The Best Museums in Boston

After nine years in Boston, the museums are some of the places I returned to most. The city punches well above its weight here. These are my favorites.

My favorites

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, one I visited again and again, a Venetian-style palazzo built around a courtyard, and home to the world’s most famous unsolved art heist.
• Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), encyclopedic and world-class, my other constant.
• Museum of Science, with amazing rotating exhibits and hands-on fun, wonderful for families.
• New England Aquarium, lovely any time, but I especially loved its after-hours cocktail evenings, a fun grown-up secret.

How to do it

The Gardner and the MFA sit near each other in the Fenway, so they pair perfectly in a day. For everything else in the city, see my Boston travel guide.

The part that trips people up. A couple of these run on timed entry that releases weeks ahead, and the after-hours evenings sell out fast, so a walk-up on the wrong afternoon can mean the one thing you came for is full. Add getting across town at rush hour, when a short hop can turn into a slow half hour, and the day slips, which is exactly the kind of thing I line up before you go.

Why plan with me

A few of these have timed entries and special evening events worth booking ahead. I build the right museums into your Boston days, in English or Español.