I think your driving times may be too short. Yahoo maps shows Niagara on the Lake to Philly at 7 hours - plus stops, plus time to get across the border. May be 10 minutes - may be the best part of an hour.

Your other times may also be low estimates. You really need to allow for traffic and possibly construction as well as border crossing.

The getting to Phila part will have to be done even if it takes longer.Actually, I forgot about the border crossing.Thanks for mentioning. I got the drive time estimates from the AAA website.Hoping they're somewhat accurate. Any suggestions for stops along our routes will be appreciated!
Thanks!
K2

You'll be in Newport over Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of the summer season for that area. $200 per night will not go far. Hyatt and Marriott are around $400 per night and even the Holiday Inn Express in a strip mall area out of town is over $200. Some of the inns are not very impressive and I'm afraid the nice ones are also in the higher price range (and go up to $500-600 and more)

And it's definitely more than a 5 hour drive from Philly at that time of the year, You'll be driving past people going to the Jersey shore , Connecticut shore and vacation spots, along with other headed to Cape Cod who go that route too.

I love Newport and go there several tikmes a year, but summer holiday weekends put it out of my price range

Janie, thanks for your insight. I knew it was Memorial Day weekend but didn't realize the accomodations would be quite so high.We will still visit and try to be patient if the roads require longer drive time. We mapped highways but who know what we'll find. Do you have any suggestions for a respite along the way?

The Canterbury Shaker Village is well worth the visit. The Cog railway will be dependent on the weather in the sense if it's foggy, you won't see much but Mount Washington is still an impressive part of NH.

Doing Shaker Village AND the Cog in one day is a lot. Allow 2-4 hours for Shaker Village. From Canterbury, NH to the Cog is about 1.5 hour drive and then the Cog ride is about 3 hours total.

Lake Winnipesaukee area is your midway point. That area alone can use up one day. Take a cruise on the M/S Mt. Washington if you can.

Route 93 in NH is the highway to reach these three areas.

Are you looking for just a pitstop between Philly and Newport or something longer? Since I go from the NYC area, I just try to get there as fast as I can and only stop for a bite if necessary.

Halfway in mileage is somewhere around Greenwich to Norwalk CT. Some nice things to do and see there (they're good daytrips from NYC) but not sure it's worth a stop on a busy trip.

The earlier you can Philly leave on Saturday the 25th, the better. Newport deserves a couple of leisurely days to enjoy the scenery.

It looks like Shaker Village should be open daily 10-5. It's just north of Concord NH. If you leave RI after breakfast, it shouldn't take you more than 3 hours to get there. Suggest you stop someplace for lunch. You can probably have lunch there but there aren't any other options out in the country so it depends on what you want for lunch. Downtown Concord is nice and walkable. You could even stop in the gift shop for the NH History Museum.

I agree with Jaya that you'll want to spend 2-4 hours at Shaker Village so the afternoon of 5/27 seems good for that. Just make sure they are open then. You will also be heading north on I93 so after the visit, the heavy traffic is going to be southbound. Canterbury is a very pretty town. You can take exit 17 to the village and then get back on I93 further north - I'm going to say exit 18 which would give you a little tour of the town.

The Mt Washington leaves from Weirs Beach. There are tons of roadside motels/cottages in the area but it is very congested. If you go a bit further north to Meredith, it's a bit quieter and prettier. You would be convenient to exit 23/I93. Boat cruise is 12:30pm.

Other area to explore would be Squam Lakes and drive around the Center Sandwich area. You're on the north side of Lake Winnipesaukee. We have driven the Kancamagus in the morning, stopped briefly in North Conway then south on Rt 16 and west thru Tamworth and Center Sandwich and been back in Moultonborough (near Meredith) by lunch. You would probably want to spend more time in N Conway if you did that circle but it could be a lunch stop before you go to Maine after doing the Cog.

I would suggest doing the cog, weather permitting, on your way to Maine the next day.

Jaya, janie and dfrostnh - thank you all for taking the time to share your experience with me.

janie - we are just looking for a pit stop between Phila and Newport. We plan to start very early from Phila. I adjusted my hotel budget for Newport and made a reservation at the Viking!

Jaya & dfrosth - We'll do Shaker Villiage on our way to Winnipesaukee. We can spend the evening and next day in that area. I'll look at Meredith for a couple of nights. I would love to drive around the lake. We'll do the Cog on 5/29.I checked the schedule and they start at 10:30am. Later that afternoon we'll drive to Bar Harbor.

Thanks again!
K2

Can anyone recommend a favorite place for breakfast , lunch, dinner in Bar harbor and Portland ?
Thanks.
K2

chowhound.com is a great place to post this question. Look in the northern new england thread.

In Portland, have lunch at Duck Fat, famous for their french fries. I can't remember what else I ate there. We got extra dipping sauces to try the different flavors.