Though a natural choice for sports fans and history buffs, there's much of the Hub worth exploring beyond the Green Monster and Freedom Trail. To plan a different kind of visit to New England, read through our Design Destination Guide for the beautiful city of Boston:
See:
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: A private home turned museum, the Gardner's courtyard is the star, and changes with the seasons.
• ICA: Boston's first new museum in 100 years, the glass structure on the Harbor showcases exciting contemporary art.
• Design Museum Boston: Exploring the role design plays in everyday life, their current exhibit, Getting There, focuses on travel.
Tour:
• Cambridge Historical Tours: Many visitors have walked the Freedom Trail, but what about the history of Cambridge? Explore Harvard Square and learn things most locals don't even know.
• Gibson House: This Back Bay brownstone is unchanged since the Victorian era, giving visitors a snapshot of life back in the 1800s.
• Longfellow House: Check out the home of one of America's greatest poets, which also happens to be the same place Washington stayed during the siege of Boston.
Shop:
• SOWA Open Market: Every Sunday from May through October, Boston's artists, artisans, farmers, and food trucks gather to display their wares.
• Black Ink: A curiosity shop with walls filled floor-to-ceiling with "unexpected necessities," you'll find it hard to walk out empty-handed.
• Ward Maps: Specializing in antique maps and vintage transit signs, there's much history to be discovered in this Cambridge institution.
• Sault: Featuring men's clothing and accoutrements, here's where you'll find real New England style, with no whale-print shorts in sight.
Eat:
• Neptune Oyster Bar: Briny bivalves and arguably one of Boston's best lobster rolls, available hot with butter or cold with mayo.
• Coppa: Jamie Bissonnette, Food & Wine's Best New Chef 2011, offers up nose-to-tail cuisine with charcuterie and offal ruling the roost.
• Tres Gatos: A little tapas joint in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, they're also a full-service book & music store.
• Area Four: Cambridge's tech hub is a booming new dining destination, and Area Four's combination coffeehouse/bakery/bar/oven is not to be missed.
Stay:
• The Liberty Hotel: A former jailhouse steeped in history but upgraded with style.
• Royal Sonesta Hotel: On the Cambridge side of the Charles, riverfront rooms offer iconic views of the Boston skyline.
• The Charlesmark Hotel: Centrally located in Copley Square, this boutique hotel's chic lounge is a perfect place to unwind.
Please help us out and add to the guide in the comments - what are your recommendations for Boston?
(Images: 1. Shutterstock, 2. Liberty Hotel, 3. SOWA Open Market, 4. Flickr user arndog licensed for use by Creative Commons, 5. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 6. Cambridge Historical Tours)
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I just moved to Boston and looking forward to checking some of these places out. More local content please!
I loooove SOWA Open Market, great recommendation. Some amazing Boston restaurants: Sweet Cheeks BBQ in the Fenway area, Highland Kitchen in Somerville, Panza in the North End
Boston has such a rich architectural history, but it is also emerging as a transformative and innovative city. In addition to the Gardner Museum and ICA, be sure to check out the Museum of Fine Arts, which recently opened a gorgeous new wing by Foster + Partners http://www.mfa.org/.
The best place and resource to learn more about architecture in Boston is the Boston Society of Architects' headquarters and gallery, BSA Space http://bsaspace.org/.
Boston also has a ton of amazing theaters. Blue Man Group at the Charles Playhouse is a must... as well as a night at Boston Symphony Hall - for any kind of performance. http://www.boston-theater.com/.
For more good eats, you HAVE to head to The Regal Beagle in Brookline! And BerryLine does the best froyo in town. JP Licks for ice cream. Uniform is a great men's clothing shop in the South End. Try Cakeology for some delicious cupcakes! The Paradise is a great place to catch live music.
Island Creek Oyster Bar! It's in Kenmore Sq, just grab a seat at the bar (reservations are hard to come by) and enjoy the amazing cocktails and fresh oysters!
I am visiting NYC in a couple of weeks for only 3 days. Anyone can help me with a Design Lover's guide to NYC, please? :)
In my opinion, the Gardner Museum is the best museum in Boston, and the most unique museum I've ever experienced. If you're a history nerd, the Commonwealth Museum is free, Monday-Friday, 9-5. It's small and a little out of the way, but it's across the street from the JFK Presidential Library, and there's a free shuttle running between the two museums and the JFK/UMass red line T stop.
