Let’s face it—sometimes you just need to shut the books and clear your head. When you decide to check out the local attractions, you’ll have plenty of choices. Because when you come to Babson, you get greater Boston and New England as part of the package.New England
New England is small, but incredibly varied in topography and social makeup. New Hampshire’s White Mountains and Vermont’s Green Mountains (both about a 3–4-hour drive north) offer great fall colors, summer hiking, and winter skiing. In the Berkshires (about a 3-hour drive west), you can hear a concert at Tanglewood, summer home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (see www.bso.org), or visit picturesque towns like Stockbridge. For a fall outing closer to home, try apple picking at one of the many orchards in the vicinity of Harvard, Mass.
A couple of hours to the south lies Cape Cod, with its quaint fishing villages and long, sandy beaches (especially those of the Cape Cod National Seashore). Also a 2-hour drive south is Newport, R.I., renowned for its mansions from days past and its lively nightlife today.
Greater Boston
Say Boston and many think either history or high-tech. But Boston isn’t stuffy or geeky. It’s a dynamic urban center with an active cultural life—and nightlife. Its large student population also makes it a young city. With 80 colleges and universities, greater Boston is home to more than a quarter of a million students.
For an excellent overview of city attractions, visit “Boston: America’s College Town” (see http://www.bostonvisit.com/). But here’s a highly selective list of free-time options:
Music—The large venues
The big concert venues in Greater Boston include the Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts in Mansfield (see http://tweetercenter.com/boston/) and the Worcester Centrum in Worcester. (see http://www.centrumcentre.com/).
Dance clubs and bars
The heart of Boston’s nightclub life is Lansdowne Street, which offers a heady mix of nightclubs, bars, and dance clubs. The DJs variously spinning rock, hip hop, house, and techno. Here are a few:
Other great spots for live music
The Paradise Rock Club—969 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. (See http://www.thedise.com/.)
T.T. the Bear’s Place—10 Brookline St., Central Sq., Cambridge. (See http://www.ttthebears.com/.)
Jazz clubs
Real Deal Jazz Café—Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St. Cambridge. (For schedule, see http://www.concertix.com/.)
The Regattabar—1 Bennett St., Cambridge. (See http://www.regattabarjazz.com/.)
Scullers—400 Soldiers Field Rd., Boston. (See http://www.scullersjazz.com/.)
Folk music
Club Passim—47 Palmer St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. (See www.clubpassim.org.)
Blues and R&B
Harpers Ferry—156 Brighton Ave., Allston. (See http://www.harpersferryboston.com/.)
Classical music
Symphony Hall—301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston. (See www.bso.org/.)
Sports
Red Sox.
You haven’t really been to Boston until you’ve seen the Red Sox (see www.redsox.com/) at Fenway Park, the nation's oldest (and smallest) but possibly most loved ballpark.
Celtics and Bruins.
Basketball and hockey fans, put the FleetCenter your radar screens. That’s where you can see the Celtics (see http://www.nba.com/celtics/) and the Bruins (see http://www.bostonbruins.com/) in action. The FleetCenter also features concerts, family shows, and other events.
New England Patriots and New England Revolution.
Gillette Stadium, in Foxboro, is home to both the Super Bowl–champion New England Patriots (see http://www.patriots.com/) and the New England Revolution (see http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/) soccer team.
Restaurants—Moody Street, Waltham
Boston has many restaurants, but you’ll find the greatest variety on Moody Street in Waltham. There’s something for every taste—Indian, Thai, Italian, Central American, Mexican, and more—including Solea, a popular tapas bar, and Jake’s Dixie Roadhouse, purveyor of some of the finest barbecue north of the Mason-Dixon line.
History
The Freedom Trail—This walking trail takes you to many of Boston’s 18th- and 19th-century historic sites. (See http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/.)
JFK Library & Museum—This state-of-the-art museum focuses on the life and times of John F. Kennedy. (See http://www.jfklibrary.org/.)
Art Museums
Museum of Fine Arts—465 Huntington Ave., Boston. (See www.mfa.org/.)
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park—51 Sandy Pond Rd., Lincoln. The 35-acre grounds display contemporary sculpture. (See http://www.decordova.org/.)
