Boston Vacation Guide

Boston is dripping in history, but, as cold as it can get, the city isn’t frozen in time. 

Ming Tsai has made a name for himself as the premier chef of East-West cuisine. As the owner and chef of popular Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and host/executive producer of the cooking show Simply Ming, Ming Tsai showcases the fusion of Eastern and Western flavors, dishes, and culinary techniques. Q: Where are some of your favorite places to eat in Boston?

Bostonians eat more ice cream per capita than anyone else in the U.S., according to an oft-repeated—though difficult to verify—factoid. Whether or not it's actually true, there are a remarkable number of independent, premium ice ...

If you're on the go, you might want to try a local chain restaurant where you can stop for a quick bite or get some takeout. The places listed here are fairly priced, committed to quality, and use decent, fresh ingredients. Au Bon Pain. The locally based chain whips up quick salads and sandwiches, fresh-daily croissants, and muffins, and has plenty of fruit and juices. It's recently added some appealing snack options, including an apple, blue cheese, and cranberry combo.

Not for nothing did Boston become known as the home of the bean and the cod: simple Yankee specialties—many of them of English origin—and traditional seafood abound. Boston baked beans are a thick, syrupy mixture of navy beans, salt pork, and molasses cooked for hours. They were originally made by Puritan women on Saturday, so that the leftovers could be eaten on Sunday without breaking the Sabbath by cooking.

The vast majority of restaurants in Boston are happy to accommodate kids with simplified dishes and an out-of-the-way booth. Here are some particularly family-friendly options. Charley's Saloon. Saloons may be no place for kids, but this is no real saloon. Charley's doles out American classics (cheeseburgers, steaks, and apple pies) in a fun retro setting. Kids can color and people-watch. 284 Newbury St., Back Bay, 02115. PHONE: 617/266-3000.

The nightlife and arts options we list are worth their weight in gold. Yet if you're feeling the pinch, you can be entertained without dropping a dime. Nosh on gratis appetizers at the Fritz Lounge during happy hour on weekdays. See a film at the Boston Public Library. Go baroque—not broke—with select classical concerts performed by the Boston University Symphony Orchestra or College of Fine Arts faculty members at the Tsai Performance Center.

Hotels are an obvious lodging choice, but they aren't your only option; there are plenty of other ways to stay in Boston, some with much more affordable rates than your average double room. Bed-and-breakfasts often get a bad rap for being too ...

Though it missed being the first U.S. marathon by one year (the first, in 1896, went from Stamford, Connecticut, to New York City), the Boston Marathon is arguably the nation's most prestigious. Why? It's the only marathon in the world for which...

Almost every Boston hotel allows kids, but a few go out of their way to make little ones feel welcome. The Fairmont Copley Plaza's resident Labrador retriever, Catie Copley, is extra sweet and family-friendly; she's also available on loan for ...

As you wander through Cambridge it's safe to assume that almost every other person on the street attends a nearby institute of higher learning. (Forty percent of the city's population is between the ages of 18 and 29.) Luckily, although soaring ...

It was back in 1880 that Justin White adjusted the size of his pins at his Worcester, Mass., bowling hall, giving birth to candlepin bowling, a highly popular pint-size version of ten-pin bowling. Now played almost exclusively in northern New ...

In Cambridge any commercial area where three or more streets meet in a jumble of traffic and noise has been dubbed a "square." (There are literally hundreds, though most are just simple intersections.) Harvard Square draws the most visitors, but...

Cambridge dates from 1630, when the Puritan leader John Winthrop chose this meadowland as the site of a carefully planned village he named Newtowne. The Massachusetts Bay Colony chose Newtowne as the site for the country's first college in 1636...

Not long after its conception in the mid-1800s, the South End, somewhat unfairly, lost its elite status to the Back Bay. The literature of the time documents this exodus: the title character in William Dean Howells's The Rise of Silas Lapham ...

The Back Bay remains a living museum of urban Victorian-residential architecture. The earliest specimens are nearest to the Public Garden (there are exceptions where showier turn-of-the-20th-century mansions replaced 1860s town houses), and the ...

Test: Paul Revere was (1) a patriot whose midnight ride helped ignite the American Revolution; (2) a part-time dentist; (3) a silversmith who crafted tea services; (4) a printer who engraved the first Massachusetts state currency; or (5) a ...

Until the end of the 19th century the north side of opulent Beacon Hill contained a vibrant community of free blacks—more than 8,000 at its peak—who built houses, schools, and churches that stand to this day. In the African Meeting ...

More than a route of historic sites, the Freedom Trail is a 2½-mi walk into history, bringing to life the events that exploded on the world during the Revolution. Its 16 way stations allow you to reach out and touch the very wellsprings of ...

Why do Boston bars close so early? Something of the old Puritan ethic of the Massachusetts Bay Colony lingers in the so-called "blue laws" that prohibit sales of alcoholic drinks at bars and restaurants after 1 am on weekdays and 2 am on ...

For baseball fans of any age a trip to Fenway Park is a religious pilgrimage to see the home of former baseball greats such as Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski. The Boston Red Sox have played here since 1912. The oldest Major League ballpark is...

Let Freebies Ring Freedom may not be free, but the Freedom Trail is—and so are 13 of the 16 attractions lining its route. Many of the individual sites, moreover, offer informative free programs. The Massachusetts State House, for instance, runs no-cost tours weekdays, 10 am to 4 pm; and the USS Constitution conducts tours Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 3:30 pm.

Follow the Redbrick Road Wannabe time travelers will have a blast on the Freedom Trail. To make the most of the walk, have your kids sign up for the free NPS Junior Ranger program, which adds treasure-hunt elements to the history lesson. Here's another tip. Most trail takers go south to north, but the reverse works best for families: this allows you to start with Old Ironsides and the Bunker Hill Monument (star attractions in young eyes) and end in Boston Common (an ideal place to unwind after a long trek).

Be a Sport Bostonians mark off the seasons by checking the sports line-up. The "Boys of Summer" famously arrive each spring, and the Bruins come out of hibernation in the fall. However, fans in this city can get a sports fix any time of year. When the Red Sox play at home, being a Boston resident means braving the throngs along Yawkee Way, downing a Fenway Frank, and bellowing out "Sweet Caroline" during the seventh inning stretch. Sweet indeed.

Boston is the undisputed epicenter of American History. Much of the political ferment that spawned the nation took place here, and visitors are often awed by the dense concentration of sites. Locals, on the other hand, take them in stride. Sure...