# Boston Vacation - What activities should we do?



## Sunshine10 (Aug 11, 2015)

Hi,

We are driving to Boston for a family vacation the first week of September, for 5 nights.  We are a family with 2 kids, ages 8 and 10.  We're looking for suggestions of activities to do, and how best to do them.  Costco sells the 3 day Go Boston Card.  Has anyone had experience with it, and is it worthwhile?
Are there any other discount cards or packages we should be considering?

the aquarium is definitely on our to do list.

all suggestions appreciated.  Thanks!


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## Bee (Aug 11, 2015)

I think your kids would enjoy visiting the Tea Party Boat. Kids get to play parts in reenacting the Tea Party. If you use the hop on/hop off bus you can get free tickets. 

Also the kids and you might enjoy the Ghost & Graveyard tour.

Don't miss the Freedom Trail.

Bee


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## Sunshine10 (Aug 12, 2015)

Bee, Thanks for the suggestions!


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## Icc5 (Aug 12, 2015)

*City Bus Tour*

When in Biston as in many of the famous cities we did and enjoyed the City Bus Tour.  We were able to see where several of the famous places are, get on/off and spend time learning about and enjoying the city.  We do this first thing and then can plan easier.  It also gives you the city layout, transportation systems,what to see and what to avoid.
Have a great and enjoyable trip.
Bart


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## jtp1947 (Aug 12, 2015)

Beginning June 9, Constitution will reopen to the public and remain open throughout the restoration with tours scheduled:
* Tuesday through Friday from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
* Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. (closed Mondays).
Visitors will see something remarkable - an active shipyard with craftspeople including, blacksmiths, wood workers and others, working to make sure USS Constitution remains ship shape for future generations.
Also, the Sox are in town that week if you want to catch a game.  You can also tour the park during the daytime.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/tour.jsp


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 12, 2015)

Please do a search here on Tug using the word Boston.

You'll find a lot of helpful suggestions and information.



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## Sunshine10 (Aug 12, 2015)

Thank you all for the additional suggestions.  
and I will do more searches on TUG for other threads of information / suggestions!
Thanks


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 12, 2015)

Sunshine10 said:


> Thank you all for the additional suggestions.
> and I will do more searches on TUG for other threads of information / suggestions!
> Thanks



  After you do your search, please post your questions and we'll help.

 Get a good Boston tour book online or from your library. 

 May I ask where you're staying ? Asking as many hotels have good concierge services.

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## lvhmbh (Aug 12, 2015)

Do the Swan ride in the Boston Garden (also beautiful place just to walk around).


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 12, 2015)

lvhmbh said:


> Do the Swan ride in the Boston Garden (also beautiful place just to walk around).



  Our Swan Boats in the Boston Public Gardens:   http://swanboats.com/

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## Sunshine10 (Aug 12, 2015)

thanks for the suggestion and link to the swan boats.

we are staying at the Westin Copley Place (they were one of the few Starwood hotels that had availability using SPG points).

From the searching i've done so far on the internet and TUG, it looks like the 3 day Go Boston card maybe a good deal - it has a lot of the activities we are interested in doing.  has anyone had experience using the card?  In Boston or any other city?

thanks everyone!


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## lvhmbh (Aug 13, 2015)

Hah!  I used to live a block from the Public Gardens and couldn't come up with the correct name   Used to walk there every day as well as up Commonwealth Avenue (the center has statues, etc.).  Beauty in the spring summer and fall and squirrel feeding in the winter.


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## mbh (Aug 13, 2015)

*Kids*

Will love the Boston Children's Museum


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## theo (Aug 14, 2015)

*Boston Harbor trip out to Little Brewster Island & Lighthouse*

There is a boat trip out to Little Brewster, one of the "outermost" Boston Harbor islands, most of which (with a few exceptions) are now under the aegis of the National Park Service as "Boston Harbor Islands National Park". You get to see and pass many of the other Boston Harbor islands during the boat trip as well. We took the trip one Sunday morning during a recent weekend visit to Boston and really enjoyed it. Suitable weather and seas are always a factor whenever boats are involved, of course.

Once delivered to Little Brewster, you can actually enter inside and take the (76) spiral staircase stairs to the top of the lighthouse where the (150 years old) lighthouse lens and gear room are located. It might be fascinating (or completely boring, I dunno which ) to kids. I also do not know if they have a minimum age for people to enter the lighthouse and climb its' stairs. There is also some ladder climbing involved to enter into the gear room (optional) and lens room --- this is definitely *not* a suitable activity choice for the claustrophobic or the mobility-challenged. 

