I have 8 hours in Boston. Please suggest how I can best spend my time.

Will you be renting a car or using public transportation? Boston has wonderful things but is a driver’s nightmare.

New England Aquariam
Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Science
Harvard Museum of Na’l History:extraordinary collection of glass flowers -in Cambridge
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
USS _Constitution_Museum
New England Sports Museum
Sam’l Adams Brewery
Too cold for the zoo and the Boston Commons

Boston sightseeing

Go down to the post office, pick up some Label 228 labels, draw on them.
Post to http://mailart.us

The shopping at Faneuil Hall is extremely fun. There is plenty of food, and the buildings are beautiful. www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com

Faneuil Hall is the worst. Walk Newbury St. or Boylston St if you like shopping—if museums are your thing the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum can be done in less than 2 hours. The MFA requires a larger time commitment if you’re into that. If you have time, take in a meal in the North End and get a cannoli.

If you hit Newbury and Boylston St., bring your trust fund :-) You can also watch the panes of glass fall out of the John Hancock bldg for a few minutes, unless that flaw has been addressed successfully. Is Durgan Park still around for the Meat and Potatoes crowd?

I second all the museums that gailcalled mentioned. I also second that Boston is a driver’s nightmare; get a one-day T pass, and save your sanity.

You won’t see all of the Museum of Science or the Museum of Fine Arts in a day, but if you don’t expect to, that’s not a problem. I never get tired of the electricity show at the Museum of Science, and the CSI exhibit, while not terribly deep, is a fun way to spend an hour. I get to the MFA every month or so, and I haven’t really looked at more than about a quarter of the collection. But if you’re not into art, it’s not the place to spend much time.

If you’re after food, I second Durgin Park, and I’d also recommend Giacomo’s for dinner and Mike’s Pastry for authentic cannoli and other Italian delights, both on Hannover (Hanover?) Street in the North End, Haymarket on the Green Line. If you like barbecue, there’s a great restaurant in Somerville (subway-accessible, the Davis stop on the Red Line) called Redbones. Also, Chinatown (eponymous stop on the Orange Line), for dim sum restaurants. You really can’t go wrong with any of the restaurants in the North End if you want Italian, and from what I understand the same is true in Chinatown for Chinese food, but I’ve only begun to test the Italian hypothesis myself.

The John Hancock building is no longer shedding panes of glass, which was a great disappointment when the Phelps dog & pony show came to protest outside Trinity.

For more than that—what are you interested in? Boston has a lot of stuff going on. I’m a fan of restaurants and museums, not so much of shopping, so I’m likely to be biased….

1. To to the drug store and sleeping pills.
2. Rent a hotel room with cable.
—eight hours pass—
3. Leave

I spent the weekend in Cambridge on a work-trip, rode a bike around in my spare time and dined at some of the popular restaurants. Early Monday morning I changed my flight home to the afternoon to add another day trip. I took a cab over to the North End of Boston and walked around taking photos. Then I happened upon and toured Paul Revere’s home. That was fun. I also enjoyed a nice meal in one of the older Italian restaurants in the neighborhood before leaving.

go to the north end,good food
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I second the north end. great italian food there. another option is the hit up legal sea foods. they have the some of the best fish I’ve ever had. A trip to cambridge is always fun too.

@minolta: HI, and welcome. Check the date of the question. It was asked in late Dec. 2007. I love people who love Boston and Cambridge, however.

@gailcalled well I wrote the answer as it could be helpful for anyone else, who wants advice from now. as you can find older posts, as I did.