The Best of Boston: Things to Do in Boston for Any Traveler

Whether you're a family traveling with children, a fashion maven, a gourmand, or a fan of sports, music, history, the arts, the outdoors, or any combination, there's something in Boston for you.Start planning your trip by taking a look at some of the best things to do in Boston, from dining at award-winning restaurants, to taking delightful day trips to visit must-see historic sites and cutting-edge museums. It's just what you need when you want to experience the very best of this city.

You don't have to travel to Italy to ride in an authentic Venetian gondola while being serenaded by a classically trained musician. Boston Gondolas offers Venetian-style gondola tours that cruise at a leisurely pace along the Esplanade on the Charles River. The experience includes votive candles, chocolate, cheese and crackers, and fresh strawberries to nibble on.

This striking cable-stayed bridge — one of the world's largest — was built over the Charles River as part of Boston's Big Dig, the nation's biggest highway construction project. In addition to its modern, eye-catching, wishbone-shaped arches, it features the public arts project Five Beacons for the Lost Half Mile underneath the bridge on the north side of the Charles River. Created by Ross Miller, the work comprises a series of glowing stainless steel sculptures with changing colors.

This striking cable-stayed bridge — one of the world's largest — was built over the Charles River as part of Boston's Big Dig, the nation's biggest highway construction project. In addition to its modern, eye-catching, wishbone-shaped arches, it features the public arts project Five Beacons for the Lost Half Mile underneath the bridge on the north side of the Charles River. Created by Ross Miller, the work comprises a series of glowing stainless steel sculptures with changing colors.

Thousands turn out for this popular three-day music festival held in May at Harvard Athletic Complex. Most of the major acts take the stage after 5 p.m. for some awesome evening entertainment. Previous performers have included Tegan and Sara, Solange, Haim, Mumford and Sons, Sia, Kendrick Lamar, and Chance the Rapper. Art installations, food trucks, and vendors serve everything from lobster rolls and barbecue to non-dairy ice cream. Stand-up comics complete the experience. Tickets range from general admission to VIP and Platinum levels.

Boston's rich cultural legacy has led to a wealth of spectacular theaters offering a wide range of entertainment, from opera and experimental theater to Broadway shows. The city's renowned performing arts venues include Cutler Majestic Theater at Emerson College, Charles Playhouse, Wilbur Theatre, Wang Theatre, Paramount, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Huntington Avenue Theatre, Orpheum Theatre, Boch Center, Lyric Stage Company, and Boston Opera House.

Visit the Skywalk Observatory

From 700 feet above the ground, Boston's Skywalk Observatory at Prudential Center offers mesmerizing 360-degree nighttime views of the city. You can also see two short films in the observatory's multimedia theater and explore the Dreams of Freedom museum, which celebrates the contributions of Boston's immigrant communities.

Elegantly housed in the former Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, BOND's 25-foot ceilings with crystal chandeliers and walls decorated with money-themed contemporary art set the stage for an evening that feels both classic and modern Boston. The atmosphere inside the Langham Hotel is lively, and the menu entices with local, seasonal cuisine, such as duck Bolognese with cavatelli and foie gras and Bay of Fundy salmon with lentils and fennel confit.

Along with spectacular nighttime views of the water, Meritage at Boston Harbor Hotel features an outstanding menu of modern American cuisine. Creative dishes include truffle tagliatelle, surf scallop ceviche, and strawberry shortcake with honey-buttermilk, green strawberries, and vanilla sponge. If you're feeling decadent and want to try a little of everything to dazzle your palate, order the nine-course tasting menu. Boston Harbor Hotel also hosts an outdoor film series of classic movies on Friday nights during the summer.

On a crisp fall day in Boston, there's nothing better than a jaunt to Nantasket Beach in the peninsula town of Hull. Take the commuter boat there, watch the surfers braving the waves in their wetsuits, and enjoy some classic New England seafood like fried clams and fresh lobster at Jake's.

