Boston travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Boston, planned over three days
Best time to visit Boston
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Cold, dark, indoor and cheapest, with museums at their quietest and harbour trips shut.
Volatile then glorious, with the Marathon in April and lilacs, boats and graduations in May.
Peak Boston, a harbour city at full tilt with beaches, ferries, whales and Fenway in full voice.
Locals favourite and best answer, warm September then peak foliage and the fullest calendar in October.
Shoulder to skip, bare trees and first real cold, not yet festive until lights go up late.
What's on
- First Night 31 December
Oldest New Year's arts festival in the country, with ice sculptures and harbour fireworks.
- Dine Out Boston March edition
Two weeks of prix fixe lunch and dinner menus at hundreds of restaurants. A second edition runs in August.
- South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade mid-March
Huge and rowdy March parade in South Boston.
- Boston Marathon third Monday of April
World's oldest annual marathon on Patriots' Day, a citywide holiday. Book hotels far ahead or avoid.
- Lilac Sunday Mother's Day
Arboretum peaks for lilacs on Mother's Day.
- Harborfest early July
Free re-enactments, music and harbour fireworks over the days before the Fourth.
- Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular 4 July
Fourth of July night on the Esplanade. Arrive by afternoon for blanket space.
- Shakespeare on the Common July-August
Free theatre on the Common through summer.
- Head of the Charles Regatta third weekend of October
World's largest rowing regatta, a riverbank festival that fills Cambridge hotels.
- Haunted Happenings all October
Salem's month long Halloween festival, best as a weekday day trip.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Boston
Freedom Trail
Walk the red brick line past 16 Revolutionary sites from the Common to Charlestown at your own pace.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
A Venetian palazzo around a flowering courtyard, hung as Gardner left it, with empty frames from the 1990 heist.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Huge world class collection strong on Impressionists, Egypt and the Art of the Americas wing.
Fenway Park
Oldest active MLB ballpark, with the Green Monster and a neighbourhood street party on game days.
Boston Public Library
Free McKim Building with marble stairs, Bates Hall and a Renaissance courtyard most visitors miss.
Boston Common
Oldest public park in America, flowing to the Public Garden, Swan Boats and the Charles River Esplanade.
Harvard Art Museums
Free serious art collection in a Renzo Piano building, with far fewer crowds than the MFA.
Institute of Contemporary Art
Glass box over the harbour with strong contemporary shows and a terrace view down the water.
Where to stay in Boston
Back Bay
first trip, all-round base
Prettiest brownstone streets, Copley landmarks and good T lines, walkable to most headline sights.
Beacon Hill
couples and charm
Gas lights, brick rowhouses and Charles Street cafes, five minutes from the Common and State House.
South End
food and a local-feeling trip
Restaurant neighbourhood of Victorian rowhouses and SoWa Sundays, book north of Massachusetts Avenue.
Seaport District
conventions, summer harbour nights, modern rooms
Glass hotels, the ICA and harbour views, but sterile, windy and thin on T service.
Cambridge / Harvard Square
second-city base, best value of central options
Own dining and nightlife, free Harvard museums and the Red Line downtown in 15 minutes.
Fenway-Kenmore
ballgame and museum trip
At Fenway Park's door and near the MFA and Gardner, lively and loud on game and concert nights.
Think twice about
- Mass & Cass corridor
Open air drug crisis corridor south of Melnea Cass Boulevard with dealing, use and violence nearby. No visitor reason to sleep here.
- Logan airport hotels
Fine for an early flight, but you sleep by the runways with little to walk to. Stay in town and take the free Silver Line out.
- Motels and rentals off the T
Cheap highway motels and rentals far from a T stop save money and then eat it back in rides and lost hours.
Best restaurants in Boston
Sarma
Turkish meyhane of playful spiced mezze and passing trays of fried chicken, joyful and share everything.
Neptune Oyster
Tiny oyster bar for the hot buttered lobster roll, crudos, fried clams and caviar johnnycake.
Oleana
Eastern Mediterranean flagship since 2001, with whipped feta, standout vegetables and a summer garden patio.
