To get into an Italian mood, take the Green Line T to Haymarket for the short walk to the North End where the the smell of espresso  fills the air, and cones of gelato  come in many flavors. On days of the Saints, Hanover Street is packed with people watching or participating in the parades.  The finest restaurants abound here, sometimes tiny and tucked away in back alleys for relaxed dining; or grab a slice of pizza to sit and contemplate the Harbor views nearby.

Between the South End and the Charles river, Back Bay has Newbury Street shopping and dining; the Boston Public Library, a major reference resource with exhibits and a fair bit of discreet eye-contact, (ayor in men's room -cops); the Prudential Center and Copley Place upscale shopping malls connected by all-weather walkway and bridge; the Hancock and Pru towers with observation decks 50+ stories up; Hynes Convention Center crowds taking in the sights; the Christian Science Mother Church grounds providing pleasant walks alongside the long reflecting pool; and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops at Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Ave), with some of the most respected musicians in the world.  This, and more --and yes it was once under water, and Boston had more hills before being used for the landfill here, over a century ago.

The North Shore towns of Salem, (with Witch Museum), Rockport and Gloucester with shops and restaurants, and Singing Beach at Manchester-by-the-Sea can be reached by way of a short train hop from North Station on the Purple Line communter rail. Lynn, just north of Boston has two gay clubs to visit on the way back from Cape Ann or the beaches of New Hampshire or of Plum Island, or Cranes Beach, near Ipswich.

On the South Shore, Plimoth Plantation features role-playing actors in recreations of a 1627 English Village and a Wampanoag Homesite. The Mayflower II is docked at State Pier in downtown Plymouth, and not far away is Plymouth Rock. Nantasket Beach in Hull, and Horseneck Beach in Westport are two more beach options to the south. Providence Rhode Island has New England's only gay bathhouse, an easy one hour by train from Boston's South Station. See our Providence pages for more info.

One of the oldest parts of the city, used in the 1630s for cow pasture, a park since the 1830s, Boston Common has 50 acres of green space for walking, or sitting down for a meal from one of many take-out restaurants in nearby streets.

Across Charles Street, the Public Garden has formal flower gardens and Swan Boats that glide among the ducks.

The Esplanade lawns along the Charles River are known for jogging, sunning, casual cruising, plus free movies and concerts at the Hatch Shell. The Boston Pops plays here, known especially for the July 4th concert, as fireworks explode above the Charles.

The urban park at the center of Copley Square is framed by two of the city's finest churches, with the cobalt windows of the Hancock Tower, Boston's tallest building, rising almost shockingly nearly. At harvest times a farmers' market here tempts the office workers with fresh produce and baked goodies.

From funky fish-smelly stalls in the traditional open-air Haymarket where the fruit and veg are freshest - to boutique shops in the flanking halls with top fashions and much else to provoke curiosity. The center hall, full of  tiny nooks has every kind of finger food to munch on watching street entertainers out front.  Then over to Faneuil Hall for a bit of a history lesson. It's all within an easy walk from the Aquarium on the Waterfront, or Downtown Crossing Macy's, or the Italian ambience of the  North End. The Bruins and the Celtics games aren't far away either. This is one of the most pleasant human-scale urban environments anywhere in the USA.

A must for baseball fans. Also conveniently located near the Fens, the city's most popular cruising area, as well as the gay nightlife  on  Lansdowne and Boylston Streets. Take the Green Line T to Kenmore Square.

The New Year’s Eve celebration was founded in 1976 by artists and local residents wanting an alternative to traditional revelry. It grew from a small arts event on Boston Common to a major citywide festival of the arts. From 1pm to midnight, December 31st, at over 30 venues indoor and out, there are theatre, dance, music, visual arts and film events, gigantic ice sculptures on Copley Square and the Boston Common, fireworks displays, and a Mardi Gras-style Grand Procession through the streets of Boston.

Boston Phoenix radio, WFNX airs One In Ten, Sundays 8-10pm at 101.7FM (92.1FM in New Hampshire). Since 1992 programs exclusively devoted to gay and lesbian community news, issues and events.
NPR at Boston University, WBUR (90.9FM) is all-news and talk radio, public radio style. Listen live or download podcasts from their website.  WGBH (89.7) also airs NPR, BBC news, and public affairs programs. Old 'GBH classical music can now be heard on WCRB (99.5).

