Book Boston like a local.
The Freedom Trail, a North End cannoli, whale watch off the harbor and the day out to Salem. We tell you what each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
Seven bookings that make the trip.
First visit or fifth, these carry the trip: the Freedom Trail walked with someone who knows the stories, a North End table the guidebooks miss, the harbor from the water at golden hour.
Boston Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour with 13 Stops
Hop on a Boston trolley with 13 stops, live guide narration, and weather-friendly rides. Great for squeezing in key sights fast.
From $52 per person
Read the review →
★ 4.5Local favouriteCity Cruises Whale Watching CruiseFrom $854,710 reviews
★ 4.5Books out fastSalem’s Best Ghost TourFrom $304,186 reviews
★ 4.6Crowd-pleaserBoston Duck Tour: The Original and World-FamousFrom $603,935 reviews
★ 4.6Worth the walkCambridge: Harvard University Student-Guided Walking TourFrom $223,931 reviews
★ 4.5Easy winHarvard University Campus Guided Walking TourFrom $233,632 reviews
★ 4.5First-timer pickBoston to Martha’s Vineyard Day Trip with Optional Island TourFrom $1293,162 reviews
Salem is a whole day, and worth it.
Take the ferry or the commuter rail up to the witch city and give it the full day: the 1692 trial sites, the House of the Seven Gables, chowder on Pickering Wharf, then the ghost lanterns once the light goes. The best trips read the town rather than rush it.
Which harbor trip is yours?
Everyone should get on the water in Boston; the right boat depends on your afternoon. Three ways to do it: pick the one that sounds like you, and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Out to sea
The whale watch
from $59 · 9,378 reviews
A fast catamaran out to Stellwagen Bank, where humpbacks and finbacks feed all summer. Naturalists on the mic, the skyline shrinking behind you, three-plus hours on the water. Book a morning departure, when the wind and the sightings both settle before noon.
See the harbor cruises →
Golden hour
The sunset cruise
1h 30m · from $31 · 888 reviews
The harbor at its best light: the Financial District towers going amber, planes banking into Logan, a drink in hand as the islands slide past. Ninety minutes, low effort, high reward: the easiest good evening in Boston.
See the sunset cruises →
Under sail
The tall ship
1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours (approx.) · from $35 · 615 reviews
Trade the engine for canvas. A schooner or classic tall ship out of Rowes Wharf, sails up, harbor islands off the bow. You can help haul the lines or just sit back. Quietest way to see the working port, and the one photographers pick.
See the sailing trips →
The old city tells better stories at night.
Boston keeps three centuries of ghost stories, and they come out after sundown: the Granary Burying Ground by lantern, the gallows history behind the Common, gravestone trolleys rolling through Beacon Hill. Salem does it best of all, thirty minutes up the line.
The North End eats first.
Boston’s Little Italy runs on hole-in-the-wall bakeries and family recipes older than the country. A guided food walk gets you the cannoli line at Mike’s, the pizza corner locals defend, and the tasting rooms tourists walk straight past.
Stand on the warning track.
America’s oldest ballpark still hosts, and the tour gets you where the crowd can’t: up onto the Green Monster, into the press box, along the same dugout the 2004 team walked. Book the early slot; game days sell the daytime tours out fast.
The Revolution is a two-mile walk.
The Freedom Trail links sixteen sites where the country argued itself into being: the Old State House balcony, the graves at the Granary, the Old North Church, the Tea Party ships across the channel. A good guide turns the red line on the pavement into the story it stands for.
Boston is a walking town.
The city works in pockets, and each one is an afternoon. The Freedom Trail for the history. The North End for dinner. Beacon Hill for the gas lamps and brick. The waterfront when you want the harbor.
Got a day in mind?
Twelve ways into the same city: pick the kind of day that sounds like you, and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
New England starts at the door.
Boston sits inside easy reach of half of American history and the best of the coast. Witch trials up north, the shot heard round the world to the west, lighthouses and lobster rolls down on the Cape, all of them there and back in a day.
Three perfect days in Boston.
You can’t see all of Boston in one visit; you can absolutely do the right three days. This is the order we’d give a friend checking into a Back Bay hotel tomorrow.
Day 1
Walk the Freedom Trail
Start at the Common and follow the red line to the North End, guide alongside. Cannoli and a plate of pasta to finish, then the Old North Church as the light drops.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Take to the water
Morning whale watch out to Stellwagen, back for the Tea Party ships and a wander through Beacon Hill, then the harbor again at sunset with a drink in hand.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The day out to Salem
Ferry up the coast, the 1692 trial sites and the Witch Museum by day, chowder on the wharf, and a lantern-lit ghost walk before the last boat back to Boston.
Plan the Salem day →
Latest Boston tour reviews.
★ 5.0Private Walking Salem Legends Tour Professional GuideFrom $6933 reviews
★ 5.0Boston to Newport Mansions Private Day TripFrom $1,1903 reviews
★ 4.5Pirates and Privateers Walking Tour with Real Pirates AdmissionFrom $253 reviews
★ 5.0Boston Massachusetts Private Photography TourFrom $1303 reviews
★ 4.0Harvard’s Secret Society: Exploration Game and TourFrom $63 reviews
★ 3.5Homemade Dumplings 101 in BostonFrom $1203 reviews
★ 4.5Self-Guided Audio Tour of Boston North EndFrom $53 reviews
★ 4.7Old Boston: Beacon Hill & Back Bay Walking Tour in FrenchFrom $453 reviews