Mooncusser
Seafood focused tasting menu with global spice and calm service, the reliable special occasion answer.
Tonino
Eleven table Italian boite with lumache, amatriciana and hot honey pizza bianca, small and personal.
Fox & the Knife
Chef driven southern Italian original, cosier than its sibling, with handmade pastas and amaro.
Bar Volpe
Bigger pasta bar sibling to Fox and the Knife, known for agnolotti and squid ink casarecce with lobster.
Giulia
Pastas made daily in a warm rustic room, from squash agnolotti to farro casarecce with duck.
Outdoor things to do in Boston
Boston Harbor Islands
Ferry park of islands: Fort Warren on Georges and swimming, paths and skyline views on Spectacle.
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Whale watching by catamaran to a feeding sanctuary where humpback, fin and minke whales surface close.
Paddle Boston - Charles River Canoe & Kayak
Rent kayaks or SUPs on the Charles for the skyline from the water, best early on weekends.
Community Boating Inc
Oldest public sailing programme in the country, with visitor passes and rentals on the Charles basin.
George Wright Golf Course
Donald Ross municipal course blasted from rocky hills, walkable and extraordinary value for its pedigree.
Granite Links Golf Club
Polished 27 hole semi private golf on capped spoil with downtown skyline views from 298 feet up.
Salem
Rail easy old port town for the Peabody Essex Museum, Seven Gables and witch trial history as seasoning.
Minute Man National Historical Park
Lexington, Concord and Walden Pond combine Revolution sites, literary houses and a pond walk or swim.
Best hotels in Boston
Fairmont Copley Plaza
Grand 1912 landmark on Copley Square, gilded and formal, with the OAK Long Bar downstairs.
The Lenox Hotel
Independent family run hotel since 1899 near the library, warmer and more personal than chains.
The Newbury Boston
Flawless location luxury at One Newbury with Contessa, its rooftop northern Italian restaurant.
Raffles Boston
First North American Raffles, a Back Bay splurge with La Padrona, one of the city's best hotel restaurants.
citizenM Boston Back Bay
Compact tech run rooms in a new tower, grande dame location without grande dame rates.
XV Beacon
Connoisseur boutique with 63 rooms, fireplaces and Mooo steakhouse, quiet and adult.
The Whitney Hotel Boston
Modern boutique on Charles Street, the practical Beacon Hill entry walkable to everything.
The Liberty, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Boston
Converted 1851 jail with atrium bars in the old cellblock, a hotel people visit without staying.
Is Boston expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $150 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $290 a person |
| Splurge | $550 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: weeks ahead
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: weeks ahead
- Fenway Park: weeks ahead
- Institute of Contemporary Art: a few days ahead
- View Boston: a few days ahead
- New England Aquarium: a few days ahead
- Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum: a few days ahead
- Symphony Hall: weeks ahead
- Book Sarma, Tonino, Giulia and Oleana 2 to 4 weeks out for weekends.
- Book Gardner and MFA timed tickets, Fenway, harbour ferries and whale boats ahead in season.
- Hotel prices spike for the Marathon, graduations, July Fourth, Head of the Charles and foliage weekends.
Is Boston safe?
- Tourist Boston is busy and lit, but watch pickpockets in Faneuil Hall and T crowds and phone snatches.
- Use the official taxi line or rideshare pickup at Logan, not unlicensed taxis soliciting inside.
- Mass & Cass is a drug crisis corridor, not a tourist district, and no pick requires going near it after dark.
Boston travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall for food: walk through, then eat in the North End instead.
- Cheers is a souvenir shop with a bar. Photograph the exterior and drink at a real pub.
- Do not pay for two viewpoints, or any viewpoint in fog or rain.
Getting around Boston: public transport and more
- Walk first, T second, car never. The T covers everything including Cambridge and Fenway.
- From Logan, free Silver Line to South Station inbound, Blue Line, Logan Express or water taxi are best.
- Commuter rail is the day trip system, and the $10 weekend unlimited pass is the best transport deal.
Who Boston suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Boston your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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