ahdallas

During 2 weeks’ vacation in Mid-May, I will spend a week in NYC then in the 2nd week I am planning to visit Boston with my college-age daughter for 3 days and then see around CT, RI, and MA in a road trip for 4 days. Since my daughter's college is in NYC and I have visited Boston before so he help I am looking for is for planning the road trip. I’ve done some initial planning research but I would love to benefit from the feedback of the area experts and the more experienced travelers and appreciate the ideas for places to visit and either spend overnight or just few hours.

We are interested at any of the following:
- Visiting Salem, MA.
- Visiting a lighthouse in any of these 3 states.
- Quaint places with NE atmosphere.
- Historic places.
- A coastal drive that allows us to stop and enjoy the scenery.
- Nice parks or gardens.
- Old bridges.
- Car ferry if feasible and not too expensive.
- Famous universities. If we go Providence my daughter is interested at visiting RISD or Brown and if we visit New Haven it will be Yale.
- Unique museums if have different style than NYC famous museums.
And, at this trip, we are not looking at:
- Spending time on the beach.
- Hiking.
- Spending time at outlet malls.

I know it is not a good idea to have a car in either NYC or Boston but we like the freedom of having a car in the road trip itself so I will investigate the costs of the different options of renting a car in both going and coming back avoiding the expensive parking costs and hassle.

I am also contemplating using the bus/train to go from NYC to Boston and then renting a car one way from Boston for the road trip and dropping it in NYC once I get the there.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

emalloy

In CT, the museums that I can think of that are not like the NYcity museums would be, Mystic Seaport, Foxwoods Mashantucket Indian museum and if you like house museums, Hillstead Museum in Farmington, about 10 miles west of Hartford. If you like lighthouses, there is a small museum in Stonington, Ct that is built in a lighthouse.

In Salem there is the Peabody-Essex Museum as well as the House of Seven Gables and some witch related ones. The National Park Service runs some tours.

Car ferries from New London, CT go to Block Island, Orient Point, NY and to Fisher's Island. The Fisher's Island one isn't too expensive, but there isn't much for you to do/see there and some of the roads are private. The last time we took the Orient Point Ferry I think it was about $50, one way, but if you plan to drive back to the airport you could take it and drive down Long Island instead of down 95.

You don't say if you are driving to NY or using some other mode of transportation, but DS found a place to park for $35 per day that was close to the hotel he stayed in and since his family was only there for a weekend it was cheaper than paying for parking outside the city and taking the train in. If you're flying in, then do the train to Boston and rent a car when you want to do your trip. Try to do a loop and return the car where you got it to avoid the (usually) stiff drop fee and either fly out of Boston or train back to NY.

ahdallas

Fantastic, thank you. I am flying in to NYC and I will fly out on day 7 late PM.

Good to know an approximate cost of using the ferry. I was hoping it is cheaper than that but I will keep in mind the option of using it in the return and going directly to the airport. Renting a car at Boston and returning it there after looping around is an interesting idea that I will investigate and also I will need to develop a routing plan.

CONNOLE1056

Salem is not close to Providence, but is a fun trip. However, there isn't an easy way to get there. When I go to Salem I use 95N to 128N. I get off on route 114 and follow the signs into Salem. I do not know why, but this route NEVER comes up in either of my Garmins, so you may want to take note. RISD has a museum that many people like. I do not know what you mean by a NY style museum though... Roger Williams Park & Zoo in Providence is award-winning. It is not in a nice area, but there are some beautiful old homes around it. Several have been kept in beautiful condition. The houses around Brown are lovely and many have plaques listing the date built.You can look here for info on a walking tour: http://www.goprovidence.com/things-t...ast-side-tour/
This area of Providence is known as the East Side. The John Brown is beautiful. Check out the links on the above sight for more info regarding things to do right in Providence. I am used to the food in RI, but Federal Hill is known to have the best Italian food in the country. To me, it is regular Italian food, but apparently the rest of the country thinks otherwise.
If you take route 95S from Providence you can go to Block Island, taking the ferry from Galilee in Narragansett. On the website it is listed as Point Judith (Galilee is the village in which the ferry service is located). There is a lighthouse on Block Island. In Narragansett you can go to the Coast Guard station and view the lighthouse there. It is right near my house. Obviously Narragansett is a coastal town and had beautiful beaches. Traveling on route 1A will bring you through a few cute towns. Then you could look at the Rose Island lighthouse on your way to Narragansett. There are many small restaurants serving local seafood. Iggy's in Narragansett is great, though Aunt Carrie's across the street is more well-known. They do not look like much, but the food is wonderful. I like the fried clams, clam cakes and chowder (New England style, also called milk). Iggy's has terrific dough boys that cannot be missed!

