Boston trip in May

[Big B]

My wife and I will be in the Boston area in May for my brother-in-law's college graduation. We have a few extra days there.

What are some of the must see sites there?
I like history and we are planning walking the Freedom Trail, but I'd like to hear what others would recomend.

Any recomendations for places to eat?

[the_alias]

Sam Adams Brewery tour is free and you get to taste beer - I enjoyed that Also if you go to O'Doyles after they give you a free cool pint glass.

[KentsOkay]

I kinda feel like a bum, I came up her a year and a half ago and still haven't intentionally gone out and seen any sites except for the USS Constitution.

[silversnake]

My wife and I will be in the Boston area in May for my brother-in-law's college graduation. We have a few extra days there.

What are some of the must see sites there?
I like history and we are planning walking the Freedom Trail, but I'd like to hear what others would recomend.

Any recomendations for places to eat?

Freedom trail is a cool place to start. Beware of the masses of tourists doing the same thing though. If you can get outside of Boston a bit, the Saugus Iron Works is worth a morning as you can experience it all in 90 minutes to two hours or spend all day there poking at things if you like and it's reasonably off the beaten path. From there, you could continue north to Salem to Salem Maritime and all the witch stuff. I also really enjoyed visiting George's Island in the harbor and walking around the Civil War era fort there. You can also check out some of the other harbor islands such as the cool visitor's center on Spectacle Island. If you don't want to take a boat, check out Castle Island which can be reach by land as part of the city's harbor walk.

That's a bunch of the free, or mostly so, outdoor stuff. There's also the Aquarium, shopping in Faneuil Hall market downtown, the Museum of Science, the Museum of Fine Art, and the Isalbella Stewart Gardner Museum. That last is kind of neat both for the art and the history of a very infamous art theft - I've been told they still have the empty spaces on display where the stolen paintings were hung.

Hope that helps get things started for you. I'd say you could easily fill an entire day just going to any one of the museums, a whole day just doing the aquarium and Faneuil Hall, or an entire day hitting the historic sights on the north shore or taking in one or more of the islands.

[Big B]

Sam Adams Brewery tour is free and you get to taste beer - I enjoyed that Also if you go to O'Doyles after they give you a free cool pint glass.

Thanks for the info, I'll have to check them out.


ETA- silversnake, thanks for the recomendations!

[austin93906]

im glad i found this. ill be going to boston/rhode island/new hampshire in june, and will spend my 21'st birthday over there. i think the Sam Adams tour would be a hell of a first drink!