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Guides
18 unique things to do in Boston: a local’s guide
A free afternoon in Boston can end with live jazz, a lobster roll or a bag of clothes bought by weight. You can also spend it looking at stolen paintings’ empty frames, climbing above the trees or learning to make your own dinner. These unique things to do in Boston give you choices beyond another lap of the same few streets. Most are in Boston, with a Cambridge shopping stop and an outdoor excursion in Canton clearly marked. Pick a couple near each other and leave time between them. The North End suggestions work together; a museum in the Fenway and a brewery in Hyde Park need more planning. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum arranges paintings, furniture and other objects around an interior courtyard. Its galleries also hold empty frames left after the 1990 theft. Take time to look at the rooms themselves rather than treating the visit as a checklist of paintings. Advance tickets are recommended, and the museum is closed on Tuesdays. Thursday evenings are free, with tickets released two days ahead. Phinista’s Fenway café is at 96 Peterborough Street. Order the Iced Saigonese for phin-dripped coffee topped with salted cream foam, or turn the stop into breakfast with a bánh mì. Its menu also includes pandan and ube drinks. Pair this with a Fenway museum visit or a walk through the neighborhood; Peterborough Street is in the Fenway, not the South End. Wally’s Café Jazz Club has been part of Boston since 1947. The small room at 427 Massachusetts Avenue brings students and experienced musicians onto the same bandstand, with live music every night. Check the club’s schedule for the evening you want, then leave room in the plan to stay and listen. The performance is the reason to come. The Freedom Trail connects the Revolutionary-era sites; the Innovation Trail follows developments in science, medicine and technology across Boston and Cambridge. Its map includes the telephone, anesthesia and instant photography, with museum stops along the way. Both can be walked independently. Choose a section that interests you rather than assuming you need to finish the whole route in one outing. The Garment District in Cambridge has vintage clothing, contemporary secondhand pieces and costumes at 200 Broadway. Its By the Pound department makes shopping more of a rummage: you choose the clothes, then pay by weight. Give yourself time to look through the racks as well. For more shops worth browsing, our unusual shopping guide covers stationery, gifts, books and vintage finds. The Sports Museum’s guided tour takes visitors through exhibits on levels five and six of TD Garden. It covers the city’s teams and wider sporting history, including the Boston Marathon. This is a separate experience from an arena tour, which has more restricted availability. Check the museum’s tour calendar before going; games, concerts and other events can affect access. Bova’s Bakery gives a North End walk an easy destination: bread, Italian pastries and savory food at the corner of Salem and Prince streets. It operates around the clock, so you can make the bakery stop before the rest of the neighborhood wakes up or after dinner. Buy something to take with you, then continue toward the waterfront. A box for later is also a reasonable plan. At Neptune Oyster, the lobster roll comes hot with butter or cold with mayonnaise on a toasted brioche roll. Pick the version you actually want; there is no requirement to conduct a regional loyalty test at lunch. The Salem Street restaurant also serves oysters and other seafood. Check its current seating arrangements before arriving, and keep any plans during a wait close enough to return when called. Charter Street Park is a small North End stop with an ornamental garden and seating. It gives you somewhere to pause between the neighborhood’s busier streets. Chris of Boston Hidden Gems recommended the park in our original guide. Pair the break with a walk toward the Harborwalk, rather than expecting a large park with sports facilities or a playground. TreeTop Adventures is the out-of-town option on this list, in Canton. Its high-ropes courses include bridges, ladders and zip lines, with different difficulty levels. The courses are for ages seven and up, with additional participation rules to check before booking. Use the park’s reservation calendar for operating dates and session options. Allow time for the trip instead of treating it as a quick downtown stop. The Arnold Arboretum has 281 acres of trees, paths and hills in Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. Lilacs are a spring reason to go, but the collections give you something to look at throughout the year. Check the visitor map before choosing an entrance. A short loop near the visitor center and a longer hill walk are different outings, especially with children or limited time. Walk Charles Street for shops and cafés, then look up toward the neighborhood’s brick houses and narrow side streets. Acorn Street may be the photograph you came for, but leave residents’ doorsteps and entrances clear. Finish toward the Public Garden, or follow our historic