Built in 1928, Hull's historic Paragon Carousel features colorfully painted, hand-carved horses, and ornate details such as goddesses, cherubs, and paintings. A Wurlitzer band organ plays while the carousel — one of the few remaining grand carousels in the country — makes its rotations and delights happy riders.

A 43-mile-long park and 12-foot-wide pathway that follows Boston Harbor's shoreline almost continuously, HarborWalk stretches from Lower Dorchester's Neponset River to East Boston's Constitution Beach. The impressive trek links Boston's waterfront neighborhoods, including seven beaches, more than 40 parks, a dozen museums, and hundreds of shops and eateries.

More than 10,000 rowers hit the Charles River every year for the Head of the Charles Regatta, a two-day competition that first started in 1965. The regatta is usually held in late October and draws tens of thousands of spectators. The best places to watch the race along its three-mile course (for free) include the Weeks Footbridge and Eliot Bridge.

Visit the Esplanade for City Leaf-Peeping

There's no need to make a trip to the mountains or country to enjoy some leaf-peeping. Boston's tree-filled Charles River Esplanade shows off its gorgeous colors during the fall. You can take in the leaves while lounging on one of the floating docks or rent a bike to ride along the 18-mile loop. Music aficionados may want to pay homage at the Esplanade's sculpture of the head of famed Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler.

Beacon Hill's Charles Street is the destination for boutiques with the latest fashions and accessories — and clever names like December Thieves, Urban Zen, and French + Italian. Another purveyor of exquisite goods is Beacon Hill Chocolates, which sells choice chocolates from around the world as well as gelato and sorbetto. Home décor and furnishing shops range from Period Furniture Hardware, which stocks hardware for antiques, to Danish Country Antiques, which sells Danish furniture and Danish Modern pieces.

Boston's historic — and often ornate — entrances to public and private buildings reveal a lot about the city's storied past. You can see many of them as you walk past the historic townhouses on Beacon Hill as well as on commercial buildings like Back Bay's Salada Tea Building.

Through sculpted reliefs, the bronze panels of the 12-foot-high Salada doors tell the story of the Ceylonese tea industry, depicting fascinating scenes in great detail. Beacon Hill's entrances include fascinating features like brass knockers and foot scrapers with intricate designs, carved lintels overhead, and doors painted dark blue and deep red.

Walk the Freedom and Heritage Trails

Boston's Freedom Trail includes 16 of the American Revolution's most important sites along a 2.5-mile-long path. The prominent sites include meeting houses, parks, churches, the Paul Revere House, Faneuil Hall, the USS Constitution, and the location of the Boston Massacre. You can start at any point on the trail and take walking tours.

Boston's layered history means that the Freedom Trail is just one of several trails navigating the sites of key events that shaped the city and the nation. Additional trail choices include the Black Heritage Trail, which comprises 14 sites and begins at Beacon Street's Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, and the Women's Heritage Trail, which traces four centuries of women's history in Boston. Five different walks spotlight female artists, entrepreneurs, abolitionists, doctors, military service members, activists, and more.

If you love art and a good mystery, a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — built in 1901 — is a must. Although the theft of 13 works of art worth more than $500 million delivered a hit to the museum in 1990, it remains one of Boston's cultural gems.

Isabella Stewart Gardner was the wealthy Bostonian, world traveler, and art collector responsible for the museum and its global spectrum of architectural features, exquisitely decorated rooms, lush courtyard, and spectacular artwork collection. The more than 15,000 pieces on display include paintings and drawings by classic artists like Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, Boticelli, Matisse, and Michelangelo as well as Gardner's contemporaries John Singer Sargent and James McNeil Whistler. The museum also features live music and dance performances.

Amateur sleuths take note: Adding to the intrigue, the 1990 theft remains unsolved, and the museum continues to offer a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the artwork.

