Michele

My whole life I have wanted to take my mother on a New England vacation. We are coming the last week of September 1st week in October. This is our itinery.
Fly into Provindence
Drive to Mystic CT for 3 nights
(Where should we take day trip from here?)
Drive to Newport to stay for 2 nights
Drive to New Bedford for 2 nights
From New Bedford we want to take day trips to Cape Cod and either Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket.
My question is "Does this sound like a good plan or should I be looking to add something else. I really want to show her a great time.
Thanks so much for your response!

lb

I think 3 days in Mystic is too much unless you will just be using it as a jumping-off point. Mysic and Newport are close enough to make one a day trip from the other. Unless there is some special event in Mystic, I would say one day is enough. We found Newport to be good for 2 days at a time - there's a limit to how much glitz I can take at one time - although we have returned several times to see everything. If you want to stay in southern New England, you might spend some time in Boston, too. I would also suggest a day in Portsmouth, NH. If you want to move inland, there are Lexington and Concord, Walden Pond and the National Historic Site in Lowell, MA, all very close to Boston.

egnal

I agree that you might consider two nights in Mystic..from Mystic you can visit Essex (a pretty New England town
with lovely shops and a great restaurant called The Griswold Inn)..also in that area (though not really thought of as traditional New England) there is the Norwich Inn and Spa for pampering..and for losing your money there are two large casinos very nearby...enjoy your special trip with your mom!!

Melissa

Hi Michelle-
That is very nice of you to take Mom on vacation. I would tweak your itinerary a tad, however.
Flying into Providence is good. Less busy than Logan.
3 nights in Mystic is too much.
Newport for 2 nights may be too much as well, but depends on what you will be doing there.
Why you decided New Bedford I will never guess, but if you want to do day trips to Cape Cod and Marthas Vineyard, then why don't you stay in Hyannis, MA instead?
I am getting the feeling that you want to see the quainter side of New England. You definitely won't get that in New Bedford.
Here is what I would do:
Spend 4 nights between Mystic and Newport. More than enough to get a taste for the area.
Leave early from the area the day after your last night in Mystic/Newport and stay in Hyannis. On your way to Hyannis explore Sandwich village, or Barnstable village and eat at the Barnstable Tavern on Rte 6A. The next day go to Marthas Vineyard or Nantucket.
Stay in Providence on your last night in New England. Great little city with interesting art, shopping, and restaurants.
Maine is noticeably absent from your itinerary. Most people when they think of the New England in movies/books picture Maine or Vermont. You could fly into Manchester NH or Portland Maine instead, and choose to explore that area as an alternative.
If you take anything from my advice though, take this-
YOU DO NOT WANT TO STAY IN NEW BEDFORD!
feel free to email.

Roger

I grew up in New Bedford and moved away when I started college, that was 14 years ago. Almost every year I go back at either Thanksgiving or Christmas to visit the family and have a great time -- I'm glad that's where I came from. Naturally, anyone from New Bedford has had to live with blanket bashing of the town. No one ever seems to enlarge upon why they personally hate the town so much. How's 'bout it, Melissa?

Melissa

Hey Roger-
For God's sake I grew up in LOWELL!
I would not advise anyone to stay there either!
Do you honestly think that New Bedford can compete with Mystic, Newport, Cape Cod, as far as tourism? Don't you think that there are better places for a young lady and her mom to be staying?
New Bedford is congested and polluted.
There are no sights to see there.
If I am wrong, please set me straight and let me know why you feel New Bedford is a place for Michelle to stay.
I am glad I came from Lowell too. I go back for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year as well. I have a great time with my family and seeing where I grew up, went to school, etc. However, that is not an argument for tourism to Lowell.

Joan

You will have a great trip. Went once to Mystic and every year went further into New England. This year did Acadia Nat Park in Maine, that's the icing on the cake if you ask me! Truly beautiful.
Anyway, I would add if there is time Salem, Mass (the witch trials, remember?) and Plymouth ( go to the plantation for feel of the Pilgrims)
I do agree about Mystic, you can get there early and tour around all in one day, stay over, finish up and head to Newport - two days tops will allow a good sampling tour of mansions and be sure you take the Ocean Drive. In Southern RI you can even visit the little fishing village of Galilee!
Have a great trip!

Jen

I just have to agree with the posters who said that you've allowed more time than necessary for Mystic. And with those who are mystified at why, with all of New England to choose from, you would choose 2 nights in New Bedford. It does have a nice bit of urban renewal and one or two museums (and factory outlet shopping in the area), but it certainly wouldn't be most people's focus for two days of a week-long New England trip.

