Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
($12 adults, $8 children 6-12) from the guide; reservations are not required. The 90-
minute tours take place rain or shine.
Note:
All excursions from Faneuil Hall start at the statue of Samuel Adams on Con-
gress Street.
The
Heart of the Freedom Trail
tour starts at Faneuil Hall daily at 10am and on
Saturday at 2pm. Tours of
Beacon Hill
begin at the foot of the State House steps on
Beacon Street weekdays at 5:30pm, Saturday at 10am, and Sunday at 2pm. Other
tours and meeting places are
Victorian Back Bay,
on the front steps of Trinity
Church, 5:30pm Monday and 10am Friday and Sunday; the
North End,
at Faneuil
Hall, 2pm Friday and Saturday, 1pm Sunday; and
Literary Landmarks,
in front of
Borders, 10-24 School St., 10am Saturday.
Boston Underfoot
looks at subterranean technology, including the subway and the
depression of the Central Artery. It starts at Faneuil Hall Sunday at 2pm and costs $14
(including subway fare). On the last Sunday of each month, a special tour ($15) cov-
ers a particular subject or area such as Art Deco design or Harvard Square. In addi-
tion, the company offers themed holiday strolls and off-season group tours.
For information about other guided walking tours of the
Freedom Trail
(with a
costumed Freedom Trail Player, or free with a National Park Service ranger) see the
section “The Freedom Trail,” on p. 148.
The
Boston Park Rangers
(
&
617/635-7383;
www.cityofboston.gov/parks) offer
free guided walking tours. The best-known focus is the
Emerald Necklace,
a loop of
green spaces designed by pioneering American landscape architect Frederick Law
Olmsted, including Boston Common, the Public Garden, the Commonwealth
Avenue Mall, the Muddy River in the Fenway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, the
Arnold Arboretum, and Franklin Park. The full walk takes 6 hours; a typical offering
is a tour of one of the sites. Call or surf ahead for schedules.
“DUCK” TOURS
The most unusual and enjoyable way to see Boston is with
Boston Duck Tours
(
&
800/226-7442
or 617/267-DUCK; www.bostonduck
tours.com). The tours, offered late March through November only, are pricey but
great fun. Sightseers board a “duck,” a reconditioned World War II amphibious land-
ing craft, behind the Prudential Center on Huntington Avenue or at the Museum of
Science. The 80-minute narrated tour begins with a quick but comprehensive jaunt
around the city. Then the duck lumbers down a ramp, splashes into the Charles River,
and goes for a spin around the basin.
Tickets, available at the Prudential Center, the Museum of Science, and Faneuil
Hall, are $29 for adults, $25 for seniors and students, $19 for children 3 to 11, and
Behind the Scenes at the BSO
From October through early May, free volunteer-led tours of
Symphony Hall,
301 Massachusetts Ave. (
&
617/266-1492;
www.bso.org), take visitors all
around the landmark building and relate the Boston Symphony Orchestra's fas-
cinating history. The 1-hour tours start on Wednesday at 4:30pm, except during
the last 3 weeks of December, and on the first Saturday of each month at
1:30pm. Reservations aren't necessary; meet in the lobby at the Mass. Ave.
entrance. For information about performances, see p. 224.
Finds
