Boston Duck Tours

What are Boston Duck Tours? An amphibious vehicle braves Boston traffic and quack-free zones to give visitors a view of the city from both the land and water.

A duck tour boat braves the Charles River. Photo by C. Danko.

With a pull of a bell string, the crew sprung into action, "Quack, quack." The couple on the street turned around, and a with a smile and a wave to the busload of people, quacked back. Let's face it, it's not everyday you get to travel around Boston quacking at strangers without scaring them a little. OK, some people we encountered looked a little uncomfortable, but the duck tours have been around Boston for a while now - since 1994 - and most people we encountered knew the routine.

The duck tour was an amusing introduction to the old and new Boston. We learned about the molasses flood of 1919, when a molasses storage tank in Boston's North End exploded, creating waves of molasses eight feet high and killing 21 people. Our guide, who called himself Mad Cap, and who was a bit of a character himself, told us that on some warm nights in the North End, you can still smell the faint odor of molasses.

Duck tour vehicles travel partly on land and partly in the water. Boston is one of several cities where they are offered. The tours are given on amphibious vehicles - old refurbished WWII vehicles that were designed to be able to role into the water, motor around for a while, and then climb back out again. The tour lasted a little over an hour. There were lots of small bits of history - did you know the great Brinks robbery happened in Boston? And tips for visiting Boston - Newbury Street is the place to see and be seen. There were also some bad jokes. Actually, the jokes weren't so bad, and some were pretty funny. But then again, our guide was working with an audience that had been quacking for about a half hour - a pretty warmed-up crowd.

The tour starts at either the Museum of Science or the Prudential building, winds around Boston Common and Beacon Hill and dives into the Charles River for a quick spin under the Longfellow Bridge to an area near the Hatch Shell, where there is a nice view of the Boston skyline. Our driver paused for a moment near the John Hancock Building, which is made of reflective material, so that we could capture on camera our own images on the duck mobile. The trip was fun, even though there were some areas that we weren't allowed to quack in. Apparently, Boston has some quack-free zones - neighborhoods that don't want busloads of people riding by and quacking at the pedestrians. But the discovery of where it is not ok to quack may be one of the more interesting parts of learning about Boston.

Boston Duck Tour Schedule

The tours run from the end of March through the end of November and depart at two locations: the Prudential and Museum of Science. The best way to get to both places is through public transportation. The T's Green Line runs to both spots. Get off on the Science Park station if your duck tour departs from the Museum of Science, or the Copley station if the tour is at the Prudential.

Boston Duck Tour Tickets

The best option is to purchase tickets in advance on the Boston Duck Tours Web site five days in advance. If the tour is sold out, more tickets are sold on the morning of the tour. They sell out quickly during peak travel times, so you need to move fast.

Author: C. Danko
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