Hip & Historical. Cool & Hot.
Pack lightly...Boston has everything you need.
Boston is a wonderful blend of stylish sophistication and historic New England charm. You can easily uncover the city’s past while enjoying its distinctively modern edge.
Year round Boston is brimming with exceptional musical and theatrical productions and annual performances, new exhibitions and timeless favorites, walking tours or trolley tours, ethnic festivals and festivals of Food & Wine.
A walk through the Public Garden is simply delightful. Boston Harbor offers a multitude of activities from harbor cruises at high noon to sails at sunset, from whale watches out on the ocean to people-watching along the HarborWalk.
Boston shops and galleries are inviting any time of year whether you’re a serious and seasoned shopper, a bona-fide bargain hunter or a whimsical window shopper. You can browse glass-enclosed arcades, meander open-air marketplaces and stroll among independent brownstone boutiques.
There’s history to be enjoyed as well as the freshest local seafood. There are pocket-parks, public squares and the Arnold Arboretum to stroll or picnic. There are movies under the stars and star-studded concerts. Enjoy a Boston tradition with a spin or two around the Frog Pond.
Explore the hidden gardens of Beacon Hill, the inner courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the enclosed garden at Trinity Church.
Best-known for its seafood, Boston is also home to world-class chefs, classic Irish pubs, and energetic nightclubs. Boston dining is increasingly a destination all its own. The restaurant scene is delicious and dynamic. Select from Boston's four-star restaurants to neighborhood bistros, from contemporary cuisine to traditional New England fare with a few surprises to an eclectic mix of ethnic dishes making for a gastronomical United Nations.
Each of the city’s neighborhoods has a remarkably different style and tone. From the Back Bay’s cosmopolitan streets and ornate Victorian townhouses to the aromas spilling into the narrow and jumbled 17-century streets of Boston’s North End to the spirited and funky neighborhood squares of Cambridge-all within easy distance from one another.
Boston has so much to see and do and who better to do it with than AHLA! Join us for a memorable meeting in this fabulous city.
Below are some activities for you to consider during your stay in Boston. You are encouraged to contact these sites directly for more information. For additional ideas, please take a look at the Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau website.
5 Wits Patriot Place
5 Wits provides unique, fully interactive adventures using state-of-the-art equipment and special effects. Our current attraction ESPIONAGE allows guests to play the role of secret agents assigned to infiltrate the nefarious CABAL Corporation. Get hands-on experience cracking safes, hacking computers & dodging lasers to expose a a mole within your organization. Every puzzle you solve, challenge you conquer and mistake you make will change the outcome, so stay sharp, move fast - and don't get caught!
Boston Children’s Museum
Boston Children's Museum has been building innovative, meaningful, and fun exhibits for over 95 years. The Museum emphasizes 'hands-on engagement and learning through experience' has inspired museums worldwide. Designed for children and families, the exhibits focus on science, culture, environmental awareness, health & fitness, and the arts. Climb a three-story structure, explore Science Playground, get inspired by KidPower, visit an authentic Japanese house, make art, and much more!
Boston Duck Tours
Hop aboard Boston Duck Tours and enjoy a fully narrated, historic tour of Boston in a "DUCK", a W.W.II style amphibious landing craft that travels on land and water. You'll cruise by all the places that make Boston the birthplace of freedom and a city of firsts. Just when you think you've seen it all, your ConDUCKtor drives the DUCK right into the Charles River for a breathtaking view of the Boston and Cambridge skylines.
80-minute tours depart daily from March 22 - November 28 from 9am until and hour before sunset from the Museum of Science & Prudential Center.
Castle Island
Fort Independence, a pentagonal five-bastioned, granite fort built between 1834 and 1851, is the dominating feature of Castle Island. This 22-acre urban park is connected to the mainland by both pedestrian and vehicular causeways.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
There's a magical place in the center of Boston like no other - Faneuil Hall Marketplace. As alive today as it was in 1742 when our nation's fathers proclaimed it "The Cradle of Liberty," it combines the glories of Boston's past with the urban sophistication of the city today.
