March in Boston is still winter. That's the first thing to understand. Daytime highs average 9.3°C (49°F), overnight lows drop to -0.7°C (31°F), and a nor'easter can bury the city under 30 cm of wet snow with barely 24 hours of warning. The trees along Commonwealth Avenue are bare. Dirty slush lines the curbs in Back Bay. The harbor wind cuts straight through anything lighter than a proper winter coat.
That said, March has one legitimate reason to visit. St. Patrick's Day on March 17 turns South Boston into the biggest Irish party in North America. The Southie parade draws roughly 1 million spectators along Broadway and East Broadway, and the pubs and restaurants across the neighborhood operate at full capacity from noon until last call. Boston's Irish-American population, still around 20% of the metro area, treats March 17 less like a holiday and more like a birthright.
Outside that single weekend, March is a quiet month. Hotel rates in the Seaport and Back Bay sit well below summer peaks. The Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum have short lines. You can walk the Freedom Trail without dodging tour groups every 50 meters. If you're the kind of traveler who prefers a city when it's not performing for tourists, March has a certain raw appeal. You'll need a warm coat to appreciate it.
Why visit in March
- Hotel rates run well below the September-October peak, and airfare from most US cities tends to hit annual lows in early March.
- St. Patrick's Day celebrations in South Boston are among the largest and most authentic in North America, with a parade that draws roughly 1 million spectators.
- Major museums like the MFA and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum have minimal crowds, letting you spend real time with the collections instead of shuffling past them.
- Both the Celtics and Bruins play home games at TD Garden throughout March, often in the thick of their playoff pushes.
- Restaurant availability in Back Bay and the North End is excellent. Places that require weeks-long reservations in October often have same-day walk-in tables.
Worth knowing
- Average lows sit at -0.7°C (31°F), and wind chill off Boston Harbor can make it feel 5-10 degrees colder. Extended outdoor sightseeing gets uncomfortable fast.
- Nor'easters remain a real threat through late March, capable of dropping 20-40 cm of snow and disrupting flights out of Logan Airport for 1-2 days.
- Most outdoor dining patios, harbor cruises, and rooftop bars won't open until late April or May, limiting the city's warm-weather appeal.
- The landscape looks tired. Trees are leafless, parks are brown or muddy, and the remaining snowbanks along the Charles River Esplanade have gone grey.
Best for
Think twice if
March in Boston feels like the last full month of winter, though the calendar insists it's the start of spring. Highs average 9.3°C (49°F) and lows average -0.7°C (31°F), with about 113 mm of precipitation spread across 11 days. That precipitation splits unpredictably between rain and snow, sometimes in the same afternoon. Humidity hovers around 67%. Early March nights can still plunge well below -5°C (23°F), while late March occasionally teases 15°C (59°F) on a sunny day. The wind off Boston Harbor adds a raw edge that thermometers alone don't capture.
Seasonal caution
- Average overnight lows dip to -0.7°C (31°F), with cold snaps in early March capable of pushing temperatures to -10°C (14°F) or below. Frostbite risk exists during extended outdoor exposure on the coldest nights.
- Nor'easters remain a genuine risk through late March. These Atlantic storms can bring 20-40 cm (8-16 inches) of heavy, wet snow along with coastal flooding in East Boston and the Seaport, and wind gusts reaching 100 km/h (60 mph). Flight cancellations at Logan Airport are common during these events.
Year-round climate
Averages from the last 5 years.
| Month | Avg high (°C) | Avg low (°C) | Rainfall (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3 | -5 | 113 |
| Feb | 4 | -6 | 77 |
| Mar | 9 | -1 | 113 |
| Apr | 14 | 4 | 86 |
| May | 20 | 10 | 111 |
| Jun | 26 | 16 | 77 |
| Jul | 29 | 19 | 134 |
| Aug | 27 | 18 | 89 |
| Sep | 23 | 15 | 129 |
| Oct | 18 | 9 | 110 |
| Nov | 11 | 2 | 65 |
| Dec | 6 | -2 | 111 |
Headline events
South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade
Sunday nearest to March 17
One of the oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the United States, winding through the streets of South Boston along Broadway and East Broadway. The parade draws roughly 1 million spectators into a neighborhood of about 35,000 residents. First held in 1901, the event feels less like a tourist attraction and more like a civic tradition in a city where Irish-American roots run deep.
Best things to do in March
Walk the Freedom Trail in winter quiet
sightseeingThe 4 km red-brick path from Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown passes 16 historical sites, including the Old North Church and Paul Revere's House. In March, the crowds that clog the trail from June through October are gone. You can actually stop and read the plaques at the Granary Burying Ground, where Samuel Adams and Paul Revere are interred, without being jostled.
