America’s oldest city just gets better and better. Boston has just had a facelift. The Big Dig project removed an elevated expressway and sent traffic underground. Goodbye cars; hello park benches, lawns and flowers. Not only was Boston the first city in the English Colonies, this was where trade thrived and the Revolution began. American art and literature flourished; the American Abolitionist movement was founded here. No other city better reflects what is best about America.

In the capital of Massachusetts, past and present blend seamlessly. Streets with oh-so English names, such as Milk and Water, are lined with old-fashioned lamp posts, cobblestones and window boxes full of flowers. By the harbor, warehouses are recycled as apartment buildings, while Beacon Hill, the poshest residential area of all, is next to the handsome 1798 statehouse. Many of America’s most recognizable icons are here: the Old North Church and the Old State House. Plus some of the country’s best museums and one of its finest orchestras. But, Bostonians also know how to have a good time. There are pubs, clubs and festivals galore. And where better to celebrate the Fourth of July?

VERY BOSTON
A walk-through lesson in America’s history, the Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile route through downtown. Just follow the red line in the pavement. Visit the 16 important sites by yourself, with an audio headset, with a National Park ranger or with an 18th-century costumed guide. Details from the Visitor Information Center, Tremont Street (open daily, 9-5).

Boston is great for children, with the revamped and expanded Children’s Museum, the stunning New England Aquarium and the stimulating Museum of Science.

JFK remains a hero to many. At the impressive John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, video and memorabilia bring the Sixties back to life. Boston’s neighborhoods include the North End, the city’s Little Italy, and Back Bay, dense with shops and spiked with the Prudential and John Hancock Towers. Beacon Hill is all 18th- and 19th-century townhouses, while the South End has some of the best restaurants in the city.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Bostonians are mad about the Boston Red Sox baseball team, twice winners of the World Championship in the past four seasons. Even if you cannot get to a game, take a behind-the-scenes tour of Fenway Park. Across the Charles River is Cambridge, home of Harvard, the oldest and still one of the country’s best universities. Take a free student-led tour - and also one of nearby MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Cambridge itself matches fun shops and funky cafés with fine boutiques and restaurants. Take a ferry to the Boston Harbor Islands, a national park, where you can explore a Civil War-era fort, climb a historic lighthouse and picnic with views of the city skyline. No visit to Boston is complete without a side trip to Lexington and Concord. In April 1775, the first shots of the Revolution were fired in these neighboring towns; learn how, when, where and why at the Minute Man National Historical Park.

FOOD
When it comes to good food, Boston is one of America’s best places to eat out. The hundreds of choices include No 9 Park , and Locke-Ober , both listed in the top 50 Restaurants in America, by Gourmet magazine. For terrific seafood, Legal Sea Foods is a local institution with several branches, where you can order anything from a cup of chowder to the full-blown Fisherman’s Platter. You are never far from food: at Faneuil Hall’s bustling marketplace, you can indulge in Boston cream pie or munch a lobster roll.

ART, MUSIC AND MORE
The brand-new Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) opened in December 2006. Built of glass and concrete, the dramatic building overhangs the water on Boston’s harbor front. One of the world’s great art galleries is the Museum of Fine Arts. The ‘MFA’ boasts fine Impressionists, but don’t miss American treasures by John Singleton Copley and John Singer Sargent. Set in an Italianate villa, the nearby Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum boasts masterpieces by Rembrandt, Titian and Raphael, while Harvard University in Cambridge has half a dozen fine museums.

SHOPPING LIKE NOWHERE ELSE
When it comes to shopping, Boston has it all. Check out streets such as Charles Street and Newbury Street for boutiques, art galleries and antiques. Or, head for indoor complexes such as Copley Place, with posh stores such as Tiffany and Ralph Lauren, and The Shops at Prudential Center, anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. You can even take a special bus to Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, south of the city.