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Oct. 8- 19, 11 day road trip New England Foliage and camping

Oct. 8- 19, 11 day road trip New England Foliage and camping

Old Jan 12th, 2016, 04:25 PM
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Oct. 8- 19, 11 day road trip New England Foliage and camping

Hi, we are planning on doing a 11 day strip starting in New York where we pick up a rental camper and then from there we would like to spend the next 11 days covering New England hopefully places in each state ( focus on foliage and history) and back on the last day to drop the rental. We do not want to make reservations if at all possible. I promised my husband that we would not have an itinerary. We would like to stay at campgrounds or anywhere we could a small camper.


If this is not a reasonable way to see New England we could rent a car, however from what I understand lodging would be very difficult without reservations.

whatever advice would be greatly appreciated .
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Old Jan 12th, 2016, 07:13 PM
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Hi, well it looks all is changing . I think we will rent a car and make reservations .Oct.8-19 . I found this itinerary on a website that is a two week New England Drive. So maybe with suggestions and modifying the following. Could we get suggestions on where to stay keeping the drive at no more than three hours one way before moving lodging locations. Lodging we are not particular just clean and comfortable. Thank You for the assistance

Boston (airport)
Kennebunk
Cape Porpoise
Gonham NH
St Johnsbury VT
Cornish NH
Londonderry VT
North Adams MA
Torrington CT
Putnam CT
Wickford RI
Little Compton RI
Sandwich MA
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Old Jan 13th, 2016, 10:59 AM
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Old Jan 15th, 2016, 10:03 AM
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Where did you find that itinerary? Is there a reason for choosing those specific towns to stop in? It's not a horrible itinerary but wouldn't be my choice.

For starters, Kennebunk and Cape Porpoise are essentially the same place and they both only a couple hours from Boston. What time will you be leaving Boston? Kennebunkport/Cape Porpoise is nice, so is Ogunquit and York (nice light house) and there are a few more great light houses just south of Portland (including Portland Head Light, on every calendar of New England). If you are leaving Boston in the morning you can easily do that stretch to Portland in one day. Portland will have the most lodging option but even there, that week, it would be best to have reservations. Portland itself is a cute little town (not really a city). From Portland to Camden is another great stretch of coast but even on Rt 1 (the coastal route) you need to detour off to smaller roads down to the water.

Then I'd cut over to NH from around Camden, Maine and go through either the lakes region or white mountains, but you really will need reservations (that is just about 'peak' foliage week, even the Motel 6s get booked solid). In Vermont Rt 100 or Rt 7 are the most scenic.

In Massachusetts, Rt 7 through the Berkshires is good, but so is the Pioneer Valley (I-91/Rt 5) along the Connecticut River. Historic Deerfield is a museum of colonial houses along a one mile street. If you wanted to go there you'd take Rt 2 ('the Mohawk Trail') east from Rt 7 to the Pioneer Valley. Sturbridge Village is a living history museum in Sturbridge Mass, a bit further east. From there you could go down to Mystic Connecticut (another living history museum there), then east through RI back to Boston.
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Old Jan 17th, 2016, 03:09 PM
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Hi, thank you for responding to my post.I saw an itinerary posted see New England all six states. This all started when I asked my husband years ago if we could rent a motorhome and just drive around New England in the fall and see some history. Silly me, I had no idea until I started looking in to going and found out not only going by motorhome and without reservation was not advised. I then found out that not having hotel reservations would be an issue. Obviously, I know nothing and I have no idea how to do an itinerary or where to book hotels so that we can drive to areas daily. It does not matter where we go so long as we see all six states and foliage and historical areas I would greatly appreciate some help.

For my trip I am looking for advice as to where (cities,towns and state) to make reservations how many nights each place. I will start and end in Boston. I want to see all six states. Would it be possible to stay 2 to three night at each place and do day trips. I appreciate any advice. I would like to book lodging soon . I have been reading a lot on the internet and I just get more overwhelmed in figuring this out.Thank you
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Old Jan 17th, 2016, 03:20 PM
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Well, an overly ambitious itinerary such as you describe for 10 days is overwhelming for us who know the area too. So you will probably not get very good advice for a trip that would be mostly spent in a car, and not really allow much enjoyment, or time for enjoyment, of the places you did manage to get to, IMHO.
Cut back to a bit of the north shore of MA, on the way to a tiny bit of a Maine coastline, and a short turn Inland to (not too far north in) NH and Vermont, and back to Boston. That would still be pushing it IMO, but somewhat more possible.
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Old Jan 18th, 2016, 04:21 AM
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Ten days is really a nice amount of time for a New England Road Trip. Yes, you'll spend a lot of time in the car but driving back country roads is the POINT of a fall foliage road trip. There are a few places where it might make sense to stay a couple of nights and do day trips, but mostly you'll want to go from place to place. And even though you'll need reservations, it's not really that big a deal. You plan to get to your daily destination by mid afternoon, check in and rest a bit, then go out again to see a bit more and have dinner. If you end up spending more time somewhere you just have dinner en route and check in later. The total distances are not far in the whole 6 state region. The top half of Maine accounts for almost as much as the rest of New England all together so as long as you don't go to far northern Maine you can totally cover the rest of it in 10 leisurely days.

Here's where I would spend the nights (assuming you leave Boston in the morning, if you arrive later in the day, spend the first night there, or close by - like Rockport or Salem).

Day 1: Boston to Portland (stop in Portsmouth, York, Ogunquit and Kittery)

Day 2: Portland to Camden (lots of places to detour off Rt 1 and visit small fishing villages, light houses, etc.)

day 3: Camden, Me to Wolfboro, NH (in the lakes Region of NH)

day 4: Wolfboro, NH to Woodstock Vt.

day 5: Woodstock, Vt to Williamstown, MA

day 6: Williamstown, MA to Amherst or Northampton MA (Mohawk Train/ Rt 2 to Greenfield, then Rt 5 to Deerfield, stop for several hours in Historic Deerfield www.historic-deerfield.org/).

day 7: Amherst to Sturbridge Ma (take Rt 9 past the Quabbin Reservoir region through West Brookfield, then 148 south to Sturbridge. Old Sturbridge Village (www.osv.org/)

day 8: Sturbridge Ma, to Mystic CT. (www.mysticseaport.org/)

day 9: Mystic Ct to Newport RI

day 10: Newport RI back to Boston

Each of these days is less than 3 hours drive if you just went strait from one to the next, most of them less than 2 hours. But most of it is back roads, lots of cute towns, etc. Along the coast you can 'hunt' for lighthouses (www.visitmaine.net/page/38/lighthouses). In NH and Vermont you can 'hunt' for covered bridges (http://discovernewengland.org/things...overed-bridges). In MA and CT are four of the 'best' restored historic village museums in the country (on your way back to Boston from Newport you could also stop at Plimouth Plantation - www.plimoth.org/).

Ten days at that time of year is a perfect New England Road Trip. The only down side is that other people think so as well so there will be plenty of people at all your destinations (hence the need for reservations). But 'crowds' here is not the same as big city or disney type crowds. This itinerary combines scenery and history. There will be lots of town fall festivals on the weekends if that's your thing, but everywhere will be roadside stands selling apples and pumpkin, etc. Each of the places I suggested you stop for the night has a variety of accommodations from quaint B&Bs to utilitarian chain motels.
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Old Jan 18th, 2016, 05:15 AM
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I like the route isabel has planned out for you.

For the CT part, depending on your interests while in/near the Mystic area, stop in New London for the Custom House museum and/or Coast Guard Academy, in Groton for the submarine museum, and drive through or stay in Stonington Burrough (Mystic Seaport is actually in the town of Stonington). The aquarium in Mystic is also very nice.
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Old Jan 18th, 2016, 09:07 AM
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Hi, thank you very much . You have made this so much easier. I am really excite. I love little towns and outside history.
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Old Apr 10th, 2016, 05:28 PM
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Hi, this is our possible Itinerary October 8th -20th. We need help figuring out how many nights and where for each suggested stop. If we should add any additional areas along the way? I really want to make reservations but am stuck!!! Thank you everyone.

Oct 8, arrive at Boston airport 5pm drive to Woodstock NH


Oct 8-11, Reservation 8-11 in Woodstock

Oct 11-13, reservation Bar Harbor (Maine), ME

Mystic CT ???

October 15 Rhode Island ???

Oct 17-20 reservation at the Miner Hotel Boston.
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