One Day In Boston, Massachusetts
Even if you only have one day in Boston, you can still see many top Boston attractions. We show you how to have the perfect day in Boston.
One Day In Boston
When we decided to go to the Women In Travel Summit, we were excited not only to learn and get to know other bloggers, but also to explore Boston for the first time. We only had one day in Boston to see the sights, since the conference would take up most of our time in the city.
At the time, we were traveling while working a full time job. But we were determined to make the most of our time in Boston. We had to be efficient, especially since we had no vehicle. Luckily, we ended up having the perfect day in Boston (aside from the cold temperatures LOL!).
Boston Trolley Tours
We we arrived in Boston, went straight to the HI Boston, the hostel we were staying at so we could drop off our Osprey backpack and get back to exploring. We asked one of the girls at the front desk if she could recommend a good hop-on / hop-off tour since we had seen a few Boston trolley tours advertised. She said that Old Town Trolley Tours was the most popular so we walked the few blocks to their office on the corner of Charles St and Boylston St.
A lot of people don’t like these kinds of tours; they say they’re too “touristy.” But we’ve found them to be very convenient and usually the drivers are always funny and pass on a lot of interesting facts that you otherwise would not have learned. So when we’re in a new city, we always try to find these kinds of tours first.
You could easily spend two days in Boston using the hop-on / hop-off trolley tour if you want to take your time and see everything on the route. Since we only had a limited amount of time, we only picked a few attractions that we wanted to stop at. And even though we didn’t get off at every stop, we still learned a little bit about each place from the drivers.
From 12pm to 5pm we used the trolley to make our way around Boston. Almost everything closed at 5pm so there wasn’t much choice there. So if you do have limited time, try to plan accordingly. For example, if it’s 4 o’clock and you have to choose between going to the Boston Tea Party Museum or the Cheers bar, go to the museum first and save the bar for later since they are open longer hours.
Boston Food And Drinks
If you can, try and save the food and drinks for the evening time after most Boston attractions have closed. We recommend small portions at each so you can visit multiple locations. Also, research closing times so you can visit the places that stay open latest, last.
Pro Tip: Also consider a trip to Western Massachusetts!
Final Thoughts On Boston
We feel like we were able to do quite a bit during our one day in Boston. We definitely recommend taking one of the trolley tours in Boston if you don’t have much time and especially if you don’t have a vehicle. Taking the trolley was also a good way to see what Boston attractions we want to visit the next time we visit. Hopefully next time it’s a bit warmer though. 😉
Have you been to Boston? Where else should we visit the next time we’re in town? Leave us a comment below! 🙂
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I was at WITS too and remember your monkey! I wish I would’ve known about the trolley- that sounds super convenient. I wanted to take a duck boat tour, but they weren’t doing the water portion because of the weather (and I figured that’s kind of the point of being on a boat). Instead, I just ate and drank my way around the city – got a cannoli at Mike’s too! I can’t believe this was your first time having clam chowder, so delicious!
Weren’t the cannolis awesome! And yeah, the weather wasn’t the best so I can see why the duck tours weren’t happening. Seems like you enjoyed yourself though! 🙂
Great tips. Looks like you used your time wisely! I really liked Boston, I cycled to Harvard which was interesting. I did drop a beer in the oldest bar in America (apaz!) Lovely photos too.
Thanks Gemma! 🙂
WOW, that’s a well managed short stint. Boston was always on top of my US bucket list, I’ll make sure to go visit as soon as I get a visa, haha.
I think you’ll really enjoy it!
It looks like you did a fair bit in only 10 hours. I love Boston but really a full weekend at a minimum is what I like when I visit.
I agree Mary, a full weekend would have been much better. But I’m glad I managed to see as much as I did.
I really wanted to make it to WITS this year, but unfortunately, we were already booked on another trip. Hope you had a great time! Looks like you found some fun things to do even if you only had a short amount of time in the city!
Maybe next year Jenna 😉
Looks like buddy had a blast 😉 Boston looks so beautiful in the winter. I love all the history there!
Yes, there is SO much history. I hope I can go back one day to take in some more 🙂
Great photos of the Boston area. I lived there for several years and really miss the place (but not the now). I can just taste a nice hot bowl of chowder now….yum!
The clam chowder was pretty yummy!
It was great meeting you at WITS, looks like you at had great time in Boston!
It was great to meet you too!
I also try to make the most of places I travel to for work or where I have limited time. Sometimes tours are a great way to get around the main attractions fast and get some good background from locals/guides. It sounds like you packed a lot in and had a great time. Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it Kate 🙂
Agree with you that tours can save you time.
We are big fans of the Free Walking tours. Usually we do it in our first day in the city so we can spend more time in the places we liked more 😉
Safe travels!
That’s a great idea to get your bearings first before more in-depth exploring 🙂
Boston has been on my mind a lot lately! My sister is running the Boston marathon right now as we speak actually 🙂 Sounds like a fab city to be!
That’s so awesome Alli! I’m sure she did great! 🙂