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Boston Museums

The historic City of Boston has some of the most fascinating monuments and attractions in the Northeastern United States. A city rich in traditions offers incredible dining, sightseeing, and historically preserved Boston Attractions dating back to before the American Revolution. Old Town Trolley Tours offers the most comprehensive sightseeing experience in the city. We take you to the best places in Boston allowing you to hop on and off at your convenience. You're on vacation and Old Town Trolley lets you sit back, relax, and enjoy one of America's most Historic Cities.

Best Way To Explore the Free Museums in Boston

Boston, the beacon of rich history and culture, offers a myriad of museums that you can explore without spending a dime. Embarking on this journey not only enriches your knowledge but also provides a unique perspective on the art, history, and science that Boston has to offer. These free museums are a must in your vacation itinerary, presenting an unmatched blend of education and entertainment that caters to all ages and interests. Hence, your Boston trip won’t be complete without immersing yourself in these incredible repositories of knowledge and creativity.

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Romantic Things To Do in Boston on a Date

The cobblestone streets, beautiful parks and historic buildings of the Cradle of Liberty set the perfect backdrop to celebrate a budding or long-term romantic relationship. Boston features a number of romantic things to do. Whether you are heading out to celebrate an anniversary, Valentine’s Day or just the perfect Boston date night, you can choose from simple pleasures or extravagant adventures. Locals as well as visitors can experience unforgettable outings with one of the following romantic things to do in Boston.

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MIT Museum

The M.I.T. Museum is a window into the world of some of the latest and most exciting research at MIT. Visitors can explore over 150 years of education and research in the forefront of science, engineering, and technology. Located at 265 Massachusetts Avenue, the Museum presents an exciting array of exhibitions, covering everything from artificial intelligence and oceanography, to architecture, three-dimensional holograms, and the world’s largest collection of the much loved kinetic sculptures by Arthur Ganson.

Approximate Time to Allow: 2 hrs

JFK Museum

Designed by I.M. Pei, the John F. Kennedy Library was dedicated by President Jimmy Carter and the Kennedy Family in 1979. Located on a ten acre park, the museum is dedicated to the life and legacy of the 35th president of the United States. The library also hosts the Profiles in Courage award, given annually to honor elected public officials.

Gibson House Museum

7 Stop 7 (617) 267-6338

The Gibson House offers visitors a glimpse into 19th century living in Boston’s Back Bay. As one of the Back Bay’s first residences, the Gibson House was built in the mid-19th century and remains the unspoiled residence of a well-to-do Victorian Boston family. Kitchen, scullery, butler’s pantry, and baths, as well as formal rooms and personal quarters are filled with the Gibsons’ original furniture and personal possessions. Located on 137 Beacon Street, between Arlington and Berkeley Streets, Boston.

Things to Do Near Copley Square Boston

Named to honor the famed Boston artist John Singleton Copley, this Back Bay neighborhood is well known for its history and iconic architectural structures. Here, you can spend the day enjoying its charms in the way of various cafes, historical points of interest and upscale shops. There is also much to do, see and explore just footsteps away. Here’s a guide to some of the top things to do near Copley Square.

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Boston Field Trip Tours

Our Historical Tour is geared to all ages and takes you through Boston while recounting the history of our beautiful city. Your conductor will tell stories from the past while weaving in current events and happenings as well by mixing the old and the new.

Our Sons and Daughters of Liberty Tour is geared toward middle school students and focuses on The Revolutionary War time and history. It is an interactive tour with a costumed character on board and two stops along the way.

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Institute of Contemporary Art

17 Stop 17

Housed in a dazzling edifice, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is a treasured centerpiece in Boston’s flourishing Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Featuring a glass-enclosed gallery space cantilevered over the Boston Harbor, the modern façade of the Institute provides an interesting contrast to the historic architectural designs prominent in the city’s skyline. The arrival of the museum in 2006 helped spur the artistic renaissance of this former warehouse district. The ICA sponsors a variety of dynamic permanent and rotating exhibits in its breathtaking waterfront setting.

