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TAP can customize any itinerary

Boston and New England
Joy Tour and Travel has been to Boston enough that the company knows what groups want to experience: the city’s — and the nation’s — rich history. But the company still works with groups to offer custom elements.

“Anymore, groups want to do their own thing, and if we think it’s a good idea that the group has, we try to set that up,” said Greg Wingham, president of Joy Tour and Travel.

Boston usually serves as the starting or ending point for Joy’s New England trips. The company offers a guide-led combination driving-walking tour of the city that includes architectural highlights and historic sites such as the Boston Harbor, where the Boston Tea Party took place; the site of the Boston Massacre on State Street; and the old Granary Burying Ground, that city’s third-oldest cemetery.

Visitors can also stop at Quincy Market; Faneuil Hall; Paul Revere’s house; the Old North Church, where Revere was signaled; and both the Old State House and the new Massachusetts State House, Wingham said.

Joy Tour and Travel also tries to get groups onto the USS Constitution, the 1797 wooden-hulled heavy frigate that earned the nickname Old Ironsides after withstanding cannon fire during the War of 1812.

“These are all the must-do’s for the historic survey of Boston,” Wingham said. “They’re the crowd-pleasers.”

From Boston or on their way to Boston, guides escort groups through New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

In New Hampshire, travelers can take a scenic train ride aboard the Winnipesaukee railroad, enjoy a pontoon boat cruise on Squam Lake and ride an aerial tram to the summit of Cannon Mountain.

In Vermont, groups can stop at Quechee Gorge, known as Vermont’s “Little Grand Canyon,” and spend the night at the Trapp Family Lodge, a European-style resort built by the real von Trapp family that inspired “The Sound of Music.”

Maine offers groups a chance to take a lighthouse lovers cruise, enjoy a lobster feast at a floating restaurant and tour historic sites such as Portland Head Light, Maine’s oldest lighthouse.

 

Rachel Carter

Rachel Carter worked as a newspaper reporter for eight years and spent two years as an online news editor before launching her freelance career. She now writes for national meetings magazines and travel trade publications.