I am headed to boston in a couple of weeks. Ive been once but it was years ago, dont remember much and Im going with a gf that has never been.

I am planning on staying somewhere near the historic stuff / waterfront so that I can walk everywhere. Id love some "off the beaten path" ideas, tours, cruises, funky museums, etc.

Id appreciate any recs for bars, restaurants, places to stay. I was looking at the "The Liberty Hotel" although it looks like it may be farther from the historic stuff. The Kimpton 9-0 looks like a good location as does the XV Beacon.

Thanks to all for any advice or ideas.

A good start would be to grab a Freedom Trail map and just start walking. There is so, so much to see. We did hop in for part of a really great tour given by a Park Ranger that started in Fanuiel Hall if I recall correctly. I believe they have a lot of guided tours that start there and the Rangers are very passionate. We also did a harbor cruise that was awesome, maybe about 90 minutes long, highly recommend.

I can vouch for the Liberty Hotel. Super cool, used to be a prison and it's almost certainly haunted. But the service is very good and the rooms are nice.

Liberty is an awesome hotel, and being far from stuff is relative in downtown Boston. It's right in Beacon hill, on the esplanade, and the red line is right out the front door if you absolutely do not want to walk the mile or so to park st.

As for things to do, if you're doing the freedom trail, I'd take the ferry from the aquarium to Charlestown to see the Constitution, Bunker Hill, etc. Its cheap, fast, and gives you an awesome view from the Harbor.

For drinking spots, there are several beer gardens set up on the greenway downtown. Trillium is the most popular. There's also one in Charlestown in the old Navy yard. Pier 6 in Charlestown is another great spot where I always take people. Food is pretty good, but you go for the drinks and the view.

In Summer, Fenway will be hoppin if the Sox are in town. I always loved baseball tavern, but they closed down. My old college bar is in Kenmore square, a quick walk away, and I always go there when I'm in the city. Cornwalls. might be more due to nostalgia than anything, but the staff is super friendly and it's always a much more relaxed environment than most of the places right around the stadium.

A lot of the places I used to go on the Cambridge side have permanently closed since COVID hit, so I dont know that I have a ton of recommendations for that side of the river. Cambridge Brewing Company is a great brewpub near Kendall Sq./MIT.

EDIT: People will line up to tell you about Italian food in the North End. Go if you really love Italian food, I guess, but to me, the food has always been bland, sauces watery, overcrowded, and overly expensive. The original Regina Pizzeria is awesome though.

Gardner Museum is a wonderful famous art museum - well worth the visit,we stopped by for what I thought would be a quick visit and got draw into several hours of looking around and the unbelievable collection

UFO brewery was an unexpected tour and food/beer stop

Fenway whether the Sox are in town or not was cool tour

Kennedy library is also a great stop

and of course the Freedom Trail

Trillium Brewery and Row 34 next door for dinner

We stayed at the Residence Inn Boston Harbor at Tudor Wharf. It is right down the street from the USS Constitution and an easy walk from quite a bit of the rest of the Freedom Trail. One thing to keep in mind is that most of the hotels in Boston don't include parking in the rate, and the rates they charge are generally $50/night or higher in some cases. We were going to be driving to Maine after doing the Freedom Trail, so we took a cab from the airport to the hotel the night we got in, then picked up our rental at a satellite Avis location located in amongst the Freedom Trail. The rental was cheaper even though we dropped it back at the airport than it would have been if we had rented directly at the airport, and we didn't have to pay to park the rental car overnight in Boston.

good stuff in here

https://texags.com/forums/54/topics/3195075

If you're a baseball fan at all, a tour of Fenway was super cool

Good timing for the thread. Wife and I are headed to Boston for a long weekend next week. Going to the Yankees/Sox series all three games to watch our friend who plays for the Yankees. Excited to see what that rivalry at Fenway is all about.

Is the Fenway tour worth it, or just walking the stadium good enough?

The tour will go a few places you cant do on your own
there is even a deeper VIP "batting cage" tour I think they called it that starts before the game

took my son-in-law and daughter who are big Red Sox fans and at one point we're standing next to them when they brought in several World Series trophies for all of us to see, the kids freaked out
the tour also goes through the press box, up on the green monster and then several places back stage and through the Club offices - and of course you get the option to buy some swag

If you're going to primarily take in Fenway, head to the area a couple of hours early and go to bleacher bar on landsdowne st. One wall is a gate/fence in the outfield that they open up so you can watch batting practice from your barstool.