Summer crowds disappear entirely, giving you unhurried access to all 16 sites along the trail.Booking tipSelf-guided is free. The National Park Service runs free ranger-led tours from the Faneuil Hall visitor center on weekday mornings.
Catch a Celtics or Bruins game at TD Garden
sportsTD Garden on Causeway Street sits above North Station and holds about 19,500 for basketball, 17,850 for hockey. The arena's location means you can walk to the North End for dinner after the game, a 5-minute stroll across the Greenway. March games tend to carry playoff-race tension, which sharpens the atmosphere.
Both the Celtics and Bruins are in the final stretch of their regular seasons, and the playoff implications make March home games particularly intense.Booking tipWeeknight games against smaller-market teams tend to have the best seat availability.
Explore the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
cultureThe Gardner Museum on the Fenway holds over 7,500 works in a building modeled after a 15th-century Venetian palazzo. The interior courtyard, filled with flowering plants even in March, smells like damp soil and jasmine while snow might still be falling outside. The empty frames from the 1990 art heist still hang in the Dutch Room on the second floor. Unsettling and oddly moving.
March visitor numbers are a fraction of summer levels, which means you can sit with Titian's Europa or the courtyard garden in near-solitude.Booking tipTimed-entry tickets are still required. Book at least 3-4 days ahead for weekend visits.
Sample the St. Patrick's Day pub crawl in Southie
nightlifeSouth Boston's pubs along Broadway, West Broadway, and the side streets between them fill to capacity around March 17. The Cornerstone, Lincoln Tavern, and Loco Taqueria all run extended menus and live music. The smell of spilled Guinness and fried food hangs thick in the cold air. Mind you, the crowd skews young and loud by mid-afternoon.
The St. Patrick's Day parade weekend is the single busiest social event of Boston's winter calendar, concentrated in a walkable 1.5 km stretch of Southie.Booking tipArrive before noon if you want a seat at any pub on Broadway. By 1 PM, most have lines out the door.
Browse the SoWa Winter Market
shoppingThe SoWa Open Market at 500 Harrison Avenue in the South End typically runs its winter indoor edition through early spring. Roughly 30-50 local vendors sell handmade jewelry, prints, leather goods, and food from stalls inside a converted warehouse. The concrete floors and exposed brick give it a different feel from summer outdoor markets.
The indoor winter format runs through March before transitioning to the larger outdoor season in May.Booking tipSunday is the main market day. Arrive by 11 AM for the best vendor selection.
Visit the Museum of Fine Arts
cultureThe MFA on Huntington Avenue holds over 500,000 works, from Egyptian mummies to Monet's water lilies. The Art of the Americas wing, opened in 2010, spans 4 floors and 53 galleries. In March, you might share a gallery with 2 or 3 other visitors. The Impressionist rooms on the second floor catch afternoon light from the west-facing windows.
Winter-low attendance means you can linger in galleries that become standing-room-only during summer tourist season.Run along the Charles River Esplanade
outdoorThe Esplanade's 5 km path between the Longfellow Bridge and the Boston University Bridge runs along the south bank of the Charles. The pavement is typically clear of ice by mid-March, though patches linger in shadowed spots near the Hatch Shell. Cold air off the river will hit your lungs. Worth noting, you'll share the path with only a handful of other runners, nothing like the packed summer scene.
Snow and ice begin clearing from the path, and the relative emptiness makes it feel like a private running track compared to the crowded summer Esplanade.Tour the Samuel Adams Brewery
food_and_drinkThe Samuel Adams Boston Brewery at 30 Germania Street in Jamaica Plain offers tours of its original small-batch facility. The tasting room at the end pours seasonal releases, and March often features their spring lager alongside the year-round Boston Lager. The malty, bready smell of the brewhouse carries through the entire building.
Late winter and early spring seasonal brews rotate through the tasting room, and the tour has no wait compared to the summer line that can stretch 45 minutes.What to eat in March
On menus now
Corned beef and cabbage
Every Irish pub and half the non-Irish restaurants in Boston put corned beef and cabbage on special for the weeks around St. Patrick's Day. The version at most Southie pubs tends to be straightforward, with thick-cut corned brisket, boiled cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. It tastes like it should when the wind outside is 3°C.
New England clam chowder
March might be the best month for chowder in Boston. The cold makes it a practical necessity rather than a tourist novelty. Legal Sea Foods, the Union Oyster House on Union Street, and dozens of smaller spots in the North End serve bowls thick with quahog clams, salt pork, potatoes, and cream. The warmth is half the point.
Irish soda bread
Bakeries across Boston bake fresh Irish soda bread through March. You'll find traditional rounds with raisins and caraway seeds at shops in Southie and Dorchester, where many of the city's Irish-American families have lived for generations. It largely disappears from menus by April.
