I'm curious why you picked Newport, RI and Portsmouth, NH.. is your main interest in seeing the fall colours (leaf peeping)?

It would help if you suggested things you'd like to see/do.
Yes, you can drive from Newport to the Cape and onto Portsmouth in a day but do you want to spend time on a beach on the Cape?

you are not giving yourself any time on the cape.

Thank you, Sassy and Jubilada

Well - I'd love to do the cliff walk in Newport. We want to do some leaf peeping as well - I'm just assuming that will happen when we drive up Hwy 100 in Vermont. I know we're not leaving much time for Cape Cod - we don't want to spend any time on beaches - and maybe it should be left out. We like historic places - that's why the Portsmouth destination. Do you think it's worth the drive? Have you visited Strawbery Banke Museum?

What do you think?

what do you think?

When in October will you be visiting?

We depart Manhattan on October 11 - a tad late for optimal autumn foliage - but we're locked in to that date.

Thank you for your time with this - I'm starting to get a little flummoxed!

Actually, mid-October is ideal fall foliage time in the southern part of NH and VT.

I enjoyed strawberry banke. I would skip the cape on this trip, although there are certainly historical sights you just are not going to have time for it. You are right on time for foliage, there will be hordes of people "peeping" which will make roads busy. you can get lobster in Portsmouth.
by the way Newport is one word.

I agree that you should skip the Cape on this trip. Another option on your drive to Newport would be Mystic, CT for a day to see the Aquarium and the Seaport.

Thank you all so much.

All of that looks great.

Do you think Rte 100 is a good idea? What do you think about the small towns along that route? Any tips?

Mid-October in the Monadnock Region (Southwest corner of New Hampshire) is peak leaf-peeping time but even at its busiest times the area is not inundated with tourists and there rae plenty of great towns and scenery to experience!

-There is a wonderful covered bridges tour just South of Keene. http://www.southwestnh.com/outdoors/bridges.html

-Pack Monadnock in Peterborough has an auto-road you can drive to the top for fabulous views. October is also hawk migration season and the Audubon society sets up a monitoring station on Pack where they counted 10,000+ osprey, red tailed, bald eagle, harriers, etc last season. It's worth a trip to the top! http://www.nhaudubon.org/locations/raptor-observatories

-If you plan to hoof it, of course you can climb Mt Monadnock which has 360 degree panoramic views. It is the most climbed mountain in the Western Hemisphere. http://www.mountainsummits.com/mountains/newhampshire/monadnock.htm

-Cathedral of the Pines is a meditative scenic walk through towering pines with views of Mt Monadnock. It is an international peace memorial. http://www.cathedralofthepines.org/

-For history there is the birthplace of Franklin Pierce, our 14th president and The Fort at Number 4 which is a living history museum. http://www.fortat4.org/

Scenic quintessential New England towns to visit include Peterborough (named on of the top ten coolest small towns in the U.S.), Keene, Harrisville, and Walpole.

Archie1234,

We enjoyed our New England trip in 2009 - I responded to another Fodors poster regarding a trip to New England and in the interest of time I'll just clip/paste my response. Perhaps some of this information will be of some help to you. Have a great time - the fall colors are unbelievable!

Anna,
We just did the same trip this last fall - Oct 2-10th. The New England area is beautiful in the fall - you will love it! We didn't spend anytime in Boston as we had been there before but we did fly in/out of Logan.

We rented a car at Logan and drove up the coast. The first night we stayed in Portsmouth and from there north as far as Cape Elizabeth and then drove west into N Conway/Conway staying two nights, west to Burlington-1 night and then Stowe-2 nights and Woodstock-1 night and back to airport-1 night. We were using points for hotels as much as possible so we stayed at Sheratons and Hampton Inns. We did splurge in Stowe staying at the Green Mountain Inn - lovely and well worth the $. In Woodstock we stayed at the Vermont Inn - not impressed really.

