cambridge ma walking tour

THE 10 BEST Cambridge Walking Tours

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1. Harvard University Campus Guided Walking Tour

2. Tour-in-Four -- A Private four hour walking & driving city tour

3. Public MIT Campus Guided Walking Tour

4. Harvard Campus Cambridge Self-Guided Walking Tour

5. Private Day Tour of Highlights and History in Salem and Boston

6. Ultimate Boston Audio Tour Bundle

7. Boston Walk Through History Private & All-Inclusive Tour

8. Public Innovation Trail Tour in Cambridge

9. Harvard Square Cambridge Food & Walking Tour

10. Illustrious Schools: Group Tour of MIT And Harvard

11. Private Tour of Boston & Cambridge

12. Highlights of Boston Private Tour

13. The Mysterious Porcelain Club Outdoor Escape Game in Harvard Yard

14. Massachusetts Self-Guided Driving and Walking Tours Bundle

15. Homecooked Vegan Meal in Cambridge, MA

16. Creative Cambridge Scavenger Hunt

17. Cambridge, Lexington, & Concord: Private Revolutionary War Tour

18. Boston Photowalk

19. Central Square Cambridge Food and Mural Arts Guided Walking Tour

20. Full-Day Private Guided Tour of Hammond Castle and Boston

21. Unique Scavenger Hunt in Cambridge by Zombie Scavengers

What travelers are saying.

• Harvard University Campus Guided Walking Tour
• Public MIT Campus Guided Walking Tour
• MIT And Harvard Walking Tour
• Boston Photowalk
• Private Tour of Boston & Cambridge
• The Hahvahd Tour
• The Harvard Student-Led Walking Tour
• Public Tour of Harvard
• Off The Beaten Path Food Tours
• Trademark Tour of MIT

The Innovation Trail

The Innovation Trail is a way to experience, learn about, and be inspired by four centuries of world-changing breakthroughs from Boston. Join one of our scheduled walking tours, or use this website to guide you on your own stroll through the history of science, medicine, entrepreneurship, and technology. We want the Trail to inspire you to create the next great innovation!

Changing perceptions.

When most people think of Boston, they think about the American Revolution—or higher education. They might walk the Freedom Trail starting in Downtown Boston, and visit places linked to the start of the Revolution. Or they might be touring colleges, or attending events, at schools like MIT, Harvard, and Northeastern.

The Innovation Trail focuses primarily on what happened after America became an independent nation, and after some of Boston’s early schools like Boston Latin (founded in 1635) and Harvard (founded in 1636) were established. Independence and access to education began to build a foundation for innovation—as did societal changes like the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, waves of immigration, and marriage equality—allowing a diverse group of people to collaborate on research and company formation. Add in a desire to make the world better, and money from investors, universities, and government agencies to set up labs and run experiments—and voila, you get a thriving innovation ecosystem that has helped shape the modern world.

Who it’s for.

Visitors, residents, students, and teachers who want to understand more about Boston’s legacy of world-changing innovation.

What’s next.

We’re working on a slate of events, tours, and education-related initiatives for 2024… raising money… and continuing to build awareness of the Trail. We’d love to get you onboard as a supporter of this important new experience in Boston! You can also follow us on social, or get in touch !

Tours & News

Guided tours open to the public are currently available every Saturday afternoon. Led by the award-winning guides of the Boston History Company.

Arrange for a private guided tour of your own, led by the Boston History Company.

Special summer walking tour and museum visit in collaboration with History Camp.

Boston Magazine recognizes our walking tours, led by the Boston History Company, a Best of Boston winner for 2023.

Innovation Trail co-founder featured on the Explain Boston to Me podcast hosted by Lee Stabert

Innovation Trail featured in The Huntington News

The Innovation Trail is featured in November’s issue of Teach & Travel Magazine. Check out the article, “Massachusetts: A Small State with a Big Influence”

Co-hosts Jim Braude & Margery Eagan learn about The Innovation Trail

Tiziana Dearing interviews Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe correspondent and co-designer of the trail, and Namrata Sengupta of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Short video overview of the Trail featuring a walk of the Boston side.

Innovation Trail featured in Bostonia, Boston University’s Alumni Magazine

Reporter Molly Farrar goes on a tour.

Scott Kirsner describes the vision

Short audio segment

Creating a new way to tell the story of this region’s DNA of discovery, and our drive to solve tough problems.

Discover the Most Innovative City in America on Boston’s All-New Innovation Trail

Trail Sites

If you have an idea for something new, one of the ways to protect it from copycats—and eventually make money from it—is by filing a patent. In the 1860s, this building was the office of a patent law firm that employed Lewis Latimer. Latimer was the son of parents who escaped from slavery in Virgina and fled to Massachusetts. Audio Guide for This Stop:

(In a trial held after his father, George, was re-captured, George Latimer was represented by Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, the famed abolitionists.) Lewis Latimer had little access to formal education, but after serving several years on a Union gunship during the Civil War—he joined at age 15—he got hired by the patent firm here at a salary of $3 per week, and taught himself how to draft intricate and detailed mechanical drawings. He rose to become head draftsman at the firm. Latimer helped the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, create the drawings used for the telephone’s first patent filing, and later, he worked with other inventors, including Hiram Maxim and Thomas Edison, to extend the useful life of the light bulb from minutes to hours and make it easier to manufacture, filing several patents of his own. By the end of Latimer’s career, he was a member of the Edison Pioneers, a small group of people who had worked closely with Edison in the early stages of his career. He was the only Black person in that group.

On your way to the next stop, see if you can spot a statue of Ben Franklin, the prolific inventor and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He attended Boston Latin School, originally located on this site, but ended his formal schooling at age 10 to work in his father’s soap and candle making shop not far from here. Boston Latin was America’s first public school, founded in 1635, offering free tuition to its students of all classes. It still exists, although in a different location.

The electric light bulb changed a lot of things about life in America. One industry that it gave birth to was the movies; without bright electric bulbs, you can’t have a movie projector. The three men who founded a company called Technicolor in 1914 had become intrigued by early movies—which were in black and white. They thought they could develop a new movie camera and projection system that could show movies in more realistic color. Audio Guide for This Stop:

Two of the founders had graduated from MIT—then called “The Tech”—so the name of their company is a reference to their alma mater. They set up a film processing lab in a railroad car, hitched it to a train, and sent it to Jacksonville, Florida, to shoot the first Technicolor film, “The Gulf Between.” It was shown for the first time here in 1917, and shortly after in New York—mainly to try to interest movie producers and theater owners in the idea of color movies. As the movie industry gravitated to Los Angeles, Technicolor followed it, leaving Boston behind. While you would have been among the first people to see a color movie if you were here in 1917, it wasn’t until 1939—the year that “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” were made—that Technicolor convinced the movie industry that color was here to stay.

On the way to your next stop is the Omni Parker House Hotel, where both Boston Creme Pies and Parker House Rolls were invented.

One of the first millionaires in America was a man named Frederick Tudor, who was born in Boston. The business that made him rich? Shipping ice from frozen ponds in Massachusetts around the world, in the days before you could just plug in a freezer and start making your own cubes. Audio Guide for This Stop:

Part of Tudor’s genius was in selling a product that was free—frozen pond water—and using another free product—sawdust—to insulate it when he packed it into sailing ships and sent it around the world. (He tested various ways to keep the ice cold in transit and in storage at its ultimate destination.) Tudor’s ice made it to the Caribbean, India, Hong Kong, and England, and he built a network of ice houses around the world to store it. In warm weather countries like Cuba and Martinique, Tudor’s ice was used to make ice cream for the first time.

He would tell his salesmen to give bartenders a free one-year’s supply, after teaching them to make cocktails that benefitted from having ice in them. That created loyal customers. (Year-round access to ice was also helpful to doctors, who used it to treat patients who were suffering from severe fevers.) Along the way, Tudor went bankrupt and served time in debtor’s prison. But he eventually succeeded and became known as “The Ice King.” He died in 1864 in his home on Beacon Hill, and is buried in the back right corner of this cemetery. Look for a small, faded tombstone that says John Tudor, and an explanatory sign nearby.

One of the most important people in Boston’s early scientific history was an enslaved man named Onesimus, who was “given” to the preacher Cotton Mather by Mather’s congregation, and lived in Mather’s house in the North End. If you look for the white steeple of Old North Church, that neighborhood is the North End, where Onesimus lived. Audio Guide for This Stop:

There’s not much trace of him—or Cotton Mather’s house, which was located near Hanover Street, the neighborhood’s main street. Onesmus was born in the late 1600s, and lived in Mather’s household in the early 1700s. One of the most feared diseases of the time was smallpox, which killed about 30 percent of the people who got it, and left many of the survivors with severe scars—pockmarks—on their faces. Onesimus explained to Mather that in Africa, he had been inoculated against smallpox. His arm was cut open, a small amount of material from a person infected with smallpox was inserted into the wound.

Though Mather tried to promote the idea of inoculation as a smallpox epidemic gripped Boston in 1721, people at the time were skeptical of a medical procedure that seemed to be based on African customs. (At one point, someone hostile to the idea threw a small bomb through Mather’s window—which luckily failed to explode.) But Mather and a doctor who lived near present-day Government Center, Zabdiel Boylston, gathered data about the survival rates of those Bostonians who were inoculated. In the 1721 smallpox outbreak, only two percent of inoculated people died, compared to almost 15 percent of those who had not been inoculated. This was one of the earliest clinical trials on record in the US, using experimental and control groups to illustrate the effectiveness of inoculation. It would not have been possible without Onesimus.

(Look for a waist-high pedestal with a plaque on it.) Oops. Boston is usually great at preserving important historic buildings, but the one that used to stand right near here, Charles William, Jr.’s shop, was knocked down as part of the “urban renewal” program that got rid of tenement buildings and made space for Boston’s city hall (behind you) and the JFK Federal Building. Audio Guide for This Stop:

After the telegraph had been developed in the 1830s and begun to be used as the first real-time, long-distance communications technology, inventors began thinking about how to improve it. Maybe you could send multiple signals down the same wire, or perhaps even a human voice? The telegraph shop run by Charles Williams, Jr. was a magnet for telegraph tinkerers—including a young telegraph operator who worked for Western Union named Thomas Edison, who hung out after work in this shop.

Edison’s first patented invention, an automatic vote-recording machine for Congress and other legislative bodies to use when taking votes, was a flop, but it taught him an important lesson. Elected officials didn’t want to make vote counting faster, because then there was less time to convince their fellow legislators to change their votes. After that, Edison resolved that he would only invent things that people wanted.

But a Boston University professor named Alexander Graham Bell invented something pretty successful here: the telephone. Williams liked the invention, and had the first two telephones installed in his shop and his home in Somerville three miles away (which is still standing, at 1 Arlington Street, Somerville.) His phone numbers? 1 and 2. In the first few years after the telephone’s invention, every piece of telephone equipment was made in this building—until demand got too great.

Why did Bell, who was born in Scotland, went to college in London, and lived much of his life in Canada, invent the telephone here? He was able to establish a network of skilled technicians, and find an early investor who was the father of one of his students at the then-new Boston University. He had people like Lewis Latimer to help him file patents. Innovations don’t happen without money, networks of people to work with you, and a city that has early adopters like Charles Williams Jr.

You can stand on the lawn outside the Bulfinch Building at Massachusetts General Hospital—or, if the hospital is allowing visitors, you can go inside and seek out the Ether Dome. It’s worth seeing from the inside, and it is open to the public as long as there is not a lecture or meeting taking place. Audio Guide for This Stop:

The Dome is a top-floor operating theater that was designed to allow doctors and medical students observe surgeries as they happened, and in the years before Edison’s electric light bulb, it relied on the sun and skylights in the roof to provide enough illumination so the surgeons could see what they were doing. In 1845, the head surgeon at Mass General, John Collins Warren, performed a tooth extraction on a medical student using the gas nitrous oxide to knock out the patient. Unfortunately, the dose wasn’t right, and the patient experienced just as much pain as if the gas hadn’t been used.

Warren tried again in 1846, using a different gas, sulfuric ether, and a different person administering it, the Boston dentist William T.G. Morton. This time, after a patient had a tumor from his neck removed, he described the feeling as having his neck scratched a bit. The use of inhaled ether as an anesthetic spread around the world; it allowed surgeons to perform a much wider range of operations without causing pain. Warren was a big deal: he was a founder not only of Mass General Hospital, but also the New England Journal of Medicine, and he served as the first dean of Harvard Medical School. (Warren also is tied to the American Revolution: his father, also a doctor, treated wounded soldiers in the early battles, and his uncle, Joseph Warren, was a leading Patriot who fought and died at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775.)

Mass General has been the site of many other firsts, including the first surgery to reattach a limb, in 1962, and the first use of “telemedicine” in 1968 to enable doctors to evaluate and treat patients in another location.

Showcasing the evolution of medicine, including some of the instruments used in the first surgery with anesthesia, the Paul Russell Museum of Medical History and Innovation opened on the Mass General Hospital campus in 2012. (Free to the public. Currently open Tuesday through Friday, 10 AM to 2 PM, and Saturdays, 11 am to 4 pm from April through October.) Audio Guide for This Stop:

(optional detour) Visit the Museum of Science, founded in 1830 as the Boston Society of Natural History. One of the first museums to bring all of the sciences together in one place. Notable exhibit: Navigating a World with AI , featuring robots from iRobot and Boston Dynamics, and AI-powered artwork by Boston’s Masary Studios. Adds about 20-30 minutes of beautiful walking along the Charles River. Audio Guide for This Stop:

The dot-com era of the late 1990s inspired Tim Rowe, a graduate of MIT’s business school, to start Cambridge Incubator, a company that would start companies. That idea didn’t pan out, especially as the stock market crashed in 2000 and Internet startups with big ideas but very little revenue fell out of favor. But Rowe took the office space he’d rented and started carving it up into small blocks that he could rent to other startups—while also providing services like Internet access, space for events, and free coffee and snacks. Audio Guide for This Stop:

Entrepreneurs helping one another by offering feedback, or connections to potential customers or investors, was a key part of the formula. What started as Cambridge Incubator became Cambridge Innovation Center, and later CIC. Today, the CIC buildings in Kendall may be home to more startups and venture capital firms than any other buildings on the planet. The CIC served as the first Massachusetts address for tech giants like Google, Apple, and Amazon. It was the original address for successful companies like HubSpot, a marketing software company that is now publicly-traded and has an office of its own. CIC now has a global footprint, operating over 1 million square feet of office and lab space in cities like Philadelphia, Rotterdam, Warsaw, and Tokyo. CIC Health, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, provided testing services to schools, and operated large-scale vaccination clinics at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium.

Venture Café , another CIC founded entity, hosts public networking events, panel discussions, and pitch nights. Stop by almost any Thursday night of the year to see for yourself.

Just across Broadway from the tower at One Broadway, you'll see a plaza with a globe fountain in the center. Seek out the "Looking Glass" sculpture, designed by teen creatives from the nonprofit Innovators for Purpose. It's a wonderful photo spot that declares Kendall Square is the "most innovative square mile on the planet."

Created in 2011, the Entrepreneur Walk of Fame recognizes founders and inventors like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Mitch Kapor of Lotus Development Corp. Audio Guide for This Stop:

New location of the MIT Museum, reopened October 2022. Showcases ongoing research and ingenuity at the world-famous Institute, while also displaying past achievements through its vast collection— including archives from Polaroid Corp., the pioneering maker of instant cameras, founded a few blocks away. The museum offers a range of exhibitions and installations, a state-of-the-art maker space where visitors can tinker and discover, and ongoing programs. Audio Guide for This Stop:

If you own a phone that uses the Android operating system, that’s the primary reason that Google now has a sprawling office in Cambridge that employs about 2,000 people (as of 2021.) Way back in the days before the iPhone—2005—Google bought a startup whose two co-founders were based in Cambridge and Silicon Valley. That startup was called Android, and it was working on new operating system software for mobile phones. Its Cambridge-based co-founder, Rich Miner, began to hire engineers to work alongside him after the acquisition. Audio Guide for This Stop:

So Boston not only brought the world the telephone in the 19th century, but it also helped to create the world’s most popular smartphone operating system of the 21st century, with more than 2.5 billion Android users. As of 2021, Google’s Cambridge employees were working on projects for youtube, Google Travel, and Google News.

Secret spot: While you can’t go into Google to enjoy their free cafeteria food, snacks, and coffee, you can go up to the Kendall Rooftop Garden , which looks in on some of the Google space. It is being renovated but will open in Summer 2022. It’s a great place for a rest or a picnic lunch.

MIT’s motto is “mens et manus,” Latin for “mind and hand,” and that blend of intellectual exploration and practicality is part of what has made the school so successful at producing not just new breakthroughs, but also entrepreneurs, startups, and major, publicly-traded companies. Inside the Stata Center at MIT are labs focused on computer science, artificial intelligence, and robotics (they gave birth to iRobot Corp., maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner), and a small, ground-floor exhibit about student “hacks,” or pranks, through the years. Audio Guide for This Stop:

The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, works here—though the web was invented when Berners-Lee worked in Switzerland. The current building was designed by the California architect Frank Gehry, and named for Ray Stata, an MIT alumnus who co-founded the chip company Analog Devices. Bill Gates, the Harvard drop-out who co-founded Microsoft, was also a major donor.

This site was previously home to the Rad Lab, which was set up in the years leading up to World War II to develop key radar technologies. Many historians regard these technologies as crucial to the Allied victory over Hitler, helping the Allies to “see” enemy ships, planes, and other targets at long distances, and better direct their guns and bombs. It was also in this building that the term “hacker” was first used—in a positive context—and many of the origins of hacker culture had their roots, as part of the MIT Model Railroad Club. (Closed to the public during COVID pandemic.)

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard seeks to better understand the roots of disease and narrow the gap between new biological insights and creating impact for patients. (Pronounce “Broad” to rhyme with “road” and people will think you work there.) Beginning in the 2010s, the Broad has made key contributions to “genome editing” and a technique known as CRISPR (pronounced “crisper”), which is helping to improve our knowledge of how diseases work, and develop new types of therapies. Launched in October 2022, the new Broad Discovery Center is an active, public educational space that showcases how researchers in Kendall Square and around the world are seeking to understand and treat human disease. Audio Guide for This Stop:

The Broad Discovery Center has five galleries where visitors can immerse themselves in interactive and informative exhibits. Visitors learn how researchers at Broad and its partner institutions are teaming up with collaborators across the globe to chase down the roots of psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more, develop new strategies for treatment, and build datasets and technologies to share with other scientists.

Optional stop: Directly across the street is the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research (500 Main Street), which has public galleries that are accessible on weekdays. These feature scientific photography and art, and provide an overview of current cancer research at MIT.

The Whitehead Institute was created in 1982 by philanthropist Jack Whitehead and David Baltimore, an MIT professor and Nobel Prize winner. A key part of the vision was assembling a supergroup of the world’s top biomedical researchers in one building, and eliminating “virtually any impediment to their pursuit of scientific discovery,” supplying ample funding and the most sophisticated lab equipment, but limited bureaucracy. (It’s an independent nonprofit affiliated with MIT.) Audio Guide for This Stop:

When the Human Genome Project was seeking to map the entire human genome—described as the world’s largest collaborative biological project—the Whitehead was the single largest contributor. The Whitehead’s Center for Genomic Research was spun out in the early 2000s to create the neighboring Broad Institute. Groups at the Whitehead are currently seeking to understand the biology of infectious diseases; why cancer cells behave differently from healthy cells, and what enables them to multiply so quickly; new ways to model and understand how the brain works; and many other biological domains.

