What To Do For 4 Days In Boston

Hotel Commonwealth Lobby

As y'all know, I left to Boston right after my graduation! Check out my graduation post here.
In Boston, I stayed in Hotel Commonwealth. It was more exciting for me because this was my first time in Boston! This 4-star hotel is definitely a great choice if you want to visit all the major districts in Boston. All of the Boston attractions are in a good walking and driving distance from Hotel Commonwealth Boston. Once you enter the hotel, the staffs greets you with smiles, and you will feel welcomed by the decorative lobby. The room we booked was spacious enough for three people. Wi-Fi isn't the fastest, but everywhere you go, they have free wi-fi so no biggie! 

Below 12 are the places I visited throughout my 4 days in Boston. 4 days isn't the longest time but I think I have seen almost everything 'first-time' travelers should see. Boston vibe is totally different from Houston (where I came from), which was interesting! So let's get right into it!


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1. Boston Public Garden | Boston Common
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My favorite place were these gardens. Some of the flowers weren't bloomed yet, but the ones that were, are super pretty! Boston Public Garden and Boston Common is right next to each other. Both are great places to walk, breathe fresh air, and look around. While we were walking towards the Boston public garden, there was this one cute bird following me, so I had to take a picture of him (photo below). Super adorable! <3 

Boston public garden has the famous "Make Way For Ducklings" statue. I figured the statue is here because there's a LOT of ducks and all types of birds in this public garden. While we were walking around, there was this one huge white bird laying down. As I walked toward it, I could see it was covering the eggs it laid! How cool is that?? Never saw something up close like that (photo below). We also saw this bird building a nest with the branches nearby to protect the eggs! Boston Common didn't really have much, few statues & food trucks, nothing really particular. 

Isn't this baby so cute!?? OMG

Do you see the eggs? I think there were 3-4!

Lovely Tulips

Make Way For Ducklings

2. Boston Museum of Fine Arts

This museum is huge! The entrance looks similar to MET in NYC with lesser stairs (LOL). 

Because it's so large, you can easily get lost - Make sure you take the map before you walk around :)
You pay $25 for an adult, and $23 for students. You can use this ticket again within 10 days with 1 free entry. There's nothing much to really explain since there's tons of exhibitions & artworks to view, but below are some photos I took! There's few shops and cafe where you can hangout, they also have learning centers for student groups! I think if you visit Boston, this museum is definitely a must to go because there's so much to see. Also, exhibitions are always changing so you can see new art pieces! 

Stem Cells

Rules

Tree made with glass

3. Harvard University | Harvard Square

They say Harvard University is the #1 so I wanted to visit how it was. They have a campus, but most of the buildings weren't as impressive as I expected. I think the main reasons is because there were a lot of constructions happening inside the campus, we couldn't see much. To be honest, I like University of Houston campus more. Maybe it's because our campus is really pretty: clean, well-decorated, a lot of trees, & fountain! Haha :) 

Harvard Square is like Time Square but in a different way. While Time Square is super crowded and all lights, Harvard Square is more of a quiet, but small cute shops in the street. There are many cozy restaurants in Harvard Square. Compared to Time Square in New York, I prefer Harvard Square due to the low noise levels and each shops has it's own characteristics. The buildings are nice & many of the shops have well decorated their interior. One of them was Tatte Bakery & Cafe which I am about to explain below!
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With Eleanor <3

4. Tatte Bakery & Cafe

A small brunch cafe in Harvard Square! I found this place after searching "the most instagrammable places in Boston". Normally you see all those cute cafe on Instagram feed & wonder, how do they find those places? Well, thanks to all the travel & food bloggers (including me), you know where to go & what to do! I think the interior really makes up along with the first sight of abundant pastries once you walk in. It has first and second floor. The second floor serves pour coffee, and quiet and the first floor tends to get crowded a bit faster. We got the avocado tartine & breakfast sandwich. Both were delicious, and I loved how the food was light & healthy! Perfect choice. 

Pastry in Tatte Bakery

5. Charles River Esplanade

This calming and serene river is probably the reason why people visit Boston. You should WALK across the bridge once when you visit to Boston because it's simply great. You will see a lot of students and people jogging around the river. Make sure to take a memorable photo, because the view is stunning! 

You will also get to see people rowing on the boats, sailing, or just simply enjoying the weather. Did you know Harvard students practice their rowing on the side of this river for their competition? How awesome is that? Below is a photo of me in front of the Charles River Esplanade. 

