Boston

Set aside in 1634, the Common is the oldest public park in the country, once a cow pasture and a British army camp. Today it is the city's lawn, with the Frog Pond (a paddling pool in summer, a skating rink in winter) and the official starting point of the Freedom Trail. The Boston Common Visitor Center on Tremont Street has maps and trail information.

TipThe Freedom Trail runs about 2.5 miles (4 km) past 16 sites. Follow the red line on the pavement on your own, or join a tour led by costumed guides from the Freedom Trail Foundation.

Charles Bulfinch's State House, completed in 1798, crowns Beacon Hill with a dome that shines with gold leaf. It is still the seat of the state government. Inside are the chambers of the legislature and the Sacred Cod, a carved wooden fish that has hung over the House since the 18th century. Free tours are usually offered on weekdays; bring photo ID.

On 16 December 1773 thousands of colonists packed into this brick meeting house to protest the tax on tea, and that evening men disguised as Mohawks went down to the harbour and threw the cargo overboard. The building is now a museum about free speech and dissent. Along the way from the State House, the trail passes Park Street Church, the Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and John Hancock are buried, and King's Chapel.

Boston's oldest surviving public building, from 1713, was the seat of the British colonial government. The Declaration of Independence was read to the city from its balcony in July 1776. A ring of cobblestones at the junction outside marks the site of the Boston Massacre of 1770, when British soldiers fired into a crowd. Inside, a museum covers the events that led to revolution.

Faneuil Hall, built in 1742, earned the nickname the Cradle of Liberty for the protest meetings held in its upstairs Great Hall, which is free to visit and still hosts debates and citizenship ceremonies. The ground floor houses the downtown National Park Service visitor centre. Behind it, Quincy Market is a busy food hall flanked by shops and street performers.

Boston's oldest residential neighbourhood is a tight grid of narrow streets settled by waves of immigrants and, since the late 19th century, home to the city's Italian American community. Hanover Street is lined with cafés, bakeries and trattorias, and in summer the streets fill with saints' festivals and processions.

Built around 1680, this small timber house is the oldest building in downtown Boston, and the home from which Paul Revere set out on his midnight ride on 18 April 1775 to warn that British troops were marching. Its low-ceilinged rooms give a rare sense of everyday colonial life. There is an admission fee.

On the night of Revere's ride, two lanterns were hung in the steeple of Christ Church, now known as the Old North Church, to signal that the British were crossing by water. Built in 1723, it is the oldest standing church building in Boston and still an active parish. Behind-the-scenes tours take visitors up into the bell-ringing chamber or down into the crypt. Copp's Hill Burying Ground is a few steps up the hill.

Across the Charlestown Bridge, the Charlestown Navy Yard is home to USS Constitution, launched in 1797 and the oldest commissioned warship afloat. Visiting the ship is free, with tours led by active-duty US Navy sailors; adults may be asked to show photo ID at security. The trail ends a short uphill walk away at the granite obelisk of the Bunker Hill Monument, which marks the battle of 17 June 1775. Climbing its 294 steps is free.

TipShip and monument hours vary by season and can change at short notice, so check the National Park Service page on the day. A seasonal ferry runs from Long Wharf to the Navy Yard if you would rather not walk back.

Behind the State House, Beacon Hill is Boston at its most picturesque: steep streets of 19th-century brick row houses, black shutters, window boxes and gas lamps. Acorn Street, a short cobbled lane, is one of the most photographed streets in America, and Louisburg Square is a quiet gem of a private square. At the bottom of the hill, Charles Street has antique shops and cafés.

TipThese are people's homes. Keep your voice down, stay off doorsteps, and visit early in the morning for an empty lane.

Laid out from 1837, the Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in the United States, with formal flowerbeds, weeping willows and a little lagoon crossed by a footbridge. The pedal-powered Swan Boats have glided on the lagoon since 1877 and run from spring to late summer. Children love the bronze statues from Make Way for Ducklings near the Charles Street gate.

