Boston

The center of the city in so many ways, Downtown Boston is where it all begins. Perennial tourist favorites Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market are here, while most Freedom Trail sights are found nearby. And don't forget to visit the Mecca of Italian-American cuisine on Hanover Street.

Classic Federalist architecture, The State House, America's oldest city park, and one of its most photographed streets are waiting. Later, eat at some of the city's finest restaurants on Charles Street to recharge your tired legs or sail/paddle on the public pier overlooking the picturesque Charles River.

Perhaps most recognized as the home of Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox; Fenway also boasts many top cultural and medical institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts and some of the best hospitals in the world.

A high-end shopping, dining, and art scene has coalesced around the South End and SoWa Market. Heavily popular with the youth, LGBTQ+ individuals, and entrepreneurs breaking into Boston's markets, its renowned Victorian "brownstones" and gas-lit cobblestone streets can charm at any time of year.

Don't let the movies fool you, Southie --as the locals call it-- is a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood still holding on to its Irish Catholic working-class roots. The changing times are clearest in the Seaport district, home to the Institute of Contemporary Art and the grand Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Found lodged between the Charles and Mystic rivers, Charlestown is home to significant landmarks such as the U.S.S. Constitution and the site of the famous battle: the Bunker Hill Monument. The oldest neighborhood in Boston, Charlestown also has its oldest tavern.

This former center of shipbuilding was built upon two conjoined islands: Noddle's and Hog's. Eastie has always been a neighborhood of immigrants. Today, its population is made up largely of Italian-Americans and immigrants from Central and South America. If you arrive by air, this is the first neighborhood you'll visit.

Ever-changing Allston is best known for its student population, and the shops and restaurants that cater to them. The landscape becomes more residential as you move west into Brighton.

Jamaica Plain is home to the Arnold Arboretum and the Sam Adams Brewery, while Mission Hill includes a healthy collection of students and medical professionals from the many nearby colleges and hospitals.

Dorchester, Boston's largest neighborhood, is also one of its most diverse. Long-time residents mingle with newer immigrants from Ireland, Vietnam, and Cape Verde. A big draw is the powerful JFK Presidential Library and Museum. The oldest house in the city, the James Blake House, can also be found here.

Once a farming community, Roxbury is the heart of Black culture in Boston. It's also home to the historic Shirley Eustis House, built by a British royal colonial governor. Franklin Park is here as well, considered the "crown jewel" of Frederick Law Olmsted's Emerald Necklace park system.

Once considered a "garden suburb" of Boston, today's residents of Roslindale are still attracted to the neighborhood's natural beauty. Mattapan's population is largely made up of African Americans and immigrants from the Caribbean. West Roxbury, in Boston's southwest corner, is known for its civic activism and youth programming. As Boston's southernmost neighborhood, Hyde Park offers the intangibles of city life as well as the open space more commonly associated with the suburbs.