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Getting Around Boston On Vacation

open all day

When planning your Boston vacation, keep in mind that while the city is compact and easy to get around, driving your own car is not highly recommended. The streets and neighborhoods can be jumbled and difficult to navigate, especially if you’re not familiar with them. Between the many one-way streets and the confusing layout, you could spend lots of your precious vacation time getting lost and turned around. Read on for some of the top options to get around Boston.

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Must Do Activities For First Time Visitors To Boston

The city of Boston is filled with things to do from visiting popular museums to walking the Freedom Trail. Enjoy Boston’s rich history and see all the sights during your trip. After touring the major attractions, take a leisurely stroll around the Boston Public Garden or stop by for a refreshing drink at Cheers. Conveniently located near the trolley stops, these attractions are must-dos for first time visitors of all ages.

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Things to Do in the Winter

When the temperature starts to drop and the winter season begins, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in Boston. Whether visiting many of the city’s most popular indoor attractions or enjoying events and other seasonal activities, here are some of the top things to do during winter in Boston.

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Things to Do in Boston During the Spring

Spring is in the air! And you know what that means – warm days filled with sunshine, inviting you to get out and enjoy all there is to do and see in Boston. Read on for some of the top things to do in Boston during spring. Take a Ride on a Swan Boat
. Nothing says “welcome spring!” like the opening of the Swan Boats at the Boston Public Garden. It has been more than 130 years since the Swan Boats made their first voyage on the beautiful waters of the lagoon. This family-owned business has been welcoming guests for generations and is one of the city’s most unique and beloved traditions.

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Things To Do With Kids

If you’re heading to Boston with family, great fun is in store for everyone. The Cradle of Liberty is a wondrous place where old and new mesh beautifully and history and culture abound on every corner. There are a ton of things to do with kids including attractions, sights, museums, and activities throughout Boston. Looking for the most efficient and entertaining way to visit many of the things to do in Boston with kids? Look no further because Old Town Trolley Tours offers parents a relaxing way to tour all the best attractions in Boston for kids. Parents don’t have to worry about searching for directions to the New England Aquarium, driving to the Museum of Science, or finding parking while traveling from all of Boston’s best attractions. Our hop on and hop off trolley tours allow the parents to concentrate on having fun with their kids instead of worrying about logistics. There are so many awesome things to do with kids in Boston!

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Labor Day in Boston

Residents of Boston typically flee the city during the Labor Day Weekend to Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard for the last holiday celebration of the summer. This makes it a great time for vacationers to visit Boston with less traffic and easier access to the attractions. Check out some of the things to do in Boston during Labor Day weekend:

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How To See Boston in 2 Days

Your friends who have traveled here might say you need more than 2 days in Boston to see all the best attractions, but many of the attractions only require 30 minutes to an hour for a tour. This means that you can easily visit five Boston attractions per day and still have time for three leisurely meals; and we all know how important it is to eat the great food in Boston! Here’s a recommended itinerary from our travel planners who know all the shortcuts.

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How to See Boston in 1 Day

The city of Boston is one of the most visited destinations in the country and with good reason. Millions of people come each year to experience the rich heritage that comes alive on practically every corner, the abundance of cultural attractions, entertaining venues and diverse dining scene. If you only have one day to explore Boston, jump on the Old Town Trolley and follow these recommended stops to see the best of the city.

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The Sports Museum

4 Stop 4

The Sports Museum is located on the 5th and 6th floors of the TD Garden. This Boston attraction features exhibits organized by sport, including hockey (Boston Bruins, Hartford Whalers, and Olympics), basketball (Boston Celtics), football (New England Patriots), and baseball (Boston Red Sox). Concourse galleries also feature boxing, rugby, soccer and artifacts from the Boston Marathon. The museum has life-size statues of Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, and Harry Agganis, an old Boston Garden hockey penalty box, and thousands of other items.

Boston Children’s Museum

14 Stop 14

Boston Children’s Museum is the second oldest and one of the most influential children’s museums in the world. For over 100 years it has been engaging children in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. The Museum’s exhibits and programs emphasize hands-on engagement, learning through experience, and employing play as a tool to spark the inherent creativity, curiosity, and imagination of children. Designed for children and families, Museum exhibits focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math), environmental awareness, and health & fitness.

