Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States (established in 1630), and it is also home to the most famous tea "party" in history. By strolling the Freedom Trail, tourists can relive Boston's involvement in the American Revolution. The capital of the Commonwealth, however, is much more than just its past.

The Boston Pops Orchestra and successful professional athletic teams are located in the capital and largest city of Massachusetts, which is also the largest city in New England. There are several possibilities for cultural events and exquisite eating in this eastern city by the harbor, regardless of whether visitors are going to Paul Revere's house or Fenway Park.

Boston's attractions are renowned, from the Freedom Trail to Fenway Park, the Italian cuisine of the North End to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the manner of a Venetian villa.

Boston, a center of American history that is filled with a love of sports and the arts, is bursting with personality. Less well-known sights like the Boston Harbor Islands, a combination of history and nature, and the Black Heritage Trail, which offers insight into Boston's 19th-century Black population, are located alongside the city's renowned locations, diverse neighborhoods, and artistic and architectural treasures.

• Location: Massachusetts

An arm-shaped peninsula called Cape Cod is situated in Massachusetts' easternmost region. It has grown to be one of the most well-liked destinations in Massachusetts during the summer. The Cape Cod National Seashore is dotted with lighthouses, cranberry bogs, swimming beaches, and walking and bicycling routes. The Pilgrims' initial landing place is the well-known resort town of Provincetown, which is located at the very tip of the peninsula.

While Cape Cod is well-known for its artist colonies and charming villages, it was the Kennedy family's summer residence at Hyannis, which is a part of the cape's main town of Barnstable, that first made the region famous. Additionally, it serves as a convenient starting point for trips to Massachusetts' outer islands.

Sand dunes, expansive beach stretches, charming lighthouses, cranberry bogs, and kettle ponds are all associated with Cape Cod. The Cape Cod National Seashore, which protects a large portion of the outer Cape, provides several options for recreation and animal viewing. As well as Nickerson State Park's campgrounds and bathing areas, the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary's pathways through salt marsh and woods will appeal to nature lovers.

• Location: Massachusetts

All of this started at Plymouth in the year 1620. At Plimouth Plantation, a living history museum that depicts life for the Pilgrims in 1627, visitors can step back in time. The Mayflower II, a replica of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to the New World, is the next stop on the tour.

Or they might be one of the reportedly one million people that visit Plymouth Rock each year, the alleged location of the Pilgrims' first landing. Also available to visitors are tours of cranberry farms, historic mansions, and golfing on more than a dozen different courses.

Plymouth was designed with lovers of US history in mind. A full-scale reproduction of the actual Mayflower, which transported the first English colonists to Massachusetts' shores in 1620, is available for you to board. And don't forget Plymouth Rock, the well-known (if very unimpressive) boulder where the Pilgrims are said to have landed. Original objects from the early settlement, such as a cradle, cabinets, a razor kit, and one silk shoe, are kept in the Pilgrim Hall Museum.

In the Plimouth Patuxet Museums, costumed interpreters bring the past to life at four locations, including a Wampanoag Native American house site and a 17th-century English hamlet.

• Location: Massachusetts

Halloween in Salem, the site of the infamous witchcraft trials during the time when Puritans dominated the city, may be a good choice for tourists who aren't terrified of ghosts and goblins. Salem is known for its haunted incidents during this time, but visitors may also learn about witches at a dedicated museum.

A historic home worth visiting, Salem served as the location for Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. Every September, Oysterfest, a bivalve celebration, takes place. Popular annual events include theatre plays and art exhibitions.

Salem attracts tourists with its witch-related activities because it is most known for the infamous 1692 witch trials. However, this quaint, little community has a lot more to offer.

Learn more about Salem's status as a significant seaport throughout the 18th and 19th centuries by visiting the Salem Maritime National Historical Park. And don't forget to check out the magnificent Peabody Essex Museum, which is filled with treasures that mariners brought back from distant lands.

Don't miss the 1668 House of the Seven Gables, which served as the model for one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's most well-known books. Wander around the McIntire District, which is home to well-preserved homes representing 400 years of architectural styles, for more examples of old architecture.

• Location: Massachusetts

The largest island in New England, Martha's Vineyard, is a favorite summer getaway for the affluent, including many famous people who own properties there. Some of the scenes from the first Jaws movie, which was filmed on Martha's Vineyard in 1974, were also used in the two sequels.

The island is 7 miles (11 km) off Cape Cod and is reachable by plane or boat (public ferries depart from a number of locations on Cape Cod). The island has fantastic swimming and surfing beaches, breathtaking views of the Atlantic from its cliffs, an outdoor tabernacle, and several well-known lighthouses, including one at Edgartown.

Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, two islands south of Cape Cod, are home to charming towns, gingerbread-style wood buildings, fascinating museums, stunning beaches, lighthouses, and wildlife preserves. It makes sense that numerous famous authors, artists, and even a few US presidents would find solace in these islands' sweeping dunes.

Due to the influx of seasonal inhabitants and transient visitors throughout the summer (the peak season), their permanent populations considerably increase. If you intend to bring a car, reserve your lodging as well as your ferry tickets much in advance.

