Boston, USA

Boston highlights

Chinatown
Boston Common
Public Gardens
Beacon Hill and Charles River Esplanade
Back Bay
Boston Children’s Museum
Boston Tea Party and Old State House
Quincy Market
Public Market
North End
Letterpress Workshop

Why visit Boston?

For a walkable leafy city with a young, intellectual and vibrant population.

Getting there and around

We flew from Reykjavik to Boston in August 2022 with Icelandair. The flight was 5 hours.

From Boston Logan Airport we took the Silver Line 1 (free) to South Station and then the Red Line to Downtown Crossing T station which was located next to our hotel.

We mainly walked everywhere in Boston but there is also an excellent subway system.

Data

As we would be staying in the USA for 7 weeks we purchased an e-sim data package from Airalo which enabled us to access maps and use the internet without paying roaming chargers to our usual mobile provider. It cost £10 for for 3GB of data for a 30 day e-sim which we could top-up if needed.

Accommodation

Hyatt Regency Hotel

In Boston, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel for in a 2 queen room (£200 per night). The hotel was located 5 minutes from Boston Common.

The hotel was a business hotel rather than family orientated. Nonetheless the staff were helpful and kind. The air con was broken so we asked to move rooms. This request was dealt with promptly and professionally. We even received a card from the manager apologising for the inconvenience!

The hotel was located downtown in a commercial area and in hindsight we wished we had stayed in the Back Bay or Beacon Hill areas where we would have had neighbourhood amenities with a local feel.

Our star rating: 3

Our cost rating: 3

Hyatt Regency Boston

Chinatown

Our hotel was located on the edge of Chinatown which was great because we love Chinese food. After arriving in the city we ate a late lunch (which felt like supper because of the time difference) at Bubor Cha-Cha. We loved their dumplings and spicy crispy chicken with Szechuan chillis. We were all asleep by 7pm - thanks to the jet lag.

Boston Common

We started our first full day in Boston with a 4am jet-lagged wake up! After convincing the kids to play quietly on their iPads and wait until 8am for breakfast we went to Cafe Bonjour which was delicious and a real treat. Blueberry muffin, Eggs Benedict and French Toast with strawberries plus drinks cost £45.

Our plan today was to spend a lot of time outside in the hope that it would help us adjust to the time difference and get over the jet-lag. After breakfast we headed straight to Boston Common. Boston Common was established in 1634 and is the oldest public park in the USA. Our kids played at the ‘tadpole’ playground in the Common.

The kids kept cool in the splash ‘frog’ pool and made friends with other kids in the playground. We loved the variety of languages we heard from families in the playground.

Public Gardens

Next we visited the Public Gardens where there is a lake with its iconic ‘swan boats’ which have been in operation since 1877 in the Public Gardens. We walked around the lake, visited the famous bench where Good Will Hunting was filmed, and reminisced about our favourite Robin Williams’ films. We then crossed over the road to see the Cheers! bar.

Beacon Hill

After visiting the Public Gardens we walked up Charles Street and explored the Beacon Hill area. We really liked the feel of this area - leafy with attractive historic red brick buildings. It reminded us of Hampstead in London.

Charles River Esplanade

Our next stop was another playground - the Esplanade playground - where the kids spent about an hour playing. It was a good playground for older kids with lots of climbing and hiding places. We had a look across the Charles River to Cambridge where we could see MIT and Harvard University.

Back Bay

In the afternoon we walked the length of Newbury Street which is in the Back Bay Area and runs from the Public Gardens to Fenway Park.

Newbury Street is full of designer shops and cafes. We ate lunch (bagels and sandwiches) at the Thinking Cup on Newbury Street. The food was good quality and priced at £25 for four lunches and drinks. We really liked this area, it was lively and interesting.

Boston Children’s Museum

Day 2 in Boston began with another 4.30am wake-up thanks to jet-lag! We had hoped that spending the previous day outside and going to sleep at a normal bedtime would have helped but clearly not.

We grabbed some croissants from the hotel for breakfast and headed to the Children’s Museum where we had booked tickets the day before. Time-slot tickets had to be reserved in advance to reduce numbers as a covid safety precaution.

This museum is aimed at kids aged 11 and under, so it was perfect for our then 7 and 9.5 year olds. It was full of construction, technology and science activities. This museum was a great opportunity for the kids to learn some science while having fun. They learnt about forces in the Kids Power zone, engineering in the fort building area, and the life cycle of strawberry plants in the rooftop veg garden (amongst many other things).

Boston Tea Party and Old State House

Quincy Market

We walked on to Quincy Market. Another old (by USA standards) building, it has operated as a market since 1826 and has a cool dome ceiling. It was very crowded, with lots of tourists and street performers. It had a similar vibe to Covent Garden in London or Las Ramblas in Barcelona. We didn’t love it.

Public Market

So we quickly moved on to our second market of the day. A new market that opened in 2015, the Public Market is smarter than Quincy and features artisan and organic produce and some cooked food stalls. It was akin to Borough market in London or Granville Market in Vancouver (though smaller than both).

By this time the sun was really hot and we were all flagging so we caught a taxi back to the hotel for a rest out of the sun.

North End

On our last day in Boston we visited the North End area of the city which has a large Italian population. Our visit coincided with the Fisherman’s Feast, an annual festival now in its 112th year. We ate lunch at Strega where the food was horrendously overpriced and not good; sadly we would not recommend it.

We walked around the area to take in some more of Boston’s historic sights on the ‘freedom trail’. We saw the Copps Hill burial ground where victims of the Boston Massacre are buried, Old North Church where Paul Revere started his ‘midnight ride’ and the Paul Revere statue. We liked this neighbourhood which felt more ‘real’ compared to downtown.

Letterpress Printing

Final Thoughts

Known for its role in the USA’s fight for independence, Boston is famous for its historical interest and rightfully so. We are all huge fans of the show Hamilton and from watching the show on Disney+ and listening to the soundtrack (a lot!) we have learnt a fair bit about this period of American history. Seeing these places in the flesh helped to bring some of the history to life and develop our learning a bit further.

We enjoyed wandering through the city, soaking up the atmosphere.

In some ways it reminded us of our home city of Sheffield - a green and leafy city with interesting neighbourhoods to explore on foot; and a vibrant and young culture. But Boston also felt much bigger and busier (and more touristy) than our home city.

Boston’s outdoor spaces made it a good place to visit with children. It was hot in August though, and the heat was a real challenge at times. A visit in spring or autumn might have been more sensible. The combination of time spent playing outside and learning about the city’s history was a great balance for a family trip.