These are our most frequently requested tours. They are excellent for first time visitors and general interest groups. All of them can be adapted for special requests.

Please note: we have found “some walking” indicates tours that are feasible for seniors unless they are really seriously challenged. In these cases, they can stay on the coach while the rest of the group walks.

Plan A

The Essential Boston    coach, some walking    half day
Tour the highlights of Old Boston and the Back Bay area. See where the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party took place. Stroll through the North End, past Paul Revere’s House to the Old North Church where two lanterns were lit to signal that the redcoats were marching. Admire the broad expanse of the historic Boston Common and the elegance of the Victorian Back Bay. Snap a photo of 63-story John Hancock Tower and stunning 19th century Trinity Church, side by side. Look for Norm at the “Cheers” Bar! Salute the flag at USS Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides”. And don’t miss Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, Boston’s most popular tourist destination! <back to top>

The Shot Heard Round the World    coach, some walking    half day
Journey out 13 miles to Lexington Green where British redcoats opened fire on 77 Lexington militia men and on to Concord’s Old North Bridge where the British were repelled by Minutemen firing the “shot heard round the world and the American Revolution began. For Americans and foreign visitors alike, this tour highlights a watershed event in world history. <back to top>

Salem: Witch City and Seaport    coach    half or full day
Older than Boston and steeped in the tragic history of its infamous Witch Trials, Salem evokes memories of persecution and mass hysteria that left 21 people executed, hundreds more driven from their homes and ruined, and a community indelibly haunted by what happened in the summer of 1692. This fascinating tour takes you back to those days and traces the accusations, trials and verdicts that still resonate in our history today. Beyond that, you will be able to explore the later, more exciting history of Salem during the China Trade days when Salem was the richest city in the United States, when Salem Clipper captains were sailing the seas to the Indies, to China and around the world in pursuit of fabulous wealth. Visits to the Salem Witch Museum, the the Peabody Essex Museum and/or the House of the Seven Gables can be included. <back to top>

Presidential Precedents    coach, some walking    half day
Who would have guessed that four American Presidents were born in Norfolk County, Massachusetts? This tour takes you to the John F. Kennedy Library for an in-depth tour and then on to the home of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The Library may be one of the best presidential libraries in the nation. The Adams National Historic Site is unquestionably the greatest presidential home open to the public. Who was the fourth president? Come on the tour! <back to top>

Harvard and Cambridge    coach, some walking    half day
This is frequently included with other tours and takes the group across the Charles River for tour the campus of America’s oldest university. It can also encompass a visit to the famous Glass Flower collection at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and a visit to the Longfellow National Park Site, home to George Washington and to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his family. The drive across the River offers a splendid panorama of Boston’s skyline as well as a drive through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This tour is frequently combined with Essential Boston or Shot Heard Round the World.
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A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim    coach, significant walking    full day
Forty miles south of Boston lies Plimoth Plantation, an historically accurate recreation of the original Pilgrim village with costumed staff re-enacting the life of those early settlers in 1627. You will learn about the terrifying voyage and tragic first winter for these brave souls. You will find out how they survived and finally began to prosper. You will also visit Mayflower II, a full sized replica of the original ship. This is a journey into our nation’s past. <back to top>

For the Idle Rich: Newport Yesterday and Today    coach    full day
Gilded Age mansions and gossip, Astors and Vanderbilts, magnificent seacoasts and crowded yacht basins, Newport has it all. From the 17th century to the 21st, this community has adapted and changed but most of us are primarily drawn to the exaggerated grandeur of the summer “cottages” with their marvelous stories of a lost world of opulence and status. Visits to two of the “cottages” are included in the tour. <back to top>

Plan B

Many groups have special interests. These are samples of a few programs designed for those groups.

Freedom Trail    walking    half or full day
This covers the entire Freedom Trail with 16 historic landmarks along the way or it can be shortened due to time limitations. High points include The Boston Common, the New and the Old State Houses, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, Old Granary Burying Ground, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere’s House and Old North Church. The full Trail also includes USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. The shortened version is an excellent half-day tour. Throw in the last two stops and a lunch break and you have a full day. <back to top>

Beacon Hill    walking    half day
We explore nineteenth century Beacon Hill, contrasting the elegance of the Federalist and Greek Revival homes of “proper” Bostonians on the South Slope to the life of the working classes and the African-American communities on the North Slope. This is social and architectural history at its best. <back to top>

Three Neighborhoods    walking and coach    full day
Exploring the North End of Paul Revere as well as nineteenth century immigrants, the Beacon Hill of patrician Bostonians, and the Victorian Back Bay gives a chance to follow the development of Boston from a small town of 15,000 at the time of the Revolution to the city that we enjoy today. <back to top>

North End Italian Market Tour    walking    half day
This is a fascinating exploration of cheese and wine shops, salumerias and fresh produce stores in the quaint North End of Boston. After this walk and the stories and tips you will receive about Italian cooking traditions, after the aromas of oregano, aged balsamic vinegar and fresh bread, you will feel like you have been in Tuscany for a week. And it will be time for lunch! <back to top>

Black Heritage Trail    walking    half day
The focus of this tour is the Abolitionist history of Boston as revealed through exploration of the free African-American community of pre-Civil War Boston. Frederick Douglas, the Massachusetts 54th Regiment in the Civil War, Harriett Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, the fight for educational equality, all are part of this tour. Follow the trail of Freedom Fighters a century before Selma and Martin Luther King, Jr. <back to top>