We were first time visitors to Boston. After taking a walking tour at noon we thought it would be a good idea to take the silver trolley to see the sites as we had been walking enough during our road trip. We were told at the visitor centre there was a discount by this time so that was a good option and we did get a discount which was great. We bought our tickets around 2:00. We started at stop 1. It was a long wait while we were put in line for the second trolley—this was lost time(at least 20 minutes). We decided not to loop around all the way first as we originally planned and we got off at stop 4 for the USS Constitution ship. When we returned to the bus stop, it was more than a 15 min wait, so again lost time. As we continued on the tour, now after 3:30, it became apparent that with the traffic we weren’t going to complete the loop and have enough time at the Boston Common and Public Park with as much daylight left as we would like. So we got off at stop 8 instead of going back to stop 1 and walking back to the parks and it was a good thing we did—this is mid October and the suns sets pretty early. So this is just advice to watch your time. If you started this in the morning I think it would be the better part of the day with getting off at a few stops to explore.
The first driver was engaging but the second one not so much . And some passengers thought it was OK to chatter while the rest of us are trying to hear the guided tour which is what we were paying for and fortunately the driver did call them out on this but he also needed to speak loudly because the sound of traffic could drown him out. If you can’t walk this is a fine option but I was disappointed with the slow progress. We decided Boston can’t be seen in a day. With the first day as an introduction, I think we could have spent a better second day.