SmartHunts® - Best Boston Scavenger Hunts

Boston offers an eclectic variety of landmarks and culture!

Blending fun, exploration, and corporate teambuilding, SmartHunts® are an experience that will have your team buzzing with excitement. SmartHunts can customize your event to include much of what Boston has to offer, including world-class architectural marvels, top-tier museums, unique food and drinks, as well as highlighting the features of Boston’s mix of modern and historic culture. Boston scavenger hunts will take your team on a journey through this great city where they can discover their very own New England style.

Whether your team is local to the Boston area, or visiting from out-of-town, the SmartHunts team can create a fresh experience for your group. SmartHunts offers a unique corporate adventure tailored just for you and can take your group on any combination of Boston’s great neighborhoods & landmarks, including:

(Hover over names for more detail)

1. Boston Common

   Boston Common, sometimes called “The People’s Park”, is a free central public park dating from 1634. Located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, it is the oldest city park in the U.S. and a great place to visit on our Boston scavenger hunts.

   Puritan colonists purchased the land rights to the 50-acre Common to graze their livestock, the pasture then became known as the “Common Land” and was used to graze cows until 1830.

   The Common was referred to as a “trayning field,” for more than 1000 Redcoats who made their camp on the Common during the British occupation of Boston in 1775 and is also home to a whipping post, pillory, and stocks used by the Puritans to punish Pirates, Murderers and Witches! There’s even a graveyard.

   In summer the Common serves as a public park for concerts, picnics, outdoor theater, baseball games and tennis matches. It has running paths, a carousel, monuments, memorials and ice skating on The Frog Pond in winter.

   Sitting adjacent you’ll find the Boston Public Garden, the first American public botanical garden. Established 1837, it boasts monuments, fountains, a lagoon, Swan Boats and many unusual plants.

   The Freedom Trail officially begins at the Common and its 2.5-mile route passes 16 important historical sites before ending at the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill.

   Surrounding the Common you’ll find countless shops, restaurants and historical landmarks on your Boston scavenger hunt including the bar made famous by the TV show Cheers. Happy Hunting!

2. Beacon Hill

   Beacon Hill is a fascinating section of Boston, located in the center of the city, just north of Boston Common and the perfect area to visit on your SmartHunts’ Boston scavenger hunt.

   Whether it’s a walk on Acorn Street’s cobblestones with its gas lit streetlamps and Federal period rowhouses or a visit to the former Bull and Finch Pub, later renamed Cheers, or a trip down Charles Street past artisan shops, boutique restaurants and quaint cafes, there’s something for everyone.

   The Massachusetts State House has a stunning gold leaf dome and Louisburg Square boasts beautiful 19th Century Greek Revival townhouses and mansions.

   An architectural masterpiece, the Boston Athenaeum, a member-only library, dates to 1807 and had such illustrious members as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott and John F. Kennedy.
   Directly behind the Athenaeum you’ll find Granary Burial Ground, the most visited Boston cemetery, dating back to 1660 and whose “guests” include patriots Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams.

   Don’t miss these other historical landmarks:
   – The William Hickling Prescott House and Gibson House Museum on Beacon Street
   – Sunflower Castle and Nichols House Museum on Mount Vernon Street
   – Harrison Gray Otis House Museum at the foot of Beacon Hill
3. Back Bay

   Back Bay Boston is an excellent destination for a SmartHunts’ Boston scavenger hunt.

   The Charles River Esplanade to the north has breathtaking views of Cambridge & Boston, as does the Skywalk Observatory on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Center.

   The Boston Public Library, located on Copley Square, is a Beaux Arts-Renaissance Revival hybrid structure and is 2nd in size only to the Library of Congress.

   The Romanesque style Trinity Church and the Gothic Revival style Old South Church on Boylston Street are not to be missed.

   The Gibson House Museum, a National Historic Landmark of Italian Renaissance style built in 1860, remains unchanged and gives one a peek into the lives of the wealthy of the time.

   Newbury Street is a mile long upscale shopping district known for its 100’s of boutiques, galleries, restaurants and salons as well as beautiful 19th century brownstones.
4. North End

   The North End of Boston is yet another great destination for a SmartHunts’ Boston scavenger hunts! Also known as Little Italy, the North End is Boston’s oldest residential community and has some of its narrowest streets, oldest buildings, best food and 12 National Historic sites!

