We may earn a commission from links on this page, at no cost to you. Disclosure
For a Boston trip with your mom, plan a day around afternoon tea in the Courtyard Tea Room of the Boston Public Library, a walk through the Public Garden, and an hour or two in the small shops of Charles Street on Beacon Hill. Add the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, with its flowering courtyard, and the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum if she likes her history lively. For getting around, Arlington station on the Green Line is directly across from the Public Garden's entrance, and Charles/MGH on the Red Line is at the top of Charles Street.
Afternoon tea at the Boston Public Library
The Courtyard Tea Room serves afternoon tea, with tea sandwiches, sweets and scones, inside the McKim Building of the Boston Public Library's Central Library in Copley Square. The building, finished in 1895, is a National Historic Landmark with murals by John Singer Sargent, and entry is free. Look around before or after tea: the library runs free weekly guided art tours, booked up to a month ahead, and a 30-minute audio tour on the free Bloomberg Connects app. The tea room is on OpenTable, so reserve rather than walk in.
The Public Garden and the Swan Boats
The Public Garden, established in 1837, was the first public botanical garden in America and is laid out for strolling, with a serpentine pond, a footbridge from the 1860s and flower beds grown in the city's greenhouses. The Swan Boats, run by the same family since 1877, cross the lagoon daily from April to September; the 2026 season has ended and the boats return in April 2027. From May to September, the Friends of the Public Garden lead free one-hour tours from the Make Way for Ducklings statues, with no sign-up.
Shopping on Charles Street and Newbury Street
Cross Charles Street from the garden and you are on Beacon Hill's shopping street. Crush Boutique at number 138 sells women's contemporary clothing and was named Best Women's Clothing, Casual, by Boston Magazine in 2025. December Thieves at number 122, a women-owned shop since 2013, stocks small-batch designers and jewelry and offers free 60-minute styling appointments from Wednesday to Saturday. Beacon Hill Chocolates at number 91 makes a good last stop, with more than 100 truffles and hand-decoupaged keepsake boxes.
Newbury Street in Back Bay is the city's other shopping street. Our Newbury Street guide goes shop by shop, and our guide to what to buy in Boston covers gifts to take home.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Gardner was built by one woman, Isabella Stewart Gardner, to hold her collection, and it opened in 1903 arranged exactly as she wanted it. At its center is a courtyard garden with ten seasonal displays a year; chrysanthemums fill it from September to November. Admission is $25, or $22 for visitors 65 and over, and includes every special exhibition. On Thursdays it stays open until 9 p.m. Cafe G, glass-walled and looking onto the garden, takes walk-ins only.
The Museum of Fine Arts is within walking distance if you want a second museum: its American collection has Copley's 1768 portrait of Paul Revere and the world's most complete collection of John Singer Sargent, and the New American Cafe in the courtyard serves lunch with table service.
The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
For history with a sense of fun, the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum on the Fort Point Channel runs one-hour tours with actors in period dress: you join a town meeting, board full-scale replica ships and throw tea over the side. Tours run daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission starts at $36. Entry is timed, and walk-up waits can run an hour or more on busy days, so book ahead.
A drink with a view to finish
Stratus, the bar on the open-air 51st floor of View Boston at the top of the Prudential Tower, opens daily from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and suits a late-afternoon toast. For a slower pace with older parents, see our guide to Boston with your parents.