5 Days in Boston

Boston Common is the oldest city park in the United States, 50 acres bordered by Tremont, Park, Beacon and Charles streets. The town set it aside in the 1630s as common land, and for two centuries people grazed cows here, hanged criminals and drilled militias. British troops camped on it before the Revolution and marched out from its edge on the night of April 18, 1775. It is the first of the 16 official stops on the Freedom Trail.

Today it's a lawn with big trees, which in late October means a lot of yellow. Walk up the hill on the central path, look into the Central Burying Ground on the Boylston Street side if you like old stones (the painter Gilbert Stuart is buried there), and head for the gold dome of the State House.

The Massachusetts State House was designed by Charles Bulfinch and finished in January 1798, at more than five times its budget. It is still where the legislature and the governor work, which makes it one of the oldest state capitols in current use. The dome began as wooden shingles and was later covered in copper and then gold leaf, which is why it shines on a gray day and dominates the whole of Beacon Hill.

Free tours of about 45 minutes run on weekdays, through Doric Hall and the chambers. Take one if you like politics and old interiors. If not, the outside is the point, and the photo from the Common is better than anything inside.

Behind the State House, Beacon Hill is where the old Boston families (the Brahmins) lived in Federal-style brick row houses, on streets with brick sidewalks and gas lamps. Acorn Street is the cobblestone lane every guidebook photographs, and you may need to wait a minute for a shot without a tour group in it. Louisburg Square, a few blocks away, is the quiet, expensive heart of the hill.

Walk down to Charles Street, the neighborhood's main road, for antique shops and coffee. The bar at 84 Beacon Street was the model for the TV show Cheers and trades on it, so go for the photo, not the food. Most houses are private: stay off the stoops.

Back on the Freedom Trail, Park Street Church stands at the corner of Tremont, and behind it is the Granary Burying Ground, founded in 1660. About 2,345 markers survive, though historians think up to 5,000 people are buried here. The famous ones are Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine (three signers of the Declaration of Independence) and the five victims of the Boston Massacre. Revere's grave is easy to find: it has a small crowd and pennies on top.

A short walk down Tremont Street is King's Chapel, built of granite and finished in 1754. It began as an Anglican church for the king's officials and is now Unitarian, which says something about what the Revolution did to religion. Look at the chapel and its burying ground, and go in only if you like quiet interiors.

The Old State House was finished in 1713 and is the oldest surviving public building in the city. Once it was the tallest, at 65 feet; now it's dwarfed by the office towers around it. In front, a ring of cobblestones marks the Boston Massacre Site, where British soldiers killed five colonists on March 5, 1770. The building was the seat of the royal government, and the crowd that gathered below its windows that night is the reason the event became a rallying cry.

A few blocks down Washington Street is the Old South Meeting House, where thousands met on December 16, 1773, before going to the harbor to throw tea overboard. Revolutionary Spaces runs both with a joint ticket. If you only have time for one, take the Old State House.

Faneuil Hall opened in 1742 as a marketplace with a meeting room above, designed by the painter John Smibert. Colonists argued here about taxes and rights, and it became known as the Cradle of Liberty. The National Park Service runs a small visitor center on the ground floor with free maps and ranger talks. Under the golden grasshopper weathervane, the building looks smaller than the crowds suggest.

Behind it, the long granite hall of Quincy Market is a food court with a lot of fried everything and clam chowder in bread bowls. It's the most touristy place in the city, and it knows it. Walk through, then eat properly at the next stop.

Two minutes from Faneuil Hall, the Union Oyster House has been serving diners since 1826, which makes it the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the country. The dark wood, low ceilings and booths are what you'd hope for. It's a tourist stop, no argument, but it is also a place where oysters on the half shell are shucked at the front bar by people who have done it for years.

Order oysters, a cup of New England clam chowder and maybe a lobster roll. Reservations are smart on weekends. Prices reflect the location, so treat it as one big meal, not a daily habit.

