South Boston, Boston: neighborhood guide

South Boston — "Southie" to locals — is a peninsula south of the channel, once joined to the mainland by landfill in the 19th century. It grew as a maritime district and, from the mid-1800s, as an Irish neighbourhood. The triple-decker houses and the habit of greeting neighbours on the street are still there, but the area has been rebuilt around them: developers buy the old houses, and much of the district has been rezoned to match the Seaport.

Two parts matter to a visitor. The Seaport is the newest piece of Boston: in 2004 it was mostly parking lots, and a decade later it held a convention centre, an art gallery, office and residential towers and rapid transit. Fort Point, just below it, kept its brick factories because they were too big to demolish; many now hold hotels and restaurants, especially around Congress and A streets.

The residential side is low-rise and quiet, with small shops and pubs along Broadway and East Broadway, beaches and a long waterfront path on the harbour side, and City Point at the eastern tip. The South End is a different neighbourhood west of here — don't book one thinking it's the other.

Yes, if you value a calm base with more room for the money and don't mind a short train ride to the sights. The Red Line from Broadway reaches Downtown Crossing and Park Street in a few minutes, and the Seaport hotels put you next to the convention centre and the waterfront. No, if your trip is two days of Freedom Trail, Beacon Hill and the North End — you would spend it commuting.

Book the Seaport for business trips, conventions and harbour views; book around Broadway or Andrew for cheaper rooms and a residential feel. Buses into the centre are crowded at rush hour and late at night, so plan around the Red Line where you can.

The Seaport and Fort Point carry most of the restaurants: hotel dining rooms, seafood, steakhouses and bars in converted warehouses around Congress and A streets. Expect city-centre prices and a reservation at weekends. The residential side is cheaper and plainer — pubs, pizza, delis and cafés along Broadway and East Broadway, plus a few old favourites that survived the redevelopment.

For a wider choice, ride the Red Line two or three stops to Downtown or walk the South End's restaurant rows. Note that the Seaport still has no full-size grocery store, so self-catering means a trip out of the district.

Red Line: Broadway and Andrew serve the residential district; JFK/UMass sits just across the line in Dorchester and is close enough to use. Silver Line SL1 and SL2 run from South Station through the Seaport, stopping at Courthouse, World Trade Center and Silver Line Way; SL2 loops on through South Boston via Harbor St, Tide St, 23 Dry Dock Ave, 88 Black Falcon Ave and the Design Center, while SL1 continues to Logan airport.

Buses 5, 7, 9, 10 and 11 start near City Point and connect to South Station, Broadway and Andrew. They are the only way deep into the residential streets, and they fill up on the morning run downtown and again late at night.

Water: year-round water taxis call at the Children's Museum, the ICA and the World Trade Center, and need a call ahead at quieter spots. In summer a fast ferry to Provincetown leaves from the pier by the Seaport Hotel, cruise ships dock at Black Falcon Pier, and smaller boats at EDIC Pier — easy to miss, right by the bridge — serve the Boston Harbor Islands.

By car: don't, unless your hotel includes parking. On-street spaces survive in the older industrial middle of the district but are no quicker than walking from a station, and some two-way streets became one-way after the 2015 snow, so GPS directions can be out of date.