The Boston Comedy Festival plays its stand-up contest over five nights in rooms across Boston, Cambridge and Somerville, and crowns its champion at the Somerville Theatre. Here is the city round them: choose a show, see what is near its door, save the places you want and plan the hours either side.
Choose one of the festival's shows and its room comes with it, or choose a room yourself; every place below is measured from there. Before or after the show, the planner on your Vision Board does the sums.
A show's published start time is not its door time or its end. Tickets and changes: the festival's own site.
The end time is yours to set: festivals publish starts, not finishes.
Forty-three places, from the Freedom Trail and Old Ironsides to a jazz room open since 1947 and a day in Plymouth. Each card's picture is its own pin.
43 places
Two and a half miles of red line in the pavement, joining 16 historic sites from Boston Common to Charlestown, one way only. Walking it costs nothing, though some sites charge. The Foundation's 90-minute tour leaves the Common's visitor center daily at 10, 11, noon, 1 and 2 ($17 adults); print online tickets, as a phone won't do.
139 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02111
Laid out in 1634 as America's first public park. The carousel has closed for the season and the Frog Pond rink isn't open yet; like all the city's parks, it shuts from 11:30pm to 6am except to walk through on the paths.
139 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111
Opened in 1837 as America's first public botanical garden, beside the Common: the Lagoon, monuments and fountains, and bedding plants raised in the city's own greenhouses in the Victorian way. Closed from 11:30pm to 6am.
4 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02116
Bulfinch's State House, its cornerstone laid by Samuel Adams in 1795 and its dome coppered by Paul Revere in 1802. Free 45-minute tours go from Doric Hall, 10am to 3:30pm on weekdays. It closes at weekends and on state holidays, and Wednesday 11 November is one, so in festival week go on the Tuesday, Thursday or Friday.
24 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108
Boston's oldest church building, where two lanterns hung in the steeple on 18 April 1775. Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and on Sunday afternoons; the $10 Discovery Pass takes in the sanctuary, crypt and exhibit, $15 with the bell-chamber tour. Its evening crypt tours finish in October.
193 Salem St, Boston, MA 02113
Revere's house on North Square, open every day in November from 10am to 4:15pm. Adults $6, children 5 to 17 $1; pay at the booth when you arrive, with no booking needed. The Pierce/Hichborn House beside it is closed for now.
19 North Square, Boston, MA 02113
Launched in Boston in 1797, the oldest commissioned warship still afloat anywhere. Going aboard is free, Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm, after airport-style security, and over-18s need photo ID. The museum across the pier opens daily 9:30am to 5pm and suggests $15.
Building 22, Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA 02129
A 221-foot granite obelisk on Breed's Hill, dedicated in 1843 to the battle of 17 June 1775. It's free, and the only way up is 294 steps in a tight spiral. In the off-season it opens Wednesday to Sunday, 1pm to 4pm, with the last climb at 3:30.
43 Monument Square, Charlestown, MA 02129
Boston's oldest surviving public building, put up in 1713; the Boston Massacre took place outside it in 1770. Open daily 10am to 5pm through November. One ticket ($18 adults) covers it and the Old South Meeting House, and State station is right underneath.
206 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02109
More than 25 local places to eat in Quincy Market's food hall, 200 years old this year, with street performers out every day from 11am to 9pm. Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 7pm; it's on the Freedom Trail, a short walk from State, Haymarket and Government Center.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, MA 02109
An hour's guided tour with actors and full-size copies of the 18th-century ships, where you throw the tea over the side yourself; it also keeps the Robinson Tea Chest. From $36, and booking ahead is wise. November is its off-season, and those hours aren't posted yet.
306 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210
Boston's oldest neighbourhood to live in and the heart of its Italian-American community: narrow streets, more than 100 restaurants and old cafés, round Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church. The new North End Historical Museum stands on the Freedom Trail at 3 Prince Street.
North End, Boston, MA 02113
Shut on Tuesdays, so not on the festival's first night, and open until 10pm on Thursday and Friday. Adults pay $30, youths 7 to 17 $14, and the museum advises buying ahead.
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
Isabella Stewart Gardner hung its rooms herself, and there are no labels. Closed on Tuesdays; open until 9pm on Thursday, and free to all that night from 5 to 9. Otherwise adults pay $25 and under-18s nothing; timed tickets sell out, so book.