The Paul Revere House on North Square was built no later than 1680, and Revere owned it from 1770 to 1800. It's a small wooden house with an overhanging second floor, the oldest-looking building on the Freedom Trail. Its first owner was Robert Howard, a wealthy merchant who traded in enslaved people. Revere lived here with a large family while working as a silversmith, and he set out from here on the night of April 18, 1775.

You'll be through in 30-45 minutes. Here's the myth to drop: he didn't shout that the British were coming. He rode quietly from town to town, and a British patrol stopped him before he reached Concord.

Walk up Hanover Street, with the smell of coffee and garlic around you, to Old North Church. The church was built in 1723 and is the oldest standing church in Boston. On April 18, 1775, a sexton climbed the steeple and hung two lanterns, the signal that British troops were leaving by water, not by land. That's the origin of the line one if by land, two if by sea.

The Discovery Pass gets you into the white box pews, the crypt and an audio guide. A 25-minute bell chamber tour (15 USD / 13 EUR in total) involves two steep staircases and is the better ticket if you can climb. The church is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and on Sundays from 12:30pm, because services take the morning.

A block uphill from the church, Copp's Hill Burying Ground is the second-oldest cemetery in the city, started in 1659 as the North Burying Ground. It sits on a ridge with a view across the Charles River mouth to Charlestown, where the Constitution is moored. Much of the North End's early population is buried here, and you'll find slate stones with winged skulls, a style from the 1700s.

It's quiet and rarely crowded, a good pause before lunch, and in October, with leaves dropping onto the old slate, it's nicer than the Granary.

Neptune Oyster, on Salem Street, is a very small seafood bar with a long oyster list and the lobster roll that people queue for. It's sold as a Maine lobster roll and comes hot with butter or cold with mayonnaise, so pick your camp. It's the best-known lobster roll in the North End and a good oyster stop. It takes no reservations, walk-ins only, so the line forms before the doors open at 11am.

Arrive when it opens, or after 2pm, and be willing to sit at the bar. If the line is two hours, skip it: James Hook & Co. on the waterfront sells lobster rolls over a counter, and Row 34 in Fort Point is a good oyster bar. Save room for cannoli: Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry face each other on Hanover Street.

Cross the Charlestown Bridge, or take the ferry from Long Wharf, to the Navy Yard. USS Constitution, nicknamed Old Ironsides, was launched in 1797 and is the oldest naval vessel still afloat. She is still a commissioned US Navy ship, built in the North End, and sailors in period uniform lead the free tours on deck.

The Navy's page lists Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, and says days and hours can change, so check it the morning you go. Adults need a physical photo ID or a passport to board. The USS Constitution Museum across the dock is good for kids and goes deeper into life on board.

The last stop on the Freedom Trail is a 221-foot granite obelisk, finished in 1843. The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, and the Americans lost the ground. The battle carries the name of Bunker Hill, but most of the fighting happened on neighboring Breed's Hill, where the monument stands today.

You can climb 294 steps up a narrow spiral staircase, free, with 25 people allowed in at a time. There's no elevator, and the view covers the harbor and the whole city. The Bunker Hill Museum across the square is free, has an elevator and is open Wednesday to Sunday; the climb has run on the same days, so check the National Park Service page.

Finish at Long Wharf, which sticks out into the harbor, with the Rose Kennedy Greenway at its landward end. Boston was a port before it was anything else, and the harbor is where the Tea Party and the trade made the town rich. Walk to the end of the wharf for the view of the harbor, the airport planes lifting off across the water and the lights of the East Boston shore.

For dinner, walk back through the North End, where red-sauce restaurants line Hanover Street. Sunset comes early in fall: about 5:45pm in late October and about 4:30pm after the clocks go back.

Fenway Park opened in 1912 and is the oldest active ballpark in Major League Baseball. It's tight, crooked and squeezed into the streets, so its quirks are the attraction: the Green Monster, the 37-foot-2-inch left-field wall, and Pesky's Pole, the short right-field foul pole. The Red Sox have played here since the start.