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Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum

14 Stop 14

Located on the Congress Street Bridge, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is an interactive, high tech, floating museum. Unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before, this unique museum sits on a barge in the water, includes tours on restored tea ships and a stunning, interactive documentary that immerses you into the events that led up to the American Revolution. Touch, feel, see and hear what the patriots felt when their passions and angers flared at the injustice of taxation without representation. Participate in multi-sensory exhibits, witness dramatic reenactments by professional actors and historians and discover the true story behind the Boston Tea Party.

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African Meeting House

13 Stop 13

Dedicated in 1806, the African Meeting House is the Oldest African American Church and was the First African Baptist Church in the United States. Over the years it also served as a school and a community meeting place. It was here that William Lloyd Garrison founded the New England Slavery Society, making it the center of the abolitionist movement. In 1972, the building was acquired by the Museum of Afro-American History and it was restored in 1987. Today, the museum commemorates African American history from slavery to the abolitionist movement, with a focus on educational equality.

Museum of African American History

7 Stop 7 open Mon-Sat from 10am-4pm

The Museum of African American History is New England’s largest museum dedicated to telling the story of organized black communities from the Colonial period through the 19th century. A variety of exhibits, programs, events and educational activities are presented that showcase the stories of black families – from how they lived, educated their children, worshiped, worked, created artwork and how they organized politically to advance the cause of freedom. Located within the African Meeting House, which is the oldest African Meeting House in America and inside the Abiel Smith School, which was the first building in the country constructed for the sole purpose of housing a black public school, the buildings themselves are a big part of the rich heritage and incredible past of the African Americans in New England.

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Nichols House Museum

6 Stop 6

Built in 1805 and renovated in 1830, the Nichols House Museum was constructed by architect Charles Bulfinch. The museum takes its name from Rose Standish Nichols, who lived in the house between 1885 and 1960, and represents the lifestyle of the American upper class during that period. The Nichols House Museum offers a room-by-room tour of the four-story row house, which is decorated in original furnishings.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

9 Stop 9

Isabella Stewart Gardner, a patron of the arts, established the museum in 1903 when her own property on Beacon Hill became too small for her growing collection. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was designed as a replica of the 15th century Venetian style palazzo. Because Gardner disliked the cold, impersonal experience that museums usually offer, she chose the palazzo-style, a design which provides natural light and garden views. The museum, a must-see Boston attraction, features three floors of galleries surrounding a garden courtyard. The collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, furniture, and decorative arts spanning 300 years, from locations around the world.

Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)

9 Stop 9

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is one of the largest museums in the U.S., housing the second largest permanent museum collection in the Western Hemisphere. The museum is affiliated with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in Nagoya, Japan. The Museum of Fine Arts offers a fine permanent collection from the masters of American painting as well as a vast selection of works of art from all important periods; it also hosts special exhibits on loan from around the world.

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Museum of Science (MOS)

4 Stop 4

Boston’s Museum of Science, located on the Charles River Basin, has over 500 interactive exhibits and a variety of live presentations throughout the day. The museum also features a planetarium, New England’s only domed IMAX, a theater of electricity with one of the world’s largest Van de Graaff generators, and exhibits from the original Computer History Museum. Beginning with a collection of men sharing scientific interests in the early 1830’s, the museum still houses some of the artifacts that were originally stored and displayed.

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USS Constitution and Museum

3 Stop 3 open Closed on Mondays during the off season.

Launched in 1797, the USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. Crisscrossing the globe, this three-masted frigate participated in the Barbary War off the coast of North Africa and sailed the Caribbean in search of pirates. She earned her nom de guerre Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 when enemy cannonballs bounced off her resilient wooden hull. Docked in the Charlestown Navy Yard, the famous ship is a floating museum open to public. It is also a stop on the on the Freedom Trail and the Old Town Trolley.

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FAQs

Our Boston tour is 13 miles long and two hours from start to finish, but our route is designed for you to hop off at any stop, explore a Boston attraction or neighborhood, and hop back on when you are ready to resume your Boston sightseeing experience.

The tour visits South End, Back Bay, Historic North End, Beacon Hill, the Theater District, Downtown Crossing, the Seaport District, and Charlestown.

