5 nights New England newbies
 

Need advise on how to best spend 6 days/5 nights in New England area. Overwhelmed with all the possibilities. Would greatly appreciate experienced traveler's opinion on what we could manage in our five nights and what order/flow of itinerary you would choose. We enjoy nature, history and great food.Ttraveling last week of Sept. Would enjoy the fall color but not a major priority. What are must sees in this gorgeous part of the US?

will be flying into the area and renting a car

When you think of New England, what do you envision? It's a very big piece of real estate.

exactly! would love to see some coastline, visit some quaint towns and eat some amazing lobster.

You are kind of early for fall colors unless you either head up to the Canadian border or mountains in the middle of NE. Other places will still be almost all green (understanding that the exact dates are different every year - and you won't know exactly until a couple of weeks in advance).

To me, the perfect combination of history, food and nature in NE would be Boston and Acadia NP, but I'm not sure you have enough time for that.

What airport to you plan to fly into? That will affect your itinerary. Manchester, NH (MHT) is a great starting point for going either further north into NH, ME or going south into MA. Manchester is much easier to navigate than Boston's Logan Airport.

Acadia is really far from Boston - I do not advise going there. There are some great options just North or South of the city - Newport RI and the southern Maine Coast like Ogunquit area. You can pick a direction, North to Maine or South to Newport and do a night there, back to Boston for 2-3 nights and then head in the other direction for a night. It sounds like a lot, but both Newport and Ogunquit are about 1.5 hours drive from Boston. Newport has great restaurants, nightlife, shopping. You can check out the mansions on the cliff walk as well. Up toward Maine there are quaint little towns, beaches , etc. Alternatively, you can stay in Boston and take the ferry to Provincetown on Cape Cod for a night. That part of the cape is much less commercial then Hyannis area. You can also do a day trip from Boston to Rockport, MA which is another small tourist town. Salem is always interesting as well. These are all coastal towns. Very close to Boston (like 20-30 minutes) you can visit Concord and Lexington and see the battle sights. In Concord you can rent a kayak or canoe on the Charles river for some nature. www.southbridgeboathouse.com/
If you are in Boston, the Waterfront/Ft Point Channel/Seaport district is up and coming. I hope this helps

Google best lobster shacks in Maine. Pick one based on what's going to be open during your visit since after Labor Day most are open weekends only. When you get sick of lobster, have fried clams. We like mid-coast area best. Wiscasset is small and quaint. Good location for exploring Boothbay Harbor and Brunswick/Harpswells area. You can add in a jaunt to Camden which is probably most picturesque but loses a little of the quaintness factor due to popularity with tourists.

If you flew into MHT you could drive north on I93 to NH's Lake Winnipesaukee and the further north to drive east to Portland ME. Then north to mid-coast area. Very important to drive north on I93 and not south because you want to enjoy the view heading north. MHT to Lake Winnipesaukee might be only 1 1/2 hours (Meredith would be good place to spend the night). Second night in Portland or just stop for lunch before heading to some place like Wiscasset. It's the long way to Maine but would give you a view of mountains. Portland is a small city but has a fun to explore Old Port Area and great restaurants. If weather is warm you could get a lobster roll at Bite Into Maine food truck that parks in Fort Williams park. Eat lobster roll and enjoy view of Casco Bay. For dessert, get an ice cream sampler at MDI ice cream in Old Port Area or whoopie pie from Two Fat Cats Bakery (or both).

Visit a winery for a tasting to select some evening libations and stay some place where you can sit outside.