• Location: Massachusetts

The sixth-largest city in Massachusetts, New Bedford, is referred to as "the whale city" because during the 19th century, it was one of the most significant whaling communities in the world. Whale skeletons are on display in the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the largest museum in the United States devoted to whaling. The church that served as the inspiration for Moby Dick is located across the street from the museum at Seamen's Bethel.

Additionally, there are homes of whaling merchants, art, and firefighting equipment museums that visitors can view. The city also has a charming side, with a number of historically significant areas. Because of its crucial position in the 19th-century whaling business, New Bedford, which is located on the shore of Buzzards Bay, is known as "the city that lights the world." The New Bedford Whaling Museum and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park address this past as well as other subjects like natural history, conservation, immigration, cultural diversity, and the significance of New Bedford as an Underground Railroad hub for abolitionists.

If whaling isn't your thing, New Bedford also has the best Portuguese-speaking population in the USA, a vibrant arts scene, and the well-kept Fort Taber-Fort Rodman Military Museum. The city is teeming with seafood eateries and plays host to the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, the biggest Portuguese cultural festival in the world.

• Location: Massachusetts

Nantucket Island, whose name is derived from an Algonquin word, served as a haven for Native Americans seeking to flee the European settlements on Massachusetts' mainland in the early 1600s. Today, with one of the highest house property values in the United States, it serves mostly as a playground for the wealthy.

With a population that increases from approximately 11,000 year-round residents to 50,000 in the summer, Nantucket is a well-known summer tourist attraction. It has calm ports, striking cliffs, sandy beaches, lighthouses, stunning historic buildings, and gorgeous gardens. Along with tourists that come for the yearly summer music festival, artists and writers also like visiting the island.

In the Atlantic Ocean, 14 miles south of Cape Cod, is the island of Nantucket. With some of the highest housing values in the US, it is a well-liked summer getaway for the wealthy. The island has numerous examples of late 18th- and early 19th-century New England seaport architecture.

There are numerous beaches where you can unwind and lighthouses to discover. The Maria Mitchell Association, the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, and the Nantucket Whaling Museum are some other attractions. The Muskeget and Tuckernuck islands are just two of the adjacent small islands that can be visited by boats leaving from Nantucket Harbor.

• Location: Massachusetts

The Pioneer Valley town of Northampton is a quaint college town with a scenic and lively downtown that is home to a number of art galleries, eateries, and unique stores scattered amid coffee shops and performance spaces. Smith Institution, a renowned women's college, is located there.

College students and their professors populating the town contribute to its particularly liberal political climate. Northampton has more than 20% of open space and greenways, which makes strolling enjoyable. There has a thriving music scene and an annual film festival, among other cultural activities.

It makes sense that so many tourists return to Northampton each year. There are so many tempting things to do in this beautiful city. You won't be bored here whether you enjoy visiting tourist attractions or undertaking more thrilling activities.

• Location: Massachusetts

In the western Massachusetts region of the Berkshires, which is mountainous, nature and the arts coexist together. Although a few of the hills reach higher altitudes, the majority of the hills are below 1,200 feet (360 meters) in height. There are many hiking paths across the Berkshires, including stretches of the Appalachian Trail.

Bash Bush Falls, the tallest waterfall in Massachusetts, is situated here. When tourists weary of trekking, they can visit a few art galleries, such as the Norman Rockwell Museum, or attend a concert at Tanglewood Music Center. The Berkshires serve as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The Berkshires are a charming combination of natural beauty, cultural attractions, and year-round outdoor activities in westernmost Massachusetts. The Tanglewood Music Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and Williamstown Theatre Festival are just a few of the renowned performing arts occasions that the area hosts during the summer months. The Mass MoCA, the Clark Art Institute, and the Norman Rockwell Museum are must-see destinations for art enthusiasts.

The birthplaces of campaigners Susan B. Anthony and W.E.B. DuBois, the residences of writers Edith Wharton and Herman Melville, and Naumkeag, a palace and gardens from the Gilded Age are just a few of the many fascinating historic properties in the area. Autumn brings with it beautiful fall foliage that covers the hills and mountains, attracting hordes of leaf peepers as well as winter sports lovers as soon as there is enough snow.

• Location: Massachusetts

Nature enthusiasts should visit Plum Island. It is a sanctuary for migratory birds and a shorebird breeding area, making it a haven for bird watchers. Even the island's name, which was given to it in honor of the beach plums that grow on the sand dunes, emphasizes a link with nature. The island is connected to northeastern mainland Massachusetts by a single bridge from Newburyport.

There are many public beaches, and both boating and shore fishing are excellent. Visitors can only enter the sand dunes by boardwalk since the coastal environment is fragile. On the island, there are several places to stay, including bed and breakfasts, inns, and cottage rentals. A population of year-round residents also exists.

Plum Island, a nearby island featuring beaches, lighthouses, a national wildlife refuge, and chances for fishing and birdwatching, is a good place to go outside. Lake Attitash and Maudslay State Park are two additional outdoor activities near Newburyport.

• Location: Massachusetts