Forget the Puritanical history and forgive, if you will, the insufferable sports fans — “ya loosah!” — who have seen the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins all collect championship banners within the last decade. Boston really is a fun, friendly city ideal for family travel.

As one of the nation’s oldest municipalities (founded in 1630), the Hub’s rich history, charming architecture and superb open spaces lend it a decidedly European feel. And its compact nature makes it ideal for exploring on foot; via the “T” (short for the MBTA, or Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the country’s oldest subway system); ferries; and even “ducks,” World War II-era amphibious trucks. Besides, its narrow, labyrinthine roadways — originally laid out along cow paths, according to legend — challenge even local drivers, a fact confirmed by the state’s high car insurance rates.

To get a lay of the land and sea, it’s a good idea for first-time visitors to take a city tour such as Boston Duck Tours. Eighty-minute rambles depart from both the Prudential Center (with a focus on the Back Bay and Beacon Hill) and the Museum of Science, where the route passes through the North End and Charlestown. Both itineraries also include a lap in the Charles River. Bring your camera or iPhone: The city views from the water are superb.

One of the country’s best-known urban walking tours is the Freedom Trail, which winds 2.5 miles from the Boston Common to the Charlestown Navy Yard. The National Park Service offers free ranger-led walking tours from April 15 through Nov. 28; among the highlights are the downtown site of the Boston Massacre, the Paul Revere House and Old North Church in the North End, and the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.

You can also take a self-guided trek: Grab a map from the Boston National Historical Park visitor’s center (also available as a download) and follow the red-brick trail set into the city’s sidewalks and streets. As you make your way up Hanover Street in the North End, allow for a cannoli-and-cappuccino break at one of the Italian enclave’s wonderful cafés, such as Caffe Vittoria, or pop into an old-time bakery like Mike’s Pastry, the place for anisette-flavored biscotti and apricot macaroons.

Of special appeal to kids with an interest in ships is the USS Constitution, launched in 1797 and America’s oldest active warship. U.S. sailors conduct free, 30-minute tours of “Old Ironsides,” which is berthed in the Navy Yard. Make sure to take a peek at the ship’s surgery, where the walls were painted red — all the better to avoid upsetting the young “powder monkeys” when a bloody amputation had to be performed during battle. Then relax aboard an MBTA water taxi; the 10-minute cruise connects the Navy Yard to Long Wharf on the downtown waterfront.

There’s an old New England saying: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.” It can be that mercurial. Luckily, the city has more than enough kid-friendly indoor attractions should foul weather strike.

Adjacent to Long Wharf stands the New England Aquarium, one of the nation’s best. Among its most popular exhibits are the African (or jackass) penguin enclosure; a touch tank populated with rays and sharks; the Northern fur seal exhibit; and a four-story, 200,000-gallon saltwater tank stocked with sea turtles, nurse sharks and hundreds of colorful Caribbean reef fish and corals.

Younger kids will enjoy the Boston Children’s Museum overlooking Fort Point Channel on the edge of the Seaport District. The hands-on focus includes an art studio, play space, participatory KidsStage performances and pint-sized science experiments (How many drops of water can fit on a penny?).

Given Boston’s high-tech and academic reputations, it’s no surprise one of its major civic institutions is the riverfront Museum of Science. The enormous exhibit space includes the world’s largest Van de Graaff generator, designed by the famed physicist himself, who was on the faculty of the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as areas devoted to paleontology; nanotechnology; and human anatomy and physiology, where visitors can ride a bicycle with a skeleton. There’s also an excellent planetarium and a domed, five-story-tall IMAX screen exhibiting a range of films on subjects from volcanoes and tornadoes to dolphins and primates.

When the weather cooperates, Boston offers a wide range of outdoor activities. Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area is accessible via ferries that depart from Long Wharf and operate from early May to Columbus Day, with stops at Spectacle and Georges islands. The latter holds the imposing Fort Warren, built to protect Boston Harbor from attack during the Civil War; it’s also the transfer point for boats to smaller, nearby islands such as Lovells and Peddocks, which are ideal for picnics, swimming or exploring tide pools.

Farther offshore lies Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, an important nursing and feeding ground for humpback, finback and minke whales and the critically endangered northern right whale. The New England Aquarium offers whale-watch tours on its high-speed catamaran from April to October.

