Shift Roams
Routes worth roaming
Walking, biking and transit routes across Massachusetts, from rail trails and greenways to harbor loops and food crawls. Look at any route here, then follow it in the free Shift app, which checks you in at each stop. Finish the route to unlock its badge.
Bike rides
Rail trails, river paths and greenways, most of them flat and on paths of their own.
Bike · 4.1 mi · 27 min · Boston · Cambridge
The ride everyone should do at least once.
Next group ride: Tue, Oct 27
Photo by Yaakov Winiarz on UnsplashBike · 1.6 mi · 10 min · Boston · Cambridge
The ride that proves Boston is a bike city — almost entirely on protected lanes.
Photo: John Phelan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0Bike · 8.8 mi · 57 min · Falmouth · Cape Cod
Cape Cod's original rail trail, from cranberry bogs to ocean views
Photo courtesy of MassTrails10 / MassDOTWachusett Greenways (Mass Central Rail Trail)
Bike · 7.3 mi · 48 min · Princeton · Central MA
Rock cuts, tunnel murals, and the Quabbin-Wachusett water connection
Photo: Karl AlexanderMystic River Greenway (Alewife to Medford)
Bike · 6.7 mi · 41 min · Arlington · Somerville · Medford
Two rivers, two T stations, and 300 years of history between them
Photo: Pi.1415926535 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Mass Central Rail Trail: Sudbury to Hudson
Bike · 5.4 mi · 35 min · Sudbury · Hudson
Rail history, a rare Pine Barrens ecosystem, and a rebuilt truss bridge
Photo: Pi.1415926535 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Bike · 5.5 mi · 39 min · Marblehead · Swampscott
Two historic seaports, tide pools, and a thousand years of stories
Photo: John Phelan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Bike · 4.4 mi · 28 min · Easthampton · Northampton
Presidential history and an old rail bed through the Pioneer Valley
Photo: John Phelan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Bike · 4.3 mi · 28 min · Leominster · Fitchburg
Glacial boulders, Egyptian mummies, and the birthplace of the pink flamingo
Photo courtesy of MassTrails10 / MassDOTBike · 3.4 mi · 22 min · Mansfield · Norton
From a WWII staging ground to protected wetlands and rare cedar swamps
Photo by Sahaj Bedi on UnsplashBike · 1.6 mi · 10 min · Boston · Cambridge
There's a reason cyclists line up on the Mass Ave Bridge at golden hour.
Photo by Mark Olsen on UnsplashBike · 7.3 mi · 49 min · Boston · Brookline
Olmsted's seven-mile chain of parks, end to end.
Bike · 6.4 mi · 42 min · Cambridge · Arlington · Bedford
Follow the road the British marched in 1775, Alewife to Lexington Center.
Next group ride: Thu, Oct 29
Photo by Alex Jones on UnsplashBike · 4.3 mi · 29 min · Somerville · Cambridge
Davis Square to Lovejoy Wharf, end-to-end on the new Somerville extension.
Next group ride: Tue, Oct 27
Bike · 9.3 mi · 1 hr · Everett · Lynn
A paved rail trail from the Mystic River to Lynn, straight across the Rumney Marsh
Next group ride: Sat, Oct 31
Bike · 4.6 mi · 35 min · Newburyport
A flat, paved loop from the Newburyport train station to the Merrimack River and back
Next group ride: Sat, Nov 7
Walks
Routes on foot, from the Freedom Trail to a wildlife refuge boardwalk.
Photo: Seasider53 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Walk · 6 mi · 2 hr · Lexington · Concord
Walk the path of the American Revolution, from Lexington to Concord
Photo courtesy of MassTrails10 / MassDOTFort River Trail (Silvio O. Conte Refuge)
Walk · 0.9 mi · 19 min · Amherst
Eight lookouts across wetlands, grasslands, and river forest, all fully accessible
Photo by Sean Sweeney on UnsplashWalk · 3.5 mi · 1 hr 10 min · Boston
Sixteen stops, 2.5 miles, 400 years of history.
Walk · 2.5 mi · 50 min · Cambridge
Cambridge's 155-acre reservoir, fully looped, no street crossings.
Next group ride: Tue, Nov 3
Transit and walking
Day trips by T, commuter rail or ferry, with short walks between the stops.
Photo by Amy Vosters on UnsplashTransit · 5.7 mi · 1 hr 30 min · Greater Boston
Three bakeries, three neighborhoods, one great excuse to ride the bus.
Photo by Pascal Bernardon on UnsplashTransit · 0.9 mi · 1 hr 30 min · Boston · Brookline
Four consecutive B Line stops through the heart of Allston, each with a bar worth ducking into.
Photo by Herry Sutanto on Unsplash
Photo by Brett Wharton on UnsplashWalk + transit · 1.7 mi · 1 hr · East Boston
Boston's best-kept-secret Harborwalk + Latin American food scene.
Photo by David Trinks on UnsplashTransit · 16.6 mi · 4 hr · Salem · North Shore
30 minutes from North Station drops you in downtown Salem.
Photo by Charlie Hales on UnsplashWalk + transit · 13.6 mi · 7 hr · Boston Harbor
A national park 20 minutes from Long Wharf by ferry.
Photo by Arthur Tseng on UnsplashWalk + transit · 4 mi · 36 min · Somerville · Cambridge
Four Cambridge squares, end to end, on the Red Line.