Colleen_Elizabeth

My husband and I are planning a trip to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Prince Edward Island. We were planning about 10 days for the trip. Never been before and wondering the "must see" and "to do's." We are a bit flexible if we need more time.

Colleen_Elizabeth

Oh, we are traveling June 20-30, 2010. Thanks for any suggestions. Love to take pictures too. Can't wait for seafood.

rizzo0904

That's a lot of ground to cover in 10 days.

NH - definitely do some hiking in the white mountains.
VT - I like all the touristy things....cabot tour, ben and jerry's tour...i just think they are fun.

What do the two of you enjoy? What is your starting point (where in VT?)

rizzo0904

Just realized you will be here for race week....avoid the area near Loudon, NH the weekend of the 27th.

china_cat

PEI is lovely, but it's an awfully long way to go on a short trip like that. I would really re-consider. It deserves a few days and is better done with New Brunswick than Vermont.
If you went to Bar Harbor Maine, it would be a 9 hour drive to PEI. You'd really want to stop on the way. So if you JUST were talking about the Maine/PEI part of the trip you might do:

Portland (1 or 2 nights)
Bar Harbor (2 nights)
New Brunswick (someplace around the Bay of FUndy, perhaps) (1 night)
PEI (3 nights)
Down East Maine (Machias, Campobello or Lubec) ( 1 Night)

I've just used up 9 nights and haven't gotten to New Hampshire and Vermont. Or back to your starting point.

Of course, you CAN do all you want to, although you will have mostly 1-2 nights stops. Personally, I would find it more rewarding to cover less ground, stay 2-3 nights in each place. I would either concentrate on Maine and Canada, or do New Hampshire and Vermont with a bit of south coast Maine.

Where do you plan to start and end? Flying into someplace? Driving from some distance?

dfrostnh

I agree, including PEI in such a short time span is too much. We live in NH and usually spend a week in Maine or VT, sometimes splitting our time between two locations because we like to do day trips. South of Portland ME you'll find sandy beaches and more crowds although coming before July 1 should be less busy except on weekends. North of Portland the beaches are rockier. We like the Wiscasset ME area because there are several lobster shack places we like although check hours. Some are open weekends only until summer really gets under way. We also prefer casual eating places. If you want more upscale dining look to Portsmouth NH, Portland ME, Rockland, Camden. You'll find fresh seafood inland, too, so Manchester NH has some great restaurants.

You might check out the photos on Yankee Magazine's website to get an idea of areas you would like to visit. We like to include a boat ride such as the ones in Portsmouth. We're looking forward to the mail boat out of Portland ME on our next trip. Lighthouse cruises are interesting, too.

rizzo made a good warning. Rt 93 northbound traffic is always heavy on Fridays in NH, but even worse on a race weekend. You'll find heavy southbound traffic on Sunday afternoons.

There's so much to see and do. I would split your time between 3 states: mid-coast ME, NH's White Mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee, central VT.

Colleen_Elizabeth

OMG! Thank you all so much. My husband and I are starting from Michigan. WE love to drive and don't mind covering a lot of miles in a day. We do have flexibility on our time. I just threw those dates out as we would like to be back on our lake for July 4th weekend.

We would prefer casual dining. My husband prefers chatting with the locals and learning about their town. I am looking forward to seafood.

I love the "touristy" kinds of things but also love the country side and wildlife. I would prefer a beach day, but that is not my husband's idea of great fun. I read about whale watching, not sure if the time we are traveling would allow for that magnificent sight.

We don't have hiking gear so not sure that would be something we could do. We are very athletic and keep very active so walking is so "doable" for us.

