The birthplace of American Independence draws hordes of tourists to the scene of that none-too-polite tea party. And, while the track may be a beaten one, the Freedom Trail - a self-guided three-mile walk around the Revolutionary sites - is a good introduction to the city. It starts at the Visitors’ Information Center on Boston Common and ends across the harbor in Charlestown where a 221-foot obelisk commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill. The last stretch offers an opportunity to see the futuristic Leonard P Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, the crowning glory of the Big Dig - the massive traffic-rerouting project to rid the landscape of the ugly elevated central artery.

Along the way is Faneuil Hall, the dual marketplace and meeting house dubbed the ‘Cradle of Liberty’ after it was the scene of impassioned protests that sparked the rebellion - today, it’s full of touristy eateries and shops. Amid the trattorias and cafés of the North End - Boston’s ‘Little Italy’ - is the city’s oldest house. Built in 1680, it was once home to silversmith Paul Revere who made the famous midnight ride to warn rebel soldiers of advancing British troops.

Hugging one side of the Common, presided over by Charles Bulfinch’s imposing gold-domed State House, is exclusive Beacon Hill. The sloping cobbled streets of shuttered row houses epitomize ‘European’ old Boston, but the African Meeting House (8 Smith Court, MA 02108, +16177250022) attests to its 19th-century black community.

Across the genteel flowerbeds of the Public Gardens - whose Victorian Swanboats glide on the Lagoon from April until late September - is fashionable Back Bay. Thanks to gay pioneers, nearby South End has been transformed from a run-down residential neighborhood to a hot area for trendy restaurants, interiors shops and galleries, including a large visual arts complex on Harrison Avenue at Thayer Street.

Two of the city’s notable museums are out on a limb in the Fens: the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Avenue, MA 02115, +16172679300) (see Top 5) and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (280 The Fenway, MA 02115, +16175661401, www.gardnermuseum.com) - a beautiful Venetian-style palazzo full of treasures collected by the eponymous patron of the arts.