Information and Resources
As soon as you have your Harvard ID, you can log in to Harvard Outings and Innings to get discounted tickets and passes to museums, sporting events, movies, theater, and so on.
Cambridge Public Libraries Get your library card right away. You can reserve museum passes through the libraries sometimes at even bigger discounts than through Outings & Innings. Main branch is one block from the GSD, children’s programs and media collection. Free and discounted passes for many museums and attractions.
Visiting Boston City website
Harvard Gazette Official University weekly; events listed in the back.
Office for the Arts at Harvard many, many free events, performances, and resources throughout the year, including the weeklong Harvard Arts Fest in the spring.
The ARTery: Boston’s National Public Radio news station WBUR’s listing of local entertainment options and reviews.
Meet Boston Calendar Events The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Historic Sites
USS Constitution Charlestown
Museum of African American History
Minute Man National Historical Park
Concord Walking Tours—Alcott, Emerson, Thoreau, and more.
Strawbery Banke Portsmouth, NH
The Mark Twain House Hartford, CT
Seasonal Activities
Tip: Every Saturday and Sunday, from mid-April to the second Sunday of November, Memorial Drive is closed to traffic between Western Avenue and Mount Auburn Street, and open to recreation! Bike, rollerblade, scoot, stroll.
Head of the Charles Regatta—October annually
Pick-Your-Own Apple Orchards in Massachusetts Fall
New England Ski Resorts Winter
New England Beaches Year round (see more suggestions below)
Cranberry Bog Tours Fall
Salem Haunted Happenings Halloween (Plus, things to do throughout the year, including the Peabody Essex Museum and Willows arcade and park.)
WaterFire Providence, RI, spring through fall
Fall Foliage – New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont, usually early October
Movie Theaters
Harvard Film Archive at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
Brattle Theater, Harvard Square Art films
Somerville Theatre, Davis Square. films and live performance.
Kendall Square Cinema, Kendall Sq. First run films.
Majestic at Arsenal Yards, Watertown. First run films plus filmed performances of Metropolitan Opera and theatrical performances.
Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline
Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Film series and festivals – Jewish, French, Iranian, etc.
Many movie houses downtown Boston, Arlington, Waltham, Newton.
Lectures, etc.
Boston Public Library: Copley Square, Boston. Lovely courtyard, several great cafes for lunch and tea. Boston Public Radio broadcasts from the library a couple of times a week and has the mayor, governor, and other public officials as regular guests.
All the local universities: Tufts, UMass Boston, MIT, BU, BC, Brandeis, Lesley, Emerson, Berklee School of Music, New England Conservatory, etc.
Ford Hall Forum: Suffolk University, Boston. The nation’s oldest free public lecture series
Cambridge Forum: Boston Athenaeum, downtown Boston. Interesting speakers and exhibits and a non-Harvard crowd.
Boston Society for Architecture: Boston Seaport
Museums
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—stunning enclosed courtyard
Institute for Contemporary Art During the summer, museum admission grants you access to Water Shuttle transportation to and from the Watershed in East Boston, a free seasonal exhibit space.
Museum of African American History
MassArt Art Museum Boston
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park Lincoln, MA
Rose Art Museum Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Davis Museum Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
Peabody Essex Museum Salem, MA—world class Asian and South Asian collections; historic houses (including the Yin Yu Tang house within the museum) require reservations.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton
MassMOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), North Adams
Clark Art Institute Williamstown (Grounds by Gary Hildebrand)
Danforth Art Museum, Framingham
New Bedford Whaling Museum New Bedford
See also Activities for Families
Theater
American Repertory Theater Harvard Square and Allston, student and group discounts
Boston Center for the Arts theatre and events
ArtsEmerson Cutler Majestic and Paramount Theaters
Mosesian Center for the Arts Watertown. Home of Actor’s Shakespeare Theatre, Watertown Children’s Theatre classes and performances, Improv, Open Mike, and much more.
Citizen’s Opera House Broadway touring shows, Boston Ballet
Music
Classical
Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Hatch Shell on the Esplanade
Boston Philharmonic and other concerts at Jordan Hall and Sanders Theater
Revels at Sanders Theater and elsewhere
Contemporary
Passim Harvard Square
Sinclair Harvard Square
Lizard Lounge Mass. Av.
Sonia Central Square
Lilypad Central Square
Paradise Rock Club Allston/Brighton
Brighton Music Hall Brighton
House of Blues, Boston
Royale Boston
Blue Hills Bank Pavilion Boston Seaport
The Burren Davis Square
Boston Calling music festival on Harvard grounds right around graduation
Jazz
Berklee Performance Center Boston — jazz and all sorts of other music and performance
Regattabar Charles Hotel
Scullers Doubletree Suites
Dance
Activities for Families
Playgrounds
Cambridge waterplay map for public pools, splash pads and sprinklers
There are also great playgrounds in Watertown, Belmont, Waltham, Arlington, and Lexington, if you happen to be in those areas. (Ziplines; hill slides, crowd swings!)
Amusement Parks
Lego Discovery Center Boston
Museums, History, Nature
Cambridge Public Libraries Main branch is one block from the GSD and features children’s programs and media collection.
Free and discounted passes for many museums and attractions.
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography
Puppet Showplace Theatre, Brookline
Watertown Children’s Theatre, Mosesian Center for the Arts Watertown—performances, courses, and exhibits for children and adults
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary Lincoln, Mass.
Discovery Museum Acton, Mass.
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Amherst
Edward Gorey House Cape Cod
Beaches all along the coast from Newburyport in the north to Cape Cod and south to Rhode Island. (more detail below)
Walks, Beaches, and Trips
Tip: The commuter rail is free on Fridays through August 2026
Rose Kennedy Greenway (Walk from Chinatown to the North End or vice versa) and the parallel Harborwalk. Look along the way for a public art installation by Ross Miller ’93.
Emerald Necklace Walk or bike the park created by Frederick Law Olmsted.
Arnold Arboretum A part of Harvard, this was another Frederick Law Olmsted creation.
Mount Auburn Cemetery Gorgeous any time of year: history, horticulture, birding (stop at Sofra, one block away, for a snack before or after).
Trustees of Reservations membership provides free access to nature sites and trails all around Massachusetts, including the wonderful DeCordova Museum and sculpture park in Lincoln
Garden in the Woods, Framingham
Revere Beach and Belle Isle Marsh Reservation Revere, MA, accessible by MBTA Blue Line.
Manchester-by-the-Sea commuter rail, walk 1 mile to Singing Beach for swimming
Lowell National Historic Park Lowell, MA, guided National Park Service tours.
Minute Man National Historical Park Concord/Lexington/Lincoln, MA
Garden in the Woods Framingham, MA
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill Boylston, MA
Ferry from Boston to Provincetown—a great day trip and beautiful trails to the beaches. Take your bike or rent one there, or just walk around. A popular vacation destination for the LGBTQ+ community and everybody else.
Nantucket take the ferry from Woods Hole or Hyannis on Cape Cod
Martha’s Vineyard take the ferry from Woods Hole or Hyannis on Cape Cod
Old Orchard Beach Maine, amusement park and beaches
Providence, RI Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson and Wales Culinary Institute (chef training and restaurant), great restaurants
Newport, RI mansions, seaside
Portsmouth, NH Shipbuilding history, beaches, restaurants.