Some of our favorites were:

1.Lunch at the Washington Hotel - BEAUTIFUL!
2.Kamacangus Highway
3.Breakfast at the Inn at Shelburne - you don't have to pay to tour the farm if you have breakfast there
4.Smugglers Notch
5.Ben & Jerry's ice cream tour
6.Grand View Winery
7.Cold Hollow Cider Mill
8.Quechee Gorge

One of THE best things we purchased before going was the Atlas & Gazetteer for New Hampshire. This was invaluable as it shows all the backroads and also highlights sights to stop at. We wished we'd bought the one for Vermont as well. I also printed off the scenic drives on Yankee Foliage's website.

Good luck in planning - you'll have a great time! PamT

Oh my goodness! Hawk migration season!! Now I'm excited!! Truly. And we like to walk, so maybe we'll hike up. And covered bridges south of Keene I didn't know about. I will also get that Atlas showing the back roads.

Do you think rte 100 is the way to go?

(This forum is fabulous! Thank you all again)

If you are serious about climbing Mt Monadnock, make sure you are dressed in multiple layers, and carry plenty of water and food/snacks. We climbed it last October on Columbus Day weekend. It was sunny and hot on our way up, but close to the summit the wind was fierce and it was much, much colder up there.

Agree with yk, unless you have good gear for climbing in changing weather conditions, I would skip the hike. You're here for only a week and I would be more careful and not risk getting hurt (but that's me). Plus 7 days is not much time as it is. Otherwise, Peterborough and the Monadnock Region is beautiful. I'm in New Hampshire and probably a little biased, but there is so much to see just in this one state!

Thank you all again.

And, after having read your suggestions, I think we're going to forget about going up to Portsmouth, and just concentrate on those lovely small towns - just keep to the eastern area after going to Newport. How does that sound?

And if we stop at Mystic on our way to Newport, then perhaps that's enough 'ports' for this trip. Then it's on to leef peeping and small towns - and hopefully some good diners.

Sorry - I meant keep to the west - not the east! After Newport head up to Peterborough and the Keene area - (should we stop at the Old Sturbridge Village?) And then up Rte 100 in Vermont.

If you stop at Mystic and go to Mystic Seaport, then much of Sturbridge Village will be redundant. The Seaport is focused on whaling but includes the homes, churches, and industries of the 19th century, like weaving, blacksmith, coopers etc, while Sturbridge is more focused on farming including many of the same industries. Both have docents in period costume who demonstrate and talk about the various areas. Both are small villages.

Both towns, apart from the museums, have shops, lodging, reesturaunts.

Thank you, Emalloy - OK - we'll just go to Mystic and leave Sturbridge out - perfect. No Portsmouth and no cape. (we'll save those places for next time and go right up the coast)

The trip has become a much simpler trip now, and I'm delighted. Far more small towns and less driving - sounds like the way to go. And Pam, I will get that Atlas and Gazetter for NH and VT. And Jaya - thanks for the advice - I think that climb up Mt Monadnock might be a little too ambitious for us - but it looks a pretty special place and I can't wait to see it. Thank you RLFox and Pam and everybody. I cannot tell you how excited we are about seeing that part of the country.

Any more tips? Keep em coming!

The Calvin Coolidge Historic site in Plymouth, Vt. is a lovely place and just off Route 100.
http://www.historicvermont.org/coolidge/

By the way, if you plan on spending the night in the Mystic area, be aware that Mystic is a village, part of which is in the town of Stonington, CT (Seaport, and Aquarium, and shops are here) and part of which is in the town of Groton, CT (some interesting shops, cool bascule draw bridge here). There is plenty of lodging in both towns, but the ones on the Mystic/Stonington side of the river (via exit 90 off I 95) are generally closer to things than the ones on the Groton side (many of which mainly serve the Navy submarine base) .

Hi,

Just south of Keene, NH along/off of Route 10 are a number of covered bridges. Quintessential New England.

www.worldisround.com/articles/344284/index.html

www.southwestnh.com/outdoors/bridges.html

http://coveredbridgemap.com/nh/

Paul