A museum filled with an endless amount of national and international treasures, each with its own…read morestory. Let me just start by saying this museum is HUGE so expect to spend the entire day here to see every single exhibit and piece available. The jewels has to be my favorite part of the museum, alongside the beautiful sculptures from Greek history. Tour guides, multiple shops, restaurants and very friendly customer service to give you recommendations on where to begin once entering the great hall! If you're in Boston, you MUST give this place a visit and you'll leave perplexed with the level of importance many pieces carry! I see something new everytime I come in here! The gift that truly keeps on giving.

Great collection. They have a few Van Gogh landscapes (including a rendition of the wheat field)…read moreand their Monet collection is medium-sized and varied. John Singer Sargent's work can be found all around Boston, and the MFA holds the largest collection of John Singer Sargent in the world. Considering that he painted the ceiling murals that you see when you walk in, I think that's very fitting. I was able to catch the Winslow Homer exhibition-- walked in and bought my general admission ticket to the museum. The Homer exhibition was at no additional cost, but did require an additional timed ticket. They had spots open for the next slot, so all four of my friends and I were able to go see it together. One of us accidentally forgot to get the additional ticket at the general admission desk, but an employee in front of the exhibit was nice enough to do the computer work to issue us a ticket there. $30 for general adult admission is a higher price compared to similar art museums around the world, and it would have been nice if there were more ways to get a discount (such as expanding the list of universities they offer student admission for or being part of more city tourism passes). I spent an efficient four hours in there and saw almost every corner of the museum. The price tag means I'll skip it next time I'm nearby, but I still think it's a must visit for first timers.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is one of the most distinctive museum experiences in Boston and…read morearguably in the country, and it earns that distinction through a combination of the collection itself, the building it inhabits, and the deliberate curatorial philosophy that has governed it since Isabella Stewart Gardner assembled it over a century ago. We walked into a building designed to evoke a Venetian palazzo, and the central courtyard, filled with flowering plants and architectural fragments, became the physical heart of our visit in a way that was difficult to prepare for before we saw it in person. The collection spans paintings, sculpture, tapestries, decorative arts, and ecclesiastical objects arranged across the galleries exactly as Gardner intended, with no labels identifying individual works and no curatorial rearrangement permitted by the terms of her bequest. For visitors expecting conventional museum navigation, the lack of identification can be disorienting. We found the audio tour helped considerably and was worth using. The empty frames on the walls mark where thirteen works were stolen in 1990 in what remains the largest art theft in history, and their presence is its own kind of exhibit. The Rembrandt, Vermeer, and other works that hung there are documented in photographs nearby, and the frames themselves carried a weight that a placard explanation does not fully convey. Admission is discounted for students, which helps given its location close to many college campuses. Arriving early, particularly on First Thursdays when the museum opens for a special evening event, is worth doing to get ahead of the crowds. For a museum that functions as both an art collection and a piece of living history, the Gardner is unlike anything else in Boston and well worth the time.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was commonly mentioned as a must see in Boston, so we decided to…read morecheck it out on a rainy Sunday during our trip. It seems like everyone else had the same idea as well because the museum was packed! Definitely recommend booking tickets at least a few days in advance because some time slots were sold out. We booked the 10:30am-11am time slot and it was already crowded at this time. Check in was straightforward and there are lockers in the basement to secure large bags. This is very different to the standard art museums. Isabella Stewart converted a home into a museum and it is amazing how much time and effort went into the process. There are three stories, each having several rooms to walk through. A couple rooms have limited capacity so we had to wait in line for 10-15 minutes to enter. My personal favorite part of the museum was the courtyard - very pretty with all the plants and statues. We also witnessed a proposal! I'm usually not a huge museum fan, but this was definitely worth checking out. Many people suggested listening to the audio guide available on the website, and while it was interesting, it was a bit slow and I wasn't able to listen to everything - wish the recordings had 2x speed. This is a very popular museum so the crowds made it feel a bit chaotic. I recommend going on a weekday!

Great museum but the gift shop employees are bizarrely rude for no discernible reasonread more

Now my kids are 8 and 3 years old…read more We still adore the Museum of Science and find their membership valuable. Looking forward to the new wing (currently under construction).

