Festivities do continue the whole weekend. As a matter of fact, the parade itself takes place on Sunday the 16th.

All the Irish pubs, particularly those in the Fanueil Hall Area, will be mob scenes. Depends on your viewpoint whether that's a positive or a negative.

AlanM

The parade is in Southie. Andrew or Broadway on the Red Line.

Ahhh.... St. Patty's Day in Southie. Moved away from Boston (back to Maine) five years ago and this posting really made me miss it. Thanks for the great (and rather drunk) memories!

Enjoy the Parade!

Hey-

As a native Bostonian, the South Boston Parade is THE event of the year! Great choice! Take the T (our subway system) the Red Line to the Broadway stop to get up onto the parade route. Don't even THINK about driving or taking a taxi. They shut down all the roads in and out of South Boston. Trust me. Take the subway. It's perfectly safe and totally worth it. Be warned - it stops running altogether at 1AM. A couple of other things to do while you're here:

1.) Trolly Tour (for one price you can get on & off the trolly all day)

2.) Observation deck at The Prudential Center (awesome views)

3.) Fanueil Hall (tons of bars, resturants & shopping)

4.) Tour of Fenway Park

5.) Legal Seafoods at Copely Place (NOT PRUDENTIAL) at sunset

6.) Pizzeria Regina in the North End b4 the game

7.) Mike's Pastries in the North End after the game

8.) Umbria, News, Whiskey Park (Ultra-Lounges)

9.) Union Oyster House

10.) Walk the Freedom Trail

Good luck & have fun!

My advice to you on St. Paddy's day is once you get into a bar stay there. Pick a good one in fanuiel. Black Rose or Kitty O'Sheas. Get there early I mean AM early and dont leave and think you will bar hop. The lines at all the bars get crazy. Find one place and stick to it.

Erin Go Braugh

My advice- Have numerous back up plans.

I was in Boston last year for St. Patty's Day and saw huge huge lines out of many Irish pubs. I am too old, and I suppose a bit too spoiled to wait in line two or three hours for a pint of Guiness. So be warned the wait can be interminable. As the last post pointed out...after you wait you probably will be stuck for hours wherever you are, because you'll just face the same lines elsewhere.

Since we were driving, we went to Coolidge Corner in Brookline and found a little Irish restaurant/pub on Harvard Street that had immediate seating available. It had a really charming old school Irish atmosphere. We had our boiled dinner and the Guinness was flowing.

By the time we left even that place was packed. Had a great time though.

Lines, lines, and more lines on Monday...

How about that Saturday 3/15? I was thinking to get my St. Pat's fill in Boston on Saturday instead.

There won't be many lines right? Thank you!

Sorry, but St. Patrick's Day is REALLY St. Patrick's WEEKEND. Nice thought, though.

I'm also coming in for St Patrick's Day weekend (prepared last year in Savannah). Some recommendations of pubs to camp out at for the day. Also - how early should we get there? Wanted to see part of the parade. Thanks!

The parade starts at 1 on Sunday. It's not on March 17th.

On parade day, bars in South Boston, especially up and down Broadway (i.e., the parade route) are jammed pretty much from the morning on into night. After the parade ends, some bars Downtown and by Faneuill Hall will be busier than normal for a Sunday afternoon as well/

When I used to go all-out for St Patrick's Day itself, I usually tried to get to my bar of choice by about 12 or 1.