Sights & Places - Boston

Explore the best attractions, landmarks, museums, and neighborhoods around Boston

Arts & Theater

Boston Center for the ArtsThe Boston Center for the Arts anchors the South End’s arts scene from a campus on Tremont Street,…
Brighton Music HallBrighton Music Hall is an intimate live-music venue in the heart of Allston, a neighborhood long known as…
Diablo Glass SchoolDiablo Glass School is a public-access glass-arts studio in Boston that opened in 2001, offering hands-on classes and…
Exeter Street TheatreThe Exeter Street Theatre building is a striking Richardsonian Romanesque structure at the corner of Exeter and Newbury…
Paradise Rock ClubThe Paradise Rock Club is one of Boston’s most storied music venues, a mid-sized room on Commonwealth Avenue…
Symphony HallSymphony Hall is the home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, opened in 1900 at…

Attractions

Appalachian Mountain Club (Boston HQ)The Appalachian Mountain Club, founded in 1876, is the oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization in the United…
Boston Common Visitor Information CenterThe Boston Common Visitor Information Center is the city’s main downtown welcome point, located at 139 Tremont Street…
John Hancock Tower (200 Clarendon)Officially named 200 Clarendon Street but still widely known as the John Hancock Tower, this sleek glass skyscraper…
Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial BridgeThe Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that carries Interstate 93 across the…
Samuel Adams Boston BreweryThe Samuel Adams Boston Brewery sits on Germania Street in Jamaica Plain, in a part of Boston that…

Government Buildings

City Hall (Boston City Hall)Boston City Hall is the seat of the city’s municipal government, a landmark of the Brutalist architectural style…
John F. Kennedy Federal Office BuildingThe John F. Kennedy Federal Building is a modernist government complex on the edge of Government Center, adjacent…
John Joseph Moakley United States CourthouseThe John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse rises along the harbor on Fan Pier in Boston’s Seaport District,…
Massachusetts State HouseCrowning Beacon Hill above Boston Common, the Massachusetts State House is the seat of the Commonwealth’s government and…

Historic Houses

Back Bay MansionsThe mansions and brownstones of Back Bay form one of the best-preserved collections of Victorian-era urban architecture in…
Ebenezer Clough HouseThe Ebenezer Clough House is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Boston, tucked behind the Old North…
Gibson HouseThe Gibson House Museum is a remarkably intact Victorian row house on Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay.…
Harrison Gray Otis HouseThe Harrison Gray Otis House, often called Otis House, is a Federal-style mansion built in 1795-96 on Cambridge…
Loring-Greenough HouseThe Loring-Greenough House is a Georgian-era mansion at the edge of Jamaica Plain’s Sumner Hill, set back behind…
Nichols HouseThe Nichols House Museum offers a rare look inside a Beacon Hill home, preserved much as it was…
Paul Revere HouseTucked into the North End’s North Square, the Paul Revere House is the oldest surviving structure in downtown…
William Hickling Prescott HouseThe William Hickling Prescott House is a Federal-style townhouse on Beacon Street, overlooking Boston Common from the south…

Historic Sites

Boston College (Brighton Campus Edge)Boston College is a private Jesuit, Catholic research university whose main Chestnut Hill campus straddles the Boston (Brighton)…
Brook Farm Historic SiteBrook Farm Historic Site preserves the grounds of one of America’s most famous utopian experiments. In the 1840s,…
Bunker Hill MonumentRising 221 feet above Charlestown, the Bunker Hill Monument is a granite obelisk commemorating the Battle of Bunker…
Castle Island & Fort IndependenceCastle Island is a beloved South Boston peninsula crowned by Fort Independence, a granite, five-bastioned fort completed in…
Central Burying GroundThe Central Burying Ground occupies the southeastern corner of Boston Common, along Boylston Street near Tremont Street. Established…
Charlestown Navy YardThe Charlestown Navy Yard is one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States, established in 1800…
Copp’s Hill Burying GroundCopp’s Hill Burying Ground crowns a rise in Boston’s North End, overlooking the harbor and the Charlestown shore.…
Faneuil HallFaneuil Hall has stood near Boston’s waterfront since 1742, when merchant Peter Faneuil gave the building to the…
Highland Park / Fort Hill TowerHighland Park is a historic hilltop green space in Roxbury crowned by the Fort Hill Tower, a striking…
Holocaust Memorial (New England Holocaust Memorial)The New England Holocaust Memorial honors the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and stands as a…
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Ether DomeThe Ether Dome is a domed surgical amphitheater on the top floor of the Bulfinch Building at Massachusetts…
USS Cassin YoungThe USS Cassin Young (DD-793) is a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer preserved as a museum ship at…
USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”)Launched in 1797, USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat. She earned her nickname “Old…