For a serene cruise, it’s hard to top the pedal-powered Swan Boats that gracefully ply the willow-fringed lagoon of the Boston Public Garden. Think it’s hokey? Celebrities from polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd to actor Bill Murray to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler have all boarded the iconic watercraft, a Boston institution since 1877. The Public Garden, which is planted with exotic trees and sumptuous flower beds, also holds Nancy Schon’s charming brass sculptures of Mrs. Mallard and her brood of eight, commemorating Robert McCloskey’s classic children’s book Make Way for Ducklings, which takes place in the Garden.

Just a short Orange Line ride to the “streetcar suburb” of Jamaica Plain, you’ll find the 265-acre Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, a fabulous place to stop and smell the flowers, enjoy a picnic or spot migrating songbirds, especially in the spring when the lilacs and azaleas are in bloom or the fall when the world-class collection of ornamental trees are in full autumnal glory. Established in 1872, making it the oldest public arboretum in North America, this National Historic Landmark offers free family activities including guided walks, scavenger hunts and science investigations on the last Saturday of each month.

Boston’s most famous park, however, is undoubtedly cozy Fenway Park, which celebrates its centennial this year. Your hotel concierge may be able to help you secure the always-hard-to-get tickets if the Red Sox are in town. If not, take the Green Line over to Yawkey Way: The team usually holds back a few hundred gameday ducats for sale at Gate E, which opens 90 minutes before the first pitch. There’s also a “scalp-free zone” at Gate C. And there’s no admission charge for the funky, old-time atmosphere surrounding the ballpark, where hawkers sell sausages, peanuts and programs from pushcarts.

The people pageant is also on full display at Cambridge’s Harvard Square, ideal habitat for counterculture characters. Buskers play Andean flute music in “the pit” atop the MBTA Red Line subway station, magicians flaunt their tricks on Brattle Street, and expert speed-chess players take on all comers outside the Au Bon Pain café on Massachusetts Avenue. While franchise stores have made inroads, there are still numerous independent retailers selling everything from Tibetan jewelry to violin bows to fedora hats. There’s even a store dedicated to all things Curious George, the impish fictional monkey from the series of beloved children’s books.

In Boston proper, the most popular place for retail therapy and performance art is Faneuil Hall, the granddaddy of festival marketplaces. The 6.5-acre site, located just east of Government Center, has held a market since 1742. Today, the historic hall is still used for major political events, while two flanking 19th-century Neoclassical buildings are filled with assorted retailers including Coach, Crabtree & Evelyn, Orvis and Build-a-Bear Workshop and restaurants such as the venerable Durgin Park — famed for its Yankee pot roast, Boston baked beans and no-nonsense waitresses. The surrounding plaza is usually abuzz with jugglers, musicians and mimes.

Boston wouldn’t be Boston without its singular attractions. Among the quirkiest are the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Mapparium. Both should appeal to older children and, best of all, don’t require a huge time commitment.

A Fenway landmark, the Gardner was once the home of its colorful namesake patron, who filled her Venetian-style palazzo with an eclectic collection of old masters, including Titian, Michelangelo and Degas, surrounding a lush, three-story atrium. The Mapparium, located at the Back Bay headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist, is a one-of-a-kind stained-glass globe created in 1935, when numerous European nations still had vast colonial holdings. Visitors walk through the 30-foot-diameter artwork via a bridge; the spooky acoustics (you can literally hear someone whispering from nearly 10 yards away) will amaze children, while adults will marvel at how much the global political landscape has changed in the ensuing decades.

That’s Boston, too: a bit old-fashioned but always capable of surprises.

Info To Go

Logan International Airport (BOS) is in East Boston, just one mile across the inner harbor from downtown. Taxi service is available to and from the airport; the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority also offers subway, bus and water-taxi connections. Most Amtrak trains arrive at South Station, less than a 10-minute walk from the North End, after stopping at Back Bay Station. Both train stations are linked to the subway system.

Weblinks

The Arnold Arboretum
Boston Children’s Museum
Boston Duck Tours
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area
Boston Marriott Long Wharf
Boston Red Sox/Fenway Park
Caffe Vittoria
Faneuil Hall
Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Harvard Square
InterContinental Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Jacob Wirth Restaurant
Legal Seafoods – Long Wharf
The Liberty Hotel
Mapparium
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Mike’s Pastry
Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage
Museum of Science
National Park Service
New England Aquarium
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary