Boston kept its 1770s streets. Book the right walk through them.
Which Freedom Trail guide wears the tricorn hat, how far out the whale boats really go, and whether Salem or Newport earns your one spare day. Reviews of every tour you can book from the city.
Four Boston bookings that shape the rest of the trip.
The red line through downtown, a humpback off Stellwagen Bank, a night walk in Salem and a cannoli run up Hanover Street. What each costs, and how the people who went rated it.
01The first morningFreedom Trail History Small Group Walking TourTwo and a half hours from the Common to the Old North Church, in a group small enough to hear the guide over the traffic.
02The day at seaCity Cruises Whale Watching CruiseOut past the harbor islands to Stellwagen Bank, where humpbacks feed through summer. Bring a layer: it is colder out there than on the wharf.
03The Salem eveningHistory and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking TourHalf an hour north by train, then two hours of 1692 trials and the houses that still stand from them.
04The North End lunchBoston North End Food Tour of 6+ Tastings, Cannoli, Lobster RollSix-plus tastings through the Italian quarter: pizza, a lobster roll, and a cannoli from one side of the bakery argument.
Freedom Trail with a guide, with an app, or with a pint at each stop.
Sixteen sites on two and a half miles of red brick, from Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument. How you walk it changes the price more than anything else in the city.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · Boston Freedom Trail Walking Tour with Costumed Guide · from $26
Freedom Trail toursCostumed guides, small groups, or an audio guide in your pocket.
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On your own, with audioA GPS-triggered narration and your own pace between stops.
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Colonial tavern crawlsTaverns the patriots drank in, with a pour at each one.
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Beacon Hill walksGas lamps, Acorn Street and the Black Heritage Trail.
All 166 Boston walking tours →
Salem, Newport, the Cape: where a Boston day trip actually goes.
Commuter rail north to the witch trials, a coach south to the Gilded Age mansions, a ferry out to the islands. Six directions, each an easy return by dinner.
Boston Harbor by schooner, duck boat or whale-watch catamaran.
The tea went into this water in 1773. Today it carries tall ships under sail, amphibious duck boats that splash into the Charles, and fast cats heading out to the whales on Stellwagen Bank.
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3The Boston tours most visitors end up taking.
Every Boston tour reviewed →Salem by night, a duck boat on the river, the Freedom Trail by day. The bookings that fill first, and why they keep doing it.
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Boston Duck Boat Sightseeing City Tour with Cruise Along Charles River
See Boston by road and river in a renovated World War II amphibious vehicle. A ConDUCKtor narrates the route past Boston Common, the State House, Quincy Market and more before a 20-minute cruise on the Charles River. Choose a departure near the Museum of Science, New England Aquarium or Prudential Center.
From · $59
Read our review →
2
Boston Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour with 13 Stops
from $52
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Whale Watching Tour in Gloucester
from $48
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Salem’s Best Ghost Tour
from $30
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Harvard University Student-Guided Walking Tour
from $22
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Newport Gilded Age Mansions Trolley Tour with Breakers Admission
from $47
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Harvard University Campus Guided Walking Tour
from $23
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Boston Fenway Park: Guided Ballpark Tour with Options
from $20
Salem makes its living from 1692. October is when it cashes in.
Twenty people were executed here in the witch trials, and the town has been telling the story ever since: on night walks past the Witch House, at the memorial on Liberty Street, and to half a million October visitors.
Every Salem tour →
Four Boston bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of the city can be sorted the night before. These four run on ballgame schedules, whale seasons, ferry timetables and the October rush north of the city.
- 01Boston Fenway Park: Guided Ballpark Tour with OptionsOn game days the ballpark tours stop hours before first pitch, so the Red Sox home schedule decides your slots.from $20
- 02City Cruises Whale Watching CruiseBoston whale watches run roughly spring to autumn, and summer weekend boats sell out first.from $85
- 03Salem Witch Museum Admission TicketIn October the museum moves to advance timed tickets, and the slots go long before the leaves turn.from $18
- 04Boston to Martha’s Vineyard Day Trip with Optional Island TourThe island day hangs on the ferry timetable from the Cape, and summer Saturdays fill first.from $129
What a day out of Boston costs, from a $5 walk to a Newport coach.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. More than half the list costs under $50 a head, Freedom Trail included.
Freedom Trail walks, Salem ghost tours, Harvard Yard with a student, the harbor at sunset.
- 1Whale Watching Tour in Gloucesterfrom $48
- 2Salem’s Best Ghost Tourfrom $30
- 3Harvard University Student-Guided Walking Tourfrom $22
Whale watches, North End food tours, the Newport mansions with Breakers admission.
Full days to Plymouth or the White Mountains, private guides and the island trips.
When a nor’easter shuts the harbor, Boston moves indoors.
From December to March the snow arrives by the foot and the whale boats stay tied up. The good news: the Tea Party ships, the aquarium, the North End bakeries and the old taverns all have roofs.
Three Boston neighborhoods that do one thing nowhere else does.
Plenty of cities have a university, an Italian quarter and a hill of old houses. Only one has Harvard Yard, the Old North Church steeple and Acorn Street.
Harvard Yard
The statue of John Harvard is known as the statue of three lies: the face is not his, he was not the founder, and the date is wrong. Student guides tell you that within ten minutes, then walk you past Widener Library and the dorms where the presidents slept. MIT is one stop down the Red Line.
- 1Harvard University Student-Guided Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,931 reviews
- 2Harvard University Campus Guided Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,632 reviews
- 3MIT and Harvard Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 486 reviews
The North End
Boston’s oldest neighborhood packs Paul Revere’s 1680 house, the Old North Church of the two lanterns and a hundred red-sauce kitchens into a few blocks off Hanover Street. Every food tour has to settle the Modern Pastry versus Mike’s argument, and none of them settle it the same way.
- 1Boston Food & History: Pizza, North End & Freedom Trail★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,772 reviews
- 2Boston North End Food Tour of 6+ Tastings, Cannoli, Lobster Roll★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,404 reviews
- 3Boston’s North End Food Tour: Italian Flavors & Heritage Walk★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,322 reviews
Beacon Hill
Federal-style row houses, purple window glass and gas lamps that still burn all day. Acorn Street is the photo, but the African Meeting House of 1806 and the stops on the Black Heritage Trail are the reason to walk the hill with someone who knows it.
- 1Downtown Freedom Trail, Beacon Hill & Back Bay Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 473 reviews
- 22-Hour Beacon Hill True Crime Expert Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 182 reviews
- 3Beacon Hill Boston History + Photo Walking Tour (SMALL Group)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 163 reviews
By town: the city and the coast around it
By kind of day: on foot, on the water, at the table
Fresh Boston tour reviews, newest first.
More new Boston reviews →![[ESP] History of Salem Witch Trials](https://photos.bostonreviewed.com/wp-content/uploads/esp-history-of-salem-witch-trials-400x267.jpg)
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Private Walking Salem Legends Tour Professional Guide
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Witches of Salem Tour: Mysteries, Myths, and Magic
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Experience Authentic Salem Séance with Entry Pass
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Pirates and Privateers Walking Tour with Real Pirates Admission
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