Cambridge is a separate city just across the Charles River from Boston, home to two of the world's best-known universities: Harvard, founded in 1636, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, and MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A visit combines historic brick quadrangles, excellent museums, bookshops, cafés and a lively, student-filled atmosphere.

Harvard Yard

The Yard is the historic heart of Harvard, a leafy enclosure of red-brick buildings and walkways where students have lived and studied for centuries. Highlights include Massachusetts Hall, built in the 1720s, the oldest surviving building on campus; Widener Library, the university's main library; Memorial Church; and University Hall with the John Harvard statue in front of it.

The statue is known as the "statue of three lies": the inscription calls John Harvard the founder (he was an early benefactor), gives the founding date as 1638 (it was 1636), and the face is not his (no portrait of him survived, so the sculptor used a model). Visitors rub its left shoe for luck; students would rather you did not.

Museums

  • The Harvard Art Museums: three collections under one roof, in a building renovated by Renzo Piano, with European, American and Asian art.
  • The Harvard Museum of Natural History: famous for the Glass Flowers, a collection of thousands of incredibly lifelike botanical models made of glass by a father and son in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Also minerals, meteorites and dinosaurs.
  • The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, connected to the natural history museum.
  • The MIT Museum, near Kendall Square, with exhibits on robotics, artificial intelligence, holography and the institute's inventions.

Harvard Square

The square around the Red Line station is the center of Cambridge life, with bookstores, cafés, street performers and the newsstand that once marked its center. It is a good place for lunch and people-watching.

MIT

MIT's campus stretches along the river between Kendall Square and Massachusetts Avenue. Look for the Great Dome, the Frank Gehry-designed Stata Center, public art scattered around campus, and the Infinite Corridor, a long hallway linking the main buildings. Kendall Square, next to MIT, is a center of biotech and tech companies.

A walking route

  1. Take the Red Line to Harvard and explore Harvard Square.
  2. Walk through Harvard Yard to the John Harvard statue and Widener Library.
  3. Visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History for the Glass Flowers.
  4. Walk to the Charles River and the Weeks Footbridge for views of the boathouses.
  5. Take the Red Line or a long riverside walk to MIT and Kendall Square.

Practical tips

  • Student-led walking tours of Harvard are available; the university's visitor center has information on official tours.
  • Respect the campus: buildings and dorms are not open to visitors, and exams and graduations bring restrictions.
  • Commencement week in late May is very busy, and hotels fill up.
  • For getting there and back, see getting around Boston.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors walk around Harvard?

Yes, Harvard Yard and the campus grounds are open to visitors, though buildings generally are not.

How do I get to Cambridge from Boston?

The Red Line runs from downtown Boston to Kendall/MIT and Harvard in minutes.

Is half a day enough?

Yes, for Harvard Yard, one museum and Harvard Square. Fit it into day two of two days in Boston.