Boston

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile red brick or painted line through Downtown Boston, the North End and Charlestown, and it joins 16 historic sites. Walking it costs nothing. A free Silver Line bus carries arriving travellers from Logan Airport to South Station.

Our guide to where to stay in Boston compares the areas. The sights below are grouped by area, with the prices and hours their own sites print; the state around the city is on our page about Massachusetts.

We checked the figures on 30 October 2026 on the pages of the MBTA, Massport, the National Park Service, the City and NOAA, and on the sights' own sites. The Museum of Fine Arts, Fenway Park and the state's Department of Revenue blocked our reads, so we give no prices or hours for the first two.

How do you get from Logan to South Station on the free Silver Line?

The Silver Line SL1 bus is free from Logan Airport, stops at every terminal and ends at South Station, where the Red Line and Commuter Rail trains leave. The MBTA's schedule for a Tuesday in November gives 24 to 32 minutes from Terminal A, most often 26. Buses are usually 8 minutes apart, sometimes 10 or 15.

Only the airport-to-city direction is free. Heading back to Logan, only the transfer from the Red Line to the SL1 costs nothing; any other start pays the $2.40 subway fare.

The Blue Line is the other train route. A free Massport shuttle bus runs from the terminals to Airport station, and from there the subway fare of $2.40 applies. Airport to State takes 5 to 6 minutes on the schedule. State meets the Orange Line, and Government Center meets the Green Line.

The road distance is our own routing from Terminal B. Massport says the inter-harbour ferry fares match the price of a train ticket, and children aged 11 and under ride free. No page we read gives a taxi or ride-hailing fare. MBTA transit ambassadors at Airport station help with directions, fares and translation.

Is the $11 MBTA day pass worth it, or should you tap a bank card?

The MBTA's 1-Day pass costs $11.00, so it pays off from the fifth subway ride of the day at $2.40 each. A bank card tapped at the reader pays one fare at a time. A contactless card, phone or watch works on buses, the subway and ferries, but not on Commuter Rail.

The passes cover the subway, local and express buses and the Silver Line. On a CharlieCard a pass starts at the first tap, while a paper CharlieTicket pass starts when you buy it. The MBTA calls the CharlieCard best for visitors and regular riders. Fare machines sell and load it and accept cash, bank cards and contactless payment. Children aged 11 and under ride free.

Since 1 September 2026 a pilot has allowed unlimited subway, bus and ferry transfers within two hours, charging only the highest fare. The catch is that every ride has to be paid the same way, and cash earns no free transfer. Commuter Rail takes a CharlieTicket or the mTicket app, and a weekend Commuter Rail pass costs $10.

Most buses and trains run from about 5 a.m. to about 1 a.m., and the MBTA says there is no late-night or overnight train service. The Park Service advises transit over driving, which it calls difficult in the city. The Park Service puts parking at T stations at $2 to $15 a day, and the MBTA's own guide says $5.

For anything suspicious or an emergency on the T, the MBTA's advice is to call 911 or the Transit Police on 617-222-1212. Its support line speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, Cantonese and Mandarin, with interpreters for 240 languages.

How long does the 2.5-mile Freedom Trail take on foot?

The Freedom Trail takes about an hour and a half to walk without stopping, by the Park Service's count. Every site you go into adds 20 to 40 minutes. By that measure, five stops turn the walk into three to five hours, and all 16 would add five to ten.

No official page we read suggests how many days to spend in the city.

The trail is outdoors and open all year, and walking it needs no entrance pass. The Park Service offers a free audio tour in English, Spanish and French, and a free app. Boston National Historical Park is not on the 2026 list of parks that add $100 for visitors from abroad. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the parks where that surcharge applies.

The Freedom Trail Foundation, the trail's non-profit, runs a guided tour called Walk Into History. It lasts 90 minutes, covers 11 of the 16 sites over about a mile, and leaves from the Boston Common Visitor Information Center at 139 Tremont Street. Departures are daily at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Which Freedom Trail sites charge admission, and which are free?

The Freedom Trail's partner sites charge from $6 to $18 an adult, while the sites run by the federal government or the city charge nothing. The free ones are Faneuil Hall, the Bunker Hill Monument and its museum, USS Constitution and Dorchester Heights. The partner sites do not accept national park passes.

The Old State House and Old South Meeting House prices are Revolutionary Spaces' own. The Park Service's fees page, last updated in November 2024, still gives $15 for an adult. Both sites open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in November and December 2026. They close on Thanksgiving, 26 November, and on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

The Old North Church, at 193 Salem Street, opens to visitors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and from 12:30 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The Paul Revere House opens from 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. between 1 November and 14 April. In January, February and March it also closes on Mondays. Card payments there need a $10 minimum.

Faneuil Hall's Great Hall is run by the Park Service, with its Visitor Center on the market floor. Take the Orange or Blue Line to State and walk about half a block on Congress Street; the Park Service does not recommend street parking there. On 30 October 2026 its alert listed Great Hall closures on 8, 13 and 16 to 21 November, plus 3 p.m. closes on 7 and 21 November, as printed. The Visitor Center desk stays open.

