.
The museum houses more than 2,500 art objects, among them works by Rembrandt, Botticelli, Raphael, Titan, and Matisse, but is as much known for its interior flowering courtyard and outdoor gardens as it is for its stunning art collection. Also nearby are the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Avenue) and Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Avenue).
Duck Tour Splashes into Charles River
Boston is known as “America’s Walking City,” but those who visit from the end of March to Thanksgiving weekend can take a land and water tour on board a DUCK, an authentic, renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle. It cruises by major Boston landmarks before it splashes right into the Charles River for a water view of the Boston and Cambridge skylines. You can catch a DUCK at the Prudential Center or the Museum of Science.
The best value for visiting major attractions is the Boston City Pass which provides reduced admission ($44) to five attractions — New England Aquarium, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, Skywalk Observatory at Prudential Center, and either the JFK Presidential Library or Harvard Museum of Natural History. The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau offers “Boston By Season” advice to help you make the most of a visit whenever you go.
Author Sunil S.
If you visit between December and March, you can ice skate on Frog Pond, the ice skating rink in the Boston Common, America’s oldest public park. The 50-acre area was set aside in 1634 as a military “trayning” ground and common pastureland, but it has always been a place where city dwellers convene for anything from a political rally to sunbathing. Adjacent to the Public Garden and across from the State House, these two beautiful green spaces are an oasis in the heart of the city.
Freedom Trail and Little Italy
Boston’s Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile, red painted path that connects most of the city’s historic sights. From the Common, you can walk all the way to the Bunker Hill Monument and the Charlestown Navy Yard where the U.S.S. Constitution, familiarly known as “Old Ironsides,” is berthed.
You can also take a less ambitious version that leads you past Charles Bulfinch’s gold-domed State House (completed in 1798), King’s Chapel and Burying Ground (built in 1688), Old South Meeting House (built in 1729 as a Puritan meeting house), Old City Hall (also the site of the first public school in the nation), Old North Church (where the lantern was hung to signal that British troops were moving “by sea”), and Paul Revere’s House (the oldest house still standing in Boston).
Since this stop is in the heart of “Little Italy,” Boston’s North End, feel free to put history aside and have lunch at one of the many pizzerias/trattorias here, such as Antico Forno (93 Salem Street), Nebo (90 North Washington Street), or Pizzeria Regina (11 Thatcher Street).
Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market
Historical premises are only a few of the more than 15 designated stops on the Freedom Trail, along with Faneuil Hall (built by merchant Peter Faneuil in 1742 as the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty), Quincy Market, and the North and South Markets that now make up the huge urban destination know as Faneuil Hall Marketplace. While the historic structures remain, the markets are filled to the brim with modern shops, bars, restaurants, pushcarts, kiosks, and some historical exhibitions.
The area is also home to two landmark restaurants, Ye Olde Union Oyster House and Durgin-Park, both famous for New England and “Yankee” specialties like scrod, clam chowder, pot roast, and baked beans (they don't call it "Beantown" for nothing!"
Shop Newbury Street in Back Bay
Shoppers will want to stroll around Back Bay and trendy Newbury Street, a potpourri of brownstones, stylish shops, and first-class eateries. The “Rodeo Drive of the East,” Newbury Street is where the likes of Hermés, Barbour, Burberry, MaxMara, and Ermenegildo Zegna have set up shop. For more high-end shopping, you’ll find Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney’s New York, and Lord & Taylor at Copley Place and the Prudential Center, also in this neighborhood.
While in this part of town, head over to The Fenway — not the park where the Red Sox play — but an area also known as Back Bay Fens. A short walk from bustling Kenmore Square, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a fifteenth century Venetian palace was created at the turn of the century by art enthusiast Mrs. Gardner.
The museum houses more than 2,500 art objects, among them works by Rembrandt, Botticelli, Raphael, Titan, and Matisse, but is as much known for its interior flowering courtyard and outdoor gardens as it is for its stunning art collection. Also nearby are the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Avenue) and Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Avenue).
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Duck Tour Splashes into Charles River
Boston is known as “America’s Walking City,” but those who visit from the end of March to Thanksgiving weekend can take a land and water tour on board a DUCK, an authentic, renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle. It cruises by major Boston landmarks before it splashes right into the Charles River for a water view of the Boston and Cambridge skylines. You can catch a DUCK at the Prudential Center or the Museum of Science.
The best value for visiting major attractions is the Boston City Pass which provides reduced admission ($44) to five attractions — New England Aquarium, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, Skywalk Observatory at Prudential Center, and either the JFK Presidential Library or Harvard Museum of Natural History. The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau offers “Boston By Season” advice to help you make the most of a visit whenever you go.
Author Sunil S.
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