The Hub's dazzling array of cultural offerings. The Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Ballet have well-deserved reputations for artistic excellence. National and local productions light the marquees of the Theater District. Boston's art museums  the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Institute of Contemporary Art  present exhibitions that are always inspirational, sometimes provocative. The world's only Computer Museum demystifies technology; the Kennedy Library and Museum provides an absorbing look at a critical period of American history.
The FleetCenter, the spectacular new home of the Celtics and the Bruins and an entertainment venue; Fenway Park, one of America's oldest ball parks and home to the Red Sox; Foxboro Stadium, home to the New England Patriots.
Music concerts at Harborlights Pavilion, a dramatic tented structure on the waterfront.
"Must-see" family favorites: the New England Aquarium, with its giant tank filled with 2,000 species of fish; the Museum of Science and its four-story Omnimax Theatre; and the world-famous Children's Museum with its "do-touch" exhibits.
Harbor excursions and whale watch trips.
Shopping for all tastes and budgets: Downtown Crossing, Newbury Street, Copley Place, The Shops at the Prudential Center, and Faneuil Hall Marketplace  often called Quincy Market by Bostonians.