Oysters on the half shell
March falls squarely in the R-months, when cold Atlantic waters keep oysters at peak quality. Island Creek Oyster Bar in Kenmore and Row 34 in the Seaport both source from Massachusetts farms like Island Creek in Duxbury and Wellfleet beds on Cape Cod. The briny, cold bite pairs well with the season.
Brown bread
Boston brown bread, that dense, slightly sweet loaf steamed in a can, appears at old-school spots like Durgin-Park's legacy restaurants and neighborhood diners around Dorchester. Made with rye flour, cornmeal, and molasses, it tends to show up alongside baked beans as a cold-weather comfort plate. The texture is almost cake-like, moist and heavy.
Regular events in March
Boston Celtics home games
Multiple regular-season NBA games at TD Garden throughout March, with playoff positioning adding urgency to late-season matchups.
Various dates throughout MarchBoston Bruins home games
NHL regular season hockey at TD Garden. The Bruins typically play 6-8 home games in March as the playoff race intensifies.
Various dates throughout MarchBoston Flower and Garden Show
An annual horticultural exhibition typically held at the Seaport World Trade Center, featuring garden displays, workshops, and vendors. It arrives right when Bostonians are most desperate for signs of spring.
Mid-MarchEvacuation DayFree
March 17 is also Evacuation Day in Suffolk County, marking the 1776 date when British forces withdrew from Boston during the Revolutionary War. It's a local government holiday, which means city offices and some schools close. The overlap with St. Patrick's Day is, historically, not a coincidence.
March 17Best places this March
Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market
landmarkThe 18th-century meeting hall and adjacent market complex sit between the waterfront and Government Center. Quincy Market's food hall has hot chowder, lobster rolls, and bakery stalls that hit differently when you've been walking in 3°C wind. Fewer cruise-ship groups in March means the building's granite columns and copper dome are easier to appreciate.
DowntownBoston Public Library, McKim Building
cultureThe 1895 McKim Building on Copley Square has a reading room modeled after a Roman palace, with a 15-meter barrel-vaulted ceiling and murals by John Singer Sargent on the third floor. Free to enter. The interior feels warmer and quieter in March than almost any other month. The courtyard, even without its summer café, has a still, cloistered quality.
Back BayNorth End
neighborhoodBoston's historic Italian neighborhood covers roughly 15 blocks between Hanover Street and the waterfront. Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry on Hanover Street still draw lines for cannoli even in March, though the wait drops from 30 minutes to 5. The narrower side streets smell like garlic and espresso from the trattorias with their doors cracked open.
North EndInstitute of Contemporary Art
museumThe ICA's cantilevered glass building juts over Boston Harbor at 25 Harbor Shore Drive in the Seaport. The permanent collection focuses on 21st-century work, and the harbor views from the top-floor galleries look stark and beautiful in winter light. The mediatheque seating area on the lower level faces the water at eye level.
SeaportBoston Common and Public Garden
parkThe 20-hectare Common (1634) and the adjacent Public Garden (1837) sit in the center of the city. In March, the ponds may still have a thin ice sheet, and the trees are bare, but the open space and the quiet are a stark contrast to the summer Swan Boat crowds. The Make Way for Ducklings bronze sculptures on the Public Garden path are a quick photo stop regardless of season.
DowntownOld North Church
historic_siteChrist Church in the City of Boston, known as the Old North Church, stands at 193 Salem Street in the North End. Built in 1723, it's the oldest surviving church in Boston and the site where two lanterns were hung to signal Paul Revere's ride in April 1775. March visitors can tour the sanctuary and the crypt without the 20-minute summer queue.
North EndNewbury Street
shoppingEight blocks of galleries, boutiques, salons, and restaurants running from the Public Garden to Massachusetts Avenue in Back Bay. The brownstone-lined street has a different mood in March. Without the outdoor cafe tables and summer foot traffic, it's quieter and easier to browse the smaller galleries between Dartmouth and Exeter Streets.
Back Bay
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Insider tips
The Southie St. Patrick's Day parade route along Broadway gets packed well before the noon start. Locals stake out spots near the intersection of Broadway and Dorchester Street by 9 AM. The further from Broadway you stand, the thinner the crowd.
If a nor'easter is forecast, check Logan Airport's flight status board 36-48 hours ahead and consider rebooking proactively. Waiting until the storm hits means competing with thousands of stranded travelers for limited seats.
The MBTA Green Line, particularly the B branch to Boston College, runs slower in March due to weather-related track issues. Budget extra time if you're heading to Fenway or Boston University from downtown. The Red Line tends to be more reliable.
The Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain has early spring witch hazel and cornelian cherry blooms by late March, sometimes while snow still sits on the ground. It's one of the first signs of spring in the city, and hardly anyone makes the trip out until April.
