VariesFeatured
Seasonal & Holiday
St. Mary of Carmen Festival
Nonantum’s four-day Italian street feast — processions, a midway, sausage carts and fireworks.
Sun, Aug 23 – Aug 23
Nonantum
4.9(421)Things to do in Newton
46 results · “free”
- FreeFeaturedOutdoors & Parks
Chestnut Hill Reservoir Loop
A flat 1.5-mile gravel loop around open water, with the Boston skyline on the far side.
Chestnut Hill
4.8(412) - VariesFeaturedShopping
Newtonville Books
A beloved independent bookstore with a serious author-event calendar and excellent staff picks.
Newtonville
4.9(288) - FreeFeaturedOutdoors & Parks
Hemlock Gorge Reservation & Echo Bridge
Hemlock-shaded trails above a rocky river gorge, with a stone aqueduct arch that echoes fifteen times.
Newton Highlands
4.8(276) - VariesFeaturedFamily & Kids
Newton Community Farm
The city’s last working farm — a farmstand, kids’ programs, and 300 years of continuous cultivation.
Thompsonville
4.9(187) - FreeFeaturedArts & Culture
Echo Bridge Photo Walk
The classic Newton shot: a stone arch over a gorge, best in the last hour of light in October.
Newton Upper Falls
4.8(197) - FreeFeaturedSeasonal & Holiday
Newton Centre Green Summer Concert
Free Thursday-evening concerts on the triangle green — bring a blanket and dinner from the square.
Sat, Aug 1 – Aug 1
Newton Centre
4.7(189) - FreeFeaturedOutdoors & Parks
Nahanton Park
Meadows, woods and a canoe launch on the Charles — Newton’s premier birding spot at 180+ species.
Oak Hill
4.8(164) - $10–$15FeaturedSeasonal & Holiday
Fall Harvest Festival at the Farm
Cider pressing, hayrides, a pie contest and live bluegrass on the farm’s one big public day.
Sun, Oct 4 · 11:00 AM–4:00 PM
Thompsonville
4.8(142) - FreeFeaturedOutdoors & Parks
Cochituate Aqueduct Trail
A dead-flat grassy path along a buried 19th-century aqueduct, running for miles through backyards and woods.
Waban
4.7(121) - FreeFeaturedOutdoors & Parks
Auburndale Cove & Riverside Playground
A gentle Charles River cove with a sandy edge, big shade trees and one of Newton’s best-loved playgrounds.
Auburndale
4.7(96) - FreeFamily & Kids
Newton Free Library
One of the busiest public libraries in Massachusetts: huge children’s wing, museum passes, quiet study floors.
Newton Centre
4.9(508) - FreeOutdoors & Parks
Cold Spring Park Trails
67 acres of woodland loop trails, a cross-country course, and a Tuesday farmers market in season.
Newton Highlands
4.7(231) - VariesShopping
The Street Chestnut Hill
An open-air shopping block with big-name retail, a cinema, and better-than-average patio dining.
Chestnut Hill
4.4(287) - FreeSeasonal & Holiday
West Newton Fourth of July Parade
Newton’s hometown Independence Day parade — decorated bikes, fire trucks, and a whole lot of candy.
Mon, Jul 5 · 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
West Newton
4.7(198) - FreeArts & Culture
Boston College Campus Walk & Bapst Library
Collegiate Gothic towers, a hilltop reservoir view, and a reading room that looks like a cathedral.
Chestnut Hill
4.7(168) - FreeFitness
Upper Falls Greenway
A flat, paved rail-trail through the old mill district, with public art and a mile of easy walking.
Newton Upper Falls
4.6(158) - $20–$45Food & Drink
West Newton Main Street Dinner & a Movie
Eat on Washington Street, walk fifty feet to the cinema — Newton’s easiest night out.
West Newton
4.5(172) - FreeFitness
Charles River Greenway — Newton Corner Access
Hop onto the paved riverside path here and ride all the way into Boston without a traffic light.
Newton Corner
4.6(143) - FreeSeasonal & Holiday
Nonantum Village Day
A one-day neighborhood block party with a road race, a parade, and the fire department’s hose spray.
Sun, Sep 6 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM
Nonantum
4.7(118) - FreeSeasonal & Holiday
Waban Village Winter Tree Lighting
A small, genuinely charming tree lighting in the square with carols, cocoa and a fire truck Santa.
Sat, Dec 5 · 3:30 PM–4:30 PM
Waban
4.8(87) - FreeOutdoors & Parks
Pellegrini Park Bocce Courts
Real bocce courts with real regulars — show up, watch a while, and you will get invited in.