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6. Verb Hotel | Fenway Park

​The reason I put these two together is because there's not much to see (from my point of view). I read that there's a lot to see in the verb hotel, but actually it's a small hotel in the middle of the street with cute exterior and interior, but that's really it. I didn't even know it was a hotel until I saw the name. I don't think the location was as good as the Commonwealth hotel I stayed in. 

Fenway Park is another popular destination for people who love baseball. It's a baseball park near Kenmore Square as well as the Hotel Commonwealth. I didn't go inside the park since there was an event with a lot of crowd, but I saw the inside from the back and it is huge! Looks very nice. When you come to Hotel Commonwealth, you can see the line of photo gallery on the first floor. One of the elevators are even decorated with baseball theme and signatures of the players. It's pretty cool, and I think a lot of customers stay in this hotel to go to Fenway Park as well. 


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7. Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks

This restaurant is inside Hotel Commonwealth. The interior is old-fashioned and modern at the same time. I must say, the food is delicious here! It's a spacious restaurant with full bar seating, as well as good for families. We ordered continental breakfast and scrambled eggs (entrée). Continental breakfast as you see below has greek yogurt parfait, half grapefruit, corn muffin, and juices. Scrambled eggs come with eggs, bacon, potatoes, and sausage. Their potatoes were yummy!! Corn muffin wasn't sweet which I really liked as well. You should definitely check out Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks since it's a great place to chill, eat & relax!

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8. Prudential Center

One of the largest shopping center in Boston. There are many clothing shops at Prudential Center. This indoor center is structured a tall building. From all the restaurants, the "Eataly" definitely was eye-catching due to all the Italians cuisines. You will get hungry exploring around this restaurant district. 

We went to Cheesecake Factory inside for lunch. We knew their portion was huge, so we ordered few dishes from the "skinnylicious menu". The portion was small but enough for three of us, and it was perfect! Food quality was decent, but not the best. 

Desserts from Eataly

Skinnylicious Menu in Cheesecake Factory

9. MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wasn't as cool as my expectations because they didn't have a campus structure. The buildings were just in the middle of streets so I guess it has it's pros and cons. I prefer having a designated campus, but I guess if you don't really care about that, it's okay too. When you go inside the hallway, it looks like private high school, which I thought was interesting. I didn't take any photos, but they also had few paintings and art pieces in the hallway! Right next to MIT, there's a lot of restaurants, school supply stores and science museum as well.


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10. Newbury Street

This street is located in Back Bay area of Boston! A best street to shop because it holds almost every brands. One particular thing I noticed in Boston is their structure of the shops. When you walk by, the shops are located both on the top and bottom, like a two story house.

Honestly at first, I found it weird to go down, but after I got my nails at the bottom shop, I realized everywhere in Boston is like that. I think it gives a warm and family feeling, and since they have the shop signs on the streets, you can tell which are which! There's a lot of brunch/dinner restaurants as well. You can think of this shopping street as LA's Rodeo Drive or NYC's Time Square. This street was only 10 minutes from the Hotel Commonwealth so it was awesome to shop around! :)  

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11. Cafeteria Boston

I wanted to try this place because every time I pass by, this place was crowded! It looked like a brunch cafe and the food people were eating looked delicious. They both have inside & outside seating. We sat inside because the weather suddenly got super hot! The service was a bit slow although there weren't a lot of people. We ordered the cobb salad and margharita pizza. Both were so delicious with good portion. The best part was how they were not salty at all. The inside is cool and has a huge mirror too! 

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Margharita Pizza & Cobb Salad

12. Boston Atlantic Wharf

​We went here for our last day after some more shopping. It was so windy, but I still loved seeing the sea. The view was incredible, calm & relaxing! There's a lot of restaurants to choose from, but make sure to make reservations(!!) beforehand if you want to dine there; or you will end up looking everywhere.

We dined at Smith & Wollensky. Their interior design was really pretty, and they had both inside & outside seating. We sat inside because it was getting cold at night. We got the Shellfish Towers for 2, lobster bisque (soup du jour) & some salad. The food was delicious, but a bit salty :( Maybe next time I hope they put less salt or spices. Other than that, great service. 
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Dinner at Smith & Wollensky

So here were the top 12 places in Boston I explored throughout my 4 days trip! If you ever visit Boston, make sure to check out these 12 places, as well as other fun museums and restaurants. Please recommend me other places so I can check out the next time I come back.

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