Boston for 5-6 days with kids in summer
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Anonymous
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It will be the first time kids (4 and 8) fly in an airplane from dmv, and they are looking for this summer vacation. I think we will do 2 rows (2 windows and 2aisle seats) for kids to look out at clouds from plane. We parent have not visited Boston before, so please help us to plan. I know summer is far away, but my kids never fly before and I don't even know how to pack for them. We had only done short road trip a few time, and we throw everything in the trunk, so convenient. In Boston, we may rent a car, take uber or take public tranportation to navagiate if needed.
It will be the week of August 21. I want to visit MIT & harvard for a feel, and I want my 8 year old something to dream for, lol. Any fun things to do being at those campus? Should I get boston city passes for 4 pp? Worth it or not? My husband loves crabcake, so we will definitely eat some seafood there. Any great hotel to stay there with pool? My kids love hotel pool time, and they especially love rooftop pool. We want to do mostly family friendly activities, especially geared towards kids. Any must visit places & restaurants? |
Anonymous
| Boston Children’s museum- (this is a must with those ages) see if you can get the Maryland Science center ASTC? Membership which has reciprocity to BCM. Freedom Trail- do junior ranger programming. I’d also recommend something like Old Sturbridge Village or Plimoyh but only if you have a car. |
Anonymous
| Harvard has a cool museum of natural history. And the Boston science museum is fun too (although it’s been a while since I’ve been to either) |
Anonymous
| Duck boat tour |
Anonymous
Boston is not known for crab cake - I'm sure it is great, but it is known more for other shellfish. |
Anonymous
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New England Aquarium.
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Anonymous
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If you plan to stay in the city, you won’t need a car. Their subway system is awesome. Definitely get the city pass. It’s worth it. We loved the Science Center and the Aquarium. Mine also loved going to a baseball game at Fenway.
It’s a great city to visit with kids. One of our favorite vacations. |
Anonymous
+1 could take them by Harvard Square but there’s not much to see at Harvard or MIT even if you are impressed by those names. Could do part of the Freedom Trail— visit the tea party ship (or the Constitution). And please reserve the airplane seat next to your child for yourself. |
Anonymous
| Pp here. If you have specific questions, post them in the Boston Regional forum here. They were really helpful when I was planning my trip. |
Anonymous
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MIT is walkable to the Science Museum (at least it was in my 20s with one kid in a stroller, ymmv with a 4 year old).
Harvard has the science and art/archaeology museums, there is a really cute naturalistic playground near the T stop, and there is a good bookstore and ice cream place in the square. I'd walk around the Common if your kids have read Make Way for Ducklings, it's neat to be there. The USS Constitution museum is designed for families and the ship is of course amazing. You're making me homesick.... |
Anonymous
| The Duck Boats are fun for kids and they have a really nice Aquarium. If you’re not familiar with Boston and don’t have guaranteed parking I would not recommend renting a car. The T is easy to use and so is Uber. Agree with PP who said that young kids likely won’t get much out of walking around Harvard or MIT. |
Anonymous
| Look at hotels before you book flights. There are so many colleges in Boston, so you need to be mindful of when students come back for the semester and the hotels get booked up by parents helping their kids move in. |
Anonymous
| North End Bakeries especially the ones off the beaten path |
Anonymous
| why would you book 2 window and 2 aisle seats? who is going to sit in the middle? |
Anonymous
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I would google something like "3 days in boston with kids" or 4 or 5 or whatever. And google just 3 days in Boston. Or the perfect day in Boston. A variety. There are TONS of blogs and websites where people post their travel itinerarys. Read a few, find ones that feel right to you, cross check with other sources (check specific websites of places, too, especially after covid policies may have changed - for example, one trip we took to another city a blog said the zoo was free so we planned a whole day around spending half a day at the zoo only to find out it charged high prices). And then build your own itinerary.
Read the children's book Make Way for Ducklings before hand and visit the duck statue. Very fun. Also it's lobster rolls in Boston, not crabcakes. |