Explore Boston · Plan Your Trip
The Essentials
Taxes, tips, last call and the other house rules nobody mentions until you need them.
Know these in advance and save money, awkward moments and the occasional ticket.
Money and tipping
Cards, including contactless tap-to-pay, are accepted almost everywhere, though a few small shops and old-school bars still prefer cash. Menu and shelf prices do not include tax; it is added at the register.
Tipping is expected and not built into most prices. At a sit-down restaurant, 18 to 20 percent of the pre-tax bill is standard, but look for an added service charge on large-group bills before adding more. Tip bartenders a dollar or two a drink or the same percentage on a tab, taxi and rideshare drivers 15 to 20 percent, housekeeping $2–$5 a night, left each morning, and the guide at the end of a free walking tour $5–$10 a person (15 to 20 percent on a paid one).
ATMs are everywhere and charge non-customers a fee of a few dollars on top of your own bank’s; only U.S. dollars are accepted, and nothing in this book needs cash except the Haymarket pushcarts and a handful of old-school places, Giacomo’s and Galleria Umberto among them.
Time, holidays and hours
Boston keeps Eastern Time, five hours behind London in winter and four in summer; clocks go forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. Most shops open about 10 a.m. and close at 6 or 7 p.m., with Sunday hours starting around 11 a.m. or noon; supermarkets and pharmacies run longer, and the big malls stay open to 8 or 9 p.m. Banks keep weekday hours.
Public holidays
Banks, post offices and government offices close; most museums stay open except on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, when nearly everything does (the MFA also shuts on New Year’s Day, Patriots’ Day and July 4). The list: New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January); Presidents’ Day (third Monday in February); Patriots’ Day (third Monday in April); Memorial Day (last Monday in May); Juneteenth (June 19); Independence Day (July 4); Labor Day (first Monday in September); Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Columbus Day in state law), the second Monday in October; Veterans Day (November 11); Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November); Christmas Day. Suffolk County, which is Boston, adds two of its own, though state and city offices stay open on both: Evacuation Day, March 17, which is also St. Patrick’s Day, and Bunker Hill Day, June 17. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two days the city truly shuts: book a restaurant weeks ahead or eat at your hotel. ›
Taxes
Sales tax
Massachusetts charges 6.25 percent on most goods. Groceries are exempt, and so is clothing up to $175 an item; above that, only the amount over $175 is taxed.
Meals tax
Restaurant food and any drink served on the premises are taxed at 7 percent in Boston: the 6.25 percent state rate plus the city’s 0.75 percent local option.
Hotel tax
Boston rooms carry a combined 14.95 percent: 5.7 percent to the state, 6.5 percent to the city and a 2.75 percent convention center fee. Short-term rentals can add a local fee.
Drinking
The drinking age is 21, and bars check ID at the door no matter how old you look. Out-of-state driver’s licenses and U.S. or foreign passports are on the state’s list of accepted IDs; a foreign driver’s license is not, so international visitors should carry a passport.
State law bars alcohol sales between 2 and 8 a.m., so 2 a.m. is the latest any bar can pour, and many close earlier. Last call comes shortly before closing; the last trains leave downtown around 12:30 a.m., or about 1:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, so plan the ride home first.
Massachusetts has banned happy hour since 1984: a bar cannot cut a drink’s price for part of the week. Drinking in public is out too; a city ordinance bans open containers on streets, sidewalks and in parks.
Where to drink
Neighborhoods, late-night options and classic rooms are in the Bars & Nightlife chapter. ›
Smoking and cannabis
Smoking and vaping are banned inside restaurants, bars and other workplaces statewide, and Boston bans smoking, marijuana and vaping included, in city parks such as the Common and the Public Garden. You must be 21 to buy tobacco or nicotine.
Adult-use cannabis is legal for anyone 21 or older, sold at licensed dispensaries that check ID. It may not be consumed in public or anywhere tobacco smoking is banned, and an open container in a car’s passenger area is illegal. Federal law still prohibits it, so do not carry it across state lines.
Emergencies and city services
911
Police, fire and ambulance emergencies. The call is free from any phone.
311
The City of Boston’s round-the-clock line for non-emergency services and questions, from potholes to parking, also reachable through the BOS:311 app and website.
www.boston.gov/311
Restrooms and Wi-Fi
Public restrooms are scarce on the street. Your best bets are museums, libraries, visitor centers, food halls, shopping centers, hotel lobbies and the big rail stations; do not count on subway stations.
Free Wi-Fi is easy to find in hotels, cafés and museums, and every Boston Public Library location has a free public network. Outdoors, the city runs Wicked Free Wi-Fi, a no-login outdoor network in a growing number of neighborhood squares, with data limits.
Staying safe
The neighborhoods most visitors spend time in are busy and comfortable on foot. Use ordinary big-city sense: keep phones and bags close on crowded trains and at big events, stick to lively, well-lit streets late at night, and leave nothing visible in a parked car. Traffic is the bigger hazard: watch for cyclists, quick-turning drivers and, in winter, icy brick sidewalks.
