Explore Boston · Plan Your Trip
Before You Go
Four real seasons, a packed calendar and old brick underfoot: a little planning goes a long way here.
Boston is compact and easy to improvise once you arrive. Plan ahead for three things: big weekends that fill hotels months out, weather that can swing hard in a single day, and old streets laid out long before strollers or wheelchairs.
Seasons and weather
Winter is cold and often gray. At Logan Airport, the official weather station, January averages a high in the upper 30s Fahrenheit and a low in the low 20s, and a typical winter brings about four feet of snow, mostly December through March. Spring comes late, with April highs only in the mid-50s. Summer is warm and often humid, with July highs in the low 80s. Fall is the local favorite: mild in September, crisp in October. Rain and snow are spread across the year, so no month is reliably dry.
What to pack
Pack for walking first. The historic core is brick, cobblestone and granite, so bring broken-in shoes with real grip. Layers beat one heavy coat in every season but deep winter.
Winter
A warm, windproof coat, hat, gloves and waterproof boots with traction for slushy curb cuts.
Spring and fall
A light rain jacket, a sweater and a compact umbrella for cool mornings and evenings.
Summer
Breathable clothes, sunscreen and a refillable bottle, plus a layer for air-conditioned museums and harbor cruises.
Papers and plugs
Photo ID for bars and hotels; international visitors should carry a passport and an adapter for U.S. 120-volt, flat-pin outlets.
Dates to plan around
On most of these dates hotels sell out and rates climb. Book early or plan around them.
Marathon weekend, April
The Boston Marathon runs on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday in April. Rooms near the Back Bay finish go first. ›
Graduation season, May
The area’s many colleges hold commencement in May, and families book rooms near campus far in advance.
July 4
The Pops fireworks and Harborfest fill the waterfront and Back Bay hotels for the long weekend; rooms with a river view go a year out.
September 1
Hotels are not the problem this week; the streets are. The city’s biggest lease turnover day lands as students return, with moving trucks, curbside furniture and jammed streets in Allston and Brighton. Skip driving that week if you can.
Foliage and the Head of the Charles, October
Peak foliage fills hotels across New England, and the Head of the Charles Regatta brings rowers and big crowds to the river on a mid-October weekend. ›
Thanksgiving to New Year’s
College families at Thanksgiving, then the Nutcracker, Holiday Pops and First Night crowds: rates stay high from the week of Thanksgiving to January 1, and the cheap stretch is early November, before Thanksgiving week. ›
Free museum nights
Several major museums open free on set evenings or holidays. At press time the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum both offer free Thursday nights with timed tickets. The MFA’s free open-house days, Martin Luther King Jr. Day among them, are for Massachusetts residents only.
Free Boston
No-cost sights, tours and events are rounded up in the Free Things to Do chapter. ›
Accessibility
The MBTA says most of its subway, trolley and Commuter Rail stations are accessible, but not all: older stations vary, and elevators do go out of service, so check alerts before you ride. Above ground, Beacon Hill and parts of the North End and Charlestown mean steep grades, narrow brick sidewalks and patchy curb cuts, often icy in winter; Back Bay and the Seaport are flat. Many historic sites are old buildings with stairs, so check access ahead.
MBTA accessibility
Station access, elevator alerts, reduced fares and The RIDE paratransit service.
www.mbta.com/accessibility
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Today’s Boston forecast
Check the hour-by-hour forecast before you head out.