Visiting Worcester
Restaurants
Worcester has a variety of Restaurants, anything from Indian, to Mexican, to Italian to just plain old bar food. Please click here for a full list of restaurants that Worcester and the surrounding areas have to offer.
Entertainment
Worcester is also a great Entertainment location. The DCU Center is the city's biggest performance venue. It has played host to many great performers, as well as NCAA Hockey and Holy Cross Basketball. The DCU is also home to the Worcester Sharks, our local hockey team. Baseball fans can catch a great Worcester Bravehearts game at Fitton Field on the Holy Cross campus. The Bravehearts are a collegiate team in the Futures League.
After a huge restoration of a vacant downtown theatre, the Hanover-Theatre of the Performing Arts opened in March 2008 to great reviews. You can see anything from a Broadway Musical to a live concert from your favorite artists. Another great hall is the nation's finest pre-Civil War concert hall, Mechanics Hall. This is a preferred location for private galas, musical performances, professional recording studios and business meetings. One of the city's oldest active theatre companies is The Worcester County Light Opera Company. WCLOC produces a wide variety of theatre works, from comedy to tragedy, from contemporary to classical.
Even here at UMass, we have the Seven Hills Symphony. The symphony's mission is to offer a creative outlet for UMass health professionals, staff and students, to contribute culturally to the community and to provide high quality classical music performances for the patients and staff at the medical center. The symphony performs 2-3 concerts a year.
Attractions
Worcester's attractions are an amazing mix of art, history and outdoor fun.
History buffs should visit the American Antiquarian Society on Salisbury street. The AAS has a great collection of printed materials from pre-Colonial to pre-Civil War times. To travel further back in time, visit the Higgins Armory Museum, which stores artifacts from Corinthian helmets to the ornate armor of a Renaissance knight. If you are more interested in local history, visit the Worcester Historical Museum, which offers high-quality programs, events and exhibitions.
If you are interested in arts and crafts, visit the Worcester Art Museum, which hosts many world-class collections from Renoir, Monet and Cezanne. ARTSWorcester is also a great non-profit organization that has great contemporary art shows. Another great local museum is the Museum of Russian Icons.
For those that love nature, the EcoTarium is a unique indoor-outdoor environmental museum with tons of interactive exhibits. The Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary has more than 400 acres and 5 miles of trails. Tower Hill Botanic Garden is a 132 acre beauitfully planned garden with walking trails. Wachusett Mountain is only 10 miles away from Worcester in Princeton, MA. It has 20 ski trails and is a great place to go hiking in the summer. Looking for something new to do? Try hot air ballooning with Bella Via Balloon Co. This is a great way to see the foliage, or even just to get an aerial view of our city. If you are looking for a great place to take your children, visit Davis Farmland and Mega Maze. Want to see what it was like to live in the 1800's? Go to Old Sturbridge Village, one of the country's oldest and largest living history museums. Walk through antique buildings, historians in costume, water-powered mills and a great working farm. Each season they have new activties!
For a complete listing of everything that Worcester and the surrounding areas have to offer, please click here.
Shopping
If you are looking to do a little shopping, there are many malls and shopping centers to choose from. There is the Greendale Mall in Worcester featuring Best Buy and TJ Maxx. In Marlboro, there is the Solomon Pond Mall featuring Macy's and JCPenney. In Auburn, we have the Auburn Mall that also has a Macy's and Sears. If you are looking for more upscale stores like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, try the newly upgraded Natick Mall Collection. About 40 miles away are the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets with close to 200 stores, including the Eddie Bauer Outlet, Sony Outlet and the Banana Republic Outlet, just to name a few.
Nightlife
If you are looking for something fun to do with your friends and family around the city, this is a great link that shows you everything that is going on each night. City of Worcester: Nightlife Calendar.
For more on what Worcester has to offer, click here.