Housed within a striking modern building overlooking Boston and the bay, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum chronicles the life of the 35th President of the United States. Permanent exhibits include ceremonial gifts from heads of state, such as a gold purse inset with emeralds and rubies that King Hassan of Morocco gave First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Other permanent exhibits display furnishings from Kennedy's Oval Office and spotlight the 1960 presidential election, First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Kennedy's inauguration, his brother Robert's role as Attorney General, and his efforts to get a man on the moon in the 1960s.Amateur sleuths take note: Adding to the intrigue, the 1990 theft remains unsolved, and the museum continues to offer a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the artwork.

Within Boston's neoclassical Mary Baker Eddy Library, the Mapparium is a three-story, stained-glass globe that visitors can walk through to view a 3-D map of the world as it looked in 1935. The Mapparium opened to the public that year and was designed with panels that could be replaced as countries' borders changed. Although the map has never actually been updated — in order to preserve its historical significance — a 21st century renovation added LED lights, music, and words to the experience.

Experience the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum

Kids love it when they can make a mess with permission. The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum lets them throw bags of tea overboard and get excited about history and taxation without representation through hands-on exhibits. Re-enactments, two restored tea ships, and holographic displays help bring the history of the Boston Tea Party to life. The museum showcases authentic artifacts, including an original surviving tea chest from the protest in 1773.

It's only natural that a harbor city in tune with all things marine would be home to an aquarium as impressive as this one. You can see thousands of aquatic animals, including sea lions, seals, a giant Pacific octopus, and a 500-pound sea turtle at the New England Aquarium, which is dedicated to marine conservation and ocean exploration.

The aquarium's IMAX theater gives you a view of the ocean through the eyes of marine life, such as great white sharks. Its animal encounter programs offer immersive experiences, such as feeding the animals from the top of the ocean tank and petting the seals. The New England Aquarium Whale Watch takes you by boat to Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary for exciting glimpses of marine life, including dolphins and a variety of large whales.

As the world's second oldest children's museum, the Boston Children's Museum has amassed a collection of more than 50,000 items over the past century, ranging from natural history pieces to dolls and dollhouses. The museum's life-size animatronic dinosaur, fossil evidence, and a bone puzzle teach about dinosaur behavior and anatomy, and the entire family can engage in hands-on activities like making the animatronic dinosaur move, touching and measuring a fossil footprint, and more.

In the museum's art studio, you can create art together. The authentic 100-year-old Japanese house teaches about Japanese culture and architecture.

Visit the Boston Fire Museum

A two-minute walk from the Boston Children's Museum, the Boston Fire Museum showcases a treasure trove of historic firefighting artifacts and equipment. The fascinating exhibits include fire buckets from the 1700s, glass fire grenades, a pumper built by Paul Revere that was used until 1808, and a 19th-century, hand-drawn truck used to take ladders to fires.

This museum's highlights include a 23-foot-long, 65-million-year-old Triceratops fossil discovered in the Midwest in 2004. Charles Hayden Planetarium — a digital theater — features awe-inspiring space shows, and the 4-D theater shows films with special effects like snow and wind.

Hands-on exhibits teach about science, math, making models, and outer space. At the live animal care center, children can watch from the viewing area as keepers take care of the animals.

This Cambridge museum is home to a variety of rare mounted wildlife specimens from all over the world, including an Indian rhinoceros, a giant armadillo, and a hippopotamus. The main attraction — especially for kids — is possibly the 42-foot-long fossil of the prehistoric Kronosaurus marine reptile.

The museum's collections of glass flowers and sea creatures include models in precise detail that Harvard University commissioned from artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. The museum also regularly features esoteric exhibits, such as one examining rotten apples.

The adjacent Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is one of the world's oldest anthropology museums. Its incredible collections include Native American artifacts from the Lewis and Clark expedition, Native American totem poles, Mesoamerican sculptures and artifacts, and ancient textiles from Peru. Admission to one museum also includes admission to the other.

