The Top Guided Tours in Boston
Sometimes an easy-breezy self-directed vacation is perfect, but when visiting a historic city like Boston, a guided tour is the perfect way to make sure you get the full experience.
It’s helpful to have a sense of purpose when choosing a tour. Tours have become much more niche in recent years: general tours are great for most, but if you want to deep-dive into something, you can do that too! Here are some of the best tours the city has to offer, in no particular order.
From Food to Freedom Trail Walking Tour
Try this tour if you can't decide between food and history: it’s the best of both worlds! Visit the hidden North End bakery and find out what a salumeria is. Savor the flavors of the rich history and unforgettable cuisine of the North End.
Boston Ghost Tour
Ever wonder about Boston’s haunted past? The Boston Ghosts tour explores both the paranormal and historical worlds of each carefully selected tour site. This haunted tour assures its authenticity and promises “an unflinching look into Beantown’s ghastly hauntings.” Reserve your place…if you dare.
Fenway Park
This 1-Hour guided walking tour includes up-close access to the home stadium of the iconic Boston Red Sox. Visitors can choose from a private or shared tour. Each ticket includes admission to the Fenway Park Living Museum, featuring more than a half-million stadium artifacts and photographs.
Tours of Freedom Trail
Spend 90 minutes with a costumed tour guide as you walk along the Freedom Trail. This 2.5-mile low-intensity stroll highlights the places and stories associated with the colonial upstarts that made Boston the “Cradle of Liberty.”
Boston Duck Tours
Duck Tours offers an 80-minute, fully narrated, historic tour of Boston in a “DUCK", a World War II-style amphibious landing vehicle that travels on land and water. Tours depart hourly starting at 10 am, ending one hour before sunset. Catch your DUCK at one of three departure locations around Boston: the Museum of Science, the Prudential Center, and the New England Aquarium. Tours departing from the Museum of Science are available in 9 languages via GPS headsets.
Cape Cod Day Tour
Explore Cape Cod on this nine-hour day trip from Boston. Travel by motor coach to the John F. Kennedy Memorial and Cape Cod beaches; embark on a harbor cruise in Hyannis, and explore buccaneer culture at the Whydah Pirate Museum, which houses the largest collection of pirate artifacts recovered from a single shipwreck anywhere in the world. This tour allows ample free time to explore on your own.
History and Photography Walking Tour/Boston Night Photography Tours
A PhotoWalks tour is fun for all: shutterbugs, history buffs, and families alike. Small-sized group tours ensure a personalized experience. All ages and skill levels are welcome. Choose your tour from a varied menu: Boston’s Wang Theatre; Beacon Hill History + Architecture; North End-Little Italy History.
Explore Boston's Cobblestone Streets With a Historian
Discover the connections between the history of Boston’s North End and the rest of the historic city. This tour paints a portrait of Boston’s evolution from the 17th to the 21st century, vividly bringing to life the narratives that have shaped America.
Introducing the rising stars in Boston’s guided tour community:
Tours by Locals
Local guides offer 100+ unique tours in Boston. Visitors have a wide array of choices, including tour length and price points, walking or driving, private tours or large-group, age-appropriate, historical, religious, food and drink…what’s your pleasure?
Mobsters, Dumplings, Donuts, and Bloodlust
Airbnb offers Experiences in Boston with tour topics exploring the mysteries of Victorian Boston; organized crime; notable women, and gastronomic adventures.