Area guide

Cambridge - Harvard Square

Harvard Square - in the separate city of Cambridge, one Red Line ride across the Charles - delivers the collegiate America of imagination: red-brick gates into Harvard Yard, the John Harvard statue with its polished shoe, chess players and buskers in the square, and some of the country's best bookstores. Free student-led campus tours run from the Smith Campus Center (schedules vary; confirm), and for Gulf families with university-bound teenagers this is often the emotional heart of a Boston trip. Food is casual, international, and student-priced; the serious halal cluster sits one stop away at Central Square near the ISB Cambridge mosque, making this the easiest area in Greater Boston to pair sightseeing with Jumu'ah. Evenings are lively but studious rather than rowdy. Allow a half day, more if the Harvard Art Museums or natural history museum tempt you.