Massachusetts Travel Guide
The Boston skyline from across the Charles. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Massachusetts is where American history is densest. Boston's Freedom Trail links 16 revolutionary sites in 4 km; Cambridge holds Harvard and MIT; Lexington and Concord saw the first shots of the Revolution; and Plymouth keeps the Pilgrim story.
The coast is the summer draw: Cape Cod's dunes and whale watching, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard by ferry, and the working waterfronts of Gloucester and New Bedford. In the west, the Berkshires bring Tanglewood concerts and fall foliage.
Destinations in Massachusetts
Freedom TrailThe red-brick line through 16 revolutionary sites, ending at Bunker Hill.
Cape CodThe National Seashore dunes, Provincetown and whale watching from Barnstable.
Fenway ParkBaseball's oldest park (1912); the Green Monster seats are the classic ticket.
Museum of Fine ArtsOne of America's great encyclopedic museums, strong on American art.- Nantucket and Martha's VineyardFerries to the islands of grey-shingle cottages and whaling history.
- The BerkshiresTanglewood summer concerts, Mass MoCA and Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge.
Harvard YardThe 1636 university across the river in Cambridge.- SalemThe 1692 witch trials museums and the Peabody Essex Museum.
Hover a state to explore it. Click a city pin to open its guide.
Top Cities & towns in Massachusetts
Regional food
- New England clam chowder (creamy, with salt pork and oysters crackers)
- Lobster roll (hot with butter in Connecticut style, cold with mayo in Maine style; Boston does both)
- Boston cream pie (the official state dessert, actually a cake)
- Baked beans (Boston's 'Beantown' namesake)
Getting there
Boston Logan (BOS) is the gateway, on the subway's Blue Line. Amtrak's Northeast Regional links Boston to New York and Washington. Cape Cod and the Berkshires need a car; island ferries run from Hyannis and Woods Hole.