About Back Bay
The Back Bay was developed over time on landfill beginning in 1865, designed as a fashionable place to live, it remains very much that way today. One of the only grid patterns of streets you will find in the Boston Metro, the Back Bay is bordered by the Charles River to the North, The Public Garden to the East, the Southwest Corridor to the South and Massachusetts Avenue to the West. The main corridors of the neighborhood are Beacon Street (one way west), Marlborough Street (one way east), Commonwealth Avenue, Newbury Street (one way west), Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue. The later three are home to the city’s top hotels, restaurants, retail, galleries and salons. Streets running perpendicular to these main arteries are arranged alphabetically and every other runs north or south, beginning with Arlington (one way south), Berkeley (one way north), Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford. Newbury Street stretches eight blocks and is home to the world’s most fabulous fashion retailers including Chanel, Burberry and Valentino, while also catering to the city’s enormous millennial population with popular shops Urban Outfitters, Zara, COS, Madewell and Diesel (to name a few). The street is peppered with sidewalk cafes, tourists and students from all over the world, making it one of the best places in the city to people watch. Just a block north from Newbury is Commonwealth Avenue. This corridor is made up of multiple styles of gorgeous historic architecture with stunning green space and a central pedestrian path running through the middle of the avenue. Named the Commonwealth Mall, it was originally designed by Arthur Gilman and completed by Frederick Olmsted, Sr, it is a favorite photo opportunity for locals and visitors alike, with trees wrapped in white lights, statues of Boston’s most celebrated historic figures and plenty of park benches to take it all in from.
NOT TO BE MISSED: A walk on the Charles River, the patios of Eataly and Rochambeau, The Gallery @ Restoration Hardware (the old Louis of Boston building), a free tour of the Boston Public Library, Copley Square Farmers Market, the burger at Abe and Louie’s.