I believe these trips (a well informed NPS Ranger narrates some very interesting history on the way out) run only on the weekends, maybe Thursday through Sunday. 
One trip (40 people maximum per trip) leaves at around 0930 and returns around 1 p.m. The second trip leaves at 1:30 p.m. and returns around 4:00. It's interesting, but not cheap; tickets are $40+ per adult; I have no idea about children prices. Further details can surely be easily found in a search on Boston Harbor Islands tours.   

P.S. Fwiw, I predict that this particular lighthouse tour will stop allowing entry into the lighthouse in the not too distant future. The U.S. Coast Guard is concerned about liability and about people touching and leaving fingerprints upon the old, very delicate (and apparently irreplaceable) 150 year old Fresnel lens of the light. USCG very much wants to completely exclude actual entry *into* the lighthouse, but for now the tours (with lighthouse entry allowed) go on...

P.P.S. No food or water on the boat *or* on Little Brewster --- plan to bring your own. Only one unisex marine toilet on the boat --- and *no* "facilities" on the island itself.

P.P.P.S. There are always the "duck boat" tours --- shorter, less expensive, with some time on land and some time in the water. All of the seemingly mandatory audible "quacking" by the tourist passengers seems a bit undignified (...even foolish) when you see / hear them tooling on by, but to each his / her / their  own, I guess...


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## taterhed (Aug 14, 2015)

The hop-on-hop-off bus is great.
 It's on the go card.
 I've used the go card (boston?  can't remember).  It's great.  Read the rules carefully though.  They are inflexible.
 Aquarium, Ironsides, park, North Church and Revere, 

 Also, do Cheers.  Yes, it's a drinking est.  but they serve food.  The kids will see it on TV and go WOW we were there.

 I'm really the one that wanted to go, but kids got the 'TV show ' part of it.


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 14, 2015)

Sunshine10 said:


> Thank you all for the additional suggestions.
> and I will do more searches on TUG for other threads of information / suggestions!
> Thanks



  Sunshine,

    Please give us an idea of what your likes are when vacationing.

  We have great museums (science, art, children), parks, day-out coach trips to Plimoth (spelled correctly  ), local train trip to Salem, harbor and island cruises as suggested by taterhed & Theo, the Freedom Trail, etc  http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/

http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/freedom-trail/  Brochure:  http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/pdfs/Freedom Trail Foundation Official Brochure 2015.pdf

Oh, we have sports and you're in walking  (or a short Green Line hop) distance to Fenway Park. Our Sox aren't doing that well, but the Park itself is a classic.  There is a tour of the park itself if you're interested in baseball.  http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/tour.jsp


Day out coach tours:  http://www.viator.com/Boston-tours/Day-Trips-and-Excursions/d678-g5

  So, if your children are in need of writing a history report at any time, you've come to the right place.


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## raygo123 (Aug 14, 2015)

Let me tell u about the hop on hop off bus experience I had in new York.  I have a bad back, witch hopefully was fixed with surgery last week.  First if you buy the total package upgrade, the bus and boat stops are not even by each other, must walk blocks.  On our north trip around central park we had to get off one bus to another stating that's as far as they go.  So we did.  Have to mention the buses on this route only have second level seating.

We transferred to another bus, and about three minutes later it started to rain, one of those short showers.  The guide started yelling down to the driver to pull over, and did at which time the guide started to scream off the bus everyone off. A
L got off and we asked what we were to do.  His response was " I don't care go to the next stop or find your way back, take a cab.  We were at about 65th St and the next stop was at 110th.  Buy a bus pass once you figure out the system, u decide where to get off and on.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 14, 2015)

raygo123 said:


> Let me tell u about the hop on hop off bus experience I had in new York.  I have a bad back, witch hopefully was fixed with surgery last week.  First if you buy the total package upgrade, the bus and boat stops are not even by each other, must walk blocks.  On our north trip around central park we had to get off one bus to another stating that's as far as they go.  So we did.  Have to mention the buses on this route only have second level seating.
> 
> We transferred to another bus, and about three minutes later it started to rain, one of those short showers.  The guide started yelling down to the driver to pull over, and did at which time the guide started to scream off the bus everyone off. A
> L got off and we asked what we were to do.  His response was " I don't care go to the next stop or find your way back, take a cab.  We were at about 65th St and the next stop was at 110th.  Buy a bus pass once you figure out the system, u decide where to get off and on.
> ...



  Ah, but Boston is not New York. We're smaller = more compact ( and a lot cuter) . 

