Guided Walking Tours

Even if you usually prefer to explore on your own, I heartily recommend a walking tour with Boston By Foot, 77 N. Washington St. (tel. 617/367-2345, or 617/367-3766 for recorded information). From May to October, the nonprofit educational corporation conducts historical and architectural tours that focus on particular neighborhoods or themes. The rigorously trained guides are volunteers who encourage questions. Buy tickets ($12 adults, $8 children 6-12) from the guide; reservations are not required. The 90-minute tours take place rain or shine.

Note: All excursions from Faneuil Hall start at the statue of Samuel Adams on Congress Street.

The Heart of the Freedom Trail tour starts at Faneuil Hall daily at 10am. Tours of Beacon Hill begin at the foot of the State House steps on Beacon Street weekdays at 5:30pm, Saturday at 10am, and Sunday at 2pm. Other tours and meeting places are Victorian Back Bay, on the steps of Trinity Church, 10am Friday and Sunday and 5:30pm Monday; the North End, at Faneuil Hall, 2pm Friday and Saturday, 1pm Sunday; and Literary Landmarks, in front of Borders, 10-24 School St., 2pm Saturday.

Boston Underfoot looks at subterranean technology, including the subway and the depression of the Central Artery. It starts at Faneuil Hall Sunday at 2pm and costs $14 (including subway fare). On the last Sunday of each month, a special tour ($15) covers a particular subject or area such as Art Deco design or Harvard Square. In addition, the company offers themed holiday strolls and off-season group tours.

The Boston Park Rangers (tel. 617/635-7383) offer free guided walking tours. The best-known focus is the Emerald Necklace, a loop of green spaces designed by pioneering American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, including Boston Common, the Public Garden, the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, the Muddy River in the Fenway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, the Arnold Arboretum, and Franklin Park. The full walk takes 6 hours; a typical offering is a tour of one of the sites. Call or surf ahead for schedules.

A Different Voice -- Mytown multicultural youth walking tours (tel. 617/536-2891) offers tours led by a local high school student. The Youth Guide program trains participants in historical research and encourages them to put a personal spin on their narration. The result is a uniquely fascinating take on the city. Tours ($15) operate from late April to October; check ahead for tour details, meeting times, and reservations.

Behind the Scenes at the BSO

From October through early May, free volunteer-led tours of Symphony Hall, 301 Mass. Ave. (tel. 617/266-1492), take visitors all around the landmark building and relate the Boston Symphony Orchestra's fascinating history. The 1-hour tours start on Wednesday at 4:30pm, except during the last 3 weeks of December, and on the first Saturday of each month at 1:30pm. Reservations aren't necessary; meet in the lobby at the Mass. Ave. entrance.

"Duck" Tours

The most unusual and enjoyable way to see Boston is with Boston Duck Tours (tel. 800/226-7442 or 617/267-DUCK). The tours, offered April through November only, are pricey but great fun. In a casual survey of local travel experts I conducted for the 2005 edition of this book, a Duck Tour was the most popular thing to do with out-of-towners. Sightseers board a "duck," a reconditioned World War II amphibious landing craft, behind the Prudential Center on Huntington Avenue or at the Museum of Science. The 80-minute narrated tour begins with a quick but comprehensive jaunt around the city. Then the duck lumbers down a ramp, splashes into the Charles River, and goes for a spin around the basin.

Tickets, available at the Prudential Center, the Museum of Science, and Faneuil Hall, are $28 for adults, $25 for seniors and students, $19 for children 3 to 11, and $5 for children under 3. Tours run every 30 or 60 minutes from 9am to 30 minutes before sunset, and they usually sell out. You can buy tickets online or in person. Try to buy same-day tickets early in the day, or ask about the limited number of tickets available starting 5 days in advance. Reservations are accepted only for groups of 20 or more. No tours December through March.

Trolley Tours

The ticket-sellers who clamor for your business wherever tourists gather will claim that no visit is complete without a day on a trolley. This may be true if you're unable to walk long distances, are short on time, or are traveling with children. A narrated tour on a trolley (actually a bus chassis with a trolley body) can give you an overview of the city before you focus on specific attractions, or you can use the all-day pass to hit as many places as possible in 8 hours or so. In some neighborhoods, notably the North End, the trolleys stop some distance from the attractions -- don't believe a ticket-seller who tells you otherwise. Because Boston is so pedestrian-friendly, a trolley tour isn't the best choice for the able-bodied and unencumbered making a long visit, but it can save time and effort. For those who are physically able, I can't say this enough: Climb down and look around.

The business is extremely competitive, with various firms offering different stops in an effort to distinguish themselves from the rest. All cover the major attractions and offer informative narratives and anecdotes in their 90- to 120-minute tours; most offer free reboarding if you want to visit the attractions. Each tour is only as good as its guide, and quality varies widely -- every few years a TV station or newspaper runs an "exposé" of the wacky information a tour guide is passing off as fact. Have a grain of salt ready. If you have time, you might even chat up guides in the waiting area and choose the one you like best.

Trolley tickets cost $29 to $35 for adults, $15 or less for children. Most companies offer online discounts, and you may find discount coupons at visitor information centers and hotel-lobby brochure racks. Boarding spots are at hotels, historic sites, and tourist information centers. Busy waiting areas are near the New England Aquarium, the Park Street T stop, and the corner of Boylston Street and Charles Street South, across from Boston Common. Each company paints its cars a different color. They include orange-and-green Old Town Trolley Tours (tel. 617/269-7150); Beantown Trolleys (tel. 800/343-1328 or 781/986-6100), which say "Gray Line" but are red; and silver CityView Trolleys (tel. 617/363-7899). The Discover Boston Trolley Tours (tel. 617/742-1440) vehicle is white; its narration is available translated into Japanese, Spanish, French, German, and Italian.

Moon River . . . & Harbor

Fire up the camera as you approach the water. Every bridge that crosses the river between Boston and Cambridge affords an excellent perspective. If your travels take you to the area around the Esplanade or Kendall Square (T: Red Line to Charles/MGH or Kendall/MIT), wander out onto the Longfellow Bridge, especially at twilight -- the views of the river are splendid, and if you hit it just right, the moon appears to shine out of the Hancock Tower.

In warm weather, check the papers for the time of moonrise and stroll down to the plaza at the end of Long Wharf (T: Blue Line to Aquarium). The full moon appears to rise out of the Boston Harbor Islands, and because it's so close to the horizon, it looks huge. For astronomical reasons, this only works in the summer, but boy, is it cool.