A couple of weeks ago I headed up to Boston with Cathy for a quick visit. It’s a city that’s been on my “to visit” list for quite a while now. As in, a few years. Since JetBlue now has a brand new flight route from ATL to BOS, we hopped on a plane and headed to Boston!
As soon as we landed we were instantly in awe of the charming city. The cute row homes, the budding flowers and all the history. There were so many things we wanted to do, we hit the ground running instantly. Also need to give a huge thank you to the Boston Tourism Board and also Cambridge Tourism Board for ensuring we saw (and at) all the best things in the area.
Things To Do In Boston
WHERE WE STAYED
We were welcomed at The Colonnade Hotel with open arms and one spacious room! The hotel was great and located near a lot of the touristy things we wanted to do. This made it super easy to walk to everything which was one of my favorite things about Boston. There’s a cute little French bistro at the lobby of the hotel and although we didn’t get to eat there, our welcome spread of goodies was from there and it was delicious.
This hotel is also home to the only rooftop pool in Boston. We headed up there on our last day when the sun came out to have breakfast and it was amazing. Great views and great food.
WHERE WE ATE
Dig Inn – An adorable quick healthy spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This place came recommended by a follower on Twitter and I profusely thanked her for it with like 20 tweets. It was so good we went back the next day for breakfast.
Top Of The Hub – Our first night we headed to Top Of The Hub located right across from our hotel. It’s situated on the 52nd floor which made for incredible views paired with even better food. We ordered the lobster summer salad which was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten and also shared a full lobster. Life is good y’all.
Tatte Bakery – Pronounced like latte, I’ve been stalking Tatte Bakery on Instagram for at least 2 years now. I couldn’t wait to visit and see the adorable cafe in person. We ordered two bowl/salad situations to share and finished it off with a fancy dessert. There are several locations around the city and highly recommend finding one to hang out at. We took refuge from the rain for a few hours and couldn’t have been happier.
Post 390 – An urban tavern, this restaurant had some delicious casual food. We did a big seafood platter and the chef also brought out their newest appetizer, herb-stuffed burrata. It was served along with fried, thinly sliced bread. Guys, they were like something from another world and so insanely good. I also had the Pink Pill cocktail, delicious!
Avery Bar – Located in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton, this very Mad Men inspired bar served amazing cocktails and even better honey mustard pretzels as a nice upgrade to bar peanuts. The decor was absolutely beautiful and decided if I ever need to decorate a man cave, this is what it would look like.
Cambridge Lobby Bar – The newly opened brandy bar in the lobby of Kimpton Marlowe Hotel serves up amazing drinks. Ask for Dennis, he was awesome and taught us so much about this liquor. He whipped up some delicious and refreshing cocktails before we headed to dinner at Bambara.
Bambara – At the Kimpton Marlowe Hotel, this was one of the most delicious meals. We did a big tasting to try a bunch of the items on the menu. We loved the salmon and beef tartare as well as all the homemade pastas.
WHAT WE DID
There’s tons of history in Boston so spending time doing a few tours is crucial to get the full Boston experience.
Duck Tour – This was my first ever Duck Tour and I loved it! We learned so much driving through the city and then hopped onto the river to learn even more. I really had no idea how much history was in Boston. It’s really easy to forget everything you learned in the 3rd grade. Our tour guide was super informative and made for a fun afternoon.
Freedom Trail – A self-guided tour (or you can have a guide if you like) that takes you through the city and show you all the historic sites. Do as much or as little as you like.
SkyWalk – Before dinner at Top Of The Hub, we headed to SkyWalk which is right below the restaurant on the 50th floor with 360 views. We were so lucky that we did this the first night when it was crystal clear out. We walked around SkyWalk to take in the views and also learn a ton of history about what we were looking at.
Harvard Tour – So it’s really officially called the Hahvahd Tour, which is too perfect. We headed over the bridge to Cambridge to do the tour and we had a cute little Harvard grab show us around her campus (she literally graduated 24 hours prior). It was one of my favorite things we did actually. The campus is adorable, full of even more history than one can imagine and also home to some good restaurants. We headed into a fun college bar for classic college staples like nachos and beer. Delicious!
Boston Public Library – We walked past this on our way to Dig Inn on our first day and knew we had to walk in. The gothic architecture on the outside was stunning but once you walked inside, we were blown away.
When narrowing down what to do in Boston, I recommend a good mix of history and great food. It’s so easy to do which is great. The city is a great walking city and there’s great food around every corner. Here are the 5 things you have to do while in Boston.
The 5 Things You Have To Do In Boston
1. Something Historical
A history tour of some sort is a must. We loved the Duck Boat Tour, but you can also do the Freedom Trail tour to get a dose of history too. Either one is great and I think it definitely depends on how much walking you want to do. Also make sure to visit the Boston Public Library. It’s such a beautiful building.
2. Visit Harvard
I really didn’t think much when the Harvard tour was on our itinerary. It’s just a school, right? Wrong. It was super neat to learn about the history of the school and see it through the eyes of a student as well. The campus is beautiful and there are so many fun stories behind this famous school.
3. Eat Seafood
A no-brainer, right? There are incredible restaurants on every corner in this city but seafood is a must to have. We had amazing lobster and crab soups that helped to warm us up.
4. Visit The Cheers Bar
This was a fun thing to see as I grew up watching Cheers. My parents watched the show and I’ve seen it again as an adult too. It was neat to see it in person!
5. Walk The City And Take It In
The cobblestone streets of this city are so charming. I instantly fell in love with it. You can literally just walk around this city and take it all in because it’s so stunning. You’ll stumble onto great little coffee shops like Tatte Bakery, a personal favorite. Be sure to take a walk to Acorn Street as it’s a super Instagrammable moment and one stunning view!
This post was written in collaboration with JetBlue, Boston Tourism and Cambridge Tourism. All opinions and views are my own.
