Area guide

South End

The South End holds the largest intact Victorian row-house district in the country, its long brick blocks punctuated by leafy park squares that feel closer to London than to most of America. It is Boston's creative-professional quarter: art studios cluster around SoWa, whose Sunday open market (seasonal) mixes crafts, vintage, and food trucks, and the restaurant scene is among the city's most acclaimed - though wine-centric, so Muslim diners should treat it as cafe, bakery, and brunch territory and verify individual menus. The neighborhood borders Roxbury, putting the ISBCC mosque within a short bus or taxi ride, and Back Bay's shopping is a fifteen-minute walk. Come on a weekend morning: browse SoWa, photograph Union Park's fountains, take a long cafe breakfast, and drift toward Copley. Evenings are sophisticated and safe along main corridors.