  The on/off Trolley is good. http://www.trolleytours.com/boston/  You'll save a lot of time.

  The Duck Tours are good, too.


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## taterhed (Aug 14, 2015)

raygo123 said:


> Let me tell u about the hop on hop off bus experience I had in new York. I have a bad back, witch hopefully was fixed with surgery last week. First if you buy the total package upgrade, the bus and boat stops are not even by each other, must walk blocks. On our north trip around central park we had to get off one bus to another stating that's as far as they go. So we did. Have to mention the buses on this route only have second level seating.
> 
> We transferred to another bus, and about three minutes later it started to rain, one of those short showers. The guide started yelling down to the driver to pull over, and did at which time the guide started to scream off the bus everyone off. A
> L got off and we asked what we were to do. His response was " I don't care go to the next stop or find your way back, take a cab. We were at about 65th St and the next stop was at 110th. Buy a bus pass once you figure out the system, u decide where to get off and on.
> ...



 I was on the Boston bus.... it was nothing like you describe.  Neither was D.C. or London.

 Maybe it's just New York.
 Boston, with some 'square edges,' was a delightful town and a great family visit.


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## raygo123 (Aug 14, 2015)

I'm sure your right and duck tours are good. But I could never deal with a company that would strand people like that, disabled or not.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 14, 2015)

raygo123 said:


> I'm sure your right and duck tours are good. But I could never deal with a company that would strand people like that, disabled or not.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk



Agree. You had one very bad experience.

I've been all over the world and once had a rude and unreasonable bus driver in London. A real Class A - jerk. He was finished with his day and made a whole busload of people get off as he was going home. But just that one time and I don't let that experience color my world. Note: I've been to London 15+ times.
On the other hand, I have had the most kind and compassionate London Tube employees assist me when I used my cane after breaking my leg. Once, on the Tube, one employee made sure that I was able to get off the train and then helped roll my luggage to the escalator. Many other good experiences as well.  

There's good and bad in all, everywhere.

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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 14, 2015)

raygo123 said:


> I'm sure your right and duck tours are good. But I could never deal with a company that would strand people like that, disabled or not.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk



Good idea, don't deal with them. They're not the only game in town.

Report them and find another company with good reviews.


=


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## Beaglemom3 (Aug 14, 2015)

Sunshine,

  You're in luck. Lots of things going on in Boston over the Labor Day Weekend including fireworks and half-priced deals. Book early as those half-priced dealies go fast.

http://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/boston-labor-day.html


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## Sunshine10 (Aug 14, 2015)

Wow - thanks everyone for the responses!  Very helpful.  I have a lot more reading / research to do on the various options!

We are in Boston from Aug 30 to Sept 4, for 5 nights.  unfortunately, we'll miss the Labour Day long weekend and fireworks.  But from the looks of things, there certainly is a lot to do in the city.

I anticipate my family will split up into two, to do different things most days to accommodate the different interests of my kids.  one is very flexible and will enjoy anything and everything.  the other is inflexible and becomes impatient very quickly (For example, he and I will likely do the aquarium in record time, while the other two will be able to get hours of enjoyment out of it).

I appreciate the variety of choices we'll have - Boston looks to be both very entertaining, and educational.


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## JT (Aug 16, 2015)

*We just got back from Boston.*

We purchased the 5 day go card.  We used for hop on hop off,  Charles river cruise, Boston tall ship, U.S.S. Constitution,  acquarium, revere house, fenuil hall, old state house, gray line tour to Maine.  Fenway park tour.

On our own we did the Boston tea party reinactment, cheers, Lego discovery center, and 90% of freedom trail.

Restaurants we recommend include reginas pizza, giacamos, modern pastry in north end, the union oyster house downtown,

Pubs the black rose and green dragon.

We did this with 2 kids 11 and 8.

Kids under 12 are free on the T.  You can purchase a Charlie card for 7 days unlimited use for adults $19 per.


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## theo (Aug 17, 2015)

jtmounce said:


> We purchased the 5 day go card.  We used for hop on hop off,  Charles river cruise, Boston tall ship, U.S.S. Constitution,  acquarium, revere house, fenuil hall, old state house, gray line tour to Maine.  Fenway park tour.
> 
> On our own we did the Boston tea party reinactment, cheers, Lego discovery center, and 90% of freedom trail.
> 
> ...



Wow! I'm tired after just *reading* this summary.


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## Sunshine10 (Aug 17, 2015)

jtmounce, 
Thank you for sharing your experience with the Go Boston Card, and recommendations for things to do, places to eat, and how to get around!  much appreciated.


