Orientation

Visitor Information

You'll probably want to begin exploring at a visitor information center. The staff members are knowledgeable and helpful, and you can pick up free maps, brochures, listings of special exhibits and events, and other materials.

The Boston National Historical Park Visitor Center, 15 State St. (tel. 617/242-5642; www.nps.gov/bost; T: Blue or Orange Line to State St.), across the street from the Old State House, is a good place to begin. National Park Service rangers staff the center, dispense information, and lead free tours of the Freedom Trail. The audiovisual show provides basic information about the 16 historic sites on the trail. The center is open daily from 9am to 5pm except January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25.

The Freedom Trail, a line of red paint or painted brick on or in the sidewalk, begins at the Boston Common Information Center, 148 Tremont St., on the Common. The center is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 5pm, Sunday from 9am to 5pm. The Prudential Information Center, on the main level of the Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm. The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (tel. 888/SEE-BOSTON or 617/536-4100; www.bostonusa.com) operates both centers.

There's a small information booth at Faneuil Hall Marketplace between Quincy Market and the South Market Building. It's outdoors and staffed in the spring, summer, and fall Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm, Sunday from noon to 6pm.

In Cambridge, an information kiosk (tel. 800/862-5678 or 617/497-1630) sits in the heart of Harvard Square, near the T entrance at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, John F. Kennedy Street, and Brattle Street. It's open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm, Sunday from 1 to 5pm.

Publications

The city's newspapers offer the most up-to-date information about events in the area. The "Sidekick" section of the daily Boston Globe highlights selected events; the expanded "Calendar" section, which appears on Thursday, lists festivals, concerts, dance and theater performances, club schedules, street fairs, films, and speeches. The "Edge" section of the Friday Boston Herald is similar but smaller. Both papers briefly list events in their Sunday editions. The free, arts-oriented Boston Phoenix, published on Thursday, has extensive entertainment and restaurant listings.

Where, a monthly magazine available free at most hotels throughout the city, lists information about shopping, nightlife, attractions, and current shows at museums and art galleries. Newspaper boxes dispense free copies of Stuff@Night, a biweekly Phoenix offshoot with selective listings and arts coverage; the biweekly Improper Bostonian, with extensive event and restaurant listings; and the weekly Tab, which lists neighborhood-specific event information. Available on newsstands, Boston magazine is a lifestyle-oriented monthly with cultural and restaurant listings.

City Layout

When Puritan settlers established Boston in 1630, it was one-third the size it is now. Much of the city reflects the original layout, a seemingly haphazard plan that can disorient even longtime residents. Old Boston abounds with alleys, dead ends, one-way streets, streets that change names, and streets named after extinct geographical features. On the plus side, every "wrong" turn downtown, in the North End, or on Beacon Hill is a chance to see something interesting that you might otherwise have missed.

The most prominent feature of downtown Boston is the five-sided park known since the 1630s as Boston Common. Its borders are Park Street, which is 1 block long (but looms large in the geography of the T), and Beacon, Charles, Boylston, and Tremont streets. Another important street is Massachusetts Avenue, or "Mass. Ave.," as it's almost always called. Mass. Ave. stretches 9 miles, from Roxbury through the South End, the Back Bay, Cambridge, and Arlington, to Lexington.

Nineteenth-century landfill projects transformed much of the city's landscape, altering the shoreline and creating the Back Bay, where the streets proceed in orderly parallel lines. After you've spent some frustrating time in the older part of the city, that simple plan will seem ingenious. The streets even go in alphabetical order, starting at the Public Garden with Arlington, then Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford (and then Mass. Ave.).

Finding an Address -- There's no rhyme or reason to the street pattern, compass directions are virtually useless, and there aren't enough street signs. The best way to find an address is to call ahead and ask for directions, including landmarks, or leave extra time for wandering around. If the directions involve a T stop, be sure to ask which exit to use -- most stations have more than one.

By George! -- Washington Street, the most "main" street downtown, has another distinction: As a tribute to the first president, street names (except Mass. Ave.) change when they cross Washington. For example, Bromfield becomes Franklin, Winter becomes Summer, and Stuart becomes Kneeland.