family vacation to the Boston area. Update and last minute ?s on p. 3

[Kimberle]

We went to Boston last summer on our college tour. I don't think you need 7 days, I think maybe 3-4 then spend the other days somewhere along the shore. We stayed at the Boston Park Plaza. I got a very good rate from Travel Zoo. We really enjoyed the hotel. It's a very old building, so don't book the cheapest room as they are very small. We booked a Jr. Suite. It was maybe a 5 minute walk from the Swan Boats/Boston Common. It's a very walkable city, park your car and plan on doing a lot of walking. We took a walking tour which started from the Visitors center in Boston Common. It followed the Freedom Trail. (The Freedom trail is sort of like following the yellow brick road *LOL*.) You could do it on your own, but we found the guide gave so many details. We ended up in the Aquarium and took a cab back to our hotel.

The Aquarium is OK, I've seen better. You can see it in a good hour. We did enjoy the city.

Sturbridge Village is not close to Boston. It's a good 90 minutes - two hours away. It's kind of on the MA/CT border. I haven't been, so I can't comment.

If I hadn't stayed in the Plaza, I would have picked the Omni. It's in a great location as well.

Where ever you stay, you'll have to pay for parking. I think I paid $40/day.

 

[GaryDis]

The Constitution is in dry dock, but you're still allowed to board. When we went last year, we were only allowed one the top deck and one deck down. That may vary. Allow time to go through security, and adults need ID. There are two museums there, one government run and free, dealing with the navy yard, the other privately run and by donation. It's a National Historic Park, so might need the Junior Ranger needs. I'm pretty sure they sell the National Park passport booklets there.

The Battleship USS Massachusetts is at Battleship Cove in Fall River, along with a sub and a destroyer. It's huge, and the sort of thing a 10yo boy might love. Just keep an eye on the kids, as it's easy to get lost on the multiple decks.

My favorite Historic site outside of Boston is the Concord part of Minute Man National Historic Park, especially the North Bridge. It's not as fancy as, say, Gettysburg, but it's a way to spend a day outside the city. There are other historic houses in the area, from Louisa May Alcott and, I believe, Hawthorne.

I love Old Sturbridge Village. I've never felt the park on the whole was too crowded, but I did visit on a reenactment day when some of the individual events, especially the staged battle, was crowded. Last year the water level was too low to show the mills (lumber, grist, and carding) in operation, but maybe this year will be better. It might not be possible to see everything in one day, but I don't feel it necessary. Sometimes they'll have a second day free pass, but it needs to be used within 10 days of the first visit, and needs to be validated in the gift shop before leaving.

There is a commercial company that operates a tall sailboat for cruises in the Boston harbor. I don't know much about it, but it has an adult feel to it.

Another possibility is to take a ferry to Georges Island or one of the other Harbor Islands. Georges Island has a historic fort that was used as a prison during the civil war, and it's worth exploring. Some of the other islands have beaches.

 

[Mom2Dash&JackJack]

I second the Boston Harbor Islands tour. We live just outside of Plymouth in for the first time tried the ferries that take you to the Boston Harbor Islands Last year. It was actually very nice and there is a great fort on one of the islands for the kids to explore. I definitely recommend.

 

[ols386]

For some good history you should walk at least some of the Freedom Trail. It's a marked cement trail that runs through part of the city. All kinds of things that kids learn and talk about in history class, are included in this trail. You can pick up a Freedom Trail Brochure that describes and tells about the Trail, and the Trail is FREE.

We stayed at the Harborside Inn which is located on State Street about a block from Boston Harbor. Also it is close to Faneuil Hall, which has tons of eateries and food court.

We loved visiting Boston. My kids were about the same age as your kids now, when we visited.

We also enjoyed walking through the Harvard campus. It's beautiful.

 

[SueInBoston]

The Liberty hotel is very cool and the location is great! Scampo is a great restaurant. I think you will really enjoy it!

 

[xjillianpaige]

I echo a lot of what was shared above. I live right outside of Boston and spent 4 years living in the city for undergrad (then two commuting in for grad school.)

The aquarium is fine, but I've heard that other cities have better aquariums. So you might be able to skip that. I do think the Children's Museum and Museum of Science are fun, though. Definitely spend some time by the waterfront. Boston is a pretty walk-able city, so you shouldn't need a car while you're in the city. The T is also pretty good to use, but it's smaller and less logical than NYC.

Outside of the city (or in the city) you should look into a whale watch! Those are always fun and I've never been disappointed. Always see lots of whales and sometimes sharks. Gloucester has some whale watch tours. Rockport is a cute town to explore for a few hours. Great lobster rolls and a sweet shop with delicious fudge.

Sturbridge is awesome, but it's way out west. You'll spend the morning and night driving. But I think it's worth it. I think Plymouth Plantation is similar but i've never been.

 

[GaryDis]

I much prefer Old Sturbridge Village to Plimoth Plantation. It's bigger, has more scheduled activities, and it's easier to relate to nineteenth century technology. At Plimoth Plantation, the pilgrim docents (but not the Native Americans) stay in character, which makes for interesting conversations.

