Boston is towards the top of my list of favorite cities in the U.S. It’s clean, it’s safe, it’s walkable and there is plenty to do with two teenagers and a preteen. 🙂 Boston in late winter can go either way, snow or warm sun. We lucked out with sun and a tiny bit of rain. I would have stuck with our original itinerary either way.

Here is the itinerary we followed for a three night stay in Boston in March:

Day 1: Omni Parker House Hotel

Drove up in the evening from Connecticut, a Thursday night, about a 2.5 hour drive, no traffic! We checked into the Parker House about 8:30 p.m. and the process was as simple and easy as you could hope for. We used the valet for parking, definitely the best bet. In bed at a super reasonable time for a tired family of five.

Day 2: breakfast at Cafe 26 on Temple Place. Amazing food! Everyone was happy, staff was awesome and my kids recommend the crepes. We finished there and walked over to Brattle Book Shop for their opening at 9 a.m. I did not expect my children to want to stay there for as long as they did! Lots of old books, perfect for my nerdy family.

From there we walked to Boston Common and strolled over to the garden, still digesting our breakfast and taking in the beautiful morning. It was a perfect spring day, we lucked out with that. No swan boats running but it was quite peaceful. My children fondly remember the duck statues from when we lived in Boston and we made sure to stop and see them. We walked over to Beacon Hill because I wanted to see Acorn St. I’m a history buff and a sucker for old cobblestone roads. We ran in Starbucks after that to grab a tea and use the restrooms.

From there we hopped on the Freedom Trail at the State House. I had a bunch of trivia questions for my kids at many of the Freedom Trail sites and much to my surprise they loved how I added that! I’ll share some as we go here. I asked everyone what the object was at the top of the State House. No one guessed it’s a pinecone. Pinewood was important for foundations and building long ago and the pinecone revered.

Next stop was the Granery graveyard. I wanted to see Paul Revere’s site, Sam Adams and it was cool to see the gravesite of the parents of Benjamin Franklin. We walked past our hotel and past King’s Chapel to the old State House. Luckily no one was there at 9:30 in the morning and we were able to get a bunch of pictures. The place was mobbed later in the day; go early! The statue of Ben Franklin was the first public statue to be displayed in Boston.

We spent a bit of time walking around Quincy Market, had some lunch and let the kids shop around. They all agreed Newbury Comics was their favorite store. From there we went back to the hotel and took a break. We knew we wanted to be out in the evening and knew the kids needed a break.

Legal Seafoods is one of my favorite restaurants from when I lived in Boston and I had made reservations ahead of time for dinner Friday night. Glad I did! From there we followed the Freedom Trail into the North End, stopping at Paul Revere’s House briefly. We ended the evening getting desserts at Modern Pastry on Hanover St. I highly recommend the key lime tart!

I will continue on with day three in my next blog post…