Northeast - Visiting Boston in July - Tour city by bike?

Hello! I'll be visiting Boston around July 4 this year with my wife and we're interested in checking out the city by bike with a guide. We've seen some tours that hit certain points of interest but they always seem to miss some of the stuff we'd like to see. We're afraid that if we just rent a couple bikes for a day and go on our own, we'll be stressed with directions and planning a route and won't have the benefit of learning historical stuff from someone smarter than us.

Can anyone recommend a good tour service to go through for an almost all-day type of tour?

How long do you want to ride in terms of time? miles? - Where exactly are you going to be in Boston? Some roads are not very bike friendly. I can give you a route if you tell me what you want to see.

http://www.urbanadventours.com/

offers tours that visits scenic and historical landmarks.


They link to their routes with cues on the site, so while they do offer guided tours you could take a self-guided tour. Here's the "City View Bicycle Tour (http://bicycling.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=191991)" route i actually went on with them last year.

Well, turns out we won't be doing as much biking as I had hoped. (I'm certainly more 2-wheelerish than she is) I think we'll be walking mostly. Thank you for the links though - I'll check it out.

Boston's a very walkable city - two legs plus the T is plenty for touring around the city. I never ride a bike downtown if I can avoid it.

Hello! I'll be visiting Boston around July 4 this year with my wife and we're interested in checking out the city by bike with a guide. We've seen some tours that hit certain points of interest but they always seem to miss some of the stuff we'd like to see. We're afraid that if we just rent a couple bikes for a day and go on our own, we'll be stressed with directions and planning a route and won't have the benefit of learning historical stuff from someone smarter than us.

Can anyone recommend a good tour service to go through for an almost all-day type of tour?


How long do you want to ride in terms of time? miles? - Where exactly are you going to be in Boston? Some roads are not very bike friendly. I can give you a route if you tell me what you want to see.

Hi Tyrell,

Skuda (whom I don't know** asked some good questions. I'm a year round commuter and occasional centurian living in downtown Boston. I have never taken an organized bike tour, but I have seen some in action and they seem pretty slow paced. I googled Boston + bicycle + tours and noted a few companies which would do customized tours to meet your needs.

IMO, though, if this is your first time to Boston, the town is compact enough to see the major sites by foot or trolley tour. For example, I take visitors on a five mile walking tour, at a slow pace of 3 to 4 hours, and they see a lot. These major attractions are in a pretty dense and traffic-crazy part of town, and much of your attention on a bike would be devoted to survival ;-) When I visit a city, I myself usually do a bus / trolley tour to get the layout. I rent a bike and then ride on my own, but usually early in the morning because often I am visiting another city while going to a conference.

The Boston metropolitan area nonetheless is a great place to bicycle and there are a lot of cool places outside of town that would be good cycling trips in their own right as well as nice destinations. For example, historic Concord where the American Revolution began, and the home of the Transcendentalists and Walden Pond is about 15-20 miles from downtown. The routes out there go through some interesting city and beautiful country with pretty good hills. My own local bike shop rents decent cycles as do other shops.

If there is any additional information I can provide, please feel free to PM me.

PS: A really exciting place to be on the Fourth of July is on the Esplanade on the banks of the Charles River. All day long, up to eventually about 500,000 people congregate to hear a nationally broadcast evening concert by the Boston Pops, with magnificent fireworks at about 10:00 PM. A limited access thoroughfare next to the Esplanade is blocked off to auto traffic that day and is fun to ride, but the crowds in the park are too thick for bikes.

Agreed with Jim of Boston...very walkable, etc.

Not sure where you are in Central TX, but, downtown Boston is a bit smaller or about the same as downtown Austin, say, from UT to the Capitol to Whole Foods to other end of 6th Street...

Good to know the relative area - thanks for the insight, Bostongarden! We'll definitely be able to walk then.

PS: A really exciting place to be on the Fourth of July is on the Esplanade on the banks of the Charles River. All day long, up to eventually about 500,000 people congregate to hear a nationally broadcast evening concert by the Boston Pops, with magnificent fireworks at about 10:00 PM. A limited access thoroughfare next to the Esplanade is blocked off to auto traffic that day and is fun to ride, but the crowds in the park are too thick for bikes.

As Jim said, the esplanade is mobbed on the 4th. If you want to avoid the crowds and have a slightly different experience, head to the esplanade on the evening of July 3rd when the Pops are practicing for the big show on the 4th. I'm not sure if they use cannon in the 1812 overture on the 3rd (they do on the 4th), and there are no fireworks. If you can, I recommend watching the fireworks from a bridge, boat, or tall building instead of looking through trees and trying to see over the (inevitable) tall people in front of you.

Have a great time!