Walking and eating Boston's North End in November

Cannoli before the queues

Modern Pastry Shop is at 257 and 263 Hanover Street and opens at 7 a.m., earlier than the other pastry shops on the street. They fill the shells with ricotta when you order. It stays open until 11 p.m., and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Go at opening and the counter is more or less yours.

Mike's Pastry at 300 Hanover Street is the one with the big red sign, the line and the white box tied with string. It's open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. There's no table service, so buy a box to take away and find somewhere to sit. If the line is out the door, there are other branches in Cambridge, Somerville and at TD Garden.

Bova's Bakery at 134 Salem Street is open 24 hours a day, every day. Order the Florentine cannoli, a crisp shell filled with ricotta cream, and in autumn you'll find pumpkin spice among the flavours. There's thick Sicilian pizza by the square and warm Italian bread, which is how you put a picnic together.

The lantern church and the house

Old North Church & Historic Site at 193 Salem Street is the church of 1775 where the lanterns were hung. The Discovery Pass is $10 for adults and $5 for youth, and it covers the sanctuary with its hinged box pews, the history exhibit, an audio guide in English or Spanish and a walk through the crypt. For $15 and $10 you add the Bell Chamber Tour, 25 guided minutes with two sets of steep stairs in it. Pay for it if your knees allow and leave it alone if they don't.

Visitor hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 12:30 p.m. Monday isn't a visiting day. Sunday worship is at 11 a.m.

Paul Revere House is at 19 North Square, a couple of minutes off Hanover Street, and it's the oldest surviving house in downtown Boston. You'll know it by the dark brown clapboard and the leaded diamond-pane windows. Winter hours run 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., so don't leave it later than 3:30. Adults pay $6 and children aged 5 to 17 pay $1. The visit is self-guided and the rooms are few, which makes it a sound half hour out of the rain. Card payments need a $10 minimum, and it closes on Thanksgiving.

Free view and the Prado

Copp's Hill Burying Ground at 45 Hull Street is free and open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., though the historic burying grounds can't open on Sundays. It dates from 1659 and the thin slate headstones lean at every angle. Robert Newman, the Old North sexton who hung the lanterns, is buried here. From the top of the hill you look over the harbour towards Charlestown, where the British aimed their cannon in 1775.

Paul Revere Mall, which everyone here calls the Prado, is the brick-paved walk between Hanover Street and Unity Street. Stand at the Hanover end and you have the bronze Revere on his horse in front of you, with the white steeple of Old North behind him. It's open at both ends at any hour and there's no ticket.

The waterfront in late November

Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park at 110 Atlantic Avenue runs blue lights along its long wooden trellis beside the harbour. The switch-on is on 23 November, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. It's free, there's hot chocolate and clam chowder going round, and Santa turns up for the children. The whole thing lasts an hour, so be there by five.

Langone Park & Puopolo Playground on Commercial Street is the park the neighbourhood uses, five minutes from the crush on Hanover Street. An elevated Harborwalk runs along the water with benches facing Charlestown, and the bocce courts open for play when the weather allows. There's no shelter at all on the esplanade, so leave it out when the wind is up off the harbour. This is the stretch of water where the molasses flood happened in 1919.

Lunch counters and the oyster bar

Galleria Umberto at 289 Hanover Street serves lunch only, Monday to Saturday, and shuts for the day the moment it sells out, often by early afternoon. It's cash only. You order thick squares of Sicilian pizza with caramelised cheese edges, arancini filled with beef, peas and mozzarella, or a spinach calzone. There's a line through the lunch rush, so arrive near opening if you want the full choice.

Regina Pizzeria has been baking in the North End since 1926, and the original room is on Thacher Street, a few minutes from the Prado. It's open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and to 9 p.m. on Sunday. A seasonal pie with Calabrian chilli sausage, ricotta and caramelised onion is $18 for the 10-inch and $28 for the 16-inch. You can't book.

Neptune Oyster at 63 Salem Street takes no reservations at any time. It's one narrow room with a marble raw bar and high stools. Doors open at 11 a.m. every day, and turning up then is the dependable way in. The kitchen runs to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10:30 p.m. at weekends. Order the Maine lobster roll on toasted brioche, hot with butter or cold with mayonnaise. Plan it as the expensive meal of the trip.

Somewhere dry on Hanover Street

Boston Public Market at 100 Hanover Street is indoors and open all year, at the city-centre end of the North End. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and to 8 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday, though stalls keep their own times. The traders are all New England producers, so you can eat a proper meal under one roof or buy things to take home.

Caffè Vittoria at 290 Hanover Street opened in 1929 and still has its marble-topped tables and old brass espresso machines. It's open 8 a.m. to midnight every day, long after the museums have closed and the pastry lines have gone. Come after dinner for a Lavazza espresso and a limoncello or Sambuca, and sit until you're warm.

Walking it with a guide

North End Boston Food Tour takes you round six to eight stops in about three hours, with every tasting in the price. You'll eat pizza, fresh pasta and pastries, with espresso along the way. It meets at the Tony DeMarco statue at 191 Hanover Street, and you book ahead.

Freedom Trail history walks run every day of the week and start at $35 a person. Book a day or two ahead and you can fit one in before lunch.

Closures and cash

Old North takes no visitors on Monday, Copp's Hill is closed on Sundays, and the Paul Revere House closes on Thanksgiving. Bring cash for lunch at Galleria Umberto, book the food tour ahead, and confirm Old North's hours if you're coming in Thanksgiving week.

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