Franklin Park Zoo
Franklin Park Zoo is a 72-acre site nestled within Boston's historic Franklin Park. Here, guests can experience the most innovative and intimate indoor gorilla exhibit in the world. Visitors to the signature Tropical Forest can stand face-to-face with the Zoo's seven western lowland gorillas at one of five glass viewing stations in the state-of-the-art indoor exhibit. It's a truly unforgettable experience! While at Franklin Park Zoo, be sure to also visit the African lion in the Kalahari Kingdom, the tigers in the Tiger Tales exhibit, the Masai giraffes and Grevy's zebra on the Giraffe Savannah, and the many other remarkable species that call the Zoo home.
Now Open at Franklin Park Zoo: Aussie Aviary. This exhibit provides a memorable, interactive experience for Zoo guests, who are able to stroll through the space among hundreds of brightly-colored budgies. Budgerigars, affectionately called budgies, are also known as grass parakeets and are a variety of small slender parrots with long, tapering tails. As part of the experience, guests have the opportunity to purchase seed sticks and feed the birds as they walk through the free-flight exhibit. It’s an experience not to be missed!
The Freedom Trail
The Freedom Trail Foundation is the official non-profit organization that promotes and supports Boston's Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile historic walking trail. Relive the story of the American Revolution in its original setting - real buildings and places- where the patriots engaged in daring and dangerous activity to overthrow England's rule of the colonies.
Follow the red line for a Walk Into History on the streets of this sophisticated city and into the 16 sites where exhibits and interactive experiences bring the story to life. Take a walking tour with a Freedom Trail Player, an 18th century costumed guide, and learn about desperate housewives, a commander-in-chief, survivors, CSIs, and real American idols. It's American history, but not the same old story.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is at once an intimate collection of fine and decorative art and a vibrant, innovative venue for contemporary artists, musicians and scholars. Housed in a stunning 15th-century Venetian-style palace with three stories of galleries surrounding a sun- and flower-filled courtyard, the museum provides an unusual backdrop for the viewing of art. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's preeminent collection contains more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books and decorative arts. The galleries house works by some of the most recognized artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent. The spirit of the architecture, the personal character of the arrangements and the artistic display of the enchanting courtyard in full bloom all create an atmosphere that distinguishes the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as an intimate and culturally-rich treasure.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Step back into the recreated world of the early 1960s and experience first hand the life and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. Period settings from the White House and 25 multimedia exhibits create a stirring account of President Kennedy's thousand days in office. Housed in a striking building designed by I.M. Pei, the national memorial to President Kennedy sits on a 10-acre waterfront site on Columbia Point offering panoramic views of Boston's skyline and Harbor Islands. The JFK Museum Store offers unique gifts for visitors including collectors items, posters, President Kennedy's favorite rocking chair, videos, T-shirts, children's items, books and more
New England Aquarium
Dive deep into the ocean inside the New England Aquarium, and experience engaging exhibits featuring animals from across the globe. Stand in awe of the four-story, 200,000 gallon Giant Ocean Tank, home to everything from sea turtles to sharks to tropical fish, and sit back to experience an unforgettable IMAX (R) film on New England's largest screen. Get up-close with charismatic seals at the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center
New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods
45-acre botanical museum, New England's premier native plants showcase. Discover over 1,000 species in naturalistic displays, including the unique NE Garden of Rare and Endangered Plants. An ever-changing tapestry of flowers and foliage...spring, summer, and fall. Eco-friendly garden shop, native plant nursery, snacks, picnic area.
Paul Revere House
Home to the famed patriot - Paul Revere - the Paul Revere Memorial Association owns and operates the Paul Revere House and the Pierce-Hichborn House, located on the Freedom Trail's North End. The shops offers gifts including reproductions of Revere's silver work, colonial toys, and books on Revere, the Revolutionary era and architectural history. Historical maps & curriculum materials are also available.
Samuel Adams Brewery Tour
You'll learn about its history... and then drink it. Learn all about Samuel Adams, brewer and patriot. Experience the entire brewing process, from start to finish. Taste the special malts used to brew Samuel Adams® beers and smell the Hallertau hops. Sample a few ward winning beers.
Trinity Church in the City of Boston
H.H. Richardson's 1877 architectural masterpiece on Copley Square. Tours focus on the art, architecture, and background of this historic building and parish. Organ Concerts. Church Services (Episcopal).
USS Constitution Museum
Only yards away from "Old Ironsides," the Museum is a "must see" for everyone visiting Boston, where interactive galleries take adults, families and children of all ages on a 200-year voyage.