Faneuil Hall Marketplace, the shops and food hall around it, opens Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Its own site warns that holiday hours may vary.

What do you need to board USS Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard?

USS Constitution is free to board, but visitors aged 18 and over need a photo ID at a security checkpoint in the Navy Yard Visitor Center. The National Park Service states that rule. The USS Constitution Museum, a separate non-profit, describes the ID as federal or state photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport.

No page we read says whether a passport from another country counts, and the Navy's own visitor page blocked our reads. The screening is similar to airport security, the museum says: jackets, jewellery, watches, belts and bags come off.

The ship opens from Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., by the museum's page, on a first come, first served basis. It closes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. A visit on board takes 15 to 30 minutes, the Park Service says. Wheelchairs, walkers, scooters and strollers are not allowed on board.

The museum itself opens daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a suggested admission of $15 a person. The Navy Yard grounds are open 24 hours a day.

The MBTA ferry from Long Wharf reaches the Navy Yard in about 10 minutes, the Park Service says, and the inner-harbour fare is $2.40.

When do the Public Garden's Swan Boats run?

The Swan Boats on the Public Garden's lagoon closed for the season on Labor Day, 7 September 2026, and the City says they reopen in April 2027. The garden itself is a public park. The City calls it the first public botanical garden in America, established in 1837, at 4 Charles Street.

Boston Common, beside it, was founded in 1634, by the City's page. Its Frog Pond has skating in winter and a spray pool for children in summer. Neither the Common nor the Public Garden lists an admission charge, and the City's pages print no opening hours for them.

When is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum free to enter?

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is free for everyone on Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m., with tickets released two days before. Children aged 17 and under enter free on any day. The museum also opens free on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples' Day in October.

The museum, at 25 Evans Way, opens from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, and from 10 a.m. on weekends. It closes every Tuesday. Holiday closures include Thanksgiving, 26 November, and Christmas Eve from 3 p.m.

The Gardner recommends booking ahead, since popular entry times sell out and tickets may not be available at the door. Bags must measure 12 by 12 by 3 inches or less, and food and drink are not allowed. Non-flash photos are welcome, but tripods and selfie sticks are not.

The Museum of Fine Arts and Fenway Park both blocked our reads, so we give no price, hours or tour times for either.

How do you book the free student-led tour of Harvard Yard?

Harvard's free, student-led walking tour of Harvard Yard needs registration in advance, which opens on the Friday before your tour week. Parties of up to 10 can register. The tour lasts 45 to 60 minutes.

Tours depart from the Visitor Center at the front desk of the Smith Campus Center, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Harvard's visit page gives Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as the centre's hours. In those hours it sells a self-guided tour map for $3. A free app tour includes a 16-stop 250th-anniversary walk.

The MBTA says the Red Line travels to Harvard University. None of Harvard's pages that we could read gives the Yard's own gate hours, so we do not print any.

What do the 14.95% room tax and the 0.75% meals excise add to a bill?

A hotel room in the city carries 14.95% in tax, by the City's budget for the 2027 fiscal year, published in 2026. That is the state's 5.7% excise, a 2.75% convention-centre fee and the city's own 6.5%. Restaurant meals add a local excise of 0.75%.

By our arithmetic, a $200 room costs $229.90 a night with tax, and a $300 room $344.85. Short-term rentals booked on platforms such as Airbnb pay a further 3% fee to the City.

The state's sales tax is 6.25%, a figure we found only in the City's budget volume. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue refused our requests, so neither the state's own sales-tax page nor its meals-tax rate could be read. We therefore give no full tax figure for a restaurant bill. The price pages of the Gardner, Old North Church and Revolutionary Spaces print flat prices with no tax line.

Shelf and menu prices leave the sales tax out; our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why. Our guide to tipping in the USA covers what to add for service.

How much snow falls at Logan, and how hot does July get?

Logan Airport averages 49.2 inches of snow a year on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals, most of it from December to March. July averages a high of 82°F and a low of 66°F, and the airport sees 14.1 days a year at 90°F or more.

March still averages 9.0 inches of snow, and April 1.6. The station records 43.59 inches of precipitation a year, spread evenly across the months. December is the wettest month at 4.30 inches, and February the driest at 3.21. Nights at or below freezing number 91.6 a year.

The city is on Eastern time, the same as New York all year. Clocks went back an hour on Sunday 1 November 2026 at 2 a.m., from UTC−4 to UTC−5.

How long is the Acela to New York, and how far is Acadia National Park?

The Acela from South Station to New York's Moynihan Train Hall takes 3 hours 41 minutes on the quickest train, by Amtrak's timetable of 27 October 2026. Most weekday trains take 3 hours 51 minutes to 4 hours 14 minutes. Acadia National Park is 264 miles away, the Park Service says.

The Acela also stops at Back Bay. We read no fares, and the weekend times in the timetable were too garbled to confirm.

Acadia is on the 2026 list of parks where visitors from abroad aged 16 and over pay an extra $100 a person. Our routing puts the drive at about 5 hours 38 minutes without traffic.