The public tour lasts 60 minutes and goes up on top of the Green Monster. Tours run daily on the hour: 9am to 5pm from April 1 to October 31 and 10am to 5pm in the off-season, from November 1 to March 31. The season runs from spring into early fall, so late-October visitors won't see a game, but you can still tour the park.

The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1870 in Copley Square and moved to this Fenway site in 1909. It has more than 500,000 works, which is far more than a morning can handle. Pick your wings: the Art of the Americas, the Egyptian and ancient collection and the Japanese galleries are the usual favorites, and it also has a strong run of French Impressionism.

Don't try for everything: one wing and one special exhibition is plenty. The museum stays open until 10pm on Thursdays and Fridays, and the last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

A 10-minute walk from the MFA, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opened in 1903 and looks like a Venetian palace around a glass-roofed courtyard full of flowers. Gardner arranged every object herself, and her will required the layout to stay as she left it. That's why the galleries have no wall labels: information comes from QR codes and audio guides.

In 1990, thieves took 13 works worth an estimated 500 million USD. The case is unsolved, and the empty frames still hang where the paintings were. It suits people who like atmosphere more than a checklist. Anyone named Isabella enters free for life, with a reservation.

The Boston Public Library was founded in 1848 and holds about 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the country behind the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. The Central Library's McKim building faces Copley Square and is a palace for books: marble stairs, murals and the long, green-lamped Bates Hall reading room.

Walking in is free. The inner courtyard, with its arcade and fountain, is a quiet spot for a coffee. Volunteer-led art and architecture tours are free, but their times have changed over the years, so check the library's tour page.

Across Copley Square, Trinity Church by Henry Hobson Richardson gave a name to a whole American style, Richardsonian Romanesque, and the glass Hancock tower reflects it in a famous photo. Tours cost 10 USD (9 EUR) and run Tuesday to Saturday, and the outside is enough if you're tired.

Newbury Street runs from the Public Garden to Brookline Avenue and is Boston's boutique strip: brownstones turned into shops, cafés and restaurants. The best stretch is near the Garden, good for window-shopping and an unhurried dinner.

Don't expect a bargain. Eat on a side street for lower prices, or take a coffee and walk: the red brick and the fall light are free.

Finish at the Public Garden, the first public botanical garden in America, opposite the Common. There's a small pond with a bridge, rows of old trees, and a line of bronze ducklings honoring the children's book Make Way for Ducklings. The swan boats run only in warm months, so in late fall you'll see an empty pond.

This is the best spot in town for fall color, which usually peaks from late October into early November. Come at golden hour and end a heavy day under the trees.

Harvard University was founded in 1636 and is the oldest university in the country. Harvard Yard is its historic heart, a 22-acre lawn with brick halls, old elms, Widener Library and 27 gates. The campus is open to visitors, and student-led tours, free or paid, run most days; check Harvard's visitor page.

The statue of John Harvard in front of University Hall is by Daniel Chester French. Its plaque says John Harvard, Founder, 1638, and that is wrong twice: he was the college's first benefactor, not its founder, and the college dates to 1636. No portrait of him exists, so the sculptor reportedly used a student as the model. Tourists rub its foot for luck.

The Harvard Art Museums bring three collections under one roof: the Fogg (founded 1895), the Busch-Reisinger (1903) and the Sackler (1985). The building around a glass-roofed courtyard was redone by Renzo Piano, the same architect who did the new wing at the Gardner. Admission has been free for everyone since June 2023.

They're open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, and closed on Mondays and major holidays. It's calmer and smaller than the MFA, and hard to beat for the price.

Harvard Square is full of cafés and sandwich counters, but if you want a proper hamburger, Mr. Bartley's has been grilling them near the Yard for decades. The menu has a long list of burgers named after politicians and celebrities, thick onion rings and milkshakes. It's cramped, loud and often has a line at noon, and on Sundays it closes at 4pm.

Order a burger and a shake, and leave a tip, as at any sit-down place. If the line is too long, the counters around the Square fill with students at lunchtime too.

Take the Red Line two stops to Kendall/MIT. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology moved from Boston's Back Bay to this riverside campus in 1916, and its domed main building faces Killian Court, a big lawn by the river. Then cross campus to the Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry, a jumble of tilted towers and curving metal.

MIT is an open campus, and a self-guided walk and a coffee is all it takes.

The MIT Museum at 314 Main Street in Kendall Square, founded in 1971, has collections of holography, robotics, artificial intelligence and architecture. Its holography collection, about 1,800 pieces, is the largest in the world, though only a few are on view at a time. It's a museum for people who like touching things and watching them move.

It's open daily, 10am to 5pm, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. Go if you have 90 minutes and the interest; skip it if the campus walk was enough.

Walk from MIT along the river to the Longfellow Bridge, a stone bridge with towers that locals call the Salt and Pepper Bridge. The Boston bank is the Charles River Esplanade, a long strip of lawns and paths, with the Back Bay skyline across the water.

This is the best place for golden hour. The sun sets around 5:45pm in late October and near 4:30pm after the clocks go back, so walk earlier. The Red Line from Charles/MGH takes you back.

Start with the real story. The Salem witch trials ran from February 1692 to May 1693, when more than 200 people were accused. Thirty were found guilty and 19 were hanged, 14 women and five men. Another man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death with stones for refusing to plead. Nobody was burned, and the trials were not only in Salem Town: the accusations began in Salem Village, today's Danvers.

The memorial, dedicated in 1992, is 20 granite benches, one for each victim, set in a low stone wall next to the Old Burying Point. Each bench carries a name and the date and means of death. People leave flowers and coins. It's the most honest place in town.

The Peabody Essex Museum grew out of the East India Marine Society, founded in 1799 by Salem sea captains who brought home objects from Asia and the Pacific. Today it holds more than 840,000 works, one of the major Asian art collections in the United States, and 22 historic buildings. It was Salem's trade with Asia, not witches, that made the town rich.

It's the best thing in Salem and rarely feels like the October circus outside. Open Monday and Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Start with the Asian galleries and the maritime art.

The Salem Witch Museum, opened in 1972, faces Salem Common in a stone building that looks like a gothic church. It's a sound-and-light show: a dark room with lit stage sets and a recorded narrator tells the story of 1692, followed by a second exhibit on the history of witchcraft.

It is dramatic and a bit dated, and the real history is better told at the memorial and the PEM. But it's what kids and Halloween crowds line up for. It's open 10am to 5pm, with shows through the day. Skip it if you only want facts; do it once if you want the Salem experience.

Walk down to the waterfront at Pickering Wharf, where Salem's boats and fishing harbor still sit beside a marina. A bowl of New England clam chowder, fried clams or a lobster roll at a harbor restaurant is the right lunch here. Salem is a seafood port first, and the town is full of places selling fish, so choose the one with a window onto the water.

Skip the places with a witch on the sign and a themed cocktail menu: fine for a photo, but the food is for tourists. In October, book ahead.

The House of the Seven Gables is a 1668 colonial mansion by the harbor, built for the sea captain John Turner. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a Salem writer, made it famous with his 1851 novel of the same name. The guided tour goes through dark rooms and a secret staircase.

It's open daily, 10am to 6pm, with a Mansion Tour around 25 USD and a Grounds Pass around 12 USD; October prices and Halloween events differ, so check the site. Afterward, walk to Derby Wharf, a long granite pier in Salem Maritime National Historical Park, free and open 24 hours. The Custom House, where Hawthorne worked, is open Wednesday to Sunday only, so on a Monday you'll see it from outside. Then take the train back to Boston.