Where Else To Go In Boston
For the most part, the best stuff to do in Boston is even better with a guide. This includes Downtown Boston/The Freedom Trail, Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market, The North End (Boston’s Little Italy), Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, Boston Public Gardens, Harvard/Harvard Square, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Old Cambridge, Lexington and Concord, and the many haunted places on our Ghost Tours. But! If you really don’t want a guide with you, all those places are still worth a visit, and the neighborhoods worth walking around.
In addition, here are our favorite places:
Boston Tea Party Ships
Great for kids, and they have their own experience/guides
Harvard Museum of Natural History
While we offer a tour here, it is also enjoyable without us! We really just want to spread the love, and think this museum is Boston’s best kept secret, for whatever reason.
Fenway Park
To get inside without watching a game, you must take the Fenway Park Tour, and we can only tag along at best. But this is the nation’s oldest baseball park. So even if you aren’t a sports nerd, history nerds have something to cling to, as well. Plus, you get to go on top of the Green Monster on the Tour. It’s a good one.
Mapparium
There is no way to describe this without over-inflating it or making it sound lame, so here it goes: the Mapparium is a really cool map of the world in 1935, made from 608 glass panels, that you walk inside. It’s 30 feet wide, and the echo chamber alone makes the $5 to get in worth it. But there’s also nothing like it anywhere on the planet. A favorite hidden treasure. This can be worked into any Step-On tours, but is tough to incorporate into a walking tour path.
​Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The collection itself is impressive, but there are few museums like this in the world. Formerly the rich lady’s house, its walls must remain exactly as they’ve always been. Also the site of the world’s most expensive art theft!
Museum of Fine Art
Again, we do have a tour inside this place, but they also offer their own docent-led tours for free, even if they are a bit more focused on art than stories. It’s just an amazing museum, and we don’t even cover the Asian or Egyptian collections.
Boston Children’s Museum
An excellent way to kill some time if you’re traveling with kids. It’s expensive, so be warned, but if your child is between 4 and 11, you’re in the sweet spot for this place, and could probably let the kids loose for 2-3 hours before they’re done exploring and tired enough to let you eat lunch in peace.
Outside Boston
Want to see more outside of Boston? Take a look at our picks below
Salem
We do have an unlisted option for a Hop-On Tour of Salem (meaning we’d ride with you, but don’t provide the vehicle). If you’re interested, let us know, but otherwise, it’s only 45 minutes from Boston, and does have a few cool museums. The best is the Peabody Essex Museum, but if you’re into the witch history, there’s that. (Note: the “witches” were in fact innocent people killed by their fanatical government. No one cast any spells. It was hogwash). ​
Cape Ann/Gloucester/Rockport/Essex/​Ipswich
For the true vibe of small-town New England fishing villages, these places are unbeatable. For Cliff-side beaches, go to Rockport. For great lobster and real fishermen still working, go to Gloucester. For the beach go to Ipswich, and look for Crane Beach, where the Crane Estate is also a fantastic spot to visit. On the way out, stop at Woodman’s for Clam Chowder in Essex.
Cape Cod
Provincetown (known locally as P-Town) is a mecca for gay America. It is also an historic city where the Pilgrims first landed on their way to Plymouth, and has a rich history of Piracy. Other great towns worth exploring include Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Chatham, Falmouth, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Hyannisport (especially if you like the Kennedys) Mashpee, and Sandwich. On the way there, there is an excellent waterpark in Ware, MA for hot summer day with the kids.