On the street
Bostonians cross against the light whenever the traffic allows, and drivers expect it; do the same at your own pace, and never assume a turning car has seen you. Shared electric scooters are not a Boston thing: the city’s one rental pilot, in 2021, was not renewed, and nothing has replaced it. Bluebikes, with a station every few blocks, is the rental; $3 buys a single ride of up to 30 minutes and $11.99 a day pass with unlimited 2-hour rides, and the details are in Getting Around.
Sightseeing passes
Two passes bundle Boston’s big paid admissions. Both save money only if you were going to pay for several of those places anyway, so price your actual plan before you buy.
Do the sums with gate prices. Adult admission is $39.95 at the aquarium and $30 at the MFA, and View Boston starts at $32 plus a $3 booking fee — about $105 for those three, so CityPASS wins once three of your four picks are the pricier ones. With most big admissions in the $30–$40 range, a one-day All-Inclusive Pass needs three paid stops that day to come out ahead, a hard pace with museum hours. On a slower trip the Explorer Pass is the safer buy: the MFA and View Boston alone cost more than its $54 starting price. The gate prices themselves are in Sights at a Glance.
Boston CityPASS
$84 adults, $72 children 3–11. Choose four of seven: New England Aquarium, Museum of Science, Museum of Fine Arts, View Boston, a Boston Harbor City Cruises harbor cruise, Franklin Park Zoo (daytime) and the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Good for nine days from the first visit; the aquarium and the cruise require a reservation.
Go City Boston
More than 40 attractions, tours and activities, among them View Boston, the Museum of Science, the MFA, the Gardner Museum, the Paul Revere House and the Swan Boats. The All-Inclusive Pass runs one to seven days, from $79 for one day; the Explorer Pass covers two to five attractions within 30 days of the first, from $54 for two. Children 3–12 pay less.
Visiting from abroad
Citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries can visit for up to 90 days without a visa, but need an e-passport and an approved ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). Apply at esta.cbp.dhs.gov, the only official site, as soon as you start planning; the fee is about $40, and approval normally lasts two years or until your passport expires. If your country isn’t in the program, or your ESTA is refused, you will generally need a visitor visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate. Either way, the officer at the airport makes the final call on entry.
Prices are in U.S. dollars and exclude tax (see Taxes); tipping works as described under Money and tipping. When a card machine offers to charge you in your home currency, choose dollars — otherwise the machine’s operator sets the exchange rate.
Outlets supply 120 volts through two flat pins, sometimes with a round grounding pin. Phone and laptop chargers marked 100–240 V need only a plug adapter; a hair dryer built for 220–240 volts needs a converter. For data, check your home carrier’s U.S. roaming rate before you fly, or put a U.S. prepaid SIM or travel eSIM in an unlocked phone.
You can drive on a valid license from home. If it isn’t in English, carry an International Driving Permit or an English translation with it; the permit is only a translation and gives no right to drive on its own. Rental companies set their own age limits and run tolls through their own billing programs — ask at the counter what they charge.
Consulates: the United Kingdom’s is at One Broadway, Cambridge, by Kendall/MIT station, and Canada’s at 3 Copley Place, Suite 400, Back Bay. Ireland, Japan and dozens of other countries also keep consulates in Boston; the State Department lists every one, with addresses, at state.gov under Foreign Consular Offices in the United States.
ESTA application
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s official site for the travel authorization.
U.S. visitor visas
The State Department’s guide to the Visa Waiver Program and visitor visas.
Pharmacies and urgent care
For anything life-threatening, call 911. For an illness or minor injury that can’t wait, a walk-in urgent care clinic is usually quicker and cheaper than an emergency room. Visitors from abroad should travel with medical insurance; care here is billed at U.S. prices.
Don’t mistake a 24-hour store for a 24-hour pharmacist. The CVS stores at 587 Boylston St (Copley Square) and 155–157 Charles St (Beacon Hill, near MGH) never close, but both pharmacy counters keep shorter hours: weekdays 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Walk-in clinics first, at the hours shown; then the emergency departments, all open 24 hours:
AFC Urgent Care Back Bay
575 Boylston St. Walk-ins daily 8 a.m.–8 p.m., ages 1 and up, with X-ray and rapid tests on site.
Mass General Brigham Express Care (Boston Common)
137 Stuart St, Suite A-7. Walk-in care for adults and children 2 and up, posted 9 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; closing time shifts with patient volume, so call 844-377-4199 late in the day.
Massachusetts General Hospital
55 Fruit St, West End; 617-724-4100. Adults and children, with a separate pediatric emergency service. Charles/MGH station, Red Line.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
75 Francis St, Longwood Medical Area; 617-732-5636. Adults; a Level I trauma center. Brigham Circle, Green Line E branch.
Tufts Medical Center
830 Washington St (North Building, 1st floor), Chinatown; 617-636-5566. Adults, with a designated area for children. Tufts Medical Center station, Orange Line.
Boston Medical Center
725 Albany St, South End; 617-414-4075. Adult and children’s emergency departments.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
1 Deaconess Rd, Longwood Medical Area; 617-754-2400. A Level I trauma center. Longwood station, Green Line D branch.
Boston Children’s Hospital
300 Longwood Ave, Longwood Medical Area; 617-355-6000. Birth through age 21; the largest pediatric emergency department in Massachusetts. Longwood Medical Area station, Green Line E branch.