To get over to Broadway, take the walkway next to the Broad Discovery Center and head toward Danny Lewin park, or take Ames Street. Biogen was one of the earliest biotech companies. Two of its founders, Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp, were professors at Harvard and MIT respectively; both were awarded Nobel Prizes. Audio Guide for This Stop:

Biogen’s mastery of recombinant DNA technology—using enzymes to “cut and paste” sequences of DNA to achieve therapeutic effects—enabled it to develop a vaccine for hepatitis B, as well as the drug Avonex, which is used to treat multiple sclerosis. (The name Biogen originally referred to “Biotechnology Geneva,” the city where the company was founded in 1978.) Biogen went public in 1983, and first set up a manufacturing plant in Cambridge in 1986. A Biogen drug approved in 2021, Aduhelm, targets Alzheimer’s disease.

Across the plaza is the campus of the headquarters of Akamai, a company that began life at MIT. Its original idea was to set up a network of servers around the world to cache, or store, content closer to where people wanted to access it—making everything show up faster on web browsers. Some of the company’s first successful large-scale demonstrations, in 1999, involved the delivery of a movie trailer for “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” and ESPN’s March Madness college basketball coverage. Audio Guide for This Stop:

(Danny Lewin, a co-founder of the company, was aboard a plane that left Boston on the morning of September 11th, 2001, and was killed trying to disrupt the hijacking.) Akamai today operates more than 300,000 servers around the world, and generates $3.5 billion in annual revenue—but when the founders were still at MIT, they were famously finalists in the school’s annual business competition, but not a winner.

Walk down Broadway and take a left at Technology Square. At 555 is Draper Labs, where you’ll see a giant moon hanging in the lobby. (There are sometimes displays open to the public as well.) Draper began life as a lab inside MIT; eventually it was spun out to be an independent research and development lab. Among its greatest achievements are the guidance computers that enabled Apollo spacecraft to successfully travel to and land on the moon. One of the software developers who wrote the code that ran these guidance computers was Margaret Hamilton, who later founded two companies and is credited as one of the people who defined the field of “software engineering.” Audio Guide for This Stop:

A few steps down from Draper Labs is the headquarters of Moderna Pharmaceuticals, which was founded in 2010 to explore the potential of modified RNA molecules (hence the name “mod-RNA”) to treat diseases or serve as a vaccine. The company’s founders were a team of university professors and venture capitalists who were born in Canada, Lebanon, and the United States, and the company’s first CEO was born in France. Audio Guide for This Stop:

In 2020, Moderna developed and received emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine based on its modified RNA technology. Moderna’s vaccine was among the fastest vaccines ever developed.

It’s hard to find a building with more ties to more different eras of innovation than this one. When first constructed, it was the Davenport Car Works, one of the country’s first manufacturers of passenger railroad cars. (Davenport pioneered the use of a center aisle for easy movement and greater passenger capacity, as well as the reversible seat, which could be switched to face forward if the train changed directions.) Audio Guide for This Stop:

Later, it was home to the Walworth Manufacturing Company, where a Walworth employee invented an adjustable wrench with incredible gripping power called the Stillson that is still in use today. In 1876, when Walworth was based here, this building was the site of the first “long distance” demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, from a Walworth office in Boston to this building, with Thomas Watson manning the equipment on this end. The goal was to prove the usefulness of the telephone in business.

In the late 1930s, an inventor named Edwin Land moved in. On a vacation in New Mexico, Land’s daughter wondered why the photos taken in traditional film cameras couldn’t be seen right away—they had to be developed in a lab. That innocent question led Land to invent the first instant camera, and start a company called Polaroid to market it. Even though Polaroid’s headquarters moved elsewhere in Cambridge, Land kept his private research lab here. One entrepreneur who was inspired by Land was Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer, who said that Land “saw the intersection of art and science and business, and built an organization to reflect that.”

Today, this brick building is occupied by LabCentral, a shared laboratory space used by dozens of fledgling biotech companies. When the building is open, you can go into the lobby and see small displays about the telephone and instant photography. If it's not open, see if you can find the accents above the building's windows that include fragments of railroad ties — a nod to the site's past.

This building from 1927 is a link to an era when Cambridge was one of the country’s manufacturing centers. Throughout much of the 1800s and well into the 1900s, the city was home to companies that made bicycle tires, fire hoses, telescope lenses, soap, pianos, ping-pong paddles, and ice cream. Audio Guide for This Stop:

There were also at one point 66 different candy companies in Cambridge, making everything from candy hearts for Valentine’s day to Squirrel Nut Zippers to lemon drops. (The Fig Newton cookie was also invented in Cambridge, in 1891—even though they were named for the nearby city of Newton.) This building is the last operating candy factory in Cambridge, owned by Tootsie Brands. The company unfortunately doesn’t offer tours, in part because candy companies are notoriously secretive about the equipment and processes they use to make candy—“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” wasn’t too far off base. Inside, they make 26 million pieces of candy a day. Why is that number so high? The factory is the only place in the world that Sugar Babies and Junior Mints are made—both of which are small little morsels.

If you look through the parking lot on the right side of this building (or walk over to 250 Massachusetts Avenue), you can see the top of another candy factory. That one, the former New England Confectionery Company, or NECCO, has a water tower on top that now sports a DNA helix. When the building made NECCO wafers and conversation hearts (“Be Mine”)—from the 1920s until 2003— the water tower was painted like a rainbow roll of that chalky candy. At one time, it was the world’s biggest candy factory under one roof. The building is now occupied by the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, the main research lab for the Swiss biopharma company. (Fun fact: like Willie Wonka’s factory, the building has glass elevators.) While Novartis and other biopharma companies design and test new drugs here in Cambridge, for the most part when they create something that is approved by the FDA and can be prescribed to patients, it’s made elsewhere. Cambridge’s real estate has become too valuable to do manufacturing these days—though the Cambridge Brands factory is hanging in there.

Across Main Street there is a mural that tells the story of candy manufacturing in Cambridge.

What next? There are other “off Trail” sites you can visit in Cambridge and beyond. (Scroll down to "Beyond the Trail.") If you’re hungry or thirsty, drop by Toscanini’s Ice Cream or Miracle of Science, two favorite hangouts of the Kendall Square and MIT communities a few steps away from the Cambridge Brands factory.

You can start the Innovation Trail in Downtown Crossing, near the Irish Famine Memorial and the Old South Meeting House, or in Cambridge near Central Square. To get to the Boston start, you want to get off on the MBTA’s Park Street, Downtown Crossing, Government Center, or State Street stops in Boston. All are less than a five minute walk to the Stop #1. To get to the Cambridge start, get off at the MBTA’s Red Line stop at Central Square in Cambridge. Walk down Massachusetts Avenue toward 810 Main Street.

If you scroll to the top of this site, you’ll see buttons that will rearrange the map depending on whether you want to start in Boston or Cambridge.

Another option is to start at the Museum of Science, and walk either toward the Boston or Cambridge side of the Trail. To do that, you can use the MBTA’s Science Park stop on the Green Line. The Kendall Square stop on the Red Line is helpful if you want to only walk the Cambridge side of the Trail.

The Boston Common Visitors Center, near the start of the Innovation Trail, has public restrooms. You may also be able to use restrooms inside the Omni Parker House Hotel or Boston’s Old City Hall (between Stops #1 and #2), Flour Bakery or Starbucks (on Cambridge Street between Stops #5 and #6), the Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill (between Stops #5 and #6), the Liberty Hotel (between Stops #7 and #8), One Broadway (Stop #9, in the restaurant Shy Bird or Brothers Marketplace), the Boston Marriott Cambridge (at Stop #10), A4 Café (between Stops #19 and 20), or Toscanini’s Ice Cream (after Stop #21.) All these stop numbers assume you are walking the Trail from Boston to Cambridge.

That depends on how many of the museums you go into, but if you’re using this site’s self-guided tour and you opt not to visit any of the museums, you can walk the full Trail in about three hours. 

You could walk just the Boston half, or just walk the Cambridge half. (Click the button that says “Start from Cambridge” to see the stops listed starting from near Central Square.) You could also visit one of the great museums on the Trail, and perhaps add a nearby site before or after.

Our ticketed tours for the public currently run Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday between May and October and are facilitated by the award-winning Cambridge Historical Tours. They are 90-minute walking tours of the Cambridge portion of the Trail. They start and end in Kendall Square, starting at the Boston Marriott Cambridge hotel and ending outside of the MIT Stata Center (just a 5 minute walk back to the starting point). They do not include stairs, and so are very accessible to people using strollers or wheelchairs. These tours have ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ratings and glowing reviews on TripAdvisor and Google .

The ticketed walking tours, led by Cambridge Historical Tours, cover just the Cambridge side of the Trail. The ticket price does not include admission to the MIT Musuem or other museums, but they do go into galleries at the Broad Institute/Broad Discovery Center, and MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab when the buildings are open. We encourage you to check out the museums on the Trail before or after your guided walking tour. The Broad Discovery Center and MGH Museum of Medical History & Innovation offer free admission; the MIT Museum and Musuem of Science have admission fees.

If you are walking the Innovation Trail as a self-guided our, we encourage you to check out the museums that are of greatest interest to you. All of them have restroom facilities; the MIT Museum and Museum of Science also have gift shops. Only the Museum of Science has a cafeteria and beverages available for sale.

