90 Great Things to Do in Massachusetts

From fine art to whale watching, Massachusetts offers all the delights that any New England vacation can promise

Massachusetts, a populous state with a land mass that crosses the breadth of the region, offers all the sensual delights and interesting features that are typical of New England. In terms of the outdoors, the state extends from the heavily forested Berkshire Mountains in the west to the delicate beaches and massive bluffs of Cape Cod to the east. Within these boundaries, outdoor fun encompasses everything from hiking and skiing and white water rafting in the Berkshires to strolling the downtown streets and ethnic enclaves of Boston to hopping aboard a whale-watching vessel in Gloucester or Provincetown.

Massachusetts is special in New England as the epicenter of several major chapters of Colonial and Revolutionary War history. Visitors can see the rock where the Mayflower supposedly landed in Plymouth; examine the sites of the 1692 Witch Trials in Salem; see where Henry David Thoreau developed his ideas about living close to nature in Walden; and walk the paths where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in Lexington and Concord.

If you seek cultural delights, the Bay State offers a wealth of art and music, and not only in the big cities. Boston, of course, has its wonderful symphony, many world-class art and science museums, the New England Aquarium, and the intellectual bustle of several universities. Out in the Berkshires is Tanglewood, home of the legendary summer music festival. The cities of Springfield and Worcester in the central region of the state offer a number of interesting art and history museums – Old Sturbridge Village is an example – and Salem, on the north shore, has the renovated Peabody Essex Museum.

Some of the Bay State’s regions are so well-known and well-loved they evoke sentimental imagery far and wide. Among them are Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, where the beaches, dunes, gardens, villages, and shops entrance visitors from all over the world. Excellent dining is found all over the state, in many different forms: lobster on the shore, traditional boiled dinner and bake beans in Boston, apples and cider in the orchards in the center of the state. Good shopping is plentiful; hot spots are the fine stores in Boston and the Wrentham Outlet Mall in Wrentham. Finally, Massachusetts is a prime place for family vacations: taking children along the Freedom Trail in Boston or to The Butterfly Place in Westford or on a whale-watch cruise off the North Shore is a way to assure a vacation they will cherish.

90 Great Things to Do in Massachusetts