Hospitals

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)Massachusetts General Hospital, known locally as Mass General or MGH, is one of the oldest and largest teaching…

Kids & Family

Boston Children’s MuseumBoston Children’s Museum sits on the Fort Point Channel waterfront, instantly recognizable by the giant Hood Milk Bottle…
Franklin Park ZooFranklin Park Zoo occupies 72 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Park, the largest green space in…
Swan Boats (Boston Public Garden)Gliding across the lagoon in the Boston Public Garden, the Swan Boats are one of the city’s most…

Libraries & Archives

Boston AthenaeumFounded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries and cultural institutions in the…
Boston Public Library (Central Library, Copley)The Boston Public Library’s Central Library in Copley Square is both a working library and an architectural treasure.…
Massachusetts Historical SocietyFounded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is the oldest historical society in the United States and an…
New England Historic Genealogical SocietyThe New England Historic Genealogical Society, which operates publicly as American Ancestors, is the oldest and largest genealogical…

Markets & Food Halls

HaymarketHaymarket is Boston’s centuries-old open-air pushcart market, a raucous warren of vendor stalls strung along Blackstone, Hanover, and…
Quincy MarketQuincy Market is the centerpiece of Faneuil Hall Marketplace in the heart of downtown Boston, a long, columned…
Quincy MarketFaneuil Hall Marketplace is one of Boston’s busiest gathering places, a historic complex in the heart of downtown…

Museums

Boston’s Tea Party Ships and MuseumThe Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is a floating, interactive history museum on the Fort Point Channel…
Brighton-Allston Heritage MuseumThe Brighton-Allston Heritage Museum tells the story of one of Boston’s most historically layered neighborhoods, from its early…
Commonwealth Museum (Columbia Point)The Commonwealth Museum sits on the Columbia Point peninsula in Dorchester, sharing a building with the Massachusetts Archives…
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. SenateThe Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is a nonprofit civic-education museum on Columbia Point…
Institute of Contemporary Art (The ICA)The Institute of Contemporary Art is Boston’s leading museum dedicated to the art of our time, dramatically perched…
Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum houses the personal collection of its founder, a Gilded Age art patron who…
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & MuseumPerched on a windswept peninsula at Columbia Point in Dorchester, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum…
Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of HumanityThe Mary Baker Eddy Library sits on the Christian Science Plaza along Massachusetts Avenue, near Symphony Hall on…
Museum of African American HistoryThe Museum of African American History is New England’s largest museum dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history…
Museum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is one of the largest and most comprehensive art museums in the…
Museum of the National Center of Afro-American ArtistsThe Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists is dedicated to the visual arts heritage of people…
New England AquariumThe New England Aquarium is one of Boston’s premier attractions, set on Central Wharf on the downtown waterfront.…
Sports Museum of New England (The Sports Museum)The Sports Museum is a nonprofit museum housed inside TD Garden, the downtown arena that is home to…
USS Constitution MuseumThe USS Constitution Museum sits in the historic Charlestown Navy Yard, steps from the ship it celebrates: USS…

Neighborhoods

Allston Village (Harvard Ave Corridor)Allston Village is the bustling commercial heart of Allston, centered on Harvard Avenue between Commonwealth Avenue and Cambridge…
Bay VillageBay Village is the smallest of Boston’s officially recognized neighborhoods, a hidden enclave of roughly a dozen blocks…
Blackstone BlockThe Blackstone Block is Boston’s oldest commercial district and the only part of the city that still preserves…
Brigham CircleBrigham Circle is a busy intersection and commercial node in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, sitting along…
Brighton Center & Oak SquareBrighton Center and Oak Square are two of the historic commercial and civic hubs of Brighton, a neighborhood…
Chinatown Gate (Paifang)The Chinatown Gate, also known as the China Trade Gate, is a paifang archway that marks the symbolic…
Fort Point DistrictThe Fort Point District is a waterfront neighborhood in South Boston, set along Fort Point Channel, the waterway…
Leather DistrictThe Leather District is a small, tightly defined neighborhood wedged between the Financial District and Chinatown, just inland…
Mattapan SquareMattapan Square is the commercial and civic heart of Mattapan, a diverse Boston neighborhood in the city’s south.…
Nubian SquareNubian Square is the commercial and cultural heart of Roxbury, centered on the intersection of Washington and Dudley…
Roslindale VillageRoslindale Village — also known as Roslindale Square — is the commercial and social center of Roslindale, a…
Theater DistrictThe Theater District is a compact entertainment quarter in Boston’s Midtown, tucked south of Downtown Crossing and between…