The Pi Alley Parking Garage at 275 Franklin Street is closest to the start of the Trail in Boston. The Boston Common Garage and Center Plaza Garage are both a short walk from the start. If you park near the Boston start and walk all the way to Cambridge, it’s easy to take the MBTA back from the Central Square stop on the Red Line to the Park Street Stop on the Red Line. (This ride is three stops.)

If you’re starting on the Cambridge end, the 55 Franklin Street garage in Cambridge is well-located. If you walk all the way to Boston, you can take the MBTA’s Red Line from Park Street to Central Square to return to your car. (This ride is three stops.)

Absolutely. If you’re using Bluebikes , Boston’s bike-sharing program, there are stations at the Boston and Cambridge end of the Trail, and there are also places to drop bikes near all four of the museums on the Trail, if you’d like to go inside the Museum of Science, MIT Museum, Broad Discovery Center, or Museum of Medical History & Innovation at MassGeneral.

See the “Tours & Events” section of this site for upcoming tours and activities open to the public. If you’d like to arrange for a private group tour of the Trail, these can be arranged with our partner, Cambridge Historical Tours. Send us a note with your requested dates and we’ll respond ASAP.

We’d love to hear from you about what you think should be included. Either tag us on social media (@bostoninnotrail), or click the menu at the upper right corner of the page and choose “Connect with Us” to send us your thoughts.

Many innovative people and places aren’t included simply for reasons of geography; we wanted to create a walkable route in Boston and Cambridge, close to hotels, T stops, and other tourist destinations. Some aren’t included because there just isn’t a building/plaque/marker/historic home/museum or anything to see. In other cases, we had to be selective: how much (and what) do you highlight at a university like MIT or Harvard, for instance? But see the “Beyond the Trail” section of the site for interesting sites located around Greater Boston, some a short distance from the Trail itself. And we plan to continue evolving and adding to what’s here with input from you.

In creating the Trail, we wrestled with the city’s history, where many people involved in forming institutions, being educated by those institutions, and creating new inventions were white men. Boston, like many other cities across the country, has not exactly been a place of equal opportunity over the course of its history, and that reality is reflected in our legacy of innovation.

One of the Trail’s aims is to work with historians and others in the community to identify stories and contributions from BIPOC, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community whose work may have not yet been properly recognized and celebrated. We will endeavor to highlight the work being done by other organizations on this issue (See “Beyond the Trail,” under “Societal innovations and social change” for links.) We will also highlight work being done by existing sites on the Trail, like MassGeneral, to detail the diverse innovators who have contributed to their success and progress. If you’d like to participate or contribute, please click “Connect with Us” and send us an email. We plan to share additional stories on this website, on our social feeds, and in live tours.

Yes. We have had many dogs learn about innovation along with their human followers. One caveat: dogs are not permitted into any of the museums, offices, or MIT buildings on the Trail, unless they are service animals.

If you are walking the Trail with a dog, please tell them that the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was the first to sequence the complete dog genome (a boxer named Tasha.) More info here .

Beyond the Trail

Any time you try to curate a walkable set of sites, you’re forced to leave some things off—no matter how amazing—because they may require a few extra footsteps, a drive, or a trip on the T. But this group of museums, national park sites, monuments, and other university buildings are each well worth a visit. Many of them provide important context about the social, educational, and historical foundations that made possible the innovation ecosystem that exists in Boston today. We’ve listed them in order of their proximity to the Innovation Trail.

Many other sites and walking trails in Greater Boston highlight the role that social innovations played in creating a foundation for scientific and technical innovation, and in allowing a diverse group of people to access education, enjoy greater freedoms and equal rights, and contribute to academia and the business world.

These social change movements include advocating for the abolition of slavery (Massachusetts was the first state to do so in 1783), highlighted by the Museum of African American History and the Black Heritage Trail ; women’s suffrage and participation in labor unions, universities, and cultural institutions, highlighted by the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail ; marriage equality, with the first legal same-sex marriage in the United States, in 2004 (this took place at Cambridge’s City Hall , and the Boston Equality Trail highlights other important locations related to LGBTQ+ history leading up that moment); and the drafting of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which served as a model for the United States Constitution (learn more about it at the John Quincy Adams birthplace or the Commonwealth Museum .) Several self-guided tours and trails organized by History Cambridge highlight that city’s heritage of political activism (as well as candy making .)

The Media Lab at MIT has spawned products like Lego’s Mindstorms robotics kit, the iWalk prosthetic foot, and the video game “Rock Band.” A first-floor exhibition space, showcasing the work of professors and students, is open to the public.

Henri Termeer, born in the Netherlands, was one of the pioneering executives of the early biotech industry, serving as CEO of Genzyme for nearly three decades. At the company, he helped shepherd science out of the lab and into the marketplace, delivering treatments for patients with rare (and often fatal) diseases like Gaucher and Fabry. Termeer helped elevate the profile of the biotech industry in Massachusetts and nationally. Genzyme was ultimately acquired for $20 billion by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Termeer died in 2017. The square includes a statue of Termeer, quotes, and a reflecting pool inspired by the book “The Giving Tree.” The building at 500 Kendall Street, on the south side of the square, was originally built as Genzyme’s headquarters. It was the first LEED platinum-certified green building of its size in the US.

termeerfoundation.org/inspiredby/termeersquare

Look for the Ether Monument in the northwest corner of the Public Garden, near the intersection of Arlington and Marlborough Streets. It commemorates the first use of anesthesia; since several people claimed to have “discovered” ether for medical applications, the monument depicts a medieval doctor in Moorish robes, representing a generic Good Samaritan, anesthetizing a patient. An inscription says, “To commemorate that the inhaling of ether causes insensibility to pain.”

First subway system in Western Hemisphere (1897), built to relieve traffic congestion in downtown Boston. To power the subway, the Thompson-Houston Company had to build one of the most powerful electric plants in the world, in 1895. New York City and Boston were in a fierce competition to build the first subway over more than a decade; Boston was victorious. There are some historic displays at Park Street, and older trolleys at Boylston Street, the first two stations built.

The former home of Harvard Business School professor Georges Doriot. A French immigrant Doriot started what is regarded as the first venture capital firm (1946), Boston-based American Research and Development. Venture capital firms provide funding to entrepreneurs based on the merits of their idea; that money is a crucial driver of innovation in many fields. Among Doriot’s investments: Digital Equipment Corp., which turned the firm’s $70,000 investment into more than $350 million. At one point, Digital was the second largest technology firm in the world, after IBM. (Private home, not open to the public.)

Inside Harvard’s new Science and Engineering Complex, you can find a portion of the Harvard Mark 1 Computer, and a display featuring programming pioneer Grace Hopper and the very first computer bug (an actual moth trapped in the relays.) The computer was built during World War II, and some of the first programs run on it were simulations related to the design of the first atomic bomb.

“Massachusetts Innovations — Transforming the World.” Detailed display and video wall featuring fifty of the “greatest hits” of Massachusetts innovations. In Terminal C, near Gate C9. (This display is inside airport security, so you’ll need to be flying in or out of Logan Airport to see it.)

Students run these free tours of Harvard Yard, touching on the university’s history and the student experience. Many other operators run ticketed tours of Harvard.

harvard.edu/visit/tours

Home of the first woman to graduate from MIT, and the university’s first female instructor. Ellen Swallow Richards was the founder of the home economics movement, which sought to apply science in the home. She used this house as a laboratory, continually updating its ventilation, plumbing, and heating to create an optimal, safe, and efficient living environment. Swallow Richards also did pioneering work in water safety testing, and creating school lunch programs for low-income children. (Private home, not open to the public.)

Harvard University has been acquiring scientific instruments since 1672 — including magnificent orreries, compasses designed by Galileo, electrical apparatus donated by Benjamin Franklin, and cyclotron control panels. The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments is now among the largest university collections of its kind in the world. Admission is free. See website for current hours. The collection is located inside the Harvard Science Center, a short walk from Harvard Square.

chsi.harvard.edu

The Boston Manufacturing Company (1814), located here, was the first fully-integrated, water-powered cotton textile mill in the world—raw cotton entered at one end and came out as finished cloth at the other. It was also the first modern industrial corporation, pioneering the business model for organizing a manufacturing concern that remains the global standard today. The site now houses the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, dedicated to telling the story of technology as a human endeavor that produces a variety of outcomes. Exhibits explore Waltham’s role in the rise of American industry, from textile manufacturing to machine tools, power systems, timekeeping (the Waltham Watch Company), and transportation (Metz motorcars and Orient bicycles).

charlesrivermuseum.org

In 1801 Paul Revere began rolling copper for the U.S. Government. The 9 acre Paul Revere & Son Heritage Site is a park and buildings that contain displays about the first copper rolling mill in America—as well as temporary exhibits focussing on innovation and history. (One focuses on Reebok, the sneaker company that was once headquartered in Canton.) A larger Paul Revere Museum of Discovery & Innovation is in the planning stages.

paulreveremuseum.org

Learn about the history of the Industrial Revolution by visiting mill buildings, seeing equipment operate, riding historic trolleys, and visiting the boardinghouses where mill workers lived.

nps.gov/lowe/index.htm

Opened in 2022. Features more than twenty immersive exhibits that make the history of the American Industrial Revolution come alive with projections and full-scale recreations. Raised in the UK, Samuel Slater was known as “Slater the Traitor” for bringing British textile-manufacturing technology to America. The museum features a recreation of Slater’s office, mill worker housing, a working water wheel, and an interactive textile design station.

samuelslaterexperience.org

Connect with us

Share your feedback….join our email list to stay updated…or send us your request for a private group tour. If you’re requesting a private tour, please share with us the number in your group, the date (or dates) and time(s) you’re interested in, and if you have a preference on the timing and length of the tour. To keep up with what’s new (and old) on the Innovation Trail, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube!

