Public Garden Swan Boats

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Public Garden Swan Boats

Photo: King of Hearts · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

🚂 Train · Boston

1 hours · $ · No reservation needed

age fit
0–1 yr
★ 3.0
1–3 yrs
★ 5.0
3–5 yrs
★ 5.0
5–10 yrs
★ 3.0
  • 🚗
    About 20 min drive
    From Newton · Parking: Green Line to Arlington puts you right there; by car use the Boston Common underground garage
  • 🍼
    Stroller-friendly
    Flat surfaces — bring the stroller
  • 🌳
    Some shade
    Great on sunny days · Good on cool days · Handles heat
  • ⏱️
    Typical visit: 1 hours
    Best seasons: Spring · Summer

A Boston ritual unchanged since 1877: sit on a swan-shaped pedal boat and glide slowly around the Public Garden lagoon for 15 minutes, with ducks and real swans trailing the boat begging for food, and a 2-year-old stares in wonder; a 7-year-old will realize this is the lagoon from Make Way for Ducklings.

💡 Tips
Runs mid-April through early September, tickets are a few dollars and sold on site, and the weekend midday line is 20 minutes, so go at the 10am opening. Strollers can wait on the bank. Afterward see the duckling statues and cross the street to Frog Pond.

What this place offers

✓swan boats
✓pedal boats
✓ducks
✓Make Way for Ducklings
✓15 minutes
✓cheap
✓restrooms (park)

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This weekend's weather in Boston

Forecast at the destination itself (coast and hills often differ from home)

🌦️
Sat 10/17
Drizzle · 41–60°F · 32% rain
☀️
Sun 10/18
Sunny · 39–58°F · 1% rain

Location

Boston, Massachusetts

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