Seth A.
Yelp
Bunker Hill Monument was my favorite sight to see along the self guided Freedom Trail Walking Tour of the city of Boston.
Btw, the Freedom Trail Walking Tour is a fantastic way to discover Boston, including all of the major historical attractions....all by following red cement bricks embedded into the sidewalk. I highly recommend the Freedom Trail!
Back to Bunker Hill Monument....it's located towards the end of the Freedom Trail Walk, actually, it's the last stop along the 16 stop trail. It stands alone, in a quiet section of historic Charlestown. You can take plenty of unimpeded photos outside the monument as it sort of reminded me of quintessential Washington Monument in DC...a statuesque landmark in a quiet part of town.
You can go inside Bunker Hill Monument for free and climb the stairs to the top to get a picturesque view of the skyline of Charlestown and beyond. There is no elevator, but the climb is 294 stairs and in my opinion, worth the trek.
When I came here during a random weekday over the summer time, it wasn't crowded. I was able to start my climb up the steps without issues or being interrupted by tourists.
Though...before coming here, I did read that you need to obtain a climbing pass from the Bunker Hill Museum at the base of the hill at 43 Monument Square. The passes are free and are offered on a first come, first served basis.
During my experience, I skipped getting a pass and headed up the stairs without being stopped or checked for a ticket.
I can imagine when visitation is busy, then yeah, you need to obtain the climbing pass. I guess I just got lucky during my visit!
Bunker Hill Monument is open to climb and explore 9am - 4:30pm daily. A couple more points I'd like to mention.....
As you climb, there are markings along the steps indicating how many stairs you have scaled to the top. For example, every 50 steps, it said 100, 150, 200....all the way to 294. This was helpful as you knew how far along and when the hike ended.
At the summit, unfortunately, as you may expect, it is a tight space and it's not open aired. It's enclosed by glass windows. Some of the windows were fairly scratched which made for mediocre photos from high above.
I actually appreciated the views and took better photography from the Skywalk Observatory at the Prudential Tower. Regardless, hiking the steps still made for a worthwhile opportunity. I spent 15-20 minutes at the top before heading back down.
Overall, I very much enjoyed my time and visit to Bunker Hill Monument. I didn't mind climbing the stairs to the top and it wasn't too taxing for myself, even after walking the entire Freedom Trail Tour just to get here.
I'd recommend to everyone to walk around the Monument from the outside, take some good photos (especially on sunny days when it makes for memorable pictures, lol) and get inside and climb those 294 steps to the pinnacle!