Help me plan my 3 hour Boston vacation :)

[Xithras]

OK, here's the deal. I'm going to be flying to Maine later this summer, and my Cali to Maine flight includes a 5 hour layover at Logan International. Rather than sitting in an airport for five hours, I'd rather get out and see the city (never been there). To ensure that I don't miss my flight out, I'm going to limit my stay in the city to three hours.

So, if you only had three hours to show Boston off to a Massachusetts newbie, what would you show them? What should I NOT miss? What tourist traps should I skip? Is this even a reasonable venture in your opinions, or should I just stay at the airport?

[ET Awful]

1. Call ahead and see if you can get the timing right to do

a Duck Tour. It should fit your allotted time perfectly and will show you the real highlights of Boston in a relatively short time.

http://www.bostonducktours.com/

[Xithras]

3. That's cool!

I'll definitely look into that!

[ET Awful]

5. It's a lot of fun.

You'd definitely enjoy it :).

[chelsea0011]

2. Not much time. But, here are two walking tours........

I'd take the Logan transit to the Blue Line MBTA train station. Hop on inbound and go to State St. From there I would either head to Quincy Market and to the North End. grab something to eat and just take in the North Church,the narrowist house in Boston, and Paul revere's House. The second would be to head the other way from State St. towards the Commons. Just walk the Commons(Granary Burial Ground, Old South Meeting House) to the Public Gardens and head back to Commons, down Winter St. and a visit to Filene's Basement. Each of these should last a couple of hours with the North End a bit longer. This all keeps you within easy distance of the T to get you back to the airport.

[Xithras]

4. How far is Logan from the city center using public transit?

If I take Logan transit to the Blue Line, how long will it take me to reach the city from the airport? Is the train faster than a cab?

[chelsea0011]

8. You can be downtown inside of 30 minutes....15 if you are lucky

But 15 is very lucky. You need the bus and train there for you. It is about a 10 minute bus ride to the station and only a short 5 minute train ride to town. The cab might be quicker but it is costly. I haven't taken the cab through the tunnel in awhile but it would probably coast at least $10 as opposed to less than a dollar for the train. And it might take the same time. The train starts at Airport. There are three stations after that, Maverick, Aquarium, and State (it goes to Government Station and Bowdoin but you don't need to take the train to these two) . A third option for something to do would be to get off at Aquarium and bite the bullet for the fee ($20(?) or more these days)and visit that. Then do Quincy Market which is just across the street.

[paineinthearse]

6. 5 hours is too short

Security on the return could take 1 hour.

See if you can send your luggage ahead, but take a later flight to Maine.

[Xithras]

7. They don't do that anymore.

It's one of the post-9/11 rules...no baggage can be on an aircraft unless the owner is also onboard. If I take a later flight, I'll have to claim and recheck my baggage, which means dragging it around the city with me.

BTW, why does Logan take an hour for security? I've flown through plenty of airports since 9/11, and unless I was flying on a holiday, Friday, or Sunday, security checks have rarely taken me more than 10-15 minutes...and that's at LAX and SFO.

[paineinthearse]

10. Commuter airlines at Logan may not be bad...

But it took 45 minutes for me to get my son onto a Jet Blue flight to Florida.

[chelsea0011]

9. On a layover with only having to go through terminal it shouldn't

take this long. I haven't spent more than 10-15 minutes waiting in line.