Travel

Looking out to sea from the Prudential tower at night.

The capital of Massachusetts and de-facto capital of New England. Boston is primarily known for three things: its academics, its sports, and its history. Its plethora of museums, historical sights, live performances, and a lively dining and shopping scene make it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

Boston is one of the few old American cities that has managed to preserve a respectable chunk of its history, with buildings that pre-date the republic dotted across the city. But Boston isn't a city to dwell on the past; its culture is refreshed every fall by an influx of freshmen to its many universities and colleges. Harvard University (the country's first college) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sit just across the river from Boston proper.

"Beantown" is also renowned for its sports heritage, with its four major teams—the Patriots, the Red Sox, the Celtics, and the Bruins—all commanding die-hard fanbases and quite a few championships between them. Baseball fans should be sure to grab a ticket and enjoy the atmosphere at the shrine of baseball, Fenway Park.

Visiting will reveal a distinct mix of puritanical ideals and liberal politics—medical marijuana may now be legal, but buying beer before noon on Sunday certainly isn't. As you're exploring the city, feel free to stop someone on the street and ask them a question. Don't believe everything you've heard, the people of Boston are actually a lot friendlier than you might expect!

New England's love of towns (Massachusetts alone has 351) and town governance, has created hundreds of smaller, closer knit communities than is common elsewhere in the United States. Because of this fact even a large city like Boston has found it difficult to annex surrounding areas over time as it grew. When a town was annexed it retained its unique culture and vibrant neighborhoods.

What this means for the traveller: you'll find most every district goes by more than one name, and some of the bigger districts can be sub-divided into a maddeningly long list of places! The full count is north of 110 sub-districts, squares, and neighborhoods. Don't worry about remembering all those names, just remember that Boston is a very compact walkable city. When you're ready to move on, that next neighborhood is just a few minute walk down the road.