Many Back Bay and Beacon Hill restaurants do prix-fixe Dine Out Boston promotions in March, typically running for 2 weeks. Check the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau site for participating restaurants and dates.
Avoid these mistakes
- Underestimating the wind chill near the waterfront. The temperature might read 7°C, but the wind off Boston Harbor can make it feel below freezing. The Harborwalk and Seaport are the worst offenders.
- Booking a harbor cruise or whale watch for March. These operations typically don't launch until mid-April at the earliest. Check operator websites before planning a waterfront itinerary.
- Assuming St. Patrick's Day is contained to March 17. The Southie parade typically falls on the Sunday nearest to the 17th, and the surrounding bars and restaurants run celebrations from the preceding Thursday through the following weekend.
- Driving into the city on St. Patrick's Day weekend. Streets in South Boston close for the parade, parking becomes nearly impossible in Downtown and Back Bay, and post-parade traffic gridlocks the Southeast Expressway. The MBTA Red Line to Broadway station is the reliable option.
- Packing only for cold weather and getting caught in a late-March warm spell. Temperatures can swing from -3°C to 15°C within a single week. At least one lighter layer saves you from overheating indoors.
Practical tips for March
March weather in Boston demands layering rather than one heavy outfit. Temperatures can shift 15°C within a week, and the wind off Boston Harbor makes the waterfront feel colder than inland neighborhoods like Back Bay or Beacon Hill. Waterproof footwear is non-negotiable, as slush and standing meltwater persist on sidewalks into late March. If you're visiting for St. Patrick's Day weekend, book accommodation well in advance, as the Seaport and Downtown areas fill up faster than any other March weekend. The MBTA subway system covers most tourist areas, but the Green Line's above-ground branches slow down in icy conditions. The Blue Line to the airport is generally reliable. Most museums offer discounted or free admission on certain weekday evenings, which pairs well with March's empty galleries.
FAQ
Is March a good time to visit Boston?
March is a fair-weather month for visiting. Temperatures average 9°C (49°F) with regular precipitation and occasional nor'easters. The main draw is St. Patrick's Day, which is one of the largest celebrations of its kind in North America. Outside that weekend, you'll find low crowds, shorter museum lines, and accommodation rates well below the autumn peak. It's a legitimate option if cold weather doesn't bother you and you prefer a quieter city.
How cold does Boston get in March?
Daytime highs average 9.3°C (49°F) and overnight lows average -0.7°C (31°F). Early March can see cold snaps down to -10°C (14°F), while late March occasionally reaches 15°C (59°F) on sunny afternoons. Wind chill off Boston Harbor typically makes it feel 5-10 degrees colder than the actual temperature, particularly along the waterfront and Harborwalk.
Does it snow in Boston in March?
Yes, March is still an active snow month for Boston. The city averages about 113 mm of total precipitation in March, which splits between rain and snow depending on storm temperature. Nor'easters can drop 20-40 cm of heavy, wet snow in a single event, and these storms remain a risk through late March. Snow from earlier storms often persists as grey slush along curbs and shaded sidewalks.
What should I wear in Boston in March?
A windproof winter coat, waterproof boots with traction for slush, warm hat, insulated gloves, and layerable mid-layers like fleece or wool. The harbor wind makes exposed skin uncomfortable quickly. Bring at least one lighter option for the occasional mild day in late March, and a compact umbrella for rain that can arrive without much warning.
Is St. Patrick's Day worth visiting Boston for?
If Irish-American culture and large-scale street celebrations interest you, yes. Boston's Irish-American population makes up roughly 20% of the metro area, and the Southie parade has run since 1901. The parade draws about 1 million spectators along Broadway in South Boston, and the pubs and restaurants in the neighborhood operate at capacity from noon until last call. Book accommodation early for that weekend, as rates climb and availability drops faster than any other period in March.
Things to Do in Boston in March
Free cancellation Boston Duck Boat Sightseeing City Tour with Cruise
Cruise — 1.3 hours, free cancellation.
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Free cancellation Harvard University Campus Guided Walking Tour
City tour — 1.2 hours, free cancellation.
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Free cancellation City Cruises Boston Whale Watching Cruise by High-Speed Boat
Cruise — 3.5 hours, free cancellation.
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Free cancellation Boston to Martha's Vineyard Day Trip with Optional Island Tour
Day trip — 12 hours, free cancellation.
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Free cancellation 1 or 2 Day HOP-ON & HOP-OFF Narrated Trolley Tour of Boston
City tour — 1.3 hours, free cancellation.
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Free cancellation Boston Freedom Trail Walking Tour with Costumed Guide
City tour — 1.8 hours, free cancellation.
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