Parks & Gardens

Adams ParkAdams Park is a small triangular green at the heart of Roslindale Square, where Washington Street, South Street,…
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard UniversityThe Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a 281-acre living museum of trees, shrubs, and vines spread across…
Belle Isle Marsh ReservationBelle Isle Marsh Reservation protects the last significant salt marsh remaining in the city of Boston, a roughly…
Boston CommonEstablished in 1634, Boston Common is the oldest public park in the United States and the green heart…
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation AreaThe Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park encompasses dozens of islands and peninsulas scattered across Boston Harbor,…
Boston Public GardenThe Boston Public Garden is a 24-acre Victorian botanical park adjoining Boston Common, established in the 19th century…
Charles River Reservation (Brighton Stretch)The Charles River Reservation is a linear network of riverside parkland managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation…
Chestnut Hill ReservoirChestnut Hill Reservoir sits at the southern edge of Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, near Cleveland Circle on the Boston-Brookline…
Christopher Columbus Waterfront ParkChristopher Columbus Waterfront Park is a graceful harborside green space along Boston’s downtown waterfront, at the edge of…
Commonwealth Avenue MallThe Commonwealth Avenue Mall is a wide, tree-lined greenway running down the center of Commonwealth Avenue through Back…
Esplanade (Charles River Esplanade)The Charles River Esplanade is a long, narrow riverfront park stretching along the Boston bank of the Charles,…
Franklin ParkFranklin Park is Boston’s largest park, a roughly 527-acre expanse designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as the grand…
Jamaica Pond and Boat HouseJamaica Pond is a 68-acre glacial kettle lake and the largest body of fresh water in Boston, forming…
Martini Memorial Shell ParkFrancis D. Martini Memorial Shell Park is a riverside park in the Readville section of Hyde Park, stretched…
Millennium ParkMillennium Park is a sprawling roughly 100-acre park in West Roxbury, built on the site of the former…
Rose Kennedy GreenwayThe Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a roughly 1.5-mile chain of contemporary parks running through the heart of…
Rutland SquareRutland Square is one of the South End’s quietly elegant residential squares, a narrow tree-lined green flanked by…
Stony Brook Reservation & Turtle PondStony Brook Reservation is a sprawling urban woodland of roughly 600 acres straddling the Boston neighborhoods of Hyde…
The Lawn on DThe Lawn on D is a lively outdoor event space in Boston’s Seaport District, set on a 2.7-acre…
Union ParkUnion Park is widely regarded as the best-preserved residential square in Boston’s South End, a National Historic Landmark…

Religious Sites

Arlington Street ChurchArlington Street Church is a landmark Unitarian Universalist congregation at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets in…
Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (“Mission Church”)The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help — affectionately known as the Mission Church —…
Cathedral Church of St. PaulThe Cathedral Church of St. Paul is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, standing on Tremont…
Cathedral of the Holy CrossThe Cathedral of the Holy Cross is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and…
Emmanuel ChurchEmmanuel Church stands at 15 Newbury Street in the Back Bay, where it was the first building completed…
First Baptist ChurchThe First Baptist Church of Boston is one of Back Bay’s most recognizable landmarks, standing at the southwest…
First Church of Christ, Scientist (The Mother Church)The First Church of Christ, Scientist, known as The Mother Church, is the headquarters of the Christian Science…
Madonna Queen of the Universe ShrineThe Madonna Queen of the Universe National Shrine crowns a hilltop in East Boston’s Orient Heights, where a…
Old North ChurchThe Old North Church, officially Christ Church in the City of Boston, is the city’s oldest surviving church…
Old South ChurchOld South Church is a landmark Gothic Revival church anchoring the northeast corner of Copley Square in Boston’s…
Old West ChurchOld West Church stands at 131 Cambridge Street in Boston’s West End, a refined brick meetinghouse designed by…
Park Street ChurchPark Street Church is a historic evangelical Congregational church founded in 1809, standing at the corner of Park…
St. Stephen’s ChurchSt. Stephen’s Church stands on Hanover Street in Boston’s North End and is the only surviving church in…
Trinity ChurchTrinity Church anchors the east side of Copley Square in Boston’s Back Bay and is widely regarded as…
Vilna ShulThe Vilna Shul is the last immigrant-era synagogue building standing in downtown Boston, tucked onto the north slope…

