Things to Do in Boston: Attractions, Tours & Activities

Boston packs more historical density into fewer square miles than almost any other American city. Most of the major sights are walkable from one another, which means a well-planned day covers ground that would require a car and hours of driving elsewhere. Here is what to prioritise.

The Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile route marked by a red brick (or red paint) line on the footpath, connecting 16 sites central to the American Revolution. It begins at Boston Common and ends at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. You can walk it entirely free and self-guided using the free map from the Boston Common Visitor Center.

The 16 sites include:

• Boston Common — the oldest public park in the country (1634), free, always open
• Massachusetts State House — free guided tours Monday–Friday, 10am–3:30pm
• Park Street Church — free to visit; worth stepping inside for the interior
• Granary Burying Ground — free; Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams are buried here
• Old South Meeting House — adults approximately $7, children approximately $5 (as of 2026); open daily 10am–5pm; where the Boston Tea Party protest was organised in 1773
• Old State House — adults approximately $14, children approximately $6; open daily 9am–5pm; the oldest surviving public building in Boston (1713)
• Paul Revere House — adults approximately $6, children approximately $1; open daily 9:30am–5:15pm; the oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston (c. 1680)
• Old North Church — free to enter; tours from approximately $8; open daily 9am–5pm
• Bunker Hill Monument — free; open daily 9am–5pm; 294 steps to the top with views over the harbour

Guided Freedom Trail tours with the Freedom Trail Foundation cost approximately $16 for adults and $10 for children. Tours depart from Boston Common and take approximately 90 minutes, covering roughly half the trail with costumed interpreters. Book at thefreedomtrail.org.

Allow 2–3 hours for a self-guided walk of the full trail; longer if you pay to enter several sites.

Fenway Park

Fenway Park (4 Yawkey Way) is the oldest active Major League Baseball stadium in the country, opened on April 20, 1912. It holds approximately 37,755 fans and is notable for the Green Monster — the 37-foot-tall left-field wall that gives hitters fits and makes left-field doubles impossible.

Tours: Daily behind-the-scenes tours run from approximately 9am to 5pm (3pm on game days). Adults approximately $22, children approximately $15 (as of 2026). Tours cover the press box, dugouts, the Monster, and warning track. Book at mlb.com/redsox.

Games: The Red Sox play from April to October. Bleacher seats start from approximately $25; infield box seats from approximately $60–$80; Green Monster seats from approximately $150+. The park sells out for high-profile series. Buy tickets at mlb.com/redsox or authorised resellers; avoid scalpers on Jersey Street.

The Fenway neighbourhood surrounding the park has a strong cluster of bars and restaurants for pre- and post-game eating and drinking. Game Street Kitchen and Loretta’s Last Call on Lansdowne Street are reliable options before a night game.

Museum of Fine Arts

The MFA (465 Huntington Ave) holds approximately 500,000 objects and is consistently ranked among the top art museums in the United States. The Egyptian collection — including mummies, sarcophagi, and ancient jewellery — is one of the best in the world. Other highlights: the American wing with colonial portraits and decorative arts; a large Impressionist collection including major Monets; and the contemporary wing added in 2010.

Adults approximately $27; free for children under 7; free Wednesday evenings 4–9pm for Massachusetts residents (as of 2026). Open Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, until 9pm on Wednesday and Thursday. Closed Monday. The café and restaurant are open during museum hours; the café is busy at lunch — arrive before noon or after 1:30pm.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Gardner (25 Evans Way) is a category apart from most American museums. Isabella Stewart Gardner, a Boston socialite and collector, built a Venetian-palazzo-style building to house her personal collection of 2,500 works — paintings, sculpture, textiles, furniture, and decorative objects. She stipulated in her will that nothing could be moved after her death. The arrangement hasn’t changed since 1924.

In 1990, thieves disguised as police officers stole 13 works including a Vermeer, three Rembrandts, and five Degas drawings. The empty frames remain on the walls exactly where they were, per the terms of her will. The museum still offers a $10 million reward for information leading to recovery.

Adults approximately $20; free for visitors named Isabella (any spelling). Open Tuesday–Sunday 11am–5pm. The courtyard is one of the most pleasant spots in Boston on a warm afternoon.

Boston Harbour Islands

The Boston Harbour Islands State and National Recreation Area covers 34 islands and peninsulas within the harbour, several accessible by ferry from Long Wharf (near the Aquarium T stop).

Georges Island is home to Fort Warren, a Civil War-era fort open for self-guided exploration. The ferry runs from May through October; adults approximately $30 round trip, children approximately $16 (as of 2026). From Georges Island, free inter-island shuttles serve Grape, Bumpkin, Lovells, and Peddocks islands.

Spectacle Island has a visitor centre, café, beaches (swimming in season), and 5 miles of trails with harbour views. It’s built on a former landfill — the excavated earth from Boston’s Big Dig highway project was used to cap and reshape it.

Plan a ferry trip between mid-May and mid-October. Winter service is extremely limited.

Cambridge: Harvard and MIT

The MBTA Red Line crosses the Charles River to Cambridge in about 10 minutes from downtown. Harvard Square (Alewife direction, Harvard station) is the centre of the Harvard University campus.

Harvard Art Museums (32 Quincy St): three museums under one roof — the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler. Adults approximately $20; free for children under 18 and college students worldwide (as of 2026). Open daily 10am–5pm. The building itself, designed by Renzo Piano and opened in 2014, is worth visiting.

Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford St): adults approximately $15; notable for the Glass Flowers collection — approximately 3,000 botanically accurate glass models made by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka between 1887 and 1936.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is a 15-minute walk from Harvard Square or 10 minutes on the Red Line (Kendall/MIT station). The MIT Museum (314 Main St) reopened in 2022 in a new building; adults approximately $20. The campus architecture is worth walking — the Stata Center by Frank Gehry (2004) is the most photographed building.

Duck Tours

Boston Duck Tours run amphibious WWII-era vehicles on a 80-minute narrated tour covering the Freedom Trail area, Back Bay, and a stretch on the Charles River. Adults approximately $46, children approximately $30 (as of 2026). Departs from multiple locations including the Prudential Center. Popular with families; book well in advance in summer.

Practical Tips

• The Freedom Trail gets crowded on weekend afternoons in July and August; start by 9am to have the sites to yourself.
• Museum of Fine Arts is free on Wednesday evenings — arrival after 4pm avoids the main daytime crowd.
• The harbour ferry to Georges Island is cash-free; pay by card at the Long Wharf ticket booth.
• For game days at Fenway, the Kenmore and Fenway T stops (Green Line B, C, D) are closest and frequently packed post-game; walking back toward Back Bay or Brookline (15–20 minutes) is often faster than waiting for a packed train.