Boston Travel Guide
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Boston is one of the best-looking 375-year-olds around. It attracted the attention of the world in 2004 with a Super Bowl victory, a huge new convention center, a national political convention, and (of all things) a revolutionary new highway that incorporates a landmark bridge. In 2005, the city is ready to show off its new face.
Like Samuel Johnson's fabled noose, the impending Democratic convention focused the minds of city planners in 2004. The improvements introduced in time for the convention in late July, from street signs to landscaping, will enhance every visitor's Boston experience. The most prominent example of an improvement is the demolition of the elevated expressway that used to slash through downtown, separating the waterfront from the rest of the city and offending the sensibilities of those who had to pass over, under, or near it. That 15-year, $14.6 billion project, known as the Big Dig, will be wrapping up when you visit, mending the scar left when traffic on Interstate 93 moved into an underground tunnel and the old highway came down.
The new highway runs beneath a modern metropolis that's also a relentlessly historic destination. An ongoing building boom may overshadow the famous 18th- and 19th-century architecture, but even rampant development can't change the colonial character of the central city.
It's not perfect, of course. Nightmarish traffic, daredevil drivers, and grating accents don't help any city's reputation. Although Boston is the biggest college town in the world, there isn't much of a late-night scene. And far from gone is the inferiority complex epitomized by the description "like New York, but smaller." Still, as it has for 375 years, Boston offers cosmopolitan sophistication on a comfortable scale, balancing celebration of the past with pursuit of the future.
Here's hoping your experience is memorable and delightful.
The Real Inside Scoop -- Just for fun, I asked a cross-section of the Boston hospitality community -- hotel managers, restaurant owners, attraction publicity managers, merchants, and other travel experts -- to tell me their two favorite things to do with out-of-towners who are new to the Boston area. (I asked for two to keep them from just naming their own establishments, but most of them were good sports about sharing the wealth.)
I received 160 responses, and I'm thrilled to report that no single activity or place drew more than 13 votes, or just over 8%. To me, that means that Boston is such a multifaceted destination that you can always find something wonderful to see or do.
The most popular answer was a Boston Duck Tour. Next came the North End (11 votes); Newbury Street (9); Beacon Hill/Charles Street, Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, a Red Sox game/Fenway Park, Harvard Square, and a trolley tour (7 each); the Freedom Trail (6); and the Museum of Fine Arts (5). The dark horse was the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which isn't nearly as well known as most of the other top vote-getters but tied for third place with 9 votes.
The experts were gratifyingly miscellaneous -- they listed nine museums and attractions, eight neighborhoods, seven restaurants, four walks, four drives, two cemeteries, and an astonishing 42 activities (from the Boston Symphony Orchestra to scorpion bowls) that got one vote each.
