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The past and future merge in Boston. The cradle of the American Revolution (which turns 250 this year), Boston is the kind of place where families can trace their generations back to the first crossing of the Mayflower; but it’s also a place that welcomes a constant flow of academics, artists and leaders from all corners of the globe. As Barack Obama once said, “Boston is a city that opens its heart to the world.”
The city’s alchemy of old-meets-new feels as potent and enchanting as ever. Gleaming skyscrapers rise up from colonial-era brick lanes. Hermès and Chanel boutiques stand just steps from America’s first public park, the Boston Common, which dates back to 1634. And in recent years, it feels like Boston’s commitment to diverse flavors and experiences has ramped into overdrive. If you’re heading to Boston for work, for the world-famous Boston Marathon, or just to soak up some history, here are the very best of where to stay, eat, shop and visit.
Where to Stay
An enviable address at 1 Newbury (the city’s preeminent shopping street) isn’t the only thing to love about this new-ish addition to Boston’s hotel scene. Sumptuous rooms by Champalimaud prioritize sleek finishes and neutral hues—all the better to frame those sweeping views over the Public Garden. Speaking of views, make sure to grab drinks or dinner around sunset at the rooftop Contessa.
No hotel better captures the glory of Boston’s waterfront location. Many of its rooms have water views that feel far removed from the hotel’s central downtown location. Drop a note to the captains at Boston Water Taxi and you can even arrive via boat straight from Logan International Airport.
Overlooking the historic (and newly restored) Copley Square, the Copley Plaza shares its architectural lineage with New York’s Plaza Hotel, as both were designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh—its original mosaic lobby tiles, as well as its “double P” monograms, mirror those of its New York cousin. The “Plaza of New England” remains a beloved and integral part of Boston’s hotel scene, offering Beaux Arts grandeur, unparalleled Fairmont service, and an enviable location in the heart of Back Bay.
International luxury brand Raffles made their North America debut with a splashy, show-stopping new build. Make sure to book a treatment at the aromatherapy-driven Guerlain Spa, one of the city’s best spots for a treatment.
After a colorful, lobby update from Ken Fulk, this perennial favorite feels more relevant than ever. It’s decadent and luxurious and totally Four Seasons, but the atmosphere still feels whimsical and approachable: behind the check-in desk there’s a “Mystery Closet” filled with toys for young guests, and on each floor there are “vaults” stocked with complimentary candy. Borrow one of the house cruiser bikes for a ride around the Public Garden (it’s across the street), or reserve a Lucid Motors electric vehicle if you’re looking to drive out of the city for a few hours.
Where to Eat
Boston is a seafood town. There are no shortage of dives in which to find lobster rolls and fried clams, and no shortage of modern updates on those New England classics, but few seem to do it as well as Row 34. Whatever you order, kick off your meal with a tray of oysters from the fantastic raw bar—chances are that chef-owner Jeremy Sewall can tell you the name of exactly who plucked them out of the sea.
There’s probably no more romantic a spot in Boston than S.R.V. (“Serene Republic of Venice”). It’s located in the South End, the country’s largest intact neighborhood of Victorian brownstones, and the ever-rotating menu of coastal Italian cuisine hits the perfect balance of nostalgic favorites with seasonally inflected inventions.
A prix-fixe choose-your-own-adventure menu, a hip Cambridge location, a relaxed atmosphere where Negronis are on tap and all pastas are handmade (down to the flour, milled in house)—there’s a lot to love about this creative Italian foodie hotspot. Expect the unexpected here, such as with the lumache bolognese, amped up with the spicy tang of Korean gochujang.
The menu at Krasi promises (and delivers) a modern jaunt through Greece—mouthwatering braised lamb from Thessaly, fresh Crete-style seafood—but the wine list deserves serious attention, too. It offers a robust selection of rare and hard-to-find Greek wines you won’t find anywhere else in town.
Greater Boston is home to one of the largest populations of Portuguese people outside of Portugal, yet Portuguese cuisine was never represented in the city’s fine dining scene until the debut of Amar inside Raffles Boston. Chef George Mendes (previously known for his Michelin-starred Aldea in New York City) leads the way with the highest-quality Portuguese ingredients, and recipes inspired by his own mother.
This colorful, light-filled dining room is the ideal refueling if you’re shopping on Newbury Street. Seafood is the name of the game here, from New England Lobster with house made salt and vinegar chips, to more inventive offerings like fried lobster and waffles.
Restaurateur Kristin Canty is not only one of the city’s most discerning culinary leaders—she is the steward of a 265 acre New Hampshire farm. She does not merely pay lip service to farm-to-table principles—her livestock are among the most humanely raised and her produce some of the most sustainably farmed in all of New England.
For over 40 years, this white tablecloth dining room has been Boston’s steakhouse of choice. Rare cuts of meat, an award-winning and mind-bogglingly robust wine list, and a legendary coconut cake? You can’t go wrong.
This is less of a specific dining tip rather than a generalized piece of advice: head to Boston’s North End neighborhood, a historic Italian enclave nestled between Government Center and the waterfront. Its winding streets and historic façades feel downright European. There are truly dozens of great restaurants (mostly Italian) to choose from here: Mamma Maria has a uniquely homey atmosphere; Little Sage is a new hotspot with a killer lobster and dandelion gnocchi; Lucia is an old-school Italian restaurant with a great outdoor patio for warm summer nights; and Red Fox is a sexy subterranean boîte for drinks (including a memorable cacio e pepe martini). For a late night snack, real Bostonians go to Bova’s Bakery, a 24-hour bakery where the generously-sized arancini and hand-stuffed cannolis are worth waiting in line for.
Where to Shop
There’s a lifetime’s worth of shopping on Newbury Street, with everything on offer from Chanel and Valentino and Akris boutiques, to an array of homegrown specialty retail concepts. There’s Alan Bilzerian, a longtime outfitter to Aerosmith and early proponent of avant-garde Japanese designers like Junya Watanabe and Comme des Garçons, as well as the original HQ of CNCPTS, a hypebeast streetwear destination with locations in New York, Miami and Dubai. Make sure to check out Tracksmith (especially if you’re visiting for the Boston Marathon); this Boston-based running brand has a cult following for its heritage-inspired styles in high-performance fabrics.
Over in Beacon Hill, the more intimate (and older) Charles Street has a slightly more low-key atmosphere, and is more about small-scale boutiques than global luxury brands. Check out Dress Boston for curates pieces from Sea, Ulla Johnson, Zimmermann and more; locally-made stationery and gifts at Gus Ruby; and enviable antiques from Elegant Findings, Fabled Antiques, or Upstairs Downstairs Home.
What was once a forgotten industrial zone adjacent to Boston’s downtown is now one the United States’ most dazzling and ambitious urban renewal projects. If Back Bay and Beacon Hill are all about brownstones and historic charm, then Seaport is all about high-rise condos and cutting edge retail. A lot of the shops here skew more modern and global (think Alo, Rag Bone, Sephora and Bluemercury, so forth) but there are a few independent gems to discover, too. There’s Injeanius, Boston’s preferred denim specialty shop since 2005, as well as Cardullo’s, a specialty food shop whose original location has served the Cambridge community for 70 years. Be sure to check out The Current, a miniature village of rotating pop-ups that always has something new and unexpected to explore. The Seaport also hosts an impressive roster of free outdoor fitness classes during the warmer months.
As an academic and literary capital, Boston is home to some excellent bookshops, ranging from quaint to downright quirky. Just look at Brattle Book Shop—one of America’s oldest and largest antique book shops, dating back to 1825. For something more au courant, the shop on everyone’s minds lately is Beacon Hill Books Café, a lovingly restored Beacon Hill townhouse filled with both current and classic volumes, one of the city’s best children’s sections, and a charming garden-level café. Over in Harvard Square, a visit to the COOP always yields some interesting selections—it’s the official campus store for both Harvard and M.I.T., and is a great place for gifts and merch. While you’re in Cambridge, check out Lovestruck: a bookstore dedicated to the romance genre.
What to Do
Rumor has it that the Boston Tea Party started out as a couple of friends having one too many. To this day, Boston keeps that tradition alive and well with an abundance of places to go for a cocktail. There are many—and we mean many—places for a drink in this town, and it’s tough to go wrong. But for a quick snapshot, here are a few tips. OAK Long Bar + Kitchen at the Fairmont Copley Plaza offers a sophisticated atmosphere overlooking the grandeur of Copley Square. Inside the Liberty Hotel, a former jail which housed several notorious Boston gangsters, the lobby bar in the hotel’s main rotunda is one of the city’s most impressive spaces, and has both weekly fashion shows from local retailers and pet-friendly cocktail hours on Mondays. Over in Brighton, the award-winning Koji Club boasts one of the country’s most impressive menus of sake. And in the Seaport, jewel box Marcelino’s mixes up craft cocktails with a picture-perfect view of the city’s skyline.
Boston isn’t known for its weather—so when the sun is shining, no matter the time of year, you can expect Bostonians to be outdoors and making the most of it. The Esplanade is one of the city’s most scenic places to get outdoors. It runs from the Museum of Science to the Boston University Bridge, and offers a wealth of waterfront trails, benches and green spaces.
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Trust us—this is no ordinary public library. The country’s first large free municipal library, the BPL has been a pioneer of public service for nearly 200 years. Its Central Library overlooking Copley Square encompasses two buildings, the combination of which embodies the spirit of Boston: the historic McKim, Mead White building opened in 1895, and the brutalist Boylston Street Building opened in 1972. There are always free talks, events, and exhibits to peruse—and the annual Night in the Stacks young patrons fundraiser held each October is one of Boston’s most beloved events.
Dutch Masters, Egyptian artifacts, Impressionist paintings, the largest collection of Japanese artworks under a single roof outside of Japan, 18th- and 19th-century American masterpieces—these are just a few highlights from the MFA’s impressive collections. While its exhibits are robust, the MFA is still manageable in size, and feels conquerable in a single day.
Where the MFA feels institutional and grand, the Gardner feels personal and intimate. The museum was opened in 1903 by its titular wealthy American art collector to house her extensive art collection. Designed to feel like a Venetian palazzo, it remains one of Boston’s most treasured institutions, but its most significant pieces are the ones you can’t see. In March 1990, in one of the world’s most notorious unsolved art heists, some $500 million of artworks, including several irreplaceable Dutch masterpieces, were stolen. To commemorate their loss, the museum keeps several empty frames on its walls—because there’s nothing more quintessentially Boston than keeping a grudge.
