Free Museum Nights in Boston
Photo: Sintakso (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Thursday is the night. Two of Boston’s best museums are free every Thursday evening, and a third drops to $5 once a month. You need a ticket even when it’s free, so book ahead.
Free every Thursday, 5 to 9 PM
- ICA Boston, in the Seaport. Free for everyone from 5 to 9 PM on Thursdays; advance tickets are required. Visitors 18 and under are always free.
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, in the Fenway. Free for everyone from 5 to 9 PM on Thursdays. Free tickets open two days ahead. Kids 17 and under are always free, and so is anyone named Isabella (book through the box office at least a day ahead and bring ID).
$5 Third Thursdays at the MFA
On the third Thursday of each month, the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, is pay-what-you-wish after 5 PM, with a $5 minimum. The MFA stays open until 10 PM on Thursdays and Fridays. Regular adult admission is $30.
Always free
- Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Square. Free every day, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM. On the last Thursday evening of each month they throw a free night with music, food and drink.
- Boston Public Library, Central Library, 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square. Free, and open until 8 PM Monday to Thursday. Bates Hall, the big reading room, is the one to see.
Free days worth knowing
- The ICA is free for everyone on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Labor Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
- The Gardner is free on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples’ Day; tickets open two weeks ahead.
- The MFA is free for Massachusetts residents on its Open House days. Next up is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18, 2027. No advance tickets; bring something showing a Massachusetts zip code.
A Thursday plan: the ICA when it opens up for free at 5, then dinner in the Seaport and stand-up at Laugh Boston. More ideas on our free events page and cheap nights out.
Checked October 14, 2026 against: ICA, Gardner Museum, MFA, Harvard Art Museums, Boston Public Library. Museums change these programs now and then, so check before you go.