mentorteach

My sister, hubby and I will take a long road trip this summer rather than our usual European trip due to plane ticket costs (believe it or not, gas will be cheaper). We have a trip partially planned to drive from the DC area of VA where we live, up the coast to NY, then stay in Boston for two nights. After, we will continue to follow the coastline to Bar Harbor, Maine, and up to Halifax where we'll pick up my hubby (flying to meet us from a business trip in Dublin). We then will take a ferry to Prince Edward Island and stay for several days before heading back home.

1) Seafood suggestions for Boston? What not to miss in terms of sites? Hotel or B&B recs?

2) Maine...what to do besides eat our seafood-lovin' selves silly?

3) Anyone ever been to PEI before? Tips?

goddesstogo

Will you be in Charlottetown? If you are, go for the lobster dinner at the Prince & Water Restaurant. Drop in during the day and make a reservation for dinner. Also, if you have a car, Shaw's Hotel is lovely for dinner. Ask for a table overlooking the garden or the water. If you can only do one or the other, do the lobster dinner.

We didn't see the Anne of Green Gables play but I hear it shouldn't be missