Hotels near Boston Common and the Public Garden

Boston Common, established in 1634, is the oldest public park in the United States, a 50-acre green that has served as everything from a cattle pasture to a Revolutionary encampment. Today it is the city's front lawn, with the gold-domed Massachusetts State House looking down from Beacon Hill and the Freedom Trail beginning at its edge.

Across Charles Street, the adjoining Public Garden is more formal, a Victorian botanical garden famous for its lagoon, its swan boats that have paddled since 1877, and the much-loved Make Way for Ducklings bronze statues. Together the two parks make a relaxing start or finish to a day in the centre.

Pro Tip: Ride the swan boats in the Public Garden lagoon between spring and early autumn - they are gentle, cheap and a Boston institution. In winter, the Common's Frog Pond becomes a public ice rink right in the middle of the city.