Boston Harbor is peppered with islands and beaches that make great day trip escapes from the city. If you're a military history buff, explore Fort Independence at Castle Island. The island's current fortification was built during the mid-19th century, but the site was previously used as a fort by both British and American forces.

Pleasure Bay offers biking, swimming, fishing, running, a boardwalk, and a scenic overlook. On Spectacle Island, you can collect multi-colored sea glass that washes up on the shore, its edges smoothed by the waves and sand. The island is also popular with boaters, swimmers, and hikers. George's Island — supposedly haunted by a ghost known as the Lady in Black — is home to Fort Warren as well as a museum about the historic fort.

Visit the Museum of African American History

Spotlighting the contributions of African Americans in New England from colonial times through the 19th century, Boston's Museum of African American History includes two historic structures. The museum's African Meeting House has served as a school, a church, and a community meeting place, and Abiel Smith School was the oldest public school created to educate black children. Both buildings were constructed in the 1800s on Beacon Hill. The school includes galleries with exhibits and a museum store. The museum is the last stop on the Black Heritage Trail.

This park, once part of the countryside where Boston's moneyed residents built summer homes, now offers the public opportunities to enjoy such activities and attractions as theater, concerts, fishing, rowing, sailing, biking, and running. Natural springs feed the pond, which is Boston's biggest and purest body of water. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park with a light touch to avoid spoiling its innate natural beauty.

It's hard to believe this lovely park was once an open sewer. More than a century — and considerable landscaping — later, Back Bay Fens is an oasis of greenery and tranquility in the city. Stop by the park's Shattuck Visitor Center for a map to help you discover the park's charms. It's home to the Kelleher Rose Garden, which features more than 200 varieties of roses, a 17th-century Japanese temple bell, and original World War II victory gardens.

Visit Boston Common

As the country's oldest city park, Boston Common has quite the evolutionary history: from being public gallows, an encampment for the British during the Revolutionary War, to a community cow pasture and the site of Civil Rights rallies. Today, Boston Common's green spaces, ball fields, and wading pool provide residents and visitors with a place to relax and play.

Known as Boston's version of Rodeo Drive, Newbury Street is packed with high-end shops, art galleries, boutiques, coffee shops, and restaurants. Specialty shops sell everything from anime and cosmetics to olive oil, and art galleries showcase everything from the masters to contemporary art and works by emerging artists.

When it's time to take a break from shopping, Thinking Cup is a lively, popular cafe serving excellent coffees, sandwiches, and pastries. Interestingly, this section of Boston was once underwater in Boston Harbor. Back Bay was created when the harbor was filled in during the 19th century.

This sleek glass and metal waterfront museum's permanent collection is especially flush with contemporary art by women, including names such as Kara Walker, Cindy Sherman, Eva Hesse, Doris Salcedo, Louise Bourgeois, and Nan Goldin. In the summer of 2018, the museum plans to open a seasonal space called Watershed in a 15,000-square-foot former copper pipe factory located in a historic shipyard. Admission will be free, and visitors will boat between the two locations.

When architect Charles Follen McKim designed Boston Public Library in the late 19th century, he envisioned it as a "Palace for the people." McKim's success in creating such a building is apparent throughout the library, with its vaulted ceilings and arched windows in the magnificent Bates Hall and the masterful murals and paintings in the Sargent Gallery, Abbey Room, and Chavannes Gallery.

Located in Copley Square, the library is also home to the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, allowing you to travel back in time by examining rare, historic maps. The center's Collections of Distinction include Revolutionary War-era maps as well as atlases and maritime charts from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and pre-20th century maps of Boston, Chicago, and New York City. The library's Johnson Building, designed by architect Philip Johnson, opened in 1972. Volunteer guides conduct free daily tours of the library's architecture and art.

The city of Boston is overflowing with both historical and cultural attractions that are perfect for the entire family.