   The Paul Revere House, of Elizabethan Tudor design is located in the North End and just adjacent sits the Pierce-Hichborn House, of early Georgian design, which now serves as a Paul Revere Museum.

   The Old North Church is the oldest remaining church building in Boston and contains a Basement Crypt with over 1,000 burials! The Fulton-Commercial Streets District was developed in the early 19th century and became the destination of immigrants of a myriad of nationalities

   Copp’s Hill Terrace on Commercial Street sports an incredible historical view of Boston and just adjacent you’ll find Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Boston’s second oldest Cemetery

   The North End also encompasses the wharves along Boston Harbor and Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park as well as the New England Aquarium. The Mariners House in North Square was built in 1847 as a boarding house for sailors and still operates as a hotel today! Happy Touring!
5. Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall

   Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall has it all for SmartHunts’ Boston scavenger hunts! Officially called Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Faneuil Hall’s origins date back to 1742 when the market was first built by Peter Faneuil for food merchants to sell their goods, livestock and crops and it became an important meeting place for colonists in general as well as the Sons of Liberty.

   But as Boston’s population continued to explode into the early 1800s the market was expanded into 4 markets, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, North Market and South Market and was inclusive to Bostonians of every income bracket!

   The market was slated for demolition in the 1970s as many of the buildings had dilapidated but instead it was renovated and is considered the first urban renewal project of its kind. Today it has nearly 150 shops, restaurants, pubs and pushcarts.
6. Financial District

   Invest your time in the Financial District for your SmartHunt! Boston’s Financial District is not unlike most in that it is the city’s heart of business and commerce, home to high-rises, banks, brokerage houses, law firms and suits. But this is Boston!

   Located near Chinatown and Government Center you’ll find the International Place and Exchange Place complexes and Custom House Tower. But…you’ll also find the Old South Meeting House where over 5,000 colonists cooked up The Boston Tea Party and The Bell In Hand Tavern which has been in business since 1795!

   Need a respite from the stone and steel? Post Office Square is home to Norman B. Leaventhal Park, a 1.7-acre park which is privately owned and cared for and sits atop an underground garage. It’s open to the public and has a vine trellised walkway surrounding the central lawn and fountains. It has many species of plants and is a favorite lunchtime destination for the locals.

   The Rose Kennedy Greenway passes through the Financial District on its way to the historic South Station train terminal and has a carousel and the delightful Rings Fountain, with its 64 vertical jets of water, a welcome destination in the summer heat and beautiful colored lights in the evening. And then there’s the food! Happy hunting!
7. Seaport District

   The Seaport District is a fun and exciting area for a SmartHunt! Technically a neighborhood in South Boston and part of the Port of Boston, it is now referred to by many as the Innovation District. Like many northern waterfront commerce areas, Seaport was badly in need of a make-over and you won’t be disappointed in the result.

   From the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center to the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Liberty Wharf to The Fish Pier, The Boston Children’s Museum to the Boston Tea Party Ships you’ll be amazed at the transformation, and it doesn’t end there.

   The 43-mile Boston Harbor walk passes along the waterfront in Seaport and shows off spectacular views of the city, day and night!

   And you know it wouldn’t be Boston without the usual incredible selection of restaurants, shops, urban parks and museums, monuments, and historical landmarks.
   Happy hunting!
8. Chinatown

   Boston’s Chinatown, one of the busiest areas of the city, is an excellent choice for a SmartHunts scavenger hunt!

   Located just southeast of Boston Common, Chinatown sits on manmade land created from landfill in the 19th century and was settled by immigrants of many nationalities before becoming primarily Chinese. It is now one of the largest remaining authentic Chinatowns in America.

   Check out The Chinatown Gate with its magnificent pagoda style roof and pair of stone guard lions or take a walk on the pathways through Chinatown Park that lead to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway or poke around its maze of narrow streets and nifty shops.

   To say that Chinatown is “food focused” would be an understatement as it has an incredibly diverse selection of authentic and nouveau Asian cuisine from all regions in China as well as Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

   Just a stone’s throw from the theater district, Chinatown has always been a popular late night entertainment spot and a must stop on your Boston adventure! Happy hunting!