I have always wanted to visit Boston and Salem, so we FINALLY made it happen this August. Visiting at the end of August, doing a lot of the tourist-y stuff during the week is definitely the way to go. The crowds were low Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday (the beginning of the Labor Day weekend).
Hotel
We stayed at the Boston Marriott at Long Wharf. It’s not a cheap place to stay, but the location is fantastic if you are here to see the historical places in Boston. It’s across the street from Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall and next to the New England aquarium and harbor cruises. The Blue Line from the airport drops off at the hotel, as well as all of the tour trolley stops. Walking into the North End/Little Italy is also very easy.
Food
I don’t even know where to start here, so I guess I’ll go chronologically. I knew that I wanted 1) a lobster roll, 2) clam chowder, and 3) cannoli. Check, check, and check! Note, for Wednesday - Friday breakfast, we had access to the M Lounge’s free buffet due to the hubby’s Bonvoy status - everything we ate was good.
La Familia Giorgio’s - We met friends here for dinner. I recommend patiently attempting to call the restaurant ahead of time for reservations. I say patience because 1) you can’t reserve online and 2) sometimes they just simply don’t pick up the phone. Ha! Another tip - for the love all cannoli, go hungry! The entrees are served family style and are HUGE! For 4 people, we chose 2 appetizers and 2 pasta entrees and had leftovers to send home with our friends. We bought 3 bottles of wine to go with dinner, and all were under $60 (very reasonable for restaurant pricing). The gnocchi, fresh made, is absolutely amazing! We also enjoyed the warm bread to dip into the olive oil, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes. We did not eat dessert here since we wanted to try Bova’s afterward (directly up the street from LFG).
Bova’s Bakery - As mentioned above, we went here after eating at La Familia Giorgio’s. It was the perfect choice! I suggest taking cash if you want to save yourself the 4% credit card fee. Lots of Italian dessert options to choose. I will neither confirm nor deny that we just might have gone a couple more times… I warned that Mike’s is touristy, so I was quite grateful that many people to go to Bova’s instead.
James Hook & Co - You want a lobster roll? Or a live lobster? Go here! Honestly, was it better than any other lobster roll place? Probably not. Any cheaper? Nah, lobster rolls are pretty consistently priced from I was finding in my Yelp searches. Does it have a cool, food truck vibe? Yep! Honestly, I have zero complaints with from cold lobster roll and would go back.
Luke’s - This small restaurant is close to the Old South Meeting Hall. The Lobster Mac N Cheese was a little bit fishy, but I enjoyed the Clam Chowder (it’s creamy, not soupy).
Things to Do
We took a half-day trip up to Salem and visited the Salem Witch Museum, the House of Seven Gables garden, Real Pirates Museum, and the Peabody Essex (very short visit as we were starving and tired). If you are staying in Boston, take the commuter rail (Purple) train from North Station by TD Garden. Both the Salem Witch Museum and the the Real Pirates Museum were absolutely fascinating.
We took a harbor sight-seeing cruise and also took advantage of the hop-on-hop-off bus in order to see the city - we still did a lot of walking! Loved the North End (aka Little Italy) because of the quaintness and the FOOD options!
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