A very fun, interactive museum experience! I couldn't have asked for better staff for the…read morereenactment, they were so kind and funny. Maggie led us through the experience and she was excellent. It was even better than I expected. They don't force you to participate, so you can either just observe or fully join in, which makes it feel very comfortable no matter your style. I actually didn't know much about the Boston Tea Party beforehand, and I left feeling like I understood the full history in a really engaging and memorable way. They also have a large gift shop and a tea room where you can get snacks, sandwiches, and even alcoholic drinks, which is a nice bonus after the tour.

Found the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum on TikTok and decided to give it a try as it seemed like…read morea fun, interactive experience. Definitely recommend booking a few days in advance as some time slots were sold out. We went on a Friday around 12:30pm and the tour seemed packed. First, everyone is assigned a character (it didn't seem to matter much) and then the actors pretend to hold a secret town hall meeting to plan the Boston Tea Party. Next, we walked around the ship and can throw a box of "tea" into the harbor (optional), and finally we were given a tour of the museum where they discuss the context leading up to the Revolutionary War. Actors were amazing and had very witty dialogue! I like how the experience was interactive, but it did feel a bit rushed. I was most excited to throw tea into the harbor as I thought that was the main activity, but the entire group only had a couple minutes for this so it was a little underwhelming. Museum was informative and it was cool how they have one of the two surviving tea chests from the Boston Tea Party. There is a gift shop and cafe people can walk through at the end of the tour. Overall, very touristy activity and a bit expensive for what it is, but where else will you get to pretend to be a part of the Boston Tea Party. I would give it a 3.5, rounding up to 4 because of the actors and also because it is an experience worth doing once

This is a cute concept, and since this is the reason I dropped by, I'll review this highlight…read moreinstead of the Dorchester Brewery. It is more like a collection of art around the brewery, but the signs are funny and it's interesting to note paintings that were donated vs. found in a thrift store vs. found in the garbage. It ranges from funny proportions to some truly bizarre. It's a great activity to giggle at with friends or make up fun commentary on a date. It's a fun little concept, free, and open late, so it's a funs stop in. The brewery features a full bar, arcade and board games and BBQ food as well. The owner even showed us an old cigarette dispensing machine now filled with chocolate packs. There's a lot going on and it is apparent a lot of thought and creativity went into the space. It's certainly not like a traditional "museum" but sometimes you need to see some bad art to really appreciate some good art elsewhere. You'll end up laughing at something.

Okay, so museum may not be the exact right word. This is kind of like a gallery in a brewery. I had…read moreseen an ad for this place on Instagram, and filed it away in my brain. I pulled it out of the file and went to see bad art. We walked in and the guy at the bar was very nice and pointed out the "route" of the paintings. The art was so fun--some worse than others. I really did understand what some of what the artists were thinking, and in other cases I just laughed and scratched my head It's small and we weren't there more than 20 minutes, but it was fun. Btw--it's free!!!

To think we almost left Boston without stopping into the library. It would have been our loss. This…read morelibrary was so impressive. We entered the new section by the cafe. The staff were very friendly and helpful. There were people at almost every table on three different floors. The children's section was very cute. The library appeared to have an extensive collection for both adults and children. We walked into the older section of the library and we were amazed. It was definitely more like a museum. The murals on the wall and ceiling were stunning. The outside fountain area was beautiful. There were people taking photos for special events and many people like us just in awe of our surroundings. What a great find!

The Library has improved over the years. I had to revisit the Library once more and I do enjoy it…read more It's a nice place to study. The staff is wonderful and helpful; I enjoyed watching the live talk show at the Newsfeed Cafe. Overall, I'm impressed! I recommend it to anyone who wants to study, sign up for free events, get resources that can help them, or read books to enjoy their time.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge is one of those institutions that consistently…read moresurprises visitors who arrive without strong expectations, and the breadth of what is inside makes it difficult to do justice to in a single visit. We walked into an older building with low ceilings and a room to room layout that larger modern museum complexes have moved away from, and that format gave the experience an intimacy that worked in its favor. Admission runs $15 for adults and is free for Harvard students, and the ticket also covers the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology connected to the same building. The glass flower collection is the centerpiece and has been for over a century. Created by the Blaschka family between 1887 and 1936, the thousands of botanically accurate glass models of plant specimens are so precisely executed that they read as organic rather than manufactured even at close range. The collection was commissioned exclusively for Harvard and remains one of a kind. It is the kind of exhibit that is genuinely difficult to prepare for from photographs, and seeing it in person for the first time tends to stop people in a way that few museum exhibits manage. Beyond the glass flowers the museum covers an enormous range. We spent time with the mineral and gem collection, which is exceptional, with specimens from around the world and beyond that rival collections at larger national institutions. The taxidermy galleries, fossil specimens, whale and sea cow skeletons, insect displays, and extinct mammal bones filled out the remaining rooms in a way that rewarded moving slowly rather than rushing through. For a natural history museum that punches well above its size and delivers a world class collection in an intimate setting, the Harvard Museum of Natural History is a genuine Cambridge treasure and well worth multiple visits.

