Boston + Fall Foliage - need itinerary planning help!!
 

Hi:
We are planning on going to Boston/New England for two weeks in the fall - probably Sept. 25 - Oct. 9.

I'm in the initial planning stages and have questions on timeframe/itinerary.

Although my husband is from the east coast (PA), I've never been to New England and am very excited.

I know it's a little early for foliage so any advice is much appreciated as we would like to see as much color as possible.

We'll be flying into Boston - or possibly Manchester, NH - from Arizona, and will have a car when we're not in Boston.

I'm thinking that after we land, we'll get our car and drive to:

Maine - 2 nights
New Hampshire - 2 nights
Vermont - 2 nights
Connecticut (we have a friend in Woodstock) - 2 nights
end up in Boston (4 nights)

Can someone comment on this and maybe help me fill in the blanks as far as where we should stay in each state, stops, etc? The number of nights in each place can change, as can the direction we're driving.

Again, at this point, I'm trying to get a general plan so I can make our plane reservations.

Thanks in advance!
Carol

Carol,

I've replied to a couple of others regarding a similar trip to what we did - for speed of response I'll just clip and paste here. Happy planning! PamT

Hi tenntraveler,

You've picked a great time of year to visit the New England area. We flew into Boston and used our Garmin to get us out of the city and headed north along the coast of Maine. I've cut/paste my response to another person that asked about NE in the fall. Perhaps it will help in your planning process. We did alot of driving and stayed in a couple different areas of both New Hampshire and Vermont. It can be done - just depends on how much driving you'd like to do. Good luck planning! PamT

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.

Hi Pam:
Thanks SO much for your reply. It really helps.

A few questions:
1. Did you feel that you did too much driving any one day?
2. Do you wish you stayed anyplace longer?
3. Where is the Washington Hotel?

Thanks!
Carol

Hi Carol,

In answer to your questions;
1. No, we didn't feel at all that we did to much driving - we even took lots of side roads to enjoy the beautiful scenic views. Most of these were found on the Yankee website.
2. If we'd been able to stay longer, we probably would have spent another day along the coast of Maine and also another day or two in the Center Sanwich- Moultonborough are of NH.
3. Washington Hotel is off of Hwy 302 north of Crawford Notch State Park by Bretton Woods. Don't have to stay there - just go to the gate and say you're there for lunch. They'll let you in.

Let me know if you have any other questions. PamT

The atlas and gazetteer is a great suggestion. It's published by DeLorme. We have one for each of our favorite three New England states: VT, NH and ME.

Stop in Portsmouth on the way to ME even if it's just for a meal but I think you might want to wander around the Market Square area.

We enjoyed the mailboat ride around Casco Bay in Portland. Portland has some great restaurants and the Old Port area is fun to browse. Do not miss Mount Desert Ice Cream shop on Extension St. Very unusual flavors. Wherever you decide to stay in Maine, take a boat ride. Many of Maine's lobster shacks (the ones on a dock with picnic table seating) are weekends only after Labor Day but you can find lobster all over the place. South of Portland you'll find beautiful sandy beaches. North of Portland gets much more rocky. We recently stayed at the Dunes in Ogunquit and enjoyed the area but mid-coast Maine is still our favorite. Much more quiet.

Lake Winnipesaukee is just south of NH's White Mountains. If you stay on the north shore, maybe Meredith or Wolfeboro, it's an easy drive to the mountains. If you stay in the mountains, don't miss driving around Center Sandwich and Squam Lakes area.

Hard to choose the best area of VT. You could exit NH via Littleton above the mountains with a stop at the Great Vermont Corn Maze (it could take hours to do the maze but there is an emergency exit to the top/view if you can't solve the maze - we couldn't) on your way to Stowe. The hwy along west side of the state is beautiful farm country. Rt 100 is more wooded and mountainous. If you decide to go to Woodstock (tourist magnet), don't miss Quechee gorge. Lunch at Simon Pearce is pricey but wonderful. Even if you don't have lunch, explore the building. They generate their own hydro-electric power.

Depending on what you want to do in Boston, I might cut back to 2 or 3 nights there. If you love history and food, consider a culinary tour of either Boston's North End (Italian) or China Town. We've done both tours and other people on our tour were also doing their second tour.

You should see some good color in the mountains. A friend has a place in northern NH and insists one day there will be a big change in the color. Here in central NH it slowly comes on and slowly leaves. Different areas have great color at different times. If you could switch your days around, I would do Boston at the beginning and leave VT and NH for the tail end of your trip.

dfrostnh:
Thanks for all the wonderful information.

Hmmm, doing Boston at the beginning is a possibility. Because we're going earlier in the season, we want to see as much color as possible. If VT & NH would give us that later in the trip, maybe that's what we'll do.

I know whatever we end up doing will be perfect. Having grown up on the beaches of So. California, and now living in the desert of Arizona, anywhere we go in New England will be exciting, beautiful and new.

My husband (from the e. coast) has memories of Moosehead Lake in Maine and has asked me to check it out. It looks far from other areas, but as I told him, we're planning the trip - we can do anything we want and have our own adventure!!

So many great choices!
Carol

Moosehead is far, very far. I would not do 4 nights in Boston, I think you would get bored. maybe 2 nights. Spend the rest in coastal Maine and White Mountains of NH.