Boston day out for a plan that includes the Athenaeum, dinner and a drink. Roundhead Brewing in Hyde Park occupies the Powerhouse at Westinghouse Plaza. Beer, pizza, ping-pong and skee-ball make it a place where a group can settle in for more than a tasting. Look at the brewery’s event calendar for music and community gatherings. Its regular opening days are Wednesday through Sunday, so save this outing for later in the week. Selfup’s Boston cooking classes take place at 19 Kingston Street. The schedule includes options such as pasta, sushi and steakhouse meals, and participants eat what they make afterward. Choose by the menu and class date, then check any dietary restrictions before paying. Beer and wine are available to buy, but are not included in the class ticket. At Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, the Vendome Fire Memorial honors the nine Boston firefighters killed in the 1972 disaster. The memorial includes a firefighter’s coat and helmet and an account of the events. Pause to read it when walking the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. This is a place to remember the people who died, and a reminder that the city’s history includes more than its celebrated buildings. The Citizens Opera House hosts touring Broadway productions and Boston Ballet in a restored theater on Washington Street. Choose a performance from the venue’s own calendar, then follow its ticket link to the authorized seller. If the building interests you more than a particular show, historical tours are offered when the production schedule allows. They are not available year-round, so book an announced date. Haunted Boston runs walking tours that combine local history with ghost stories. Its public tour season runs from March through November, with advance purchase required; private tours can be arranged year-round. Treat the supernatural accounts as stories, then enjoy seeing familiar streets after dark. Check the booking details for your date and the meeting instructions before heading out. USS Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard is a commissioned Navy ship, with active-duty sailors aboard. Visiting the ship is free, while the neighboring USS Constitution Museum is a separate stop. Adults need physical photo identification for ship entry, and everyone goes through security. Check the ship’s opening schedule before crossing town, since a walk around the Navy Yard and a visit aboard are not the same thing. For admission discounts and outings that cost nothing, use our free and cheap things to do in Boston guide before buying tickets. Reserve the activity with a fixed start time first, then fit food and a walk around it.
20 Boston restaurants worth making dinner plans for
Choosing a restaurant is easier when you know what kind of evening you want. Sometimes that is a long dinner built around pasta, sometimes it is a lobster roll, and sometimes you want a room that gives you a reason to dress up. These 20 restaurants cover those different moods across Boston and the surrounding cities. The numbers help you work through the list; the right choice depends on what you want to eat, who is coming and how much planning you feel like doing. Sarma’s menu is built for sharing, which makes it a useful choice for people who want to order broadly rather than commit to one main course. Black Sea cornbread with jalapeño, feta, honey and sesame gives you a good idea of the approach, as do lentil nachos with feta queso. Reservations open 30 days ahead at 10 a.m., while the bar and high-top tables take walk-ins. sarmarestaurant.com Darling puts cocktails and Chinese-inspired dim sum together in Central Square. Its current menu includes hot-and-sour pork wontons with house chili crisp, scallop rangoon and a Filet O Fish bao with fried fish, tartar sauce and cheese. Choose it when you want drinks and several things to share, with a menu that leaves plenty to talk about. Darling Mai brings French cooking techniques to a Japanese izakaya in the Seaport. Handrolls are made to order and served individually, while the wider menu includes miso butter cod and duck confit. It is a good option when the table wants Japanese food but not an evening devoted entirely to sushi. boston seaport At 89 Charles, the drinks lead and the food follows. This subterranean Beacon Hill bar serves snacks including green goddess dip with Ruffles, sardines with bread and butter, and a wagyu hot dog with truffle kewpie. Pick it for cocktails and a lighter meal rather than arriving expecting a conventional three-course dinner. Bar & Restaurant in Boston, MA Giulia gives pasta lovers plenty to work with. Its latest menu includes bucatini all’amatriciana, braised-beef pappardelle and squash and brown butter agnolotti, so choosing one may be the difficult part. Tables can be booked two weeks ahead, with reservations released at 10 a.m. The 18-seat bar offers a walk-in alternative. Giulia Restaurant Tonino takes inspiration from the neighborhood trattorias, wine bars and aperitivo spots around Rome. The emphasis is scratch cooking and a small neighborhood setting, which makes it appealing for a dinner you have actually planned. Reservations open 30 days ahead at noon; walk-in space is usually limited to one or two people and is never guaranteed. toninojp.com Holdfast is the choice when you want seafood without booking a long restaurant dinner. This Allston spot combines counter service with lobster rolls, oysters and crudo, giving you room to keep things simple or order a wider spread. It is especially useful for a casual seafood meal away from the waterfront. Experience Fresh Boston Seafood Fallow Kin comes from the Talulla team and chef Marcos Sanchez, with vegetables and relationships with local farmers central to the restaurant’s approach. Choose it when you want the produce to get as much attention as the rest of dinner. Its Cambridge location makes it another option beyond the familiar Italian and steakhouse choices. fallowkin.com The Shawmut Inn serves dinner in its bar, dining room and patio, so there is more than one way to settle into this South End restaurant. It is a useful option when you want a neighborhood dinner and a full bar without making the evening revolve around a tasting menu. Now Open in South End Neighborhood Qiao Lin makes dinner a shared activity. Start by choosing your broth arrangement, with single, half-and-half and triple-flavor pots available, then build your dipping sauce and cook at the table. Its Chongqing-style hotpot is an appealing choice for a group that wants something more involved than ordering individual mains. Best Chinese Restaurant Parla is an Italian kitchen and cocktail bar on Hanover Street, offering a different approach from a straightforward North End red-sauce dinner. Its menu draws on Mediterranean influences, while cocktails are a central part of the restaurant. Choose it when you want to make drinks and food equally important to the plan. parlaboston.com Oleana’s cooking draws on Turkey and the Middle East, with small plates, spices and produce from its farm helping shape the menu. It is a good choice for a table that wants to share and try several dishes. Reservations are available 30 days ahead, and the restaurant also holds space each evening for walk-ins. oleanarestaurant.com Da LaPosta gives you pizza and pasta options in Newtonville, with starters that make it worth sitting down properly. The current menu includes housemade ricotta with orange honey, cacio e pepe supplì and rigatoni carbonara. Build dinner around the pizza if that is what brought you, but leave room to look beyond it. Da LaPosta Field & Vine lets ingredients shape the menu, which changes with availability from its farmers, fishermen and suppliers. Its online sample gives a sense of the cooking through dishes such as cheddar-scallion cornbread with miso butter and tuna tostadas with daikon kimchi. Use it to understand the style rather than to promise yourself a particular dish. field & vine Zuma is a good fit for a bigger night out, with contemporary Japanese food inside the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street. The dining room has views of three open kitchens, including sushi and robata counters, and signature dishes include saikyo-miso black cod and a mushroom rice hot pot. Consider the robata counter if watching the cooking appeals. Zuma restaurants Asta serves a multi-course tasting menu in Back Bay, making it a choice for people who want the kitchen to guide dinner. It is worth considering when the meal itself is the evening’s main plan. Discuss dietary requirements when booking rather than assuming a tasting menu can be changed once you arrive. resy.com Thistle & Leek takes inspiration from London’s modern gastropubs, with seasonal small plates, an Old World wine list and straightforward cocktails. Choose this Newton Centre restaurant when you want an interesting shared dinner in a neighborhood setting. There is also weekday lunch, which gives you another way to try it without arranging a full evening. thistleandleek.com La Padrona brings Italian cooking from chefs Jody Adams and Amarilys Còlon to Back Bay. It suits the kind of dinner where you want to make a reservation, give yourself time and turn the meal into an occasion. Browse the current menus before booking so you can decide how extensively you want to order. 38 Trinity Place, Boston, MA, USA All’Antico Vinaio is here for the days when a substantial sandwich is the right answer. The Boylston Street menu includes La Paradiso, with mortadella, stracciatella and pistachio, and La Favolosa, with salame toscana, pecorino cream, artichoke cream and spicy eggplant. This is a lunch choice worth making deliberately. Italian Sandwich Shop Bogie’s Place sits behind a curtain inside Jm Curley, with white tablecloths, leather seating, steaks and classic cocktails. That change of setting is part of the appeal: you enter a busy downtown bar and continue into a more intimate steakhouse. Choose it when you want a steak dinner with a little more character to the arrival. Bogie’s Place in Boston, MA If everyone wants something different, start with a shared-plate restaurant such as Sarma or Oleana. If the occasion calls for a longer meal, look at Asta or La Padrona. For a more casual plan, Holdfast and All’Antico Vinaio give you plenty to look forward to without building the whole night around a reservation.