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Charter Catalysts

Russell Museum at Massachusetts General Hospital

Cambridge Historical Tours

Hercules Growth Capital

Communications Strategy Consultant; Author, “ The Front Steps Project ”

Downtown Boston Business Improvement District

Head of Next Practice & Inclusive Growth, MassChallenge

Entrepreneur & Angel Investor

Black Gems Unearthed

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City ; former Treasurer of Massachusetts

President Emeritus, MassTLC

Boston Marriott Cambridge

InnoLead / Boston Globe / Author, “ Innovation Economy ”

Massachusetts Historical Society

Author, “ Boston Made ”; Founder, Entrepreneur Innovation Center at Framingham State University

Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

Museum of Science

Landscape Architect and Public Historian

Kendall Square Association

Commonwealth Marketing Office

Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

Broad Institute

Patent Attorney

History Cambridge

Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation

Author, “ Born in Cambridge ”; USA Today

Co-Founder, Greentown Labs & Founder, Nano-Ice

• Thanks to Visual Dialogue for the Innovation Trail creative concept, design, and website Susan Battista Luke Hatfield Will Kastrinakis Fritz Klaetke Kristen McNally

Support the Trail

The Innovation Trail is a grassroots initiative—and we need your support. Our goal is to tell the stories of how innovations born in Boston shaped our world, and to inspire future generations of scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and educators. We’ve recently launched a schedule of regular public tours, but we have BIG plans to make this a must-do field trip, a more immersive and tech-forward experience, an essential part of any visit to Boston—and yes, eventually even posting signs or painting a line on the sidewalk. (If the Freedom Trail and an  MIT fraternity  can do it…. why not us?) We aren’t funded by any city agencies or universities. Our financial support comes entirely from people and organizations who believe in innovation as a force for good in the world. Is that you?

You can make a donation using the big red button at right, or by mailing a check to The Innovation Trail of Greater Boston , 217 Hanover Street, PO Box 130386, Boston MA 02113. The Innovation Trail is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.

• Sharon Historical Society

• Henry Ancona
• Peter Bleyleben
• Michael Dornbrook
• Cary Goldberg
• Marina Hatsopoulos
• Maia Heymann
• Tom Hopcroft
• Geoff Hyatt
• Scott Kirsner & Amy Traverso
• Harry Kirsner
• Bob Krim & Dr. Kathlyne Anderson
• John Landry
• George Mabry
• Michael Mark
• Robert Mason
• Alex Rigopulos
• Namrata Sengupta
• Reed Sturtevant
• Phil and Roseanne Swain
• Chris Weaver

(The Innovation Trail is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.)

History Cambridge Self-Guided Tours

Download a guide map, grab a friend, and hit the town or explore from home. Cambridge is yours to discover with self-guided tours on topics like modern architecture, candy-making history, Caribbean heritage, and feminist activism.

Self-Guided Tour: The Work of Revolution in Cambridge

Self-Guided Tour: Gold Star Memorials in North Cambridge

Self-Guided Tours: Mapping Feminist Cambridge

1986 Neighborhood Trivia Hunt

Self-Guided Tour: Stories from the Early African American Community of Old Cambridge

Self-Guided Tour: Women Activists of Riverside 50 Years After Suffrage

Self-Guided Tour: Monuments and Memorials in Cambridge

Self-Guided Tour: The History of Candy Making in Cambridge

Self-Guided Tour: Loyalist Women of Cambridge

Self-Guided Tour: Lois Lilley Howe Homes of Gray Gardens

Self-Guided Tour: Central Square Activism From the 1960s to Now

Self-Guided Tour: Cambridge and the American Revolution

Self-Guided Bike Tour: Pedaling the People’s Republic, A History of Political Activism in Cambridge

Self-Guided Tour: Huron Village’s Modern Houses

Self-Guided Tour: Caribbean Community in the Port

Self-Guided Tour: Clay, Bricks, Dump, Park: A Tour of North Cambridge

Cambridge through the pages.

Self-Guided Tour: William James’s Cambridge

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The 15 Best Things to do in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is so much more than Boston ’s neighbor or the home of the historic Harvard University. Like Boston, it is indeed a college town, being home to other prestigious schools, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But there’s a great deal to explore beyond the campuses.

From Harvard’s many museums to music venues that have hosted legendary acts, Cambridge is bursting with culture. In one day, you can tour the oldest college in the US, explore a house that once was home to both one of the greatest writers in American history and our nation’s first president, eat the best ice cream in the US, and see a show at a historic theater that kickstarted American folk music.

Wondering what to do in Cambridge during your visit? We’ve compiled a list of the best things to do in Cambridge to help you plan a trip filled with all things history, science, and art! Choose a few of the Cambridge activities from this list, and you’re bound to have an amazing time during your stay along the Charles River.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase or booking through one of our links we may earn a small commission (don’t worry, it’s at no extra cost to you).

The 15 Best Things to do in Cambridge, MA

1. study the world at the museum of science.

Sitting atop the banks of the Charles River is one of the coolest Cambridge attractions, the Museum of Science . This massive museum offers tons of hands-on, interactive exhibits to teach you about the wonders of the world.

The Museum of Science features permanent and temporary exhibits, so you’ll never get the same experience twice. From studying the growth of artificial intelligence to exploring the Arctic with a virtual drone to stepping back to the time of the dinosaurs, all sorts of sides of science are covered in this museum.

In addition to the exhibits, you can also step inside the five-story dome screen of the Mugar Omni Theater to see incredible IMAX movies, journey into space in the Charles Hayden Planetarium, watch films come to life in the 4D Theater, or check out live demonstrations featuring real scientists and live animals.

2. See a Classic Movie at the Brattle Theatre

There’s just something special about seeing a movie at the Brattle , which is what makes it one of the most unique things to do in Cambridge. It began as a live performance space, dating back to 1889, before being revamped into an art house cinema in the mid-1950s, though some live performances would continue on here over the years.

Today, this one-room theater continues as an art house cinema. Though you can see first-run films and classics alike, their main specialty is a repertory programming format, meaning that you can see movies from the same director, actors, genre, or subject over the course of a programming block. 

You’ll likely see a lot of movies here that you have never heard of before or at least can’t see in theaters anywhere else. So, if you’re a movie buff who loves being introduced to all kinds of films, you’ll find a home here at the Brattle. Grab a seat in the first row of the balcony for the best seat in the house. 

3. Tour Harvard University

Dating back to 1636, Harvard University was the first college founded in the American colonies. You’ll find that Harvard is filled with many of the top things to do in Cambridge when you visit here, and one of the best ways to do some Cambridge sightseeing is by taking a guided tour .

Harvard offers free public tours throughout the year, with a current student as your guide to give you insight into the Harvard of the past and present. Stroll across the iconic Harvard Yard (which, no, you can’t park your car in), get a look at the many libraries, and see the historic spire of the Memorial Church. 

Along the way, you’ll see the bronze sculpture of John Harvard, who was not actually Harvard’s founder but, instead, its first major benefactor, having donated half his estate and a collection of more than 400 books to the school. 

4. Watch the Head of the Charles Regatta

Checking out the Head of the Charles Regatta is one of the coolest things to do in Cambridge. What’s so special about this annual event? This competition is the world’s largest three-day rowing event, where more than 11,000 athletes from schools and clubs all over the world come together to face off in 55 different race events.

This weekend-long regatta, which takes place every October, got its start in 1965 and has only grown. Though many colleges compete, it’s not just a race for students. You’ll also find events for rowers aged under 17 all the way up to over 80. From club races to singles to pairs, there are so many events for all different types of rowers. 

Grab yourself a prime spot to cheer on your favorite competitors and get swept up in the fun. As the regatta takes place over the third weekend in October, you’re also visiting Cambridge at a perfect time to enjoy the fall foliage, which is particularly striking against the Charles River.

5. Explore Mount Auburn Cemetery

You might think spending some of your trip in a cemetery is a bit strange, but Mount Auburn isn’t just some cemetery. These beautiful grounds offer one of the best sights in Cambridge. And it’s a truly historic sight. This cemetery was the first rural cemetery in the US and is today a National Historic Landmark.

With tranquil water features, a diverse array of flowers and trees to ensure that something is in bloom with every season, and stunning monuments, it’s much more than what you’d imagine a cemetery to be. It’s a garden, an arboretum, and a place to connect with nature. There are over 15,000 plants at Mount Auburn, making it as much a botanical garden as it is a cemetery.

Please keep in mind that you’re walking through hallowed ground when you explore Mount Auburn. There may be funerals going on or people visiting their loved ones, so please be respectful and quiet.

If you’re visiting with a group, you may want to take advantage of the cemetery’s group tour offerings. While self-guided tours are always free, you can book a private tour for an added fee. These tours typically last 90 minutes and are led by a cemetery staff member or a volunteer docent. They can cover a wide range of topics, from history to architecture, depending on your group’s interests.

6. Go Thrifting in The Garment District

Love finding something old and making it new again? Then, a visit to The Garment District is one of the must-do things to do in Cambridge. This Cambridge tradition dates back to 1986, when it started as an offshoot of a textile company. 

Every Saturday morning, the company would put out a few piles of clothing for the public to explore and buy by the pound. It became known as By the Pound , and The Garment District opened a few years later to complement the growing business. The building itself dates back to 1893 and today houses The Garment District, By the Pound, and, a more recent addition, Boston Costume . 

The Garment District strives to be the ethical answer to fast fashion. Instead of their clothes finding their way to landfills, all clothing that comes to The Garment District is either steamed and tagged to be put out for sale or is selected to be for sale at By the Pound.

You truly never know what you’ll find at The Garment District. With over 12,000 square feet of retail space and more than 40,000 items, from clothing to shoes to accessories, you may just find that statement piece you didn’t know you were looking for! 

7. Tour the Longfellow House

There’s so much history at the Longfellow House , which is what makes it a perfect fit for your Cambridge bucket list. This National Historic Site was the home of beloved poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most prolific writers of the 19th century. He spent almost 50 years in this Georgian mansion, starting in 1837.

But Longfellow’s history at the house isn’t its only claim to fame. From July 1775 to April 1776, it served as our future first president, General George Washington’s headquarters during the Siege of Boston.

Throughout the year, you can enjoy the two acres of grounds, including a vibrant garden, free of charge. The east lawn is the home of the Longfellow Summer Arts Festival , featuring concerts, poetry readings, and other events all summer long on Sunday afternoons.

The house itself is open during community events and for guided tours with National Park Rangers from May through the end of October. You can take the regular guided tour or journey deeper on Deep Dives into diverse topics regarding the site’s history and collections. The house also features an exhibit gallery, which is frequently changing and includes items from the house’s museum collection.

8. Spend a Day at the MIT Museum

You might expect that a museum tied to MIT would be all about science. But you’d only be partially right. The MIT Museum, one of the best things to do in Cambridge, is about so much more. It takes a look at our world through the lenses of science, history, and art. 

The museum houses a collection of more than one million items, ranging from historic devices dating back to the school’s founding in 1861 to today’s cutting-edge technology. Exhibits are constantly changing, so you’ll never have the same experience twice. Learn about the breakthroughs in genetic technology, the marriage of music and science, how our seas are changing, and much more.

The museum also hosts daily activities and special events. Take a Gallery Tour with a museum educator, go on a Collection Exploration into a specific museum collection, make scientific discoveries in the Learning Labs, or become an engineer in the Maker Hub. 

Special events range from talks with celebrated scientists to musical compositions in honor of the vibrations of amino acids. If you’re traveling with just adults, be sure to check out the monthly After Dark Series, where you’ll enjoy entertainment and fun built just for an over-21 crowd.

9. Get a Scoop at Toscanini’s Ice Cream

With two locations in Cambridge, it’s easy to find your way to Toscanini’s . This family-owned ice cream shop has frequently topped lists of where to get the best ice cream in and around Boston. The New York Times even ranked them as the world’s best ice cream, which is why getting a scoop (or more!) here is one of the most unique things to do in Cambridge.

Back in 1981, a group of friends and families came together to serve up ice cream in an 800-square-foot shop on Main Street, where they scooped for free, the love of their shop keeping them going. In time, the shop grew and added staff members they were able to compensate thanks to the support of the Cambridge community.

All ice cream is homemade in the store. Although the original location closed in 2018, it reopened in 2022 after adding a second location around the same time the first closed. The business now operates both on Main Street and First Street.

While you can find some classic favorites on the menu, like French Vanilla and Cookie Dough, the shop is more well-known for its gourmet concoctions, like its Burnt Caramel, Banana Bourbon, and Kulfi, a cardamon ice cream with pistachios and almonds. Flavor options change often and depend on the location.

10. See a Show at Club Passim

Cambridge is filled with music venues, many of which have historic roots, but perhaps none more so than Club Passim . Seeing a show at this iconic venue is one of the most fun things to do in Cambridge.

Not familiar with the name Club Passim? If you’re a folk music fan, you may have heard of its former name, Club 47, having taken its name from its previous location at 47 Mount Auburn Street. But since 1963, it’s been a fixture on Palmer Street.

Before being known as Club Passim, Club 47 was where folk artists got their start. Joan Baez played Club 47 in 1958 while she was a Boston University student, and she continued to perform there throughout the ‘60s. 

Bob Dylan also performed there in the early ‘60s, where he was said to have played for free just to say that he played Club 47. Other performers who have graced the stage include Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, and Pete Seeger.

Later in the 1960s, the club fell on hard times and closed in 1968, only to reopen a year later as Passim, later Club Passim. Passim itself is now a nonprofit that runs a music school and cultural exchange program. In addition to still seeing live performers at Club Passim, you can also sign up for a workshop at the music school.

11. Marvel at the Harvard Art Museums

Harvard doesn’t just have one art museum. It has three. And visiting the Harvard Art Museums is one of the best Cambridge activities. 

The Fogg Museum, which opened in 1895, is the oldest of the three. Once you enter through the enchanting Italian Renaissance-inspired courtyard, you’ll discover a collection of galleries that will walk you through the history of Western art, beginning in the Middle Ages and ending in the present day. It’s also home to the Wertheim Collection, one of the US’s best collections of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, and the Boston area’s best collection of Picasso pieces.

The Busch-Reisinger Museum was founded in 1903 as the Germanic Museum, and though its name has changed, it continues to be focused on art from German-speaking countries. Here, you’ll find unique works of Austrian Secession art, German expressionism, and works related to the Bauhaus, a form of Germanic art from the early 20th century.

Opening in 1985, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum is dedicated to Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean art. It also houses the History of Art and Architecture Department at Harvard and the Media Slide Library.

The museums hold many events, including Spotlight Tours with current students, Gallery Talks with curators, and workshops for all different forms of art.

12. Visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Harvard Museum of Natural History , one of the top things to do in Cambridge, was started back in 1998 as the public face of the school’s three research museums: the Harvard University Herbaria, the Mineralogical & Geological Museum, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. As a result, the Harvard Museum of Natural History focuses on a wide array of sciences, allowing you to venture into worlds you’ve never discovered before.

Today, the museum is the most-visited attraction at Harvard. It presents the collections of the three museums, as well as cutting-edge research from scientists at Harvard. Throughout the museum, you can unearth these collections through their permanent galleries and temporary exhibits. 

See Harvard’s famous Glass Flowers, learn about surprising new discoveries in our evolution, discover the misunderstood world of sharks, and much more. The exhibits showcase the museum’s historical artifacts alongside hands-on activities and multi-media presentations. The museum also offers classes and workshops for kids, adults, and families.

13. Admire the Exhibits at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology

Another museum associated with Harvard University, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology is one of the best sights in Cambridge, thanks to its immense collection. The museum is home to anthropological materials from across six continents, including over 1.2 million cultural items and 500,000 photographs.

The Peabody views itself as an ethical steward, meaning that the museum attempts to provide access to and care for the communities to whom the museum’s collection holds cultural value. In this way, they strive to offer a learning experience that is diverse, inclusive, and respectful.

The exhibits are often changing, allowing you to dive deep into unique cultures every time you visit. Discover the Indigenous tribes of the Americas, learn about the world of colonial Harvard and the role the Indian College played in its early years, and see how the world has eaten across time and continents. 

You can always take a self-guided tour of the museum. Or you can take a tour with a Harvard student between October and April.

14. Stroll through the Arnold Arboretum

As with many Harvard institutions, the Arnold Arboretum , one of the best things to see in Cambridge, is historic. It’s the oldest arboretum in North America, having been established in 1872. Though it also functions as a botanical research center, it’s also a free public park, and you’re going to want to add it to your Cambridge bucket list!

Though Cambridge is Harvard’s home, you’ll actually find this massive 281-acre preserve in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of neighboring Boston, but it’s more than worth the trip. The Arnold Arboretum considers itself a museum of trees. It’s a place to learn about plant life and to feel connected to the natural world.

The arboretum houses one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of temperate woody plants. Here, you’ll find a focus on the plants of eastern North America, as well as eastern Asia. There are over 15,000 unique plants housed here. While you’re free to explore on your own, you can also take a guided tour or join one of the arboretum’s many events, including meditation sessions, family hikes, and in-depth talks about unique species of plants.

15. See a Performance at the American Repertory Theater

The American Repertory Theater , aka A.R.T., is a not-for-profit theater at Harvard and one of the best Cambridge attractions. At this theater, the goal is to truly immerse you in everything you’re seeing on stage. Each work performed at this theater is meant to transform the boundaries of live performances and often showcases those who have too often been left behind in the world of theater.

A.R.T. has been a fixture at Harvard since 1980. Since its founding, the theater has won numerous awards, including Tony Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and more than 100 Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards. 

Although A.R.T. is a professional theater that puts on shows that have gone on to tour the US and play in places like London’s famous West End, the theater also has showcases of student and local community members’ work, as well as workshops and conversations with local artists. 

There you have it! The 15 best things to do in Cambridge, MA. What’s your favorite thing to do in Cambridge? Let us know in the comments!

Planning a trip to Massachusetts? Check out our favorite books and travel guides!

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About the Author:

Jacqueline is a writer and editor pursuing the freelance life to explore the world. Born and raised in New Jersey, she spent her college years in Boston before settling down with her partner and puppy in Monterey, California. When she’s not writing, you can often find her planning her next trip. Road trips are her favorite, whether it’s driving across the country or simply exploring a new city in her own backyard. She loves uncovering the history of every new place she goes. Jacqueline has a restless passion for learning and makes it a goal to pick up a new skill every year. She’s picked up embroidery, crocheting, knitting, and cross-stitching, but she’s hoping to master more languages to help her in her travels. She’s also a published author, with short stories and poetry appearing in several anthologies.

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Cambridge Historical Tours has rebranded! We are now:

 tours of the greater boston area.

Experience Boston Like A Local

Featured Tours

​ Our Public Freedom Trail Tours

Our Public Innovation Trail Tour

Our Voicemap Audio Tour

We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Your tax-deductible donations make it possible for us to sponsor discounted educational tours for local and visiting students! You can donate directly through the link below, or send a check to our address:

7 School Street Place, Roxbury, MA 02119

Our Programs

Public Tours

Private Tours

Partner Tours

Our small staff of highly trained professional performers use charm, expert storytelling, and humor to give you the experience your group is looking for.

Testimonials

"What a delightful way to spend an hour and a half strolling around Harvard and the Cambridge Common areas."

"My boyfriend and I recently took a Ghost Tour with "Jane Smithonian" and it was awesome."

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"Our man was Richard Henry Dana Jr (Daniel Berger-Jones: "you can call me 'Junior'"), raconteur extraordinaire"

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Explore the ideas, artifacts, people, and places that have shaped our history for nearly 400 years.

Tour updates

Harvard visitor center tours.

All tours are 45 to 60 minutes long. Registration is required in advance for both in-person and virtual tours. Weekly tour registration will be available every Friday. You can download the Visit Harvard mobile app on iOS and Android devices. During business hours you may purchase a Self-Guided Tour Map for $3 available in multiple languages.

For information about Harvard College Admissions tours for prospective students, visit their website .

Official Historical Tour of Harvard

The free, student-led public walking tour through Harvard Yard provides a history of the University, general information, and a unique view on the students’ individual experience. 

Register for the in-person tour

Visit Harvard mobile app

Explore Harvard with our free mobile app, featuring a collection of self-guided walking tours. Whichever tour you decide to embark on, you’ll be sure to learn something new.

Download the app on  iOS  and  Android devices.

Historical Tour of Harvard

Learn the history behind well-known spots across Harvard’s campus! Each stop highlights iconic buildings, traditions, alumni, and much more.

Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour: Allston

Explore vibrant public art in Allston! You’ll encounter can’t-miss installations along Western Avenue and learn the stories behind them and their artists.

Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour: Cambridge

Discover a new side to our campus through an art-filled adventure! Explore outdoor art, famous architecture, renowned cultural institutions, and more.

Discover more Harvard tours

From nature walks to art galleries, these tour offerings include virtual options, in-person experiences, student and staff-led excursions, and more.

Tour spotlight

Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery

The Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Walking Tour Experience explores Harvard University’s entanglements with the institution of slavery through a 10-stop tour around Harvard’s campus.

Learn more about the tour

Prospective students

Harvard College In-Person Campus Visit Options: in-person, student-led

Harvard College Virtual Tour Options: virtual

SEAS Tours Options: in-person, student-led

Harvard Business School Options: in-person, virtual, student-led, mobile

Harvard Law School Virtual Tour Video Options: virtual

Arts and culture

Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Options: mobile

Harvard Art Museums: Student Guided Tours Options: in-person, student-led

Harvard Forest Field Trips & Tours Options: virtual, in-person, staff-led, self-guided

Arnold Arboretum: All Tours Options: in-person, virtual, staff-led, self-guided

Museums and libraries

Peabody Museum: All Tours Options: in-person, virtual, self-guided, staff-led

Houghton & Widener In-Person Tours Options: in-person, staff-led

Widener 360-Degree Virtual Tour Options: virtual, self-guided

Houghton Library Virtual Tour Options: virtual

Harvard Art Museums: Gallery Tours Options: in-person, self-guided, staff-led

Harvard Museums of Science & Culture: Virtual Tours Options: virtual, self-guided

Frequently asked questions

General tour information.

The Harvard University Visitor Center offers several different types of tours. For our in person tour offerings on campus, we provide the Official Historical Tour of Harvard. All tours are provided to the public for free and to private groups for a fee. Our tours typically run 45-60 minutes.

To view the schedule and register for our free public tours (virtual and in person), please visit our Eventbrite page . To request a virtual or in person private tour, visit this link .

We also offer a free self-guided historical tour through the Visit Harvard mobile app, which you can download on iOS and Android devices. You can take this self-guided tour on campus or from the comfort of your own home.

Information About Free In Person Tours

The in person Historical Tour of Harvard explores Harvard Yard. Tours depart from the Visitor Center which is located at the front desk in the Smith Campus Center. Our address is 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Registration for our in person tours must be made in advance. Registration is made available starting the Friday before your tour week. Parties of up to 14 persons can register for a free in person tour. Parties of 15-60 are encouraged to submit a request for a private tour .

Registered tour goers should arrive at the Visitor Center at least 15 minutes before your tour to check-in. Tours depart from the Smith Campus Center and end in Harvard Yard.

Information About the Visit Harvard Mobile App

Visit Harvard is a free mobile app by the Harvard Visitor Center that features a collection of self-guided tours centered around the Harvard University experience. The Visit Harvard mobile app can be downloaded by anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or desktop, to be enjoyed from wherever you might be visiting, whether it’s in-person at Harvard or from the comfort of your own home.

What tours are being offered in the mobile app? Currently on the app, visitors can take a mobile version of our popular in-person and virtual tour, the Historical Tour of Harvard.

How long is the mobile tour? This self-guided tour takes place across 14 mapped stops through Harvard’s campus. At a standard walking pace, it will take between 45-60 minutes to complete the 1 mile long tour.

Can I take the mobile tour in-person or virtually? The mobile tour is designed to be accessed in-person on Harvard University’s campus, starting at the Harvard Visitor Center, located at the Smith Campus Center in Harvard Square (1350 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA). It can also be viewed from the comfort of your own home. Simply download Visit Harvard in the app store, select the Historical Tour of Harvard, and begin your journey!

Where can I download the Visit Harvard mobile app? You can download the Visit Harvard mobile app on the Apple App Store and Google Play . There is also a desktop version of the app you can access here .

Learn More About the Harvard College Admissions Process

For more information about Harvard College Admissions, please visit their official website . Their contact information can be found here .

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Cambridge Walking Tours - Private & Shared

Cambridge city centre highlights tour.

Our walking tours are the ideal way to explore the beauty of Cambridge’s city centre

Using only the best Blue Badge Guides in our 2-hour city centre Walking Tours, take groups of up to 20 people around Cambridge’s iconic centre. Whilst delivering an in-depth and interesting description of its history. The tour will cover the famous Cambridge University, as well as the city’s greatest attractions such as Market Square, the Corpus Clock and Kings College Chapel to name but a few. Coming on a shared tour is a great way to engage with other like-minded, curious people from around the world, that wish to get the most out of a visit to our beloved city of Cambridge. This Cambridge walking tour experience is a brilliant opportunity to see and learn about this fascinating city within a couple of hours and at the best price.

Book your Shared walking Tour

Shared walking tours, book your private walking tour, private walking tours, private or shared, choose the right cambridge walking tour for you..

Wondering which walking tour is ideal for you around Cambridge with our Blue badge tour guides?

Shared guided walking tour:.

• Ideal for small groups looking for a cost-effective option.
• The tour consists of 20 people from all over the world.
• Daily guided walking tours at a fixed departure time.

Private Guided Walking Tour

• Ideal for large or small groups looking for a more exclusive tour.
• Tour takes off at your time of choice with our flexible departure times.
• Bespoke routes are available.

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Cambridge Walking Tours

With cantab tours.

Guided Tours of Cambridge

Join one of our knowledgeable and engaging guides for a walking tour of Cambridge and take in the best of this beautiful, historical city!

• Fully accredited and qualified tour guides
• Tours leave every day from the historic city centre
• Private walking tours available
• See the iconic sights - King's College, the Cavendish Laboratory, Senate House...

In Association with

Cambridge, home to the prestigious University of Cambridge, is famous for its stunning historic colleges, world-renowned minds and world-changing discoveries. Our expert  Blue and Green Badge Guides  will take you on an enjoyable and informative walking tour where you will learn about the extraordinary history and culture of Cambridge.

Above all, our tours are designed to educate and entertain our visitors both young and old! Hear stories of the people, places and pranks which bring Cambridge – past and present – to life.

Come and be inspired by this fascinating city!

Take a look at our available options below and book your Walking Tour of Cambridge with Cantab Tours!

Our Cambridge Highlights Tour does exactly as it says on the tin – take in all the must-see sights in a 90-minute tour that is perfect for first-time visitors or those only in the city for a short time. With tours leaving every day right from the historic city centre there is no better way to see Cambridge.

Or, for a more personalised experience, we offer a range of Private Walking Tours too. All fully customisable, choose from a 1, 1.5 or 2 hour tour tailored to your group’s individual interests.

Not your standard tour...

Our tours start from The University of Cambridge Museums Shop on King’s Parade and take you on an inspiring journey through the history of Cambridge. All tours are unique and do not follow a script – our fantastic guides will tailor each tour to the interests of the group on the tour.

Walk the iconic King’s Parade, marvel at the famous colleges of Cambridge University – from Corpus Christi to St John’s and Trinity College – and wander along the stunning River Cam. See the famous Cambridge sights including King’s College, Senate House and the Corpus Clock. All in the company of one of our passionate and entertaining tour guides.

A Cambridge walking tour with Cantab Tours is hard to beat!

Cambridge Highlights Tour

Join one of our knowledgeable and engaging guides for our famous Cambridge Highlights Tour to take in the iconic must-see sights in a 90-minute walking tour of Cambridge. Tours run every day.

Private Guided Tours of Cambridge

For a more personalised experience, book a private walking tour of Cambridge with one of our expert guides. Explore more of the central Cambridge Colleges and other famous sights on a fully customisable private tour.

Guided Tours of King's College

Make the most of your visit to King’s College by booking a Private Guided Tour. A part of our Private Guided Tours service – book as a standalone tour of the college, or combine with a tour of other Cambridge sights.

Walking & Punting Combo Tour

No trip to Cambridge is complete without a punting trip on the River Cam! Combine a Walking Tour with a Punting Tour to see the historic city from another perspective including sights only visible from the river.

Why Choose Cantab Tours?

Experienced.

Cantab Tours have a wealth of experience in providing high-quality walking tours of Cambridge. Our team has previously worked with Visit Cambridge for many years as the providers of their official guided tour service. In fact, we have been delivering tours of Cambridge since the 1970s!

We work closely with The Society of Cambridge Tourist Guides and all of our tour guides are accredited and proudly wear the widely-recognised Blue or Green badges awarded by the Institute of Tourist Guiding . The training lasts almost a year and our guides have such a broad knowledge they can answer most questions you will have including questions on the application process for prospective students.

