Bachelorette party in Boston

lcherian

A few friends and I are throwing a bachelorette party in Boston.  What do you girls recommend that we do during the day?  We'd love to go sightseeing since most of us have never been there. 

 Any recommendations for restaurants and bars at night? TIA!

PunkyBooster

You could do a duck tour. And a tour of Fenway Park. That should keep you busy for the bulk of an afternoon.

You could also do a "see the sights" bar crawl kind of. So do a scavenger hunt for the bride with easy (since you aren't from around here) with clues like, "The red sox play here at ......" (the answer is Fenway) and you'll stop at Boston Beer Works for a beer.

Or something. 

Rock-n-Voll

It sounds like you want a bachelorette party that's on the tamer side?  For sightseeing, either the Duck Tour like Punky suggested or a Freedom Trail tour would be great options.  The Freedom Trail will take you to all the major historic sites in Boston. 

Lots of people go to D!ck's Last Resort for bachelorette parties, but you have to be OK with the atmosphere--their schtick is to basically you and poke fun.  Check out the Yelp reviews.  Also, it's located right in Faneuil Hall where there are plenty of other places to bar hop.  Might be a good place to base yourselves, actually, and there's a nice hotel called the Millennium located right there.  Otherwise, look to stay in Copley Square/Back Bay or by the Boston Commons.

For reference, here's a list of things to do in Boston that I typically provide to tourists:

Duck Tour - http://www.bostonducktours.com.  Fun tour that provides a good overview of the city and its history via an amphibious vehicle.  Book tix in advance via the web site

Freedom Trail - This walking tour will take you through most of the historic sites of Boston.  You can do a guided tour or I've heard there's a downloadable iPod tour so you can do a self-guided thing.

Public Gardens/Boston Common ? Not such a great visit in the winter, but otherwise nice.  There's a Make Way for Ducklings bronze statue here that the kiddies might like if you have them.

Beacon Hill/Charles St. ? Quintessential old New England neighborhood with great architecture and quaint little boutiques to shop in.  Just a few minutes walk from the Common.

Newbury Street (shopping) ? Just across the street from the Commons.  Great for people watching and grabbing a bite to eat too.
 
Sam Adams or Harpoon Brewery tours

Faneuil Hall ? Historic area now full of shopping and restaurants. 

North End ? our Little Italy. Mike's Pastry's cannolis are famous but be prepared for a huge crowd. Modern is another local bakery favorite

Fenway Park

Museum of Science - great exhibits and a domed IMAX theater that's amazing and shows lots of great documentary-style films.

JFK Museum

Children?s Museum ? Really fun for the kids

Art museums ? We have top-notch art museums: Museum of Fine Art, Isebella Stewart Gardner Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art

Whale Watch Tour ? You can leave from the Aquarium downtown or, if you have a car or are willing to take the commuter rail, go up to the one in Gloucester and check out the neighboring Rockport area (very quaint seaside town). 

Harvard ? Campus is pretty and Harvard Square is fun to walk around

A little farther out:

Salem Witch Museum ? a history of the infamous Salem witch trials

House of Seven Gables ? also located in Salem

Walden Pond ? site where Thoreau penned Walden.  You can see the site of his cabin as well as a recreation of the building. 

As for restaurants...so many options.  Some of my splurge-y favorites are No. 9 Park (Boston), O Ya Sushi (Boston), Salts (Cambridge), and Blue Ginger (Wellesley).  I don't like Top of the Hub as I've had horrible service there on more than one occasion and refuse to go back.  Stella in the South End is great for brunch--large portions and reasonable prices (also you can walk over to the SOWA Open Market from there).  In Chinatown, East Ocean City is great for dinner and Hong Kong Eatery is wonderful for Chinese comfort food (their wonton noodle soup is awesome).  Also check out the bakeries in Chinatown; I recommend Ho Yuen or Hing Shing, though the best egg tarts are at Crown Royal.  For chowder, go to Legal Seafoods but the rest of the food there is nothing special.

ead1975

Rock and Punky have good suggestions.  For the evening, I've known a few bachelorette parties that have gone to Jacques Cabaret (drag show) and had a blast but I do think you need to book in advance for that on a weekend.

sammiesjd414

Those are all great suggestions. There are also quite a few improv comedy groups in boston that are a lot of fun. There is one in the north end called improv asylum that you could catch before or after a great meal in the North End, then follow up with dancing downtown. Hope you have a great time!

melpfaff

For my bach, we did dinner and desserts at Finale, karaoke at Limelight Studios, then dancing/riding the bull at the Liquor store.

I have done many in the Fanueil Hall area.  You could do the freedom trail then bar hop. You could do manis/pedis or something like that also.

I second the Improv assylum as well.

lcherian

thanks ladies those are all great suggestions!!

rogerskevin

The best place to go for historical sightseeing in MA is the Freedom Trail in Boston. It's a walking tour of the best historical sights in the city. It also goes through the best neighborhoods for sightseeing: The North End and Beacon Hill.