SusieQQ

Newport Rhode Island is lovely with "cottages" of the rich and famous. The Cliff Walk is worth a walk. As is a drive along the ocean.

www.newportmansions.org

ahdallas

Thanks SusieQQ for Newport’s tip, I am planning to visit it and may overnight there.
Thanks Connole1056, your post is really awesome and I will reference it in the trip especially the route info and the restaurants recommendations. BTW what I meant by saying we are interested at a museum with different style than NYC famous museums, is to be quaint and unique unlike the large and famous ones in NYC that, in a positive way, overwhelm the visitors but need a lot of time. Emallloy posted some examples in this thread.

I have checked the transportation options and found that the economical option for us is to rent a car at our way out from NYC (not from airport location) and return it when we get back to NYC. Even if we don’t use the car in Boston and pay say $30 parking in a Boston’s hotel for 3 days, it will be cheaper.

I am working on a preliminary itinerary considering the advices and ideas I am getting.

Ackislander

It will be too cold to go into the water at the beach in mid-May.

This is graduation time in Boston and the most expensive time of year for hotels. You will be shocked unless you are a New Yorker or Londoner.i

But is still a great time for a trip.

Here is a loop:

NYC-Orient Point, Long Island
Ferry to New London, CT
Mystic and Stonington, CT
Westerly-Narragansett, RI along coast
Newport and Tiverton, RI
Cape Cod National Seashore with Nauset Light
Salem, MA
Essex and Newburyport and Plum Island, MA
Lexington and Concord, MA
Providence, RI
New Haven, CT
NYC

This sounds like a lot, but much of it is drive through. It has no back tracking. You do not need to book ahead except perhaps in New Haven or Providence if it is graduation week. If you want a day in Boston, do a day trip by commuter rail from Salem or Newburyport.

The best chowder is probably in Eastern Connecticut and throughout Rhode Island: with luck, you will get to sample all four styles -- New York (tomato base and spicy), Rhode Island clear (broth, fish, potato, onion), Milky ( thin, no flour, clams or fish, broth, celery), thick (often gloppy with flour, often ruined by restaurants with extraneous herbs.). It is filling, but so is library paste. The best is clear. There are two great shacks just off I-95 in Mystic. They are both delicious.

dfrostnh

I agree esp with the Indian Museum at Foxwoods (it's in a separate building) and Concord/Lexington historic area. I thought the Alcott House was interesting but we just did a brief visit. The same weekend we also visited Fruitlands in Harvard MA where the Alcotts tried to start a utopian community. I think the Chinese house at PEI in Salem makes a unique visit.

Years ago we visited the Johnson and Wales Museum in Providence. I believe it has been moved to a nicer building. Students give tours. It was kind of odd but fascinating history of stoves and cooking.

Mid-may should be beautiful anyplace that has flowering shrubs and fruit trees. It's a bit after spring bulbs but before perennials really get going. I love forsythia and other blooming shrubs. Tiverton I remember as being quaint.

Convenient to I95 and not too far off from your routes, there is an outlet village in Wenham MA.