What a treat it was to be able to see this in my lifetime and to spend some time on the grounds of…read moreHarvard University. So much in this museum I don't think you could possible see the whole place in one day. We spent 4-5 hours here and may have seen 50%. I so wish I lived closer so I could take it all in over several visits. The mineral and rocks area especially drew lots of my attention and I spent way too much time there and slowed us down a good bit. It's was so freaking cool though! Giant wads of gold and precious metals everywhere. Things I have never seen. Wonderful things! Also.... They have dinosaurs and so many cool things. Glass flowers, ancient artifacts, rare finds from around the world all housed in the historic University of Harvard campus. Check out my pics. I even have one where I am the last link in the evolutionary chain, LOL. Totally worth a trip here if you can. So many wonderful things to see!! '26 - 29

My kids and I enjoyed the MIT museum! Lots of cool history and innovation! The museum is kept clean…read moreand staff is friendly and helpful throughout our trip. Be sure to check out the gift shop on your way out!

Fun and interactive, but not worth the $20 admission (even $10 for students feels a bit high). Some…read moreexhibits feel dated, especially the AI section, which is less impressive than what you can explore at home. Would love to see more student projects or newer innovations. Overall nice, just a bit anticlimactic. It is nice though that they have free lockers for visitors.

BASiCALLY ! All of…read moreyou !! visit WNDR jjj No Questions iV PS !!!!!! There is bar Maximum efficiency ! on size of bottles and quantities of love Of what ; all staff members are so much in loving Of each staff has offering very calm, friendly, less instructive, helpful in very artistic manner ! Let us go to KARAOKE ! I wanna accompanies on my trumpets on your Karaoke As well as on arts exhibitions you already have.

This was such a fun and interactive space. Admittedly, timing is a gamble game because…read moreLarge groups in front or behind you can affect your experience with moving through the exhibits. Staff we friendly. I would not recommend this place for younger children.

As other reviewers have said, this is an interesting place to check out in Boston, but there's not…read moremuch to it. The building itself is historical and there are plenty of other religious artifacts and things to learn before you even get inside of the globe room. We didn't book tickets ahead of time so we only had to wait around 30 minutes for the next tour to be available to go inside the globe room. If you are big on history, then this is a must see, as this painstakingly-crafted globe represents the world in the 1930s. It was interesting to see the countries and borders that no longer exist and compare them with what we know today. The acoustics were amazing as well, as the smallest whisper could sound like a yell. Overall it was worth the $6 admission and it's something I would recommend to those who haven't done it, but I wouldn't feel the need to go back.

They recently renovated this spot and opened back up not too long ago, which is when I initially…read moreintended on going. But, better late than never. They have different prices for different age groups and students. The lady up front was very kind and helpful - we even bonded on being alumni of the same high school and she gave a brief overview of the experience. They did have a complimentary coat/bag check which we took full advantage of. I am not sure how spaced apart the sessions are but we waited only about 10 minutes to go on the next one. We walked into the room with the glass globe, where we were advised to stay quiet since conversations travel very easily. A sound track was playing in the background while interacting with the map. We stayed in there for about 15 minutes. I was caught taking a video, but people were taking pictures / using their phone after the show, so I am unsure if videos are prohibited or I just took it out too soon. After exiting the room, they have a couple stands with information, as well as a wall where you can take a card and write an answer to the question. My question was, " what do you have hope for" or something along those lines. It's a very cool experience, but it did feel quick.