6 best museums in Boston

Museums in Boston

Museum · Fenway–Kenmore

1.Museum of Fine Arts

One of the largest art museums in the US, the MFA's Art of the Americas wing holds John Singleton Copley's portraits, Paul Revere's silver Sons of Liberty Bowl and John Singer Sargent's The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit.

Time needed

3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Rainy day
• Iconic

Museum · Fenway–Kenmore

2.Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Isabella Stewart Gardner built a Venetian-style palazzo to display her Titian, Rembrandt, Botticelli and Sargent paintings around a glass-roofed courtyard that is in flower all year.

Time needed

1.5–2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Couples
• Rainy day
• Off the beaten path

Museum · Charles River

3.Museum of Science

Built on a dam across the Charles River, the Museum of Science has hands-on galleries ranging from dinosaurs to engineering, the Theater of Electricity, where a giant Van de Graaff generator makes indoor lightning, the Charles Hayden Planetarium and the domed Mugar Omni Theater.

Time needed

3–4 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day

Museum · Fort Point

4.Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum

A floating museum at the Congress Street Bridge, with replica 18th-century ships and costumed actors who re-create the night of 16 December 1773, when colonists dumped British tea into the harbour.

Time needed

1 hour

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• History

Gallery · Seaport District

5.Institute of Contemporary Art

The ICA's glass building by Diller Scofidio + Renfro cantilevers out over Boston Harbor, and its top-floor galleries end in a full-width window onto the water.

Time needed

1.5–2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Views
• Rainy day
• Architecture

Museum · Dorchester

6.John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

I.

Time needed

2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• History
• Views
• Rainy day

Grouped by area

Booking and timing

Of these 6, 6 mid-priced. Book ahead for Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The longest visit is Museum of Science; group the rest by area to save travel time.

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Entry is by timed ticket; book online for weekends.

How to fit them into 4 half-days

Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.

• Half-day 1 (Fenway–Kenmore): Museum of Fine Arts, at least 3 hours.
• Half-day 2 (Fenway–Kenmore): Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, at least 2 hours.
• Half-day 3 (Charles River and Fort Point): Museum of Science → Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, at least 4 hours.
• Half-day 4 (Seaport District and Dorchester): Institute of Contemporary Art → John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, at least 4 hours.

The quietest months for queues

• February: highs of 4°C (39°F), about 10 rainy days, very quiet crowds. Still deep winter and the snowiest month in many years; good for indoor museums and hockey.
• January: highs of 3°C (37°F), about 11 rainy days, very quiet crowds. The coldest month, with snow and biting wind; museums are quiet and hotel rates are among the lowest of the year.
• November: highs of 11°C (52°F), about 10 rainy days, quiet crowds. Cool and grey after the leaves fall, with good hotel value outside Thanksgiving week.

The neighbourhoods they are in

• Seaport District — Glass towers, waterfront restaurants and the ICA on the harbour
• Fenway–Kenmore — Fenway Park, the Museum of Fine Arts and student bars on Lansdowne Street

More of Boston

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