A 2.5-mile walk through the meeting houses, burying grounds and ships of the American Revolution
Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States, with historic neighbourhoods such as Beacon Hill, the North End and Back Bay. It was here that the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill took place, and the sites connected with those years are gathered into Boston National Historical Park, a partnership of federal, city and private sites that calls itself the Cradle of Liberty.
The easiest way to see them is the Freedom Trail, a route of about 2.5 miles marked by bricks set into the pavement that links 16 nationally significant sites. It begins at Boston Common and passes the Massachusetts State House, Park Street Church, the Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel, the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House and the site of the Boston Massacre, Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House and the Old North Church, before crossing to Charlestown for USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument.
Puritan settlers founded Boston on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630, naming it after Boston in Lincolnshire. Boston Common dates from 1634 and is described as the nation's first public park, and Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, was America's first public school. In the decades before independence the town was at the centre of resistance to British rule: the Boston Massacre took place in 1770, the debates at the Old South Meeting House led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and on 18 April 1775 two lanterns hung in the steeple of the Old North Church warned that British troops were heading for Lexington and Concord. The Battle of Bunker Hill followed in 1775, and the British left the city on 17 March 1776.
USS Constitution, launched in Boston in 1797, earned the name Old Ironsides in the War of 1812 and is the oldest commissioned warship afloat. The journalist William Schofield conceived the Freedom Trail in 1951 to tie the city's historic sites together.
Boston is the capital and largest city of Massachusetts, with 675,647 residents in the 2020 census and some 23 recognised neighbourhoods. The North End is the setting for Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church, and Harvard and MIT are just across the river in Cambridge. The city still marks 17 March as Evacuation Day, and Boston baked beans recall the molasses trade of colonial times.
Most visitors follow the Freedom Trail on foot, either independently with a map or the NPS audio tour (with stories also in Spanish and French), or on a guided Walk Into History tour, which covers 11 of the 16 sites and leaves from the Boston Common visitor centre. Other tours explore the North End and Paul Revere, African American patriots and revolutionary women, and there are lantern tours in the evening. In Charlestown, the Navy Yard is home to USS Constitution and the Second World War destroyer USS Cassin Young, now a museum ship, and the trail ends at the Bunker Hill Monument. In summer, the park runs Town Meeting programmes at Faneuil Hall.
The National Park Service notes that the peak visiting season is generally May to October, and opening hours vary with the seasons. Winters are cold and snowy, with nearly 125 centimetres of snow in an average year, while July is the warmest month. Late spring and early autumn suit a long day of walking.
Checked against the sources on 29 October 2026. Opening times and fees can change — confirm before you go.
General guidance from our specialists, not official information.
Cambridge, home to Harvard and MIT, is just across the Charles River. The National Park Service also offers the Black Heritage Trail, and the Dorchester Heights Monument recalls the siege of Boston in 1775-1776. New York City is further south along the East Coast.
The largest city in the United States, spread across five boroughs on the islands and shores of New York Harbor. Manhattan holds the famous skyline, Broadway and Central Park, while Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island add their own neighbourhoods, beaches and food.
ExploreThe open park at the heart of the US capital, running about three kilometres from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and lined with more than 100 monuments and memorials and eleven free Smithsonian museums. The National Park Service calls it America's Front Yard.
ExploreThree waterfalls on the Niagara River, where it drains Lake Erie towards Lake Ontario across the border between New York and Ontario. On the US side, Niagara Falls State Park, described as America's oldest state park, gives access to the brink of the falls, the gorge below and the islands between.
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United States · 9 nights4★ HotelUnited States · 8 nights3★ LodgeThis guide was researched from the sources below and reviewed by our team on 29 October 2026. Facts under “Verified information” link to the page they were checked on; travel tips are general guidance. Photos are credited on each image. The ambient recording’s author and licence are shown in the sound player.