Shopping & Dining

Boylston StreetBoylston Street is one of Boston’s great urban thoroughfares, running east-west from Chinatown out through Back Bay and…
Centre Street (Jamaica Plain)Centre Street is the main commercial spine of Jamaica Plain, one of Boston’s most vibrant and walkable neighborhoods.…
Charles StreetCharles Street is the lively shopping and dining street at the base of Beacon Hill, running along the…
Copley Square Mall (Copley Place)Copley Place is an upscale, enclosed shopping and mixed-use complex in Boston’s Back Bay, just off Copley Square.…
Downtown CrossingDowntown Crossing is Boston’s historic pedestrian shopping district, centered on the intersection of Washington Street with Winter and…
Hanover StreetHanover Street is the main commercial spine of Boston’s North End, the city’s oldest residential neighborhood and its…
Lansdowne StreetLansdowne Street runs along the back of Fenway Park in Boston’s Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, directly beneath the ballpark’s famous…
Newbury StreetNewbury Street is Boston’s most famous shopping promenade, an eight-block, roughly mile-long stretch running through the heart of…
Prudential CenterThe Prudential Center is a landmark mixed-use complex in the Back Bay, centered on the 52-story Prudential Tower,…

Sports Venues

Fenway ParkFenway Park is the home of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball,…
Fenway Park ToursOpened in 1912, Fenway Park is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball and the beloved home of…
George Wright Golf CourseGeorge Wright Golf Course is a municipal 18-hole course tucked into the wooded, rocky terrain of Hyde Park…
TD GardenTD Garden is Boston’s premier indoor arena and the home of two of the city’s most storied franchises:…

Streets & Squares

Acorn StreetAcorn Street is often called the most photographed street in Boston, and by some accounts in America. This…
Beacon StreetBeacon Street is one of Boston’s storied thoroughfares, beginning downtown beside Boston Common and climbing a block up…
Chestnut StreetChestnut Street is one of Beacon Hill’s most admired residential streets, a brick-lined corridor that captures the neighborhood’s…
Kenmore SquareKenmore Square is a busy commercial crossroads in Boston’s Fenway-Kenmore area, where Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street, and Brookline…
Louisburg SquareLouisburg Square is the most exclusive address on Beacon Hill, a graceful enclave of red-brick Greek Revival row…
Mt. Vernon StreetMount Vernon Street is one of the grandest and most admired residential streets on Beacon Hill, climbing from…
Paul Revere Mall (The Prado)The Paul Revere Mall, known to locals as The Prado, is a tree-shaded pedestrian corridor in the heart…
Salem StreetSalem Street is one of the principal thoroughfares of Boston’s North End, the city’s oldest residential neighborhood and…

Transit & Routes

Boston HarborwalkThe Boston Harborwalk is a continuous public path tracing the city’s shoreline, linking parks, wharves, beaches, and waterfront…
Harborwalk – East Boston SectionThe Boston Harborwalk is a public waterfront path that traces the harbor’s edge along piers, wharves, and shoreline,…
Neponset River Greenway (Mattapan Section)The Neponset River Greenway is a multi-use paved trail that follows the Neponset River through Boston’s southern neighborhoods,…
Park Street StationPark Street station, at the corner of Park and Tremont streets on the eastern edge of Boston Common,…
South StationSouth Station, at 700 Atlantic Avenue on the edge of the Financial District, is New England’s busiest rail…

Waterfront

Black Falcon PierThe Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, officially Flynn Cruiseport Boston, is the city’s primary cruise port, set on the…
Constitution BeachConstitution Beach is a public saltwater beach on Bennington Street in the Orient Heights section of East Boston,…
Long WharfLong Wharf is a historic pier extending from the edge of downtown Boston into Boston Harbor. Built in…
M Street Beach / Carson Beach StripM Street Beach and Carson Beach sit side by side along Dorchester Bay in South Boston, part of…
Malibu Beach Savin Hill BeachMalibu Beach and the adjacent Savin Hill Beach form a continuous stretch of state-managed sandy shoreline along Dorchester…
Piers ParkPiers Park is an 11-acre waterfront park on Marginal Street in East Boston, owned and operated by the…
Rowes WharfRowes Wharf is a striking waterfront development on Boston’s downtown harborfront, completed in 1987 and designed by Adrian…