Boston is one of the coolest cities on the east coast. With the rich history of early America to the amazing cannolis, this is a great city to be in. The downtown area is super walkable or even try to take the T train into town. I have complied some free things to do in Boston so you don’t need to break the bank. These are great activities to do with kids or bring along a friend who is visiting.

Walking Tours

In the warmer months Boston has some great walking tours for free. They highlight the architecture of the buildings in the city, tell you the history of major events throughout Boston, or they can take you through how Boston was built. I used an app called Eventbrite to find where the free walking tours would start. There are usually many to choose from and go throughout the week.

The one I went on was about the history of Boston. We walked all around the city learning about so many of the buildings and their cultural significance. Our tour guide was dressed as George Washington and we met up in a park. He was super cool, an engineering major from Northwestern. They do ask for a tip at the end sometimes, just depends on the tour.

Cannoli Tour

This was by far my best find in terms of free things to do in Boston. The cannoli tour we found was on Eventbrite as well. They took us around all of the best cannoli spots in the city, not too far in walking distance. We tried Mike’s Pastry Shop which I thought were the best, Modern Pastry, and Bova’s Bakery. All of these places were located in the North End of Boston.

We ended up meeting in this building owned by Suffolk, a local university. Later we figured out that Suffolk put on the tour so we met some students in the group too. The best part of al was that everything was paid for. We could try any cannoli we wanted and the tour leader had a budget to pay for them. You can’t beat free cannoli’s! We were super full by the end and didn’t end up finishing all of our cannolis, so I would use this as a meal.

More in Boston

Parks

There are many parks to see in Boston like the Boston Commons and the Public Garden. These two are the biggest and the ones that I most frequented. The Boston Commons usually has an event going on so it is very busy. There are many shops surrounding the park too so it is easy to grab a bite to eat or do a little shopping after the park. There is a huge fenceless dog park there too. If you are missing your pup, go to the Boston Commons to see some dogs running around and playing together.

The Charles River Esplanade is a great park to take kids. It has a great playground with a mini zipline and everything. This park also connects to the river so you can see the city skyline at a great angle here. We went at night and the skyline was lit up beautifully. There is a dock with chairs to sit out on and some people were even fishing.

Top 3 Favorite Parks

1. Boston Commons
2. Charles River Esplanade
3. Public Garden

Campus Tours

There are so many beautiful campuses to explore in the city of Boston and the surrounding areas. I explored the campus at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. It was surrounded by the bay and had beautiful sights of the sailboats and the city skyline. It’s a public campus so you can go in the buildings to explore or walk around the outside. The building architecture at each school is super cool to see. If you are going to college soon this is a great opportunity to explore some campuses.

Some other nearby universities include Harvard, MIT, Suffolk, Boston University, Boston College, Tufts University, and Northeastern University.

Free Things to Do in Other Cities