This is historic Boston at its charming best. Explore the cobbled streets and indulge in a cocktail or a craft beer.
In the heart of Boston, poking out into the Charles River, is Beacon Hill. The neighborhood is home to the impressive gold-domed Massachusetts State House, a landmark that was finished in 1798 and is the proverbial beacon on the hill. One of Boston’s nicknames is the “City on a Hill,” and its Puritan founders wanted it to become a beacon of liberty and learning. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if they succeeded.
Beacon Hill is the epicenter of old Boston, where the founding families built huge red-brick mansions, libraries and institutions. Pretty cobbled streets are still lit with mock gas lanterns and you’ll find suitably upscale boutiques, restaurants, and cocktail bars catering to the wealthy Bostonians of today.
While Beacon Hill is dotted with historical sites and colonial-style mansions, it’s also home to another American legend: the Cheers bar. Opened in 1969, this quintessential American neighborhood bar was immortalised in the TV series Cheers. Step inside and see if everyone really does know your name.
Boston is supposed to be one of America’s most walkable cities, so why not put it to the test. To the south of Beacon Hill you’ll find Boston Common, one of the city’s biggest green spaces. Take in the various monuments, rent boats, or (in winter) go ice skating on the Common’s Frog Pond. You’ll feel like a real Bostonian.
Opposite the State House, straight down Pinckney Street, sits the Esplanade, one of the city’s finest spots for taking in the summer nights overlooking the river. Here you’ll find Boston’s iconic Hatch Shell amphitheater, which hosts concerts, plays, and events all summer long (it’s the only place to be on the Fourth of July).