Back Bay was built on filled marshland in the 19th century and laid out on a grid of grand brownstone avenues. Walk the tree-lined Commonwealth Avenue Mall to Copley Square, where the McKim Building of the Boston Public Library, opened in 1895, faces H. H. Richardson's Trinity Church. The library is free to enter: look into the vast reading room of Bates Hall and the arcaded courtyard. Newbury Street, one block north, is the city's main shopping street.

Opened in 1912, the home of the Boston Red Sox is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball, famous for its towering left-field wall, the Green Monster. The baseball season runs from spring to early autumn; guided tours of the ballpark are offered for much of the year. On game nights the surrounding streets fill with fans long before the first pitch.

Isabella Stewart Gardner built a Venetian-style palace to display her collection and opened it in 1903, with rooms arranged exactly as she left them around a flower-filled glass-roofed courtyard. In 1990 thieves stole thirteen works, including a Vermeer and a Rembrandt, which have never been recovered; empty frames still hang in their place. A modern wing adds concerts and contemporary art.

TipBook a timed ticket ahead, as popular times sell out. The museum is closed on Tuesdays, and visitors named Isabella get in free for life.

One of the great encyclopaedic museums of the country, ten minutes' walk from the Gardner. Highlights include Egyptian and classical antiquities, Japanese art, American paintings by John Singleton Copley and John Singer Sargent, and a strong collection of French Impressionists. It is closed on Tuesdays and stays open late on Thursday and Friday evenings.

Across the Charles River in Cambridge, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is open to wander. Stand beneath the Great Dome, admire Frank Gehry's tilting Stata Center, and look out for the outdoor sculptures scattered across the campus. The MIT Museum in Kendall Square shows off robots, holograms and other inventions. Walk back over the Harvard Bridge for one of the best views of the Boston skyline.

Founded in 1636, Harvard is the oldest university in the country. Harvard Yard, its leafy heart, is free to stroll, with the John Harvard statue and the columns of Widener Library. The Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard Museum of Natural History are worth a few hours, and around Harvard Square there are bookshops, cafés and street musicians.

TipStudents lead walking tours of the Yard; tread respectfully, as classes are in session for much of the year.

The Seaport, a former district of wharves and parking lots, is now Boston's newest neighbourhood, with glass towers, restaurants and the waterfront Harborwalk. Its landmark is the Institute of Contemporary Art, a building cantilevered dramatically over the water. On the way, the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum on the Fort Point Channel retells the events of 1773.

A national and state park made up of islands scattered across the harbour, reached by ferry from Long Wharf in season. Spectacle Island, a former dump transformed into a green hill, has a lifeguarded beach and about five miles of walking trails with skyline views. Georges Island is home to Fort Warren, a 19th-century granite fort with tunnels to explore.

TipThe public ferry season runs roughly from mid-May to mid-October, and in 2026 it closed on 12 October. Check the official schedule before you plan, and bring water and snacks.

Salem, about 25 km north-east of Boston, is known for the witch trials of 1692, when twenty people were executed. It is also a handsome old seaport, with sea captains' mansions, the wharves of a national park site devoted to its maritime trade, the House of the Seven Gables, linked to Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the outstanding Peabody Essex Museum. Commuter trains run from North Station, and a seasonal ferry sails from the Boston waterfront.

TipIn October, Salem celebrates Halloween with a month of events and becomes extremely crowded, especially at weekends. Visit on a weekday or outside October for a calmer day.

On 19 April 1775, British troops marching from Boston met colonial militia on Lexington's Battle Green and then at the North Bridge in Concord, where the minutemen turned them back: the first battles of the Revolutionary War. Minute Man National Historical Park protects the bridge, Daniel Chester French's Minute Man statue and the Battle Road between the two towns. Concord was also home to Emerson, Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott, and Walden Pond is just south of town.

TipCommuter trains run from North Station to Concord; Lexington is easiest by bus from Alewife station at the end of the Red Line, or by car.