NRTTTCAL - Best Spots to Visit in New England?

meredithcarole

Hi Ladies! My parents want us to plan a four day weekend trip to New England some time over the next few months. Any suggestions on the best places to go and what to do there? None of us have ever been. *I should mention we are not particularly athletic.

LizBlue

I'm a Hudson Valley (ny) girl and love some of the sleepy arty towns on the Hudson. Tivoli is my favorite. Rhinebeck and New Paltz are also nice. Not very far into New England but maybe worth a stop for lunch along the way.

jap618

MAINEEEEEE!!!  I'm a little partial. 

Coastal Maine is gorgeous.  Portland has AMAZING restaurants, they do a First Friday night art walk (the first Friday of every month).  The Old Port is filled with restaurants, bars, shops an all old brick and cobble stone.  There are a lot of wineries and local craft breweries in Maine also if you guys are into that.

Boston has great history.  Also, the Sam Adams brewery is there!  Quincy Market & Faneuil Hall are big hits.  The aquarium in Boston is lovely too (I love penquins!).  Also Boston has a lot of phenomenal sports teams & Fenway has a lot of history too so if you wanted to hit up a Red Sox game that is fun.  

Boston to Portland, ME are only 1.5 hours (2 with traffic) so easily doable as a day trip if you stayed in Boston or Portland.  From Portland you can also go up to Boothbay Harbor (1 hourish), Camden (1.5-2 hours) or even Bar Harbor (it's almost 3.5 hours from Portland) and see all of the sites and walk the beaches.  Also off of Portland are several small islands that you can take a ferry out to and walk around, bike or just enjoy the views and eat lunch. 

I could go on for days!  Let me know if you're actually interested in coming up this far & I can get you more information!

mara005

I love Newport, RI. Historical, beautiful mansions you can tour and right on the ocean (with an amazing walking path right along the coast).

smcniff

jap618 said:

MAINEEEEEE!!!  I'm a little partial. 

Coastal Maine is gorgeous.  Portland has AMAZING restaurants, they do a First Friday night art walk (the first Friday of every month).  The Old Port is filled with restaurants, bars, shops an all old brick and cobble stone.  There are a lot of wineries and local craft breweries in Maine also if you guys are into that.

Boston has great history.  Also, the Sam Adams brewery is there!  Quincy Market & Faneuil Hall are big hits.  The aquarium in Boston is lovely too (I love penquins!).  Also Boston has a lot of phenomenal sports teams & Fenway has a lot of history too so if you wanted to hit up a Red Sox game that is fun.  

Boston to Portland, ME are only 1.5 hours (2 with traffic) so easily doable as a day trip if you stayed in Boston or Portland.  From Portland you can also go up to Boothbay Harbor (1 hourish), Camden (1.5-2 hours) or even Bar Harbor (it's almost 3.5 hours from Portland) and see all of the sites and walk the beaches.  Also off of Portland are several small islands that you can take a ferry out to and walk around, bike or just enjoy the views and eat lunch. 

I could go on for days!  Let me know if you're actually interested in coming up this far & I can get you more information!

I second this suggestion. Stay in Portland ME and take a few day trips out from there.

Newport it good too.

Also, if you like small quaint towns and antiquing, that sort of thing, I would recommend Vermont. Queeche/Woodstock area would be a good place to stay and do a day trip to Burlington VT. DH and I love Burlington which is right on Lake Champlain. Does hiking count as athletic? VT is great for hiking.

shandorfml2

I also agree with @jap618‌ ...I loooove Maine. I grew up near Portland and its a great city. Close to beaches, great shopping and food. You can also take a boat ride around the bay. There are many small coastal towns (including Kennebunk where I grew up) that is fun to check out. @jap618‌ we should meet up sometime!

RustyGirl3

You really can't go wrong no matter where you choose.  NH, VT, ME, RI...it's all beautiful.

I would go back up there to any of those places in a heartbeat. 

meredithcarole

Thanks for the suggestions! This will greatly help me narrow down my choices.

LaRomana09

RustyGirl3 said:

You really can't go wrong no matter where you choose.  NH, VT, ME, RI...it's all beautiful.

I would go back up there to any of those places in a heartbeat. 

@RustyGirl3 I notice you named all of the states EXCEPT my home state of CT  :P  It's okay, I would skip CT, too.  I live in RI now and THAT is where I would recommend.  

RustyGirl3

LaRomana09 said:

RustyGirl3 said:

You really can't go wrong no matter where you choose.  NH, VT, ME, RI...it's all beautiful.

I would go back up there to any of those places in a heartbeat. 

@RustyGirl3 I notice you named all of the states EXCEPT my home state of CT  :P  It's okay, I would skip CT, too.  I live in RI now and THAT is where I would recommend.  

I'm sorry!!!  CT seems to close to me to be part of New England even though it is...haha

stephy1221

What is great about New England is everything is a day trip so you can explore multiple states if you want.

 I live in RI and I like Newport and Galilee for summer spots here. The cape cod area in Mass. is good for beach towns. Boston has a ton to offer. Ditto the Portland ME recs. I also like Old Orchard Beach ME. The Portsmouth/Hampton area in NH are fun too.