25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115
Contemporary art on Boston Harbor in the Seaport, open until 9pm on Thursday and Friday, and free for everyone on Thursday from 5 to 9pm (you still take a ticket). Adults $20. It has no garage of its own: the Silver Line is the way.
25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA 02210
On Central Wharf, open 9am to 5pm on weekdays and to 6pm at weekends, last entry an hour and 20 minutes before closing. Adults $39.95; book a timed ticket, as weekends sell out. The harbor seals are off view for now while their home is improved.
1 Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110
Exhibit halls open every day 9am to 5pm, adults $33, with no set entry time. On Friday and Saturday nights the Planetarium and Omni theaters keep going to a last show at 10pm; a show adds $6 to a hall ticket. The Green Line stops at Science Park.
1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114
Free to everyone on Copley Square, in a McKim Building that opened in 1895 and is now a National Historic Landmark. Open until 8pm on Thursday and 9am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday, but closed all day on Wednesday 11 November for Veterans Day. Its guided tours run weekly and need booking.
700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
A 360-degree deck on top of the Prudential Tower, open every day 10am to 10pm, from $32 a ticket plus a booking fee. Be there by 9pm to be sure of going up (its pages give 9 and 9:15). The Stratus bar up top needs a deck ticket.
800 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02199
Ballpark tours run every day of the year, whatever the weather: from November, hourly from 10am to 5pm, an hour each. Adults $30, children 3 to 12 $21. Leave the backpack behind; bags must be small and single-pocket.
4 Jersey Street, Boston, MA 02215
Open every day 10am to 5pm, with walk-up tickets until 4:15pm. Adults $24, under-18s free. Take the Red Line to JFK/UMass and the free UMass shuttle from there; parking is free but short. Expect a metal detector, and leave big bags behind.
Columbia Point, Boston, MA 02125
Free to everyone, every day they open: Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm, more than 50 galleries on three floors round a courtyard, just outside Harvard Square. Closed on Wednesday 11 November for Veterans Day.
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Free walks through Harvard Yard, led by students, set off from the Smith Campus Center, whose visitor desk keeps weekday hours, 9am to 5pm. Places for each week open on the Friday before; the Visit Harvard app has a version to walk on your own.
1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Beside the Kendall/MIT stop on the Red Line, open daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4:30. Adults $20, youths 6 to 18 $10, and a full-price adult ticket brings a free return visit this year. No backpacks in the galleries.
314 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
A working cemetery founded in 1831, 175 acres and a National Historic Landmark, free to walk from 8am to 5pm. Its lookout, Washington Tower, is shut for maintenance, and there's no biking, running, dogs or picnics. No car park: leave the car on any road without a green line.
580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard's 281 acres of trees and plants, more than 15,000 of them, free and open every day from sunrise to sunset; the visitor center keeps 10am to 4pm. Park free along the Arborway.
125 Arborway, Boston, MA 02130
A 22-acre harbor park joined to South Boston by road and path, round a granite fort built from 1834 to 1851. The park opens sunrise to sunset; the fort itself only from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, so in November you walk the loop outside it. Free parking near the fort.
2010 Day Blvd., Boston, MA 02127
A North End raw bar that takes no reservations: walk in, from 11am every day. On weekdays the kitchen cooks until 9:30pm and the raw bar shucks until 10; at weekends until 10:30 and 11pm. The lobster roll comes hot with butter or cold with mayo.
63 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113
Brick-oven pizza on Thacher Street, where the first Regina has fed the North End since 1926. Open Monday to Saturday 11am to 10pm and Sunday to 9pm, to eat in or take away.
11 1/2 Thacher Street, Boston, MA 02113
Michael Mercogliano opened it in 1946, and his family still runs it. Cannoli are the draw, carried off in a white box lettered in blue and tied up with string. The Hanover Street shop is open 8am to 10pm.
300 Hanover St, Boston, MA 02113
No-frills pizza in East Boston, plus skewers of lamb, steak tips, chicken or sausage off the grill, with hot cherry peppers and Italian bread. Open every day 11:30am to 10pm. Bring cash: the site says that's all it takes.