This is so awesome to have such great advice. Thank you!

dfrostnh

Instead of a whale watch you might consider either a lighthouse tour or a lobster cruise where the captain pulls up a lobster trap and explains all about lobsters. You could also take the boat out to Monhegan Island for some wonderful easy hiking. Although there are restaurants, you don't have a lot of time on the island so we took a picnic lunch. The walk to Owls Head light is easy plus you can also take the trail down to a rocky beach - this is near Rockland. No special hiking equipment needed just comfortable shoes with a good tread (I sometimes were sports sandals).
Last year in mid-June the day we had planned to go to our favorite lobster shack with only picnic tables the weather was icky so when we spotted signs for a lobster dinner to benefit a local fire dept that's where we headed. Great deal for lobster plus mussels and sides. We sat at long tables under a tent and possibly were the only ones not local. When you get here, check local papers for community suppers. It could be ham and bean, it could be lobster. Sometimes the lobster benefits require advance purchase of tickets but you might get lucky like we did. Most benefit/community suppers are on Saturdays. Sometimes there are benefit breakfasts. Many of these are poorly advertised so keep your eyes open for signs and check the community news in the local newspaper.

yestravel

I agree that going to PEI would be too much. You could easily spend 10 days in just Maine or Vermont and that would still be moving around alot. Here's ten days in Maine. You could fly into Portland and spend a couple days there -- it's a charming city with great restaurants, casual and nice ones. I'm a big fan of the area around Bath, Maine, so I woulld drive there next and spend some time on the Harpswell Penisula or Georgetown. Reed State park is there for exploring or a beach day. That area tends to be less crowded and very pretty. U could visit Camden area and stay there if u like or in Boothbay Harbor. Then go up to Bar Harbor and spend a few days there.

colbeck

I agree with the others - PEI is way too far to combine with a trip to mid-Maine, NH and Vermont. Save it for another time and possibly combine PEI with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and even northern Maine.

The New England states may look small on the map, particularly compared to states like Michigan. Keep in mind however, that though north-south travel is fairly easy, driving east-west can be very slow because of the mountains. To see what you came to New England for, you want to get off onto alternative routes, rather than just interstate highways.

If you do make it to Woodstock/Quechee be sure to stop at Simon Pearce in Quechee village. It is a wonderful old mill on the river where there is a glass blowing gallery (Simon is an Irish glass blower)and a fabulous restaurant.

10 days is not a lot of time to see all the wonderful things the area has to offer.

bennnie

We've done a lobster cruise out of Portland Harbor that was so much fun we did it again a year later. Portland also has the SeaDogs - AA minor league baseball. Plus some nice restaurants.

My hands down favorite part of Maine is the Schoodic Pennisula - there is a part of Acadia National Park there that does not get a lot of visitors. Winter Harbor is a tiny little village with a few artists that is just great.

Portsmouth NH is very pretty too and has a good bit of nice shopping and the Kittery Outlets are across the river. Love the Wentworth by the Sea Marriott hotel as a base for this area.

colbeck

Another lovely place to stay on the coast of Maine is the Black Point Inn in Scarborough, just south of Portland.

RetiredVermonter

colbeck:

Agree on Simon Pearce in Quechee village, and the restaurant is a neat, quaint place, too.

Of course, if anyone wants to browse a lot of antique dealers under one roof, that village has a lot in once place, too.

TerrMys

Just echoing the others that Prince Edward Island is too far to fit into your schedule. It takes a looong time to get all the way up there; you'd be racing past all the great little nooks and crannies of New England.

Anyway, some of my recommended must-sees (you might not be able to hit them all on your route, but they're worth researching!)-

Vermont:
Mount Equinox Skyline Drive
Route 100 between Killington and Stowe
Lake Willoughby and Burke Mountain
Any of the postcard-perfect villages near the eastern border, especially Woodstock, but also: Grafton, Weston, Ludlow, Pomfret, East Corinth, Topsham, Danville, Peacham

New Hampshire:
Lupine Festival in Sugar Hill (ends June 20th but there should still be flowers lingering afterwards; check out Polly's Pancacke Parlor for good homemade food while you're there)
Franconia Notch State Park (particularly the Flume Gorge)
Crawford Notch State Park & Mt. Washington Hotel
Kancamagus Highway
Mt. Washington Auto Road (AMAZING views if the weather is clear)
Squam Lake (hike Rattlesnake Mtn. in Holderness for the best view)
Village of Center Sandwich
Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough
Wolfeboro
Portsmouth (awesome little city! Strawberry Banke is beautiful)

Maine:
Nubble Lighthouse on Cape Neddick
Portland Head Light on Cape Elizabeth
Wiscasset (and Red's Eats seafood shack)
Boothbay Harbor
Damariscotta
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse
Camden & Mt. Battie drive (one of the best views in all of New England)
Acadia National Park