When you travel to Salem MA it's probably less than 2 hours north to Kittery Maine outlet malls.

ahdallas

Ackislande nice post. Thanks for the details. We are not planning to spend time on the beach or go into the water but rather focus at the sightseeing and exploring New England beauty.

Yes I am afraid Boston hotels will cost a prime. I am still recovering from the price tag shock of NYC hotel. I have reserved a week prior to this trip to attend my daughter graduation there. I will start making Boston reservation in a few days. If the costs are outrageous I may have to look for a hotel in the outskirts of Boston with an easy public transportation to Boston since I don’t want to drive there.

Thanks for the route ideas, they cover most of what we like but since my daughter wants to spend several days in Boston, I may have to modify it a bit. I also like to keep some places at this itinerary for a separate trip.

What I am preliminary thinking is; starting on Saturday:

Day1) NYC to Mystic (either Orient ferry, or Merritt parkway).
May visit the Indian Museum at Mashantucket. (Hotel at Mystic).
Day2) Leave Mystic to Stonington-Narragansett-Newport. (Hotel at Newport).
Day3) Newport-Providence
Providence-Boston. (Hotel at Bostion).
Day4-Day6) Boston. (Hotel at Boston).
Day7) Boston-New Haven, inland route, avoid I-95. (Hotel at New Haven)
Day8) Leave New Haven at 8 AM  New York.
Fly out from NY at 4 pm.

I am not sure yet whether this Itinerary is realistic or makes sense. I appreciate the experts feedback.

ahdallas

Thanks dfrostnh for the tips and for sharing your expertise about the museums, I am planning to visit the Indian museum and noting the rest for possible stops. Good to know that although it is not the foliage but May still is a pleasant drive.

Ackislander now I may act as a chowder expert after what I learned from your post. Thank you.

dfrostnh

whoops, sorry, I missed the word "not" as in you are NOT interested in outlet malls.
for unique museum in Boston I would suggest the Kennedy Library which I believe has free parking. When we have visited we do that first on our way into Boston which works time wise with hotel check in time.

emalloy

Good suggestions from dfrostnh. We were able to park for free at the Kennedy Library and if you are coming up from the south it is on the way.

Do check the open days/times for the Indian Museum. It was closed one day when we tried to make a return trip.

ahdallas

Thanks for the suggestions dfrostnh and emalloy. Up to this point the planning and the ideas I am getting are all fun. Not I need to work on the no so much fun part, the hotels reservations. I looked at Boston hotels and the prices are wicked. I may have to settle for the surrounding areas as Medford, Chelsea, Peabody, Revere,.. etc but i need to do some more research.

bachslunch

Agreed, Mystic Seaport is excellent and will keep you occupied for hours. There's also a good aquarium there.

Newport is ground central for huge opulent mansions to tour. Three especially good ones are The Breakers, Marble House, and The Elms. Three in a day is about my limit, as there's plenty of interesting furnishings and architectural detail at these.

dfrostnh

maybe start new thread about day tripping into Boston via public transportation. I have friends who use a particular T station with parking. I've only used bus with a long ride. Except when we lived in Wakefield and took train to North Station. Not all public transit stations have parking.

There's a Boston hotel nobody likes but the rooms were decent and when we stayed there, parking was free with easy access to I93. Long walk to the subway but the hotel provided some shuttle service. We used taxis at night because hotel is in sketchy area. Website says rooms renovated in 2016. It has been several years since we stayed there. Now called Best Western Plus used to be Round House. Still says free parking and shuttle service. Not as much fun as being in Copley Square but might be about the least expensive hotel in Boston. IMHO most hotel rooms are about the same. Might have great view from some hotels with great restaurants within walking distance but if you are in price shock, you might consider this one rather than commute from outlying city.

ahdallas

Thanks for the info. I will plan for at least 2 night in Mystic & Newport area and will start a new thread for Boston as dfrostnh suggested and thanks for the hotel tip.