What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Boston

In 2004, the 16th year of the Big Dig, the massive highway-construction job, turned for home. The $14.6 billion Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project (its formal name) moved from tunnel and bridge construction to demolition of the elevated expressway, exposing huge swaths of downtown Boston to sunlight for the first time in half a century. The parks, surface roads, and buildings that will replace the hideous green structure will be in the works when you visit.

The equipment idled by the near-completion of the Big Dig won't have to sit around for very long. Buildings are under construction all over Boston and its suburbs, and the city is in the process of remodeling at least two major thoroughfares: Cambridge Street, on Beacon Hill, and Boylston Street, in the Back Bay.

Another new addition: The $800 million, 1.6-million-square-foot Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (www.mccahome.com) in South Boston opens this month.

Here's a look at some other developments.

Getting to Know Boston

The MBTA (tel. 617/222-3200; www.mbta.com) raised fares on all of its subway, bus, and ferry lines in 2004. A subway token now costs $1.25, a one-way Inner Harbor ferry trip will set you back $1.50, and the local bus fare is 90¢. Fares for commuter trains also jumped. The popular Night Owl bus service, which operates on Friday and Saturday between subway closing time (12:30-1am) and 2:30am, costs $1.50-still much cheaper than a cab.

Accommodations

The go-go 1990s left behind more than worthless stock certificates. Hotels that were in the planning stages during the dot-com boom are opening or under construction now.

The Irish brand Jurys Doyle came to Boston in 2004 in the form of the Jurys Boston Hotel, 350 Stuart St. (tel. 866/JD-HOTELS; www.jurysdoyle.com). The chain's first U.S. property outside Washington, D.C., it's in a renovated 1925 building that used to be police headquarters.

In a renovated 1886 building that overlooks the Boston Marathon finish line, the Charlesmark Hotel, 655 Boylston St. (tel. 617/247-1212; www.thecharlesmark.com), offers chic accommodations at excellent prices.

Kimpton Boutique Hotels, whose first foray into the Boston area was Cambridge's Hotel Marlowe, has opened the posh Onyx Hotel, 155 Portland St. (tel. 866/660-6699; www.onyxhotel.com), near Boston's North Station.

A familiar brand has an appealing new waterfront property: The Marriott Residence Inn Boston Harbor, 44 Charles River Ave., Charlestown (tel. 866/296-2297; www.marriottresidenceinnbostonharbor.com), next to the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Two hotels have new names. Le Meridien Boston has changed hands and is now the Langham Hotel Boston, 250 Franklin St. (tel. 800/543-4300; www.langhamhotels.com), and the Swisshôtel Boston has been "reflagged" as the Hyatt Regency Boston Financial District, 1 Ave. de Lafayette (tel. 800/223-1234; www.hyattregencyboston.com).

Dining

The wine bar and restaurant Troquet, 140 Boylston St. (tel. 617/695-9463), has expanded by moving its dining room to the second floor and opening a lounge that serves "creative cocktails" and small plates at street level. Buddha's Delight, a Vietnamese restaurant beloved by vegetarians, has reopened next door to its old location, at 5 Beach St. (tel. 617/451-2395). The North End's "Calamari Cafe," the Daily Catch, has opened a branch at the Moakley Federal Courthouse, 2 Northern Ave. (tel. 617/772-4400). Also branching out is the New York-based steakhouse chain Smith & Wollensky, which opened in 2004 at 101 Arlington St. (tel. 617/432-1112). The Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St. (tel. 617/536-5400), has opened a restaurant, Novel, and the more casual Sebastian's Map Room Café.

What to See & Do

Tours of Fenway Park, 4 Yawkey Way (tel. 617-226-6666; www.redsox.com), are now available year-round. The Go Boston Card (tel. 617/848-5900; www.gobostoncard.com) is a new visitor card that includes admission to many museums and attractions and discounts on dining and shopping. Available in 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-day versions, it can represent significant savings if you plan well. The Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum (tel. 617/338-1773; www.bostonteapartyship.com) closed after a fire in 2001 and planned to reopen in 2005; if you hope to visit, call ahead. Dreams of Freedom, a museum of immigration not far from the Freedom Trail, has closed. The Freedom Trail Foundation (tel. 617/357-8300; www.thefreedomtrail.org) has a new program that rents digital audio players that narrate the tour, allowing you to start and stop the narration as you follow the trail. The last stop on the Freedom Trail, the Bunker Hill Monument, Monument Sq., Charlestown (tel. 617/242-5641; www.nps.gov/bost), is undergoing renovation in late 2004 and 2005. Call ahead if you hope to climb to the top.The Museum of Fine Arts (tel. 617/267-9300; www.mfa.org) has begun work on a $180 million expansion that involves the creation of a new East Wing. Check out the plans, by celebrated architect Norman Foster, when you visit the existing galleries.

Shopping

Boston is one of the first U.S. cities with a branch of Lush, 166 Newbury St. (tel. 617/375-5874; www.lush.com). The UK-based purveyor of bath and body products exerts a hypnotic hold over its fans, whom you can identify easily because they smell terrific.

In the virtual world, the Boston Public Library (www.bpl.org) has a new retail operation that draws on its extensive collections of historic documents, photos, and maps.

Boston After Dark

In 2004, James Levine replaced Seiji Ozawa as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (tel. 617/266-1492 or 617/CONCERT for program information; www.bso.org). The Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. (tel. 617/426-5000; www.bcaonline.org), in partnership with the Huntington Theatre Company, is opening two new performance spaces-reputedly the first in the city in some 75 years. A decrepit Theater District landmark has been transformed into the new Opera House, 539 Washington St. (tel. 617/880-2400), which opened with a splashy production of The Lion King.

The signature production of Boston Ballet (tel. 617/695-6955; www.bostonballet.org), The Nutcracker, is moving-to the Colonial Theatre for 2004, then to the new Opera House.A number of venues currently called "Fleet" may already have new names by the time you visit, as Bank of America puts its postmerger mark on the Boston cultural scene. The original House of Blues, in Cambridge, has closed. The chain says it's searching for a larger space in the Boston area; check the website (www.hob.com) for updates. Finally, the legendary Bay Tower has closed, leaving Top of the Hub as the city's only high-altitude drinking/dancing/dining option.

Side Trips From Boston

Salem's Peabody Essex Museum, East India Sq. (tel. 800/745-4054 or 978/745-9500; www.pem.org), has attracted international attention with its new wing, which opened in 2003 and incorporates an 18th-century house imported from China and reassembled here.