 

[clori]

I think it was two summers ago that I went to Portland for a night. We did a lobster cruise which was very interactive and fun. I think it was luckycatch.com My kids also loved the pirate ship in Plymouth as well as Plimouth Plantation and had fun using the pirate pool at John Carver Inn in Plymouth.

We did Old Sturbridge Village as part of a free Friday event one year from the Highland Foundation. Even though it was free it never seemed that crowded. If it is free entry in Boston I would skip it. The $1 Friday night admission isn't usually bad at the Children's Museum though I haven't been in a few years. Since your kids like history they might enjoy Huzzaz Tavern Nights at the Boston Tea Party though it is a bit pricey. Another fun history place is the Prudential Skywalk which kids panoramic views of Boston along with an audio tour which has a kids version. I'm not sure if they would enjoy riding the small pirate ship (Formidable) located near the Boston Tea Party. It isn't anything special but my kids still had a good time. If you go to Concord/Lexington the Liberty Ride is nice.

 

[sharona]

I agree with most of what @xjillianpaige has to say. Skip the New England Aquarium and go to the Museum of Science or the Children's Museum instead (depending on kids ages, 7+ is great for MOS). Also Rockport would be a really nice place to spend a few days after your visit to the city or Gloucester (best beach in the state is Good Harbor, IMO). I've never been to Sturbridge Village but if you're into that kind of thing it does have a great reputation. It is far. I wouldn't give up a day exploring the city for a day in the car but that is just me...

My opinion on must do's when visiting Boston for the first time in summer:

Freedom Trail
Concert at Esplanade http://hatchshell.com/events.php
Swan Boats at the Public Garden
Museum of Science
If you sail - Charles River Sail boat rentals https://www.community-boating.org/rentals/sailboat-rentals/ If you don't just walk along the river around sunset
Fenway Park (game or tour or both)
North End for dinner (L'Osteria or La Famiglia Giorgio)
Harbor cruise
Harvard Sq/Harvard Yard

 

[GaryDis]

Old Sturbridge Village is an hour to an hour and a half outside of Boston, so the drive isn't that bad. You will want to find out about how the rental agency deals with tolls on the Mass Pike, since they've been doing away with toll booths.

 

[tcufrog]

Thanks for the advice. Everything seems pretty close together compared to Texas where going to Austin from DFW takes only 3 hours depending on traffic. Based on what y'all have told me I think we need to choose between Salem/Gloucester or Plymouth. I don't think we have time to do both. Which one would you choose? We're definitely going to do Old Sturbridge Village. Everyone gets to choose one thing and that's my one thing. Also, is Minute Man National Park worth visiting? My kids are into getting their Junior Ranger badges but I don't want to go out of the way to it if there's not much to see or do of interest to kids. Also, how accurate are the Waze/Google Maps traffic estimations? I know that just because it looks close on a map doesn't mean the trip is short. We've got some pretty gnarly traffic in our area these days.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Old Sturbridge Village is an hour to an hour and a half outside of Boston, so the drive isn't that bad. You will want to find out about how the rental agency deals with tolls on the Mass Pike, since they've been doing away with toll booths.

Good point! When we rented a car in Florida in April, it had the toll box on the windshield. We had to flip a switch to activate it, and the amount was just added to our bill. It was the charge for the actual toll booths we went through, plus a small fee for the number of days we had the car.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks for the advice. Everything seems pretty close together compared to Texas where going to Austin from DFW takes only 3 hours depending on traffic...

Yeah, I think Mass will seem small to you!

...Based on what y'all have told me I think we need to choose between Salem/Gloucester or Plymouth. I don't think we have time to do both. Which one would you choose?...

I live on the South Shore, so I only really know Plymouth, but I definitely like it! I've chaperoned school filed trips there twice, and gone with my own family as well. Plimoth Plantation is a living history set-up, and you can actually go aboard the Mayflower II. The "Rock" itself is kind of unimpressive, in my opinion, but you could also check out the Pilgrim Hall Museum and I think there are some little art galleries. I remember some cute touristy shops, good ice cream places, and I also used to take DS to a playground on the water when he was little - Nelson Park, I think it's called. Plus, some of the whale watches go out of Plymouth, if you decide to do that.

 

[happybaker]

Old Sturbridge Village is an hour to an hour and a half outside of Boston, so the drive isn't that bad. You will want to find out about how the rental agency deals with tolls on the Mass Pike, since they've been doing away with toll booths.

I'm not positive about the eastern end (closer to Boston) of the Mass Pike but there isn't a toll for the Sturbridge Exit right now. They've been taken down and construction is going on to switch to the cashless system.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

You can buy an EZ Pass online.

We rented cars twice this spring and we were told both times to just go through the tolls and they'll get the bill. I think they may have charged it afterward I should probably check on that. But no mechanism on the cars themselves. I'd just call the agency where you'll be renting from to ask.