Nonantum
4.7(86) - FreeSeasonal & Holiday
Oak Hill Winter Sledding Hill
A long, open slope that becomes the neighborhood sledding destination after every storm.
Oak Hill
4.6(94) - FreeArts & Culture
West Newton Hill Architecture Walk
Grand Victorians, Shingle Style porches and Colonial Revivals on Newton’s most photogenic hill.
West Newton
4.6(94) - $14–$28Food & Drink
Newton Corner Sunday Brunch Row
Three brunch spots within a block of the Washington Street rotary, none of them requiring a reservation.
Newton Corner
4.3(118) - FreeFamily & Kids
Newton Corner Playground at Cabot
Shaded modern play structures, a toddler section, and a splash pad in summer.
Newton Corner
4.5(88) - FreeArts & Culture
Mill District Studio Open House
Working artists open their mill-building studios one weekend each season — painting, ceramics, glass.
Sun, Aug 16 · 11:00 AM–5:00 PM
Newton Upper Falls
4.7(71) - FreeFamily & Kids
Auburndale Library Story Hour
Songs, rhymes and picture books for toddlers and preschoolers at the Auburndale branch.
Sun, Aug 2 · 10:30 AM–11:30 AM
Auburndale
4.9(58) - $18–$30Arts & Culture
Community Theatre Night in the Highlands
Local companies stage plays and musicals in a small Highlands house — tickets under $30.
Sat, Aug 8 – Aug 8
Newton Highlands
4.5(79) - FreeFitness
Charles River Canoe Launch at Nahanton
Put in on the Charles’s quiet southern bend — no motorboats, no crowds, herons everywhere.
Oak Hill
4.7(61) - FreeFitness
Auburndale Park Pickleball Courts
Four striped courts, open play mornings, and a very welcoming regular crowd.
Auburndale
4.5(73) - FreeOutdoors & Parks
Oak Hill Conservation Trails
Quiet, rooty single-track through Newton’s biggest stretch of unbroken woodland.
Oak Hill
4.5(72) - FreeFitness
Reservoir Sunset Run Club
A no-drop group run around the Reservoir every Thursday evening, all paces welcome.
Sat, Aug 1 – Aug 1
Chestnut Hill
4.6(64) - FreeFitness
Lower Falls Aqueduct to West Newton Ride
A flat six-mile out-and-back on quiet streets and aqueduct paths, ending at coffee.
West Newton
4.5(66) - FreeOutdoors & Parks
Farlow Park
A Victorian-era pocket park with a pond, weeping willows and Newton’s oldest planted landscape.
Newton Corner
4.4(67) - VariesFamily & Kids
Nahanton Park Community Gardens
Over a hundred garden plots on a sunny hillside — open to walk through, with a waitlist to grow.
Oak Hill
4.6(55) - FreeFamily & Kids
Hemlock Gorge Family Nature Hunt
A ranger-guided scavenger hunt through the gorge for ages 5–10, ending under Echo Bridge.
Mon, Aug 10 · 10:00 AM–11:30 AM
Newton Upper Falls
4.8(44) - FreeOutdoors & Parks
Charles River Path — Lower Falls Riverbank
A short, pretty riverside walk past old mill dams where the Charles drops toward Wellesley.
Newton Lower Falls
4.4(62) - FreeFamily & Kids
Newton Farmers Market Kids’ Craft Table
A free craft and seed-planting table for kids alongside the Tuesday market.
Fri, Jul 31 · 2:00 PM–5:00 PM
Newtonville
4.6(51) - FreeOutdoors & Parks
Blue Heron Bridge Crossing
A pedestrian bridge over the Charles connecting Newton to Wellesley — great heron spotting at dusk.
Newton Lower Falls
4.6(47) - FreeFitness
Waban Hill Tennis Courts
Public hard courts with a backboard, rarely a wait outside weekend mornings.
Waban
4.3(57) - FreeFamily & Kids
Angier Woods Short Loop
A twenty-minute wooded loop that feels like a real hike to a five-year-old.
Waban
4.4(48) - FreeFamily & Kids
Lower Falls Playground & Ball Field
A quiet neighborhood playground that never feels crowded, with a full ball field beside it.
Newton Lower Falls
4.4(39) - FreeArts & Culture
Norumbega Tower
A stone tower built in 1889 to commemorate a Viking settlement that almost certainly never happened.
Auburndale
4.3(41) - FreeFitness
Thompsonville Neighborhood Loop Walk
A flat two-mile residential loop linking the farm, Nahanton Park and Winchester Street.
Thompsonville
4.3(37) - FreeArts & Culture
Mill Village Architecture Walk
A self-guided loop past 19th-century mill housing, a 1811 church, and the old paper works.
Newton Lower Falls
4.2(33)