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## Bee (Aug 17, 2015)

Restaurant/Pub The Bell in Hand is old like the Green Dragon. It's been around since the 1600's. It has great sandwiches and burgers. Get a table near the open windows. I really liked this place.

There's a good cheap sub type of sandwich shop near the Custom House on State St., that makes huge tasty sandwiches - probably the best inexpensive food we had in Boston. Ate the second half of our sandwiches on the plane home. It was really the size of a full sandwich.


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## hvsteve1 (Aug 18, 2015)

Eat your way through the North End (Little Italy). Get famous pizza at Regina's, if your kids aren't up for a sit-down Italian dinner. Hit the bakeries and  load up on some of the best pastries.

Also, Boston has one of the best Duck rides.  We take the ducks wherever we go and Boston had one of the most interesting rides.

They also have a real Chinatown which you might find worthwhile.

Boston is really compact and you can walk almost everywhere if you're fairly young and in good shape.  I'm not that young but would have no trouble walking from the North End to Chinatown at the South End.  It is, I believe, about two miles with a lot to see and stop for along the way.


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## dioxide45 (Aug 22, 2015)

We bought four of the 3 Day GoBoston cards for the two of us while we were in Boston for a week this past June. This gave us the ability to actually book two premium tours. We went to Cape Code and also did the whale watch. Cape Code was okay, but we would have rather just done the whale watch twice.

We did get our moneys worth out of the GoBoston cards and I went to many things I wouldn't have otherwise seen. I did walk the entire Freedom Trail on one of the days, DW stayed behind at the room as it was too much walking for her.

The duck tour busses are thick in Boston. We did the hop on hop off trolley tours and we would see at least 10 duck tour busses roll by before our trolley would make a stop. So it seems that the duck tours are very popular. We didn't do one. I would also skip the New England Aquarium. Not much to see there, I thought our little one in Newport Kentucky was lame, but it has the one in Boston beat by a mile. They do run a great whale watch though that we thoroughly enjoyed enough that we would have gone twice.


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## radmoo (Aug 23, 2015)

Al's State Street Cafe




raygo123 said:


> Let me tell u about the hop on hop off bus experience I had in new York.  I have a bad back, witch hopefully was fixed with surgery last week.  First if you buy the total package upgrade, the bus and boat stops are not even by each other, must walk blocks.  On our north trip around central park we had to get off one bus to another stating that's as far as they go.  So we did.  Have to mention the buses on this route only have second level seating.
> 
> We transferred to another bus, and about three minutes later it started to rain, one of those short showers.  The guide started yelling down to the driver to pull over, and did at which time the guide started to scream off the bus everyone off. A
> L got off and we asked what we were to do.  His response was " I don't care go to the next stop or find your way back, take a cab.  We were at about 65th St and the next stop was at 110th.  Buy a bus pass once you figure out the system, u decide where to get off and on.
> ...





Bee said:


> Restaurant/Pub The Bell in Hand is old like the Green Dragon. It's been around since the 1600's. It has great sandwiches and burgers. Get a table near the open windows. I really liked this place.
> 
> There's a good cheap sub type of sandwich shop near the Custom House on State St., that makes huge tasty sandwiches - probably the best inexpensive food we had in Boston. Ate the second half of our sandwiches on the plane home. It was really the size of a full sandwich.


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## LisaRex (Aug 25, 2015)

Even though it was raining cats and dogs, we really enjoyed our walking tour with author Ben Edwards.  We love historical sites, though.


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## Sunshine10 (Sep 7, 2015)

Thanks again everyone for your helpful suggestions.  We had our trip to Boston last week.  We were there for 5 nights.  We loved the city, it was easy to get around (walking, including Boston Custom, and the Public Gardens, taking public transit, or the hop on hop off bus).  It had something for everyone!  We purchased the 3 day Go Boston Card from Costco Canada.  We did not do as many activities as I would have liked, but it was definitely worthwhile.  We all enjoyed the Duck Tour!  We found the aquarium was good, but not great (for us, we are comparing it to Toronto's Ripley's Aquarium).  However, we loved the Penguin exhibit.  Some of us did the Tall Ships, and the Mary Baker Eddy Library.  We also toured Harvard Museum of Natural History and the the Peabody Museum of Archaeology, the Sky walk Observatory, and the 2 day hop on-hop off bus (we activated the Hop on-hop off on our 3 day, and were able to use it the fourth day, even though our Go Boston card expired after 3 days).  Thanks again everyone for your advice!


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