PollyannaMom mentioned a lot of the fun things about Plymouth. There are others, too. Brewster Gardens is really nice it's a walking path along a brook in a historic area that goes up from the waterfront to the Jenny Grist Mill. There are places to sit along the way, and a big pond at the end that often has some swans and other wildlife to watch. There is also a pilgrim-era building near the grist mill you can tour. Right across the street from there is the John Carver Inn which is a nice and fun place to stay. They have a lounge that has a fire/water type thing which is nice to sit around for a drink and some apps. I think it came up on another thread recently that the Heritage Plantation is a fun place to visit and relatively nearby in Sandwich. But lots of other things to do around Plymouth, too, in which you could easily fill up a couple of days. At night they have narrated, walking ghost tours with lanterns that explore the area including the cemetery, which is one of the oldest in the country. (We've done the tours with kids before and they were fine.) There are boats in the harbor on which you can take a ride for various things. Note that I believe the Mayflower is not there this summer she is getting a badly needed refurb. But Plymouth Plantation is nice. Smaller than OSV but there are interactive historians that many people just pass by, which you should really stop and listen to, they're everywhere around the village and in the woods (Native Americans), etc. If you're there at either Thanksgiving or 4th of July, Plymouth has a really great parade. They also have some festivals and such. Check the websites.

If you're used to traffic around your home, you'll be very comfortable here! Lol. When you're traveling from place to place around Boston and MA, try to do it on off times if you can. If you listen to 1030am they have traffic reports "on the threes" which are helpful, or just follow traffic patterns on your GPS.

 

[GaryDis]

I'm not positive about the eastern end (closer to Boston) of the Mass Pike but there isn't a toll for the Sturbridge Exit right now. They've been taken down and construction is going on to switch to the cashless system.

They don't necessarily charge at the interchanges. Last time we used it, getting on and off at Sturbridge to take 84 south, our statement showed transactions at Charlton, just east of the Sturbridge exit, and Weston, which is the I-95 interchange. So there will be a toll driving on the turnpike to and from Boston.

 

[GaryDis]

Thanks for the advice. Everything seems pretty close together compared to Texas where going to Austin from DFW takes only 3 hours depending on traffic. Based on what y'all have told me I think we need to choose between Salem/Gloucester or Plymouth. I don't think we have time to do both. Which one would you choose? We're definitely going to do Old Sturbridge Village. Everyone gets to choose one thing and that's my one thing. Also, is Minute Man National Park worth visiting? My kids are into getting their Junior Ranger badges but I don't want to go out of the way to it if there's not much to see or do of interest to kids. Also, how accurate are the Waze/Google Maps traffic estimations? I know that just because it looks close on a map doesn't mean the trip is short. We've got some pretty gnarly traffic in our area these days.

Personally, I prefer Salem to Plymouth. There's more eclectic food variety, and it's easier to park and wander around on foot. I also like the Peabody Essex museum, which has a lot of stuff for both kids and adults. At Plymouth, you'll need to drive between Plimouth Plantation and the Mayflower II, and I find the food options more mundane (or else harder to find). I also have an elitist bias towards touring the USS Constitution, the real thing, versus the Mayflower II, a replica. Though the Constitution is in Boston proper, not Salem, it does lessen the value of visiting Plymouth for me. But I can easily see many kids preferring Plymouth to Salem, especially if they never watched Bewitched. And, as I said earlier, I much prefer Old Sturbridge Village, for various reasons.

I like Minute Man National Park, but it's difficult to tell whether kids would like it. The North Bridge visitor center is very small, and even with a guide taking you down to the bridge (instead of just walking on your own), it doesn't take very much time to see it. Unless they've been reading Little Women, or Hawthorne, or Thoreau, they may not get anything out of the other homes in the area. To Ben honest, we've never really explored the Lexington end of the park. On the other hand, you can rent canoes for a leisurely time on the Concord River, and probably rent bikes.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Based on what y'all have told me I think we need to choose between Salem/Gloucester or Plymouth. I don't think we have time to do both. Which one would you choose?

Salem/Gloucester, absolutely. I'm biased, I'm in Salem once or twice a week while I've been to Plymouth twice, period. I'd say more, but I already said period. Seriously, Salem has numerous historic sites, trolley tours, Salem Common, the Willows...Gloucester has, as mentioned above, Good Harbor...Rockport has Motif #1. All have great seafood along with other cuisines. What's Plymouth got? A rock, a ship, and some reenactors?

 

[Disney Ron]

Don't forget to visit the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, in Foxboro, to see where real champions play!!!

 

[happybaker]

They don't necessarily charge at the interchanges. Last time we used it, getting on and off at Sturbridge to take 84 south, our statement showed transactions at Charlton, just east of the Sturbridge exit, and Weston, which is the I-95 interchange. So there will be a toll driving on the turnpike to and from Boston.

The Charlton exit is the one I'm talking about. I drive down from Maine to CT frequently and right now there are no booths at all on the exit from the Mass Pike to I84. All of the booths have been taken down and under construction.