111 Chelsea Street, East Boston, MA 02128
Chef Ana Sortun's Middle Eastern bakery and café, opened in 2008 with pastry chef Maura Kilpatrick: Turkish, Lebanese and Greek dishes, meze and pastries. Every day 8am to 5pm, so think breakfast or lunch. A second Sofra is in Allston.
1 Belmont Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
An Irish pub in Davis Square since January 1996, a few steps from the Red Line, with live music every night in its Front and Back Rooms: Irish sessions, folk, bluegrass and rock. Dinner from 5 to 9:45pm. Some Wednesdays bring a free stand-up night in the Back Room at 10; see its calendar.
247 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144
Opened on New Year's Day 1947 as Wally's Paradise, the first nightclub in New England owned by a Black man, and still in the same family, with music every night of the year. Students jam beside veterans Tuesday to Saturday from 7 to 9pm; the night sets carry on to midnight. No reservations.
427 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA 02118
A nonprofit folk room since 1994, carrying on Club 47 and the Passim before it, with a show every night and every one open to all ages. Festival week opens with Kelsey Waldon on Tuesday 10 November ($35, fees in). The kitchen serves until halfway through the show; it's down a flight of stairs, with no step-free way in.
47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
A music room off Harvard Square, where the listed time is the doors and the band follows 30 to 60 minutes later; most shows are standing. In festival week The Bad Plus play their farewell tour on Wednesday 11 November. Age limits change by show; it takes cards, though it likes cash.
52 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
A repertory cinema showing films since 1953, run by a nonprofit since 2001, a block from Harvard Square. Tickets $15.50 ($13.50 before 5pm) and $19.50 for a double feature, seats unreserved. Festival week's films aren't up on its site yet.
40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138
A 300-seat club for touring comics in the Westin Boston Seaport, for ages 16 and up with ID, with no food or drink minimum. The bar opens 60 minutes ahead of showtime and the room 30 minutes ahead; seats go to whoever comes first. On Friday 13 November it has Mohanad Elshieky.
425 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210
Improv, sketch and musical comedy on Hanover Street since 1997. The Main Stage show plays Wednesday to Saturday, at 7:30pm (with 9:30 on Friday, and 7 and 9:30 on Saturday), for about 90 minutes; Saturday at 11:30pm brings Raunch, uncensored and for over-18s. It takes cards; cash works only when you pay at its own box office.
216 Hanover St., Boston, MA 02113
The pond of Thoreau's Walden, with a path round the water and a copy of his one-room cabin. Open daily 7am to 5:30pm (hours shift with the seasons), its visitor center 10am to 4pm. Parking is $30 for out-of-state cars, by card or online only, and the lot shuts when it's full.
915 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742
The battlefields of 19 April 1775, where the Revolution's first battle was fought, and the homes of Concord's writers. Free, and open every day from sunrise to sunset; the ranger programs end in October. Take the Commuter Rail from North Station to Concord, then walk 1.5 miles to the North Bridge.
174 Liberty St., Concord, MA 01742
Salem's museum of art and culture, collecting since 1799, with Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old Chinese house, on its own timed ticket. Open Thursday to Monday 10am to 5pm, so shut on the festival's Tuesday and Wednesday; adults $25, under-16s free. Commuter Rail to Salem and a half-mile walk; the ferry stops after October.
161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970
Living history in Plymouth: in the English Village the people live in 1627, while at Historic Patuxet Native people of today tell of Wampanoag life. Open 9am to 5pm every day of its season, which runs to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Adults $35, or $46 over two days with Mayflower II and the Grist Mill.
137 Warren Avenue, Plymouth, MA 02360
Every place round the venue you chose, at its straight-line distance. Streets, rivers and stairs make the real way longer: the route link on each card asks a map for it.
Save the places you want, here in this browser, then see whether one fits round your show. Download it or print it to take along.
Nothing saved yet: press ♡ Save on a place above.
The festival's dates, its venues and the shows listed here come from Boston Comedy Festival's own pages: its schedule ↗ and its venues ↗. The shows are some of the festival's, not all of them. Checked 18 October 2026.
Every place links to its own site, which has the last word: hours, prices, bookings and what is on all change, so look before you set out. Distances here are straight lines between points on OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), never walking distances.
The pins' city scene is drawn for the Guide (see the Credits).