Entertaining.

As well as being fully qualified, our tour guides are all extremely passionate about Cambridge and its history. Many of our guides are Cambridge University Alumni or are associated with the University in some way. They will guarantee that you will have an enjoyable and engaging tour – full of interesting historical facts and fascinating stories. No boring or scripted tours here!

Our Cambridge Highlights Tour is only £20 per person (£12 for children) for a 90-minute tour, and our Private Tours start at just £90 for up to 20 people offering great value for money and the perfect way to see Cambridge.

Our Cambridge Highlights Tour is only £20 per person (£12 for children) for a 90-minute tour, and our private tours start at just £90 for up to 20 people offering great value for money and the perfect way to see Cambridge.

What Our Guests Are Saying....

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Whether you’re a prospective student or just visiting the Boston area, we invite you to explore our dynamic campus and experience firsthand how MIT is making a better world .

MIT is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Boston, in the vibrant innovation district of Kendall Square . Founded in 1865, MIT established a new kind of independent educational institution relevant to an increasingly industrialized America. Since then, the Institute has built a robust tradition of solving problems in the public interest at the intersection of technology and humanity.

Welcome Center

The MIT Welcome Center is open at 292 Main Street in Kendall Square , conveniently located next to the Kendall/MIT MBTA subway station. Stop by to get guidance about visiting MIT and pick up a campus map  (and to use the restroom, fill your water bottle, or access free Wi-Fi and power outlets). The adjacent green space is also a great place to have lunch or take a break. Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., excluding MIT holidays  and Institute closures. 

The MIT Welcome Center is a gift of Tina and Hamid (SB 1977, SM 1978) Moghadam.

Campus Tours & Information Sessions

The Undergraduate Admissions office hosts virtual and in-person information sessions for prospective students. Visit mitadmissions.org/visit to register. Please note: We are unable to accommodate walk-in guests for information sessions, so please make sure to register in advance.

Prospective graduate students usually arrange visits through individual departments, though the  MIT Sloan School of Management  and select departments within the School of Engineering offer tours.

Other resources

• School of Engineering audio tour
• List Visual Arts Center tour

Getting Here & Getting Around

A great place to start your visit is at the MIT Welcome Center, located at 292 Main Street, Cambridge . Parking can be tough here! We recommend public transportation or a taxi/rideshare service (such as Uber or Lyft) to campus.

Via public transportation

Boston’s public transportation system is the MBTA , known as “the T.”

Subway : From any terminal at Logan Airport, take the Silver Line bus to South Station. At South Station, change to the Red Line subway to Kendall/MIT (inbound toward Alewife). The ride should take about 30 minutes and is free. 

Bus : The 64, 68, and 85 lines stop near the MIT Welcome Center. The #1 bus  stops on Massachusetts Avenue, about a 15-minute walk from the Welcome Center.

Shuttle : The EZ Ride shuttle runs to and from Boston’s North Station, with stops at Kendall Square and around MIT’s campus (Note: EZRide is not operated by the MBTA; fare is $2 cash per trip).

From Logan Airport

Taxi or rideshare : Taxi fare from the airport is about $35–$40, and a rideshare service can range from about $20–$35. During non-rush hour, the ride will take about 15 minutes; during rush hour, it may take 30 minutes or more.

Subway : From any terminal at Logan Airport, take the Silver Line bus to South Station. At South Station, change to the Red Line subway to Kendall/MIT (inbound toward Alewife). The ride should take about 30 minutes.

• South Station, Boston , is the closest train station. South Station is served by the MBTA Red Line, which connects to MIT at the MIT/Kendall stop.
• Bluebikes is the Boston area’s public bike share program. There are several stations around campus for renting or returning a bike. Visitors may purchase an Adventure Pass , which is valid for 24 hours.

Parking in Cambridge and Boston can be expensive and hard to find. Whenever possible, park where you’re staying and use public transportation or a taxi/rideshare service. If you must drive to the campus, on- and off-street parking is available for a fee, but most public parking is not very close to the center of campus. More parking information is available from Parkopedia .

• Accessibility map
• Campus walking tour

While You’re Here

From art and architecture to history and culture, there is plenty to see and do, both on campus and in the greater Boston area. Explore the MIT Events Calendar to see what's happening on campus. Many events are open to the public.

Visitors are welcome in many campus buildings and our outdoor spaces. See the visitors policy  for details.

On the MIT campus

• Stop by  Killian Court , the leafy oasis where we hold each year’s Commencement, and gaze up at the Great Dome. (At 8,800 square feet, it’s larger than the domes of St. Paul’s in London and the U.S. Capitol Building. And it was the site of some historic hacks.)

Take in the galleries and exhibits at the  MIT Museum —where art, science, and technology intersect—at its new Kendall Square location.

Explore public art on campus , including works by Picasso, Calder, and other major artists.

Visit the List Visual Arts Center , MIT’s contemporary arts museum.

Witness the work being done at the cutting edge of cancer research at the Koch Institute Public Galleries .

See a display of hacks on the Charles M. Vest Student Street in the Stata Center .

Shop at the MIT Coop for MIT-branded apparel and other souvenirs.

Stop by  MIT Recreation for some movement during your visit. Guest passes are available.

Around Cambridge and Boston

Trace the footsteps of Boston’s founders and revolutionaries on the Freedom Trail .

Quack your way through a duck tour .

Take a short scenic cruise to the Boston Harbor Islands . 

Tour  Fenway Park , home of the Boston Red Sox.

Learn about the life and presidency of John F. Kennedy at his namesake library.

Experience the exceptional collection of one of the oldest art institutions in the nation, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts , or get some hands-on learning at the Museum of Science .

Climb to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument for a panoramic view of Boston.

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Harvard Square, Cambridge – Boston Chocolate Tours

Harvard square cambridge chocolate tour, a unique "bean to bar" boston chocolate tour through historic harvard square, our chocolate tour's activities, sample chocolate treats.

Sample a variety of unique chocolate treats including chocolate bars, rich chocolate doughnuts, gelato, and high quality cookies.​

Sip Chocolate Beverages

Sip cacao juice, directly from the chocolate fruit and other unique chocolate beverages. while learning the history of chocolate.

Taste Chocolate Ice Cream

Taste delicious local ice cream from an independent store, with flavors you can't find elsewhere.​

Food Tour Details

$45 per guest (includes all chocolate)

Calling all chocoholics! Let us romance your senses on a Harvard Square, Cambridge Chocolate Tour! Ready to park your cah in Hahvahd and have some fun? 

Join us for a delectable adventure through historical Harvard Square where you’ll hear interesting stories about the area, learn fun facts about chocolate, and sample the best chocolate treats around from hidden gems around the city.

Whether you’re going on a date night in Boston or relaxing with friends, we can’t wait to take you on a unique, chocolate adventure with some surprises along the way!

Best Boston Chocolate Tours

Featured on  WCVB TV5’s Chronicle , our tour is  voted the best  Boston Chocolate Tour. Book today to reserve your spot.

Located right outside of Beantown in Cambridge on the Red Line MBTA train stop, Harvard Square is home to Harvard University and has a flourishing food scene with some of the most unique food in the city.

Please note: We strongly encourage our guests to be fully vaccinated; if you do have symptoms or a diagnosis of COVID, we can reschedule your tour. **FUN FOR ADULTS, TEENS, and KIDS!**

Gluten-free and Vegetarian Diets

Gluten-free and vegetarian diets can be accommodated on most tours – please email us to confirm before booking. We can do a VEGAN and DAIRY-FREE version of this tour, but there is not a vegan chocolate available at every stop.

Don’t see a date that works? Contact us about private tours.

Our Harvard Square Chocolate Tour Guides:

• HARVARD SQUARE CHOCOLATE TOUR
• UNION SQUARE FOOD TOUR

• HARVARD SQUARE FOOD TOUR

• CENTRAL SQUARE FOOD TOUR

Kind words about Our Boston Chocolate tour

More Boston Area Food Tours

Central Square Cambridge Food and Arts Mural Tour

Jamaica Plain Boston Vegan Chocolate Tour

Harvard Square Cambridge Food and History Tour

Related posts:.

• The Best Hot Chocolate in Boston and Cambridge
• The Best Restaurants in Central Square, Cambridge
• Where to Meet - Central Square Cambridge Food and…
• The Best Mocktails in Boston and Cambridge
• The Best Buffets in Boston and Cambridge
• Where to Go Ice Skating in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville

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If you’ve been craving a little adventure, you’re in luck. Fill out the form below to get FREE instant access to our hand-picked list of local stops and hits of flavor for your next stroll around Beantown:

J oin our fun, friendly walking tours of Cambridge.

Cambridge is a small, vibrant city with 2,000 years of fascinating history. Medieval Cambridge was a wealthy town and an inland sea-port attracting traders from all over Europe. The University of Cambridge has a worldwide reputation. For over 800 years its scholars have influenced the world in science, philosophy, medicine, the arts and technology. Today, Cambridge is home to Europe’s largest technology cluster.

But there is so much more to this astonishing city..

A walking tour is the best way to experience this fascinating place, to feel its unique history and to connect with the stories that make it special.

The streets and squares of the historic city centre are packed with shops, colleges, pubs, churches, museums, restaurants and there is a daily open market.

Many styles of architecture from the past thousand years are here to see; buildings of incredible splendour and size reflect the wealth and importance of their patrons alongside more humble homes and churches built for the ordinary townsfolk. 

Whether you’re a visitor, or live locally you will see Cambridge in a new light

Another side of Cambridge is its natural beauty. A green city, where cattle graze near the river Cam as it flows past large parks and commons, under picturesque bridges and through the college gardens. Green, open spaces (pieces) in the city centre offer a place to play and relax. 

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