The itineraries that people post here are often overambitious, with long distances and overoptimistic drive times. But in this case I think you might have erred in the oposite direction, as lb has suggested while making some excellent suggestions. Distances in New England are small; Mystic and New Bedford are only 80 miles/90 minutes apart. You can certainly venture farther afield than that, having a full week.

The end of Sept and early Oct. are the height of NE's famous foliage season just 50 or 100 miles north of where you propose to visit. Why not venture farther north, rather than sticking to the Southern coast? At the very least, a foliage trip northwards into MA and VT should be a day trip for you out of Mystic.

Christie

Take a day trip north to Deerfield, Mass and see the headquarters of the Yankee Candle Company. I went in May of this year and had SO much fun! They have a huge store with every sort of candle you could ever imagine, including ones you can dip yourself and a whole area of Christmas things. The restaurat there, Chandler's, was good, too. And just north of there in Historic Deerfield, there is an old 1700s village full of historic buildings that are restored. The Deerfield Inn B&B is really nice, too!

Michele

Thank you all for the great advice. The reason I set up the week that way was because I had a 1 week stay at Hilton hotels...as there was one in Mystic there was'nt one close to the Cape. The closest was New Bedford so I thought we could do day trips from there using that as our base. I thought from Mytic we could do day trips from there also. Then for the B&B experience to stay in Newport. I did think 3 days in Mystic was a little to much, but I will take a look at it and see if I can tweak it a little.
Thanks again!

Collette

Michele, I lived in RI most of my life until recently. Agree with people who said 3 nights in Mystic is too much... it's cute but pretty touristy . Also I definitely would not spend 2 nights in New Bedford... nothing against the city.. there is some history etc but I think a night in Providence would be far more interesting and give you more options. It is only 40 minute drive from Prov to New Bedford .. Providence is beautiful now and has museums, the East Side with Brown Univ and lots of great architecture.. and good resturants. Then spend some time at the beach and South County.

Linda

As a New Englander, I also agree with the above posters about your stay in New Bedford. Also something to think about is that late Sept/Oct is the off-season for Cape Cod and the Islands. You may want to consider going further North to find a different Hilton property.

rosie

I would not recommend staying in NEw Bedford for even one night..the people are lovely but not much to do or see ..I would recommend Newport, lots to do and a beautiful town, tour the mansions with so much history. have a great time on your trip

Sara

If you go to the Cape, I suggest that you go to Chatham, which is at the "elbow " of the Cape - it's a charming town with great shops and restaurants, a picturesque lighthouse, and pretty beaches to walk on. I took my mother-in-law, who was visiting, there last week, and she loved it. We had lunch at "The Impudent Oyster", and I recommend it - nice atmosphere, and great food (the seafood salad basket was really wonderful). There are many fun shops, but the best one is "Yankee Ingenuity" - it has lots of interesting handicrafts at amazingly reasonable prices. Although a trip to Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket might be fun, you might find it to be somewhat overambitious for the amount of time you have, especially as a day trip. There's so much to see and do on the Cape, and a lot less hassle to get to than the islands when your time is limited.

I agree with other posters, you'll be in N.E. during foliage season, so you may as well take advantage. I would suggest a day trip out to the Berkshires, perhaps see the Norman Rockwell museum, or, if you like gardens and/or historic houses, visit Chesterwood (summer home of Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French), Naumkeag, or the Berkshire Botanical Garden, all in Stockbridge. You can get to that area from Eastern Massachusetts in about two hours via the Mass Pike, and maybe meander back east on scenic Route 2 (or reverse that order). The foliage should be at about peak in that area the first week in October. You can go to Yankee Magazine's website, www.yankeemagazine.com, for a map showing peak foliage times in different regions of New England.

Michele

Thanks Sara for your reply! I'll print all of this out and take it with me when I go. We do very much want to see the colors and a day trip to the Berkshires sounds great.
Thanks to all!
I'm off to New England

Jayne

Michelle, even though I totally agree with going into Vermont to see the fall foliage, last year my mom and I spent 2 weeks in New England at exactly this time of year in fact we left on Sept 24, for that area, however we were disappointed to be about 2 weeks early for fall colour. We went over to Acadia and cannot imagine leaving that off the itinerary. These are memories the 2 of you will never forget. My Mom and I spent 3 hours on the phone last night remenising, as we live several hundred miles apart. ENJOY wherever you 2 venture.

kenm

Michele,
about 5-10 minutes from downtown Mystic is a little place called Clyde's cider mill. Clyde's presses their own apple cider using a 19th century cider press. You can buy the apple cider as well as baked goods, pumpkins, crafts, etc...
It's a nice way to spend an hour on a nice autumn day and get the flavor of NE. Enjoy your trip!

topper

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abc

I live on the Cape, and frankly, there isn't much to do right now, being off season. The berkshires are pretty or Mystic CT