Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park

Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park tickets and tours: which one to book

The Boston Harbor Islands are the park within sight of the city's skyline, reached by the seasonal ferries from Long Wharf downtown to Georges and Spectacle islands, and the park is best visited by taking that ferry and walking; almost everything else sold as a Boston harbor cruise, the sunset sails, the brunch and lunch cruises, the tall ship sails and the yacht charters, sails around the islands without landing, which is pleasant and a different thing. The ferry ticket, bought at the Long Wharf kiosk or online, is the park's only cost; the islands have no entrance fee, and the inter-island shuttles between Georges, Spectacle, Peddocks and Lovells run in summer on the same ticket.

The ranger-led tours of Fort Warren on Georges island are free on the day, and the guided kayak trips and the sailing lessons at the Spectacle island marina are the ways onto the water. The Boston Light tours to Little Brewster island, the oldest lighthouse station in the country, run on limited summer dates and book out. The Hingham ferry reaches Peddocks island from the South Shore, and the camping on Peddocks, Lovells, Grape and Bumpkin islands is booked through the state parks. Independent visitors buy the ferry ticket, take the first morning boat to Georges, walk the fort and shuttle to Spectacle for the beach and the view of the city, and come back on the afternoon boat; the whole day costs the ferry.

Visiting Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park: what you will see

The park was created in 1996 as a partnership of federal, state and city agencies and covers 34 islands and peninsulas in Boston harbour, with about six square kilometres of land, the drumlins and ledges left by the glaciers in a harbour that the city has surrounded, cleaned and, since the 1990s, reclaimed as a place to swim; it is the only national recreation area of islands in a great American city. Georges island has Fort Warren, the granite star fort of 1833 that held Confederate prisoners in the Civil War and whose lady in black is the harbour's ghost, with the ramparts, the tunnels and the parade ground open to walk and the view down the harbour to the Boston Light; Spectacle island, once the city dump and rebuilt with the earth from the Big Dig tunnel project, has a beach, a marina, five miles of trails and the highest point in the harbour, a hill of fifty metres with the skyline across the water.

Peddocks island has the Fort Andrews barracks and the cottages of a fishing community, Lovells the beach and the bunkers, Bumpkin and Grape the campsites and the trails, and Little Brewster the Boston Light of 1716, rebuilt in 1783 and still keeping a keeper; Thompson island is an outdoor school, and World's End in Hingham, a peninsula of drumlins landscaped by Olmsted for a housing estate that was never built, is the park's finest walk on the mainland. The harbour's cleanup brought back the seals in winter, the striped bass, the harbour porpoises and the seabirds, with the nesting terns and the winter eiders; the archaeological district covers the islands' 8,000 years of Native American use, and Deer Island's history as a quarantine and a prison and its treatment plant with the egg-shaped digesters are part of the story. Logan airport's runways face the islands, and the planes are part of the view.

Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park: best time to go, seasons and hours

The ferries to Georges and Spectacle run from May to October, hourly on summer weekends and less often in the shoulder months, with the last return boat in the late afternoon; the islands are closed in winter except for World's End and Deer Island, which are open all year from the mainland. Summer from June to August is the season, with the beach at Spectacle, the ranger programmes, the concerts and the heat;

September and early October are the best weeks, with warm days, empty boats and the harbour's clearest light. Take the first ferry on a weekend to have Georges before the crowds. Allow a full day for two islands, a half-day for one. Long Wharf is a walk from Faneuil Hall, Hingham's ferry serves the South Shore, and the city's waterfront is the mainland edge of the park.