Best place to trespass

Okay, it's not really trespassing if you stay on the path, and we'd never encourage you to break the law anyway. Lake Waban is evenly divided between Wellesley College (private, but open to the public) and the Hunnewell estate (just plain private). A trail runs around the lake, and as soon as you leave Wellesley property, you're warned by suitably serious signs that leaving the trail is a violation of the usual blah blah blah. So stay on the trail. Don't blame us if you get caught for, say, eating lunch with your back against one of the columns of the grand Hunnewell colonnade, shaded from the August sun, overlooking a sloping lawn and topiary trees and the lake stretching out like liquid glass. The water is warm in the summer, clear for lake water, and entirely legal to swim in if you wade from the Wellesley beach. Again, we would never encourage anyone to duck the watchful eye of the state trooper, change in the woods, and find a secluded spot to plunge in from the trail. And if that meant you could enjoy a private freshwater swim in the heart of summer, free of charge, 20 minutes from the city -- well, trust us, we wouldn't know.

Lake Waban, Wellesley College, Route 135, just west of the Wellesley town center. Free weekend parking next to the tennis courts.