We operate the city’s largest fleet of sightseeing vehicles and this allows us to pick up and drop off more frequently than any other tour company. The frequency of the trolleys depends on the time of the year, traffic, and weather conditions, but typically it is every 20 minutes. April – October: Daily. 9am – 5pm. November – March: Daily. 9am – 4pm.

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile urban brick walking path that takes in different historical Boston sites. The trolley tour gets you close to many of the sites along the Freedom Trail, as well as all the other major points of interest around the city of Boston. Our Boston tours help you explore the entire Freedom Trail without having to walk it all on foot.

If you’ve ever visited or plan to visit Boston, you’ll know that getting around can be a bit tricky. However, there’s an easy solution to that — the Old Town Trolley. Hop on, and you’ll be able to explore some of the city’s best attractions without the bother of driving or navigating traffic. Exploring Boston without a car is easier than you think thanks to Old Town Trolley. From historic sites and shopping to amazing food and beautiful beaches, Boston has something for everyone, and the trolley takes you to all the best spots.

Boston’s most picturesque neighborhood is Beacon Hill, an area that boasts stunning architecture, cobblestone streets, and charming boutiques. For those who want to make the most of their time and see Beacon Hill from a unique perspective, hopping on the Old Town Trolley is the way to go.

The first stop of the Old Town Trolley in Beacon Hill is at the Massachusetts State House. From this towering location, visitors can take in the stunning panoramic views of the city and the Charles River. The tour guide will provide visitors with fascinating facts about the State House’s history, including the famous codfish atop its dome, the symbol of Boston’s fishing industry.

The trolley then takes visitors through the heart of Beacon Hill’s residential area, a place filled with old brick houses, antique gas lamps, and postcard-perfect scenery. The highlight of this tour is undoubtedly the stop at the Old North Church, known as the church that started the U.S. Revolution.

Continuing down Beacon Hill, the trolley stops at the legendary Cheers bar, also known as the set of the hit TV show, “Cheers.” Visitors can sit at the same bar where Norman and Cliff once did, take photos, and enjoy the historic décor.

Boston’s Beacon Hill is a hidden treasure of American history, and the Old Town Trolley is the perfect way to experience it. From the State House’s panoramic views to the blue skies to stopping at a bar where everyone knows your name, this tour offers visitors a unique way to see the city’s hidden treasures while learning about Boston’s vibrant past.

Here are some of the must-see attractions that you can explore on the Old Town Trolley Tour:

1. The Freedom Trail: This iconic 2.5-mile-long trail takes you through 16 significant historical sites that were crucial to the American Revolution. You’ll see the Massachusetts State House, Paul Revere’s House, Old North Church, the USS Constitution Museum, and more. The Freedom Trail is a fascinating way to learn about the city’s rich history.

2. Acorn Street: Located in Beacon Hill, this street is a throwback to Colonial times with its cobblestone streets, gas lamps, and impeccably preserved 19th-century homes. Its houses are some of the oldest in Boston, and their exteriors have remained mostly unchanged for over a century. Acorn Street’s timeless look and feel, mixed with its New England charm, has made it a favorite among filmmakers.

3. Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum: The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is an interactive, high-tech, floating museum. Unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before, this unique museum sits on a barge in the water and includes tours on restored tea ships and a stunning, interactive documentary that immerses you into the events that led up to the American Revolution.

4. Quincy Market: This colorful marketplace is a shopper’s paradise, with more than 100 vendors selling everything from souvenirs to food. You can indulge in some classic Boston dishes such as clam chowder or a lobster roll.

5. Bunker Hill Monument: This 221-foot granite obelisk commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was a pivotal moment in the American Revolution. You can climb to the top for a stunning view of the city.

Boston transforms into a picturesque and vibrant city at night, and it offers plenty of things to do for those who are up for some nighttime fun. If you’re visiting Boston this summer, there’s no better way to explore the city after dusk than taking the Boston Summer Night Tour by Old Town Trolley. You’ll be able to visit historic landmarks and hidden gems that are illuminated by the city’s glow. From the Old North Church and the USS Constitution, Boston has a plethora of iconic and historic landmarks to explore. From the stunning harbor views to the twinkling skyline at night, explore these sites under the cover of darkness, where the ambiance and atmosphere are simply magical.

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