Around a hundred colleges and universities bring over 250,000 students to the area, and provide a conucopia of non-commercial radio. Moments of brilliance, along with inept and silly interludes, provide relief from both slick mainstream commercial media, and pc stuffiness of NPR. Student DJs share their passion for arcane blues, folk, jazz, techno, or perhaps hillbilly music, traditional Persian ballads, Siberian throat singing, or other music genres. Queer spoken word samples introduce new generations to the likes of Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Paul Bowles, or Hakim Bey. On-air or online: Boston College -WZBC (90.3); Boston University -WTBU (89.3); Brandeis University - WBRS (100.1); Curry College - WMLN (91.5); Emerson College - WERS (88.9); Harvard University - WHRB (95.3); MIT - WMBR (88.1); Northeastern University -WRBB (104.9); Tufts University - WMFO (91.5);  and UMass Boston - WUMB (91.9). Many of them can also be accessed on iTunes.

Cafes, shops, and restaurants aplenty; the Harvard Coop to browse; the Harvard University campus wherein to see buildings (some dating from earliest English settlements), around green quads shaded by mature trees. The banks of the Charles River nearby make a great place to picnic with food to be found in the markets, delis and pizza/sub or falafel shops of this busy bike and pedestrian-friendly  intersection. Take the Red Line T to Harvard Station.

A world-class collection of more than 2,500 objects—paintings, sculpture, furniture, textiles, drawings, silver, ceramics, illuminated manuscripts, rare books, photographs and letters—from ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, Asia, the Islamic world and 19th-century France and America. Housed in a buiiding evoking a 15th-century Venetian palace.

The 1975 cult classic comedy/musical with Tim Curry, and Susan Sarandon will continue to play in Boston - but at a new location. After 28 years of weekly Saturday midnight shows at the Harvard Square Cinema (following 9 years at the old Exeter in Back Bay), with the whole live crew, sing-alongs and flying toast etc, the show will go on at the AMC Boston Common Cinema, 175 Tremont St. The live show group is called the Full Body Cast. The old Harvard Square closed in July 2012. 

This stretch of the coastline is quite lovely and certainly full of history. You can now check out the Boston Tea Party site again, and help toss the tea overboard. Take a day trip around the harbor, or see one of the islands just offshore. Go all the way to Provincetown if you have the time. The New England Aquarium is harborside too.

Boston's Theater District isn't exactly Broadway but the area is on the upswing, with more marquees going up in what used to be the city's red-light district, once known (affectionately) as the Combat Zone. The revitalization has been helped by Emerson College (where TV's Glee gay kid would fit right in), already running the Cutler Majestic (219 Tremont St) and the gorgeous Paramount Theatre. The latter, a Washington Street Art Deco movie house, had been dormant until recenly, since the porn flicks stopped running in the 1970s. Next door to the similarly restored Opera House, it's a must-visit for architecture fans and those interested in historic preservation.

Among a dozen stages here: the Colonial Theatre (106 Boylston); the Charles Playhouse (74 Warrenton St); the Shubert (265 Tremont St), where the Boston Lyric Opera sometimes plays; the Wang (270 Tremont St); and the Wilber Theatre (246 Tremont St). The Boston Opera House (539 Washington St) has musicals, and some productions of the Boston Ballet.

If looking for queer content rather than family-friendly glitz, head to the Boston Center for the Arts, in the South End (539 Tremont St), with several stages and art galleries offering among the best North American queer and alternative theater, both original and imported. Resident troupes include the SpeakEasy Stage Company and the Theater Offensive. The BCA plaza is still a queer crossroads, even if the neighborhood is not as gay as it was.

The Boston Playwrights Theatre (949 Commonwealth Ave), outside the district at Boston University, hosts events such as the Boston Theater Marathon with 50 original one-act plays repeated throughout the weekend, always with plenty of gay and lesbian contributions.

If you pass through Bay Village, a tight little neighborhood of townhouses, check out Jacques Cabaret (79 Broadway) with Boston's best drag shows. Some of Boston's biggest gay dance nights take place in the Theater District --see our listings for links.