Massachusetts capital, Boston, has a rich history which you can learn by following the famous Freedom Trail. This relaxed friendly city is easily covered on foot. Cross the Charles River to Cambridge and you can walk through the hallowed courtyards of Harvard.
Once you have seen the historic sites, you can discover the modern Boston. Visit the colourful harbourfront area, wander through Quincy market or take a whale watching cruise. Today, Boston is an energetic city of 600,000 (almost 4 million in Greater Boston).
Whether your visit to Boston is for business or a holiday we are sure to have hotels and flights to suit every style and budget.
The big city renowned for its convenient "small city size" and ease of access. Boston is probably best known for its role in Revolutionary history but there is so much more to the city. From museums to top sporting events, fresh seafood to Italian cuisine.
Boston is one of America's oldest cities and is best explored on foot. Enjoy the Freedom Trail, the Public Garden and the many book shops and other stores of Harvard Square. Boston's local public-transit system offers safe and convenient access to all major tourist attractions.
Boston is also a convenient gateway to the beautiful New England countryside, so you can either enjoy a city break or combine a few days in Boston with an independent fly drive holiday touring New England or head for the superb beaches of Cape Cod.
If you are interested in visiting Boston it is highly recommended that you book your flights to boston and your hotels in boston well in advance.
Boston HistoryBetween 1630 and 1890, the city tripled its physical size by land reclamation, specifically by filling in marshes, mud flats, and gaps between wharves along the waterfront, a process Walter Muir Whitehill called "cutting down the hills to fill the coves." The largest reclamation efforts took place during the 1800s. Beginning in 1807, the crown of Beacon Hill was used to fill in a 50-acre (20 ha) mill pond that later became Haymarket Square (just south of today's North Station area). The present-day State House sits atop this shortened Beacon Hill.
Reclamation projects in the middle of the century created significant parts of the South End, West End, Financial District, and Chinatown. After The Great Boston Fire of 1872, workers used building rubble as landfill along the downtown waterfront.
Boston's Back Bay land reclamation project proved dramatic. During the mid-to-late 19th century, workers filled almost 600 acres (2.4 km˛) of brackish Charles River marshlands west of the Boston Common with soil brought by rail from the hills of Needham Heights. Boston also annexed the adjacent communities of East Boston, Dorchester, South Boston, Brighton, Allston, Hyde Park, and Charlestown.
By the early and mid-20th century, the city was in decline as factories became old and obsolete, and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere. Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects, including the demolition of the old West End neighborhood and the construction of Government Center. In the 1970s, Boston boomed after thirty years of economic downturn, becoming a leader in the mutual fund industry. Boston already had a reputation for excellent healthcare services. Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital led the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Boston University attracted many students to the Boston area. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s. The unrest served to highlight racial tensions in the city.
Over the past several decades, Boston has experienced a dramatic loss of regional institutions and traditions, which once gave it a very distinct social character. Boston has begun to resemble other parts of the continuous string of Northeast seaboard cities dubbed the BosWash megalopolis. The city faces gentrification issues and exorbitant living costs. Regardless, throughout the past several decades, Boston has once again become a major hub of intellectual, technological, and political ideas.
Food and Drink When you come to Boston, you come to gorge on lobster! A luxury in the rest of the world, here it's affordable, appearing even in humble sandwiches or pizza. The best way to enjoy it is simply boiled, with melted butter for dipping and some French fries on the side. A huge range of other seafood is at hand. If it's meat you crave, dig into a great American steak or barbecued pork ribs.
Traditional local foods to look for are Boston baked beans (with molasses) and brown bread, clam chowder and Indian pudding (cornmeal and molasses, an acquired taste). Every sort of ethnic fare is represented as well, thanks to Boston's immigrants. Try the North End (a hub of Italian restaurants), Chinatown, up-market Newbury Street, Cambridge's Harvard Square. For a quick pick-up lunch, head to colourful Faneuil Hall Marketplace with its rows of food stalls and restaurants. You'll find that most hotels in boston have their own resturants at varying prices.
NightlifeBoston is a city divided into neighborhoods, and its nightclubs are divided into crowds. Armani-clad international students head out late, after taking over one of the swanky restaurants on Newbury Street for preclubbing martinis.
Baseball cap-sporting students fill up clubs and pubs along Lansdowne Street, while hipsters bar-hop from Cambridge clubs to Allston "Rock City" and Jamaica Plain to catch live bands. Theme nights at clubs change frequently, so call first or check local listings.
Cover charges for local acts and club bands generally run $5-$15; big-name acts can be double that. Dance clubs usually charge a cover of $5-$10. More recently, a "lounge" scene has hit the city and several hybrid bar-restaurant-clubs have opened downtown, providing a mellower, more mature alternative to the student-focused club scene.
Most bars open daily for lunch around 11:30. Because Boston retains some vestiges of its puritanical "blue laws," the only places open after the official 2 AM closing time for bars and clubs are a few restaurants in Chinatown and all-night diners, which won't serve alcohol. Bars may also close up shop early if business is slow or the weather is bad.
Blue laws also prohibit bars from offering happy-hour drink specials, although happy-hour food specials abound. Smokers, beware that Boston and Cambridge's tough anti-cigarette laws ban smoking in all bars and restaurants.
Things to do in BostonFreedom TrailThe red line on the sidewalk leads you on this 2.5-mile, self-guided tour of Revolutionary sites, which starts at the Boston Common, America's oldest public park, and ends up at the famed Bunker Hill Monument.
Boston Duck ToursTour Boston by land and water on amphibious World War II vehicles.
Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumA Venetian palace in the middle of Boston, Gardner's home is now a museum displaying her impressive, eclectic collection of European, American and Asian art, including sculpture, paintings, furniture, ceramics and textiles. Visitors can stroll or rest in a spectacular skylit courtyard filled with plants and flowers.
Faneuil Hall MarketplaceMost major cities have something like it now, but this was one of the first urban historic shopping districts.
Museum of ScienceSpend a couple of hours or the whole day at this hands-on museum that has something exciting for everyone. Touch a lizard, watch chickens hatching, see lightning being created and enjoy hundreds of other exhibits, where you can't help but learn something new about science and technology.
USS Constitution The oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy and undefeated in battle, Old Ironsides earned its famous nickname with its legendary ability to repel any shot fired. Active-duty sailors guide visitors around the ship.
North End This Italian neighborhood, Boston's oldest, is known for its wonderful restaurants and historic sights.
Fenway Park Fenway Park is one of the oldest baseball parks in the United States.
Boston Public GardenThis Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park, famous for its Swan Boats, has over 600 varieties of trees and an ever-changing array of flowers. It is America's first public garden.
Museum of Fine ArtsBoston's oldest, largest and best-known art institution, the MFA houses one of the world's most comprehensive art collections and is renowned for its Impressionist paintings, Asian and Egyptian collections and early American art.
Children's MuseumHighlights of this interactive museum include the "Science Playground," featuring giant soap bubble-making tools and the "New Balance Climb," which teaches kids the laws of physics while navigating through a two-story-high maze.
John F. Kennedy Museum and LibraryRelive the Kennedy era in this dynamic combination museum and library, where your visit starts with a short film and then leaves you on your own to explore a series of fascinating exhibits, including the Kennedy-Nixon debate, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space program, 1960s campaign paraphernalia and displays about Jacqueline and other Kennedy family members. The striking, I.M. Pei-designed building overlooks the water and the Boston skyline.