Have a blast and if you end up in Rhode Island I can give you some good restaurant/entertainment recs.

hadley135

I went to CT and RI with a friend last summer and loved it there. Trip highlights for me were visiting the museums at Yale and taking a ferry to Block Island, RI. Here is a pic I took from the ferry. So pretty!

dawnstar898

I was born and raised in New England, so here are a ton of suggestions from each state!  The beaches of Maine are wonderful and if you like shopping I recommend the outlets in Kittery, also near Ogunquit which has some nice beaches. I have never been to Portland, but I do hear it's nice.   If you like hiking climbing Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is AMAZING.  Burlington VT is a wonderful town and Lake Champlain is there too.  You can also hit up the Ben and Jerry's factory, Magic Hat Brewery and Vermont Teddy Bear.  All great factory tours. Massachusetts there's Six Flags if you're in to theme parks, the basketball hall of fame, Dr. Seuss museum, Magic Wings Butterfly conservatory and Berkshire East (ziplining/white water rafting) are all near each other.  Also near there is a little town called Shebourne Falls that has this wonderful bridge of flowers that's worth checking out.  That's all western MA.  Eastern Mass obviously is Boston which is a great city and Salem Ma is interesting too if you like historical stuff and if you like a little creepy too, you could also check out Fall River (The Tale of Lizzie Borden?).  The Cape is always nice but can be a bit snooty in some places, I would recommend Provincetown.  (Ok obvi, I'm from Mass so I know a ton of places) If you like casinos go to CT, they have two right near each other, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods.  And bonus, the casinos are also close by to the beautiful beaches of Westerly RI (close to Newport as well).  So there you have it.  Obviously too much for just four days but I feel any of these places are definitely worth checking out!

BethKate2

Provincetown is my favorite spot on the Cape. You get the whole small town Cape Cod feel, but there's also decent nightlife because it's a gay hot spot. So much fun.

If you're into history, Boston is a must. I would recommend trying to spending a day there even if you end up staying in NH or ME. You can walk parts of the Freedom Trail on your own, or you can take a guided tour. Also, if you're in Boston, you have to take a tour of Fenway. It's 102 years old this year and my favorite place to be.

Newport is a super nice to visit, but if you stay there, you're probably going to want to plan to venture out to other places for a day or two. I'm not sure there's enough there to keep you busy for four days.

@dawnstar898 mentioned Fall River, but I wouldn't bother visiting there. Yes, the Lizzie Borden stuff is interesting, but Fall river is kind of a shithole.....believe me, I work there! haha

As someone else said, the best part about New England is that you can visit multiple states in just a matter of days.

BethKate2

Also, if you're into wineries, I can recommend my favorites in MA, RI, CT, and NH.

dawnstar898

BethKate2 said:

Provincetown is my favorite spot on the Cape. You get the whole small town Cape Cod feel, but there's also decent nightlife because it's a gay hot spot. So much fun.

If you're into history, Boston is a must. I would recommend trying to spending a day there even if you end up staying in NH or ME. You can walk parts of the Freedom Trail on your own, or you can take a guided tour. Also, if you're in Boston, you have to take a tour of Fenway. It's 102 years old this year and my favorite place to be.

Newport is a super nice to visit, but if you stay there, you're probably going to want to plan to venture out to other places for a day or two. I'm not sure there's enough there to keep you busy for four days.

@dawnstar898 mentioned Fall River, but I wouldn't bother visiting there. Yes, the Lizzie Borden stuff is interesting, but Fall river is kind of a shithole.....believe me, I work there! haha

As someone else said, the best part about New England is that you can visit multiple states in just a matter of days.

Aw, that's unfortunate!  I've never been but thought it would be interesting.  Maybe worth a pass through if you're in the area?? 

meredithcarole

@BethKate2‌ please do tell me your favorite wineries. I am studying for my level 2 Sommelier certification and I would love to visit a couple.

jap618

@meredithcarole if you come to Maine & like wine:

https://www.mainewinetrail.com/images/MaineWineTrail_2014.pdf

DH & I have tried 10-12 of them!!  They all have interesting wines, a lot of local fruit wines.  I'm not a huge mead fan so those weren't too impressive.  But if you do this be warned a lot of the "tasting rooms" are in peoples houses/basements.

BethKate2

meredithcarole said:

@BethKate2‌ please do tell me your favorite wineries. I am studying for my level 2 Sommelier certification and I would love to visit a couple.

In MA: https://www.jewelltownevineyards.com/ (on the MA/NH line),   https://trurovineyardsofcapecod.com/index.php (near Provincetown)

In RI: https://www.sakonnetwine.com/en_us/home/index.html,   https://newportvineyards.com/

In NH: https://www.labellewinerynh.com/,  https://zorvino.com/ (up near Maine)

In CT: https://www.stoningtonvineyards.com/, https://www.jedwardswinery.com/ Both of these are near Mystic, CT which is also a nice place to visit.