For architecture buffs, JFK Library was designed by I. M. Pei, as were some of the modern buildings located at Christian Science Park, which--touristy or no--I think is an essential stop. Beautiful buildings, a view of Boston's few skyscrapers, a reflecting pool, all next door to a huge urban mall, as well as a quick walk to Newbury Street. Also, if you're an American architecture buff, you have to see H. H. Richardson's churches--especially Trinity Church--you can trace Frank Lloyd Wright back to Richardson, through Louis Sullivan, making Richardson a sort of father of American architectural styles.
One of my favorite neighborhoods is Fort Point Channel, on the waterfront, near the ICA, full of beautiful old warehouses, and home of my favorite bar, Drink.
Jordan Hall in the New England Conservatory---lots of great music and great old-fashioned acoustic design. That is, a smaller hall with a real ring to it. Beautiful too.
I can't recommend the Gardner Museum highly enough. Make sure you leave lots of time to just sit in the courtyard to soak it all in.
There is a little gift shop nearby stocked exclusively with items made or designed by students & alumnae of the Mass. College of Art. (Corner of Longwood & Huntington, two blocks down from MFA & one block from the Gardner.) Some are inexpensive, some are uber-expensive, all are cool.
Somerville, next to Cambridge, has really come up in the world. There are lots of great restaurants there including Redbones (Davis Square) and several fabulous latin restaurants.
One more hidden gem...the main branch of the Boston Public library has many murals by John Singer Sargeant. My favorites are in a small open-air courtyard hidden away at the center of the library.
So glad to see you included Ward Maps! They also have MBTA Gifts in the same shop space. And for those who are out of town, they also are online!
Can we just admit that Boston is a design wasteland? It's an Ikea graveyard out here!
A couple of restaurants that I think are worth mentioning: Beehive in the South End has a unique vibe and great live jazz music, and Woodward at the Ames Hotel downtown is a fun spot for a fancy drink and good apps.
Also, don't miss First Fridays in the South End... lots of really great galleries participate.
I agree with HollyP, the BPL is also great, and in addition to the Sargent murals, the main facade has these great spiky lamps that would put Tim Burton's set designer to shame. For visitors, the BPL and Richardson's Trinity church are accessible by the green line at Copley Square and the orange line at Back Bay station. The area has many great photo ops, including, if you stand next to Trinity Church and look at Hancock Tower (a glass building, and Boston's tallest) across the street, an opportunity to take a picture of yourself and the old church in the reflection of the Hancock building's glass.
Another great restaurant is Taranta in the North End on Hanover St. The chef is Peruvian. His wife is Italian and he maried the two cuisines. Yum-o!
Many years ago (1960s) I found Boston to be a dilapidated, dirty town with ill mannered men. However, there was/is no comparison for their performing arts schools. There was always a top notch free performance of these advanced students - somewhere. Each city has its plusses, and I found the singers, musicians and actors on the verge of their professional careers to be Boston's greatest advantage. At that time, food was not it, though. Things have improved since the bi-centennial cleanup :-)
Thank you for not mentioning Legal Seafood as a place to eat! Love, love. love the Isabella Stewart Garden Museum!
The Fort Point Arts Community at 300 Summer Street is a great place to visit. They also have open artists studios in the spring and the fall. http://www.fortpointarts.org/
In the summer months, the fast ferry to Provincetown is fantastic. Only takes an hour and half to get to P-town. Lots of great galleries, shops, and restaurants.
i wish i'd checked apartment therapy last week! I just got back two days ago from Boston. :/
I live in the Boston area and I've never heard of the Design Museum. I went to the weblink above and I don't think it exists as a place.
@charlotte, it's not a museum in a traditional physical sense, though they do have physical exhibits that are hosted at various locations.
If you take a side trip out to Walden Pond, check out the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. It is a great trip on a nice afternoon. Take a picnic.
In terms of eats, Highland Kitchen has great food and a spelling bee! What's not to like about that? As for drinks, MeadHall in Kendall Square in a great place to go. It is large and they have about 100 beers on tap.