The Infamous Boston Tea Party Tour: Fun Things under $40
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I feel like we all have a tidbit of American history we’re lowkey a little bit TOO interested in. For me, that’s the American Revolution. I know I know I knowww…but if we have to fixate on a war, if we have to “romanticize” the horrific realities of battle, if we have to ignore all of the hypocritical ideologies of Americanism…then for me the American Revolution takes the cake. So of course, when in Boston, I wanted to take a Boston tea party tour.
Technically, the full name of the establishment is the “Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum,” but for the purpose of this post, imma keep it short and sweet with the Boston Tea Party tour. Essentially, the city of Boston was the site of the infamous Boston Tea Party, an act of rebellion by the colonists against the King of England.
The last (and only other time) I was in Boston, I saw folks gleefully tossing boxes of tea into the harbor, but tickets were sold out and my friend that lived and grew up in Boston wasn’t too keen on going for the 529387th time anyway. But this time, I wasn’t going to miss it.
Logistics
Real quickly, let’s flesh out the most important bits of taking this Boston tea party tour.
| address | 306 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210 |
| hours | Monday – Sunday: 9:30am – 5pm >> tours every 30 minutes |
| price | adults: $35+ USD children: $26 USD |
| duration | 1 hour* |
It’s hard to miss the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. Located on Congress Street, you’ll spot the huge (full-scale) replica of a 18th-century sailing vessel just chillin’ at the bridge. The tour and museum is open everyday for pretty much the majority of the day. The Boston Tea Party tour is one of those attractions that is iconic to the city, both from a touristy standpoint but also as the city’s fundamental historical significance.
Tickets are around $35 USD for adults and $26 USD for children (ages 3-12). I say around because there is a bit of dynamic pricing depending on how close to the date you are booking and the demand for that day, but it only varies by a few dollars. I think the most I’ve personally seen adult prices were $38 USD.
That said, I highly recommend getting tickets in advance because they pretty much sell out EVERY DAY. The museum says that they keep a few tickets on hand every day for walk ups but…yeah, those sell out too PRETTY early – think Ben and Jerry’s Factory tour kind of selling out. Do yourself a favor and book in advance.
Insider tip, let’s say the museum sells out of tickets both on their website and their walk-up tickets…there is one more place to check. You might be able to find tickets for the Boston tea party tour on Viator as they are a registered third-party and have a set number for daily tickets. The benefit with them is that the ticket price is always set to $35 for adults and $26 for children, no dynamic pricing!
Technically, the actual TOUR part of the Boston tea party tour lasts for an hour, but I would recommend budgeting for at LEAST an hour and half to two hours. First because call time is 15 minutes before your tour start time (and you do want to show up 15 minutes before!!) and then you should leave time after the tour for souvenir shopping and indulging in a cuppa tea or two.
Or five. No one’s counting.
Although we did have a rental, we walked to museum because parking in Boston is annoying. If you do decide to drive, you can pre-book your parking with the museum SpotHero parking page and save up to 50% off.
Accessibility
The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is wheelchair and walker, with the tour portion on the ship being accessible on the top deck and the museum portion has an elevator. There is a lower deck that requires going down a ladder, but plenty of people for a variety of reasons opted to stay on the upper deck and you still hear what the guide is saying.
You are pretty much standing for the entire hour duration of the Boston tea part tour, but complimentary wheelchairs are available upon request if needed by visitors. In the same vein, ASL interpreters are complimentary, but you do have to request them 2 weeks in advance so they are able to vet and secure local interpreter services.
If English is not your first language, there are translation pamphlets (digital and physical I believe) of the Boston tea party tour and museum that you can request
The souvenir shop and Abigail’s Tea Room are wheelchair accessible, and for anyway you can visit both without purchase of a museum experience ticket. However strollers and carriages are not permitted during the Boston tea party tour, within the souvenir shop, or the tea room. There is a designated stroller and carriage parking area next to the outdoor ticket booth, so keep in mind if you have little ones, the duration of the tour is an hour so make your best judgment call on their stamina (or your own to hold them).
My Experience
I showed up to the Boston tea party tour around the time I usually show up to things.
Late.
Well, technically I wasn’t LATE-LATE, I showed up about three minutes before the tour start time. Remember when I said you should arrive fifteen minutes before? That’s because the Boston tea party tour is more of a theatrical performance that mimes the actual Boston tea party. The first few minutes of the tour begins in a building where the context of the revolution is given as a skit and everyone in the audience (us) is involved and given characters.
Each guest is given a character card with backstory and different perspectives at the time of the American Revolution. A few of the character cards include an opportunity to speak during the skit which is super fun. Though, those are usually given out earlier once people start filing in. If you want to be more involved and potentially get a “speaking role” in the beginning skit, definitely show up in the recommended fifteen minutes before.
After the initial fun and we’re all sufficiently riled up, we storm out to the replica shipping vessel to perform the ultimate act of rebellion. Throughout the extended skit and subsequent miming of dumping tea into THA BAHSTAN HAHBAH, we learn about the colonists’ mindset and anxiety leading up to the American Revolution. As a former theater kid (musical theater at that) this was hands down my favorite part of the Boston tea party tour.
Once we get off the boat, we move onto the next part of the Boston tea party tour, which is the museum portion. This part of the Boston tea party tour does not allow pictures or videos, even for personal use. You watch a few videos that reenact additional backstory of both the Boston tea party and the lead up to the American Revolution. There are trigger warnings for violence and whatnot beforehand, I don’t quite remember and the content itself was mild, but it’s a solid heads up if you’d rather not watch war reenactments.
I don’t want to spoil anything but there’s a pretty dope artifact in the museum that is…kind of wild. One thing that the guides eluded to but didn’t explicitly talk on was the hypocricy of the American quest of FREEDOM while…encroaching and colonizing Indigenous nations and enslaving trafficked Africans. Like, yeah during the Boston tea party, colonists were not concerned with said hypocricies, but we the people of NOW are.
Or, well…we the people should care about it.
But maybe that’s just me.
Anyways after the museum wraps up, that concludes the Boston tea party tour. It finishes at the tea house where you can buy a CUPPA TEA that is refillable! The tea in the tea room has some of the tea that was thrown overboard during the Boston tea party which is kinda fun. I tried all of them and my favorite was the Bohea. After some sipping time, you can head down to the souvenir shop (which is pretty large) before leaving.
Conclusion
All in all, the Boston tea party tour satisfied EVERYTHING I was looking for in the tour. I loved the drama, the theatrics, the immersion. The actors/guides were fun and witty and so IN CHARACTER that it really drove the experience home. It’s definitely worth the money and the time, especially as a first-timer to Boston.
If you’ve taken the Boston tea party tour, what did you think of your experience? Let me know in the comments below if this is an attraction you would be interested in!
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