7 Things to Do in Boston in the Fall
Boston is a good city most of the year. In the fall it’s a great one. The humidity’s gone, the students are back, the trees along the Common turn yellow and red, and the whole place looks like the cover of a college brochure.
In this guide
If you’ve already done the Freedom Trail, this is the list for what comes next. Seven things that are at their best between late September and early November.
1. Walk the Public Garden and the Common
Start here, because it’s free and it’s where the colour is. The Public Garden is the formal one, with the lagoon, the Swan Boats and the weeping willows. The Common next door is older, scruffier and bigger.
The Swan Boats usually stop running in mid-September, which is a shame, but the garden is honestly better without the queue. Go early on a weekday morning. You’ll have the bridge over the lagoon to yourself and the light comes in low across the water.
Peak colour in the city tends to land in the last two weeks of October, a little later than the countryside around it.
2. Get lost on Beacon Hill
Right behind the State House, Beacon Hill is all brick pavements, gas lamps, black shutters and tiny front doors with brass knockers. In the fall the window boxes switch to mums and pumpkins and it gets almost unreasonably pretty.
Acorn Street is the cobbled one everyone photographs. It’s lovely, it’s also a private street where people live, so be quick and be quiet. Charles Street at the bottom of the hill has the antique shops and a few good cafes for when your legs give out.
3. The Arnold Arboretum
This is the one most visitors miss, and it’s the best fall spot in the city by a distance. The arboretum is 281 acres run by Harvard, planted with thousands of trees from around the world, and it’s free and open every day from sunrise to sunset.
Walk up Peters Hill for a view back over the canopy to the downtown skyline. The maples and the Japanese trees near the Hunnewell building are the showiest in October.
It’s in Jamaica Plain, at the end of the Orange Line at Forest Hills. Twenty minutes from downtown and a completely different world.
4. Watch the Head of the Charles
Every October, usually the second-to-last weekend of the month, around 11,000 rowers from all over the world race three miles up the Charles River. It’s the biggest two-day regatta on earth and watching it costs nothing.
Stand on the Weeks Footbridge or the Eliot Bridge, where the boats have to squeeze through tight bends and crews occasionally clip each other. The banks fill with alumni tents, food trucks and people in fleeces holding coffee. It’s a very Boston afternoon.
FYI, hotels know exactly when this weekend is. Book early or stay a T ride out.
5. Spend an afternoon in Harvard Square
Cross the river to Cambridge on the Red Line. Harvard Yard in October, with the leaves coming down on the old brick halls, is about as autumn as a place gets.
You can walk the Yard on your own; the free student-led tours are fun if you want the gossip. Afterwards, wander the bookshops around the square and get a coffee somewhere on Brattle Street. Then walk down to the river and back along the Esplanade if there’s light left.
6. Mount Auburn Cemetery
I know. A cemetery. Stick with me.
Mount Auburn, founded in 1831 just outside Harvard Square, was America’s first garden cemetery, and it’s laid out like a landscaped park with winding paths, ponds and around 5,000 trees. In the fall it’s one of the most beautiful places in greater Boston.
Climb Washington Tower in the middle for a view over the treetops to the city. It’s free, it’s peaceful, and you’ll be one of maybe twenty people there. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is buried here, if you want a name to look for.
▶ Watch This Before You Go
7. Go apple picking
This is the part that needs a car, or a friend with one. About 45 minutes west of the city, the towns around Stow, Harvard and Bolton are full of pick-your-own orchards, and September through mid-October is the season.
You’ll pay for a bag and fill it with whatever’s ripe that week, usually Macouns and Honeycrisps. Then you’ll buy cider donuts, because everybody does, and they’re worth it. Weekends get busy, so go on a Friday if you can.
When to go, and what to pack
Late September to early November is the window. Early October is warmer and greener. The last two weeks of October bring the colour and the crowds. Early November is quieter and still pretty, just colder.
Pack layers. A fall day in Boston can start at 45F, hit 65F at lunch and drop back fast when the sun goes. A light jacket and a scarf cover most of it. Bring shoes you can walk on brick in, because you’ll be doing a lot of that.
Book your hotel early if your dates overlap with Head of the Charles or a big college weekend like parents’ weekend at one of the universities. The city’s hotels fill up fast and prices jump.
Leave the car. Parking downtown is miserable and expensive, and the T plus your own two feet will get you everywhere on this list except the orchards.
Common questions
When is peak fall foliage in Boston?
Usually the second half of October inside the city. The hills of central and western Massachusetts peak a week or two earlier.
Is Boston crowded in the fall?
October is one of its busiest months, between leaf-peepers, college visits and Head of the Charles. Weekdays are much calmer than weekends.
How many days do you need?
Three days covers this list comfortably, with one day in Cambridge and a half day out at the orchards.
Can you see fall colours without leaving the city?
Yes. The Arnold Arboretum and Mount Auburn Cemetery are both excellent and both reachable by public transport.
Is it worth combining Boston with Salem in October?
Very much so. The commuter rail gets you there in about 30 minutes, and it’s an easy day trip.
