Boston on a budget

Best free attractions

Boston's best free hours are spent outdoors, and the city has been setting land aside for that longer than most American cities have existed. Boston Common dates from 1634, the Arnold Arboretum from 1872, and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a linear park laid along a former expressway, is the newcomer from 2008. Three of these grounds carry National Historic Landmark status, and Harvard Square is on the National Register of Historic Places. None of them asks for a ticket, and that is why they are here. This list is for the visitor with a pair of good shoes and a free afternoon, who would rather see how Boston lives in its public spaces than queue for the paid version. It is ranked by how much a stop gives back for the time you spend there. The big lawns come first. The small squares come last, and they work best as places you pass through on the way somewhere else.