Get to know Boston
Fenway Park is the oldest active MLB ballpark
Fenway Park has been the Red Sox’s home since 1912. It remains the oldest active ballpark in Major League Baseball, ahead of Chicago’s Wrigley Field, which opened in 1914. The age shows in the brickwork, the narrow seats and the steel column that can insert itself into your view of the pitcher. It also shows in how the park fits into Boston. Streets run tight against its walls. Apartments, restaurants and bars surround it. On game days, the crowd starts well outside the gates, spilling through Kenmore Square and along Lansdowne Street. You are visiting a ballpark built for another era. Fenway makes very little effort to hide that. Fenway Park’s first game went into extra innings The first regular-season game took place on April 20, 1912. Boston beat the New York Highlanders, the team now called the Yankees, 7–6 in 11 innings. Tris Speaker drove in the winning run. The crowd presented its own complications. According to SABR’s account of opening day, spectators stood behind ropes in the outfield, and balls hit into that overflow crowd counted as doubles. Fenway was finding unusual ways to affect a baseball game from the start. The opening came five days after the Titanic sank, with coverage of the disaster overshadowing the ballpark’s debut. Boston’s season ended on a happier note: 105 regular-season wins and a World Series victory over the New York Giants. The Red Sox had moved from the Huntington Avenue Grounds, their home since 1901. The new park took its name from the Fenway neighborhood. The Green Monster wasn’t always green The left-field wall stands roughly 37 feet high, with the foul line marked at 310 feet from home plate. Its height can turn a potential home run into a ball rattling back toward an outfielder. Its proximity can reward a fly ball that would stay in the park elsewhere. The wall was once covered in advertising. It received its green paint in 1947, the same year Fenway introduced night baseball. Seats arrived on top in 2003. Below them, the manually operated scoreboard remains part of the game. Someone still has to change those numbers. The rest of the outfield refuses to settle into a predictable shape. Right field reaches just 302 feet at Pesky’s Pole, named for longtime Red Sox player and coach Johnny Pesky. The deepest center-field corner stretches to 420 feet. A ball’s destination matters as much as how hard it was hit. Boston nearly replaced it Fenway’s survival was a choice. In 1999, Red Sox management announced plans for a replacement ballpark across the street. Preservation advocates organized, and financing the proposal proved difficult. The ownership group that bought the team in 2002 chose renovation. As SABR’s ballpark history documents, a structural study found the existing park viable, and substantial investment followed. Fenway had already undergone a major rebuild in 1934. The surviving wooden grandstand seats date to that renovation, rather than opening day. Later improvements expanded concourses and added seating without erasing the park’s recognizable shape. The result is a working stadium with more than a century of alterations. Some brought better facilities. None made every seat comfortable. More than a baseball field Fenway has accommodated football, soccer, hockey, concerts and political speeches. The Boston Patriots played home games here from 1963 through 1968, decades before their Foxborough years became the default association. Baseball supplies the moments most fans remember, including Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. Fenway also hosted the first two games of the 2004 World Series, when Boston finally ended its 86-year championship drought. The clinching win happened in St. Louis. Going to a game or taking a tour For the full experience, go when the Red Sox are playing. Arrive with time to walk around the neighborhood rather than heading straight from the train to your seat. Official tours offer another way inside, with access subject to availability. Check the particular tour before booking. The address is 4 Jersey Street. The MBTA’s Fenway directions identify Kenmore on the Green Line’s B, C and D branches as a nearby stop. Fenway station on the D branch is also within walking distance. Commuter rail passengers can use Lansdowne on the Worcester Line. Before buying game tickets, check the view from the actual section, row and seat. Grandstand support columns are part of the architecture, but you don’t have to spend nine innings admiring one.
Why North Station and South Station have no direct train
Take the Downeaster into Boston and you get off at North Station. Take Amtrak toward New York and you leave from South Station or Back Bay. Getting between North Station and South Station is your problem. Boston made changing trains mean leaving the railway. The names sound like two stops on one line. They are separate terminals for separate networks. A train from Maine does not keep going through downtown toward Rhode Island. The split is older than the Big Dig and older than Amtrak. Nineteenth-century railroads came into Boston from different directions and built their own depots. The two big stations gathered those companies under two roofs. They never joined the northern and southern tracks. North Station, Boston Before North Station and South Station On the north side, several railroads crossed the Charles and piled up around Causeway Street. The Boston & Maine kept its own depot a few blocks south at Haymarket Square. Amtrak’s history of North Station says the Boston & Maine financed the original union station, which opened in 1893. It replaced a cluster of northern terminals. It did not create a through route across the city. That is the distinction that still matters. One roof made it easier to change among trains from the north. It did not connect those tracks to the railroads arriving from the south and west. The geography is blunt. Northern tracks ended at the edge of downtown, on the Charles. The station sat at the end of those tracks. A passenger who needed to keep going had to get off. South Station, Boston South Station solved a different problem South Station opened on New Year’s Day 1899, according to Amtrak’s station history. Five railroad companies formed the Boston Terminal Company and replaced a set of southern and western depots with one arrival hall. Planners even built a two-track loop under the main concourse for electric commuter service that never ran. Amtrak’s account describes a steam-train trial that filled the underground rooms with smoke. The unused level later became a bowling alley. It is now office and storage space. Boston could reuse a failed rail basement. Connecting its two principal terminals was the harder job. South Station was never designed as the south end of one downtown station. Like North Station, it was a collection point. The gap survived both projects. People have been drawing a tunnel for a century The idea of joining the terminals is much older than the Big Dig. The North South Rail Link campaign’s collection of early plans includes a 1914 proposal for an underground connection with a new boulevard on top. Those drawings show how long the problem has been obvious. They are not evidence that the tunnel exists. A map from 1914 and a train you can board are different things, especially with a suitcase. Passengers could once ride between the terminals on the Atlantic Avenue Elevated. That moved people along the waterfront. It did not let a mainline train run through Boston. Transferring riders and joining the tracks are two different fixes. What the tickets actually say Amtrak’s North Station page is plain: only the Downeaster uses North Station. Boston’s other Amtrak trains use South Station and Back Bay. Amtrak does not provide connecting transportation between North Station and South Station. The two are about a mile apart. Read the station name on both reservations before you treat them as a connection. Leave time to exit one building, cross downtown, and find the next train. Weather, luggage, and mobility all change how sensible a walk is. The subway does not solve it with one ride. North Station is on the Green and Orange Lines. South Station is on the Red Line. You can transfer. You cannot stay on the same train. A booking that says Boston has not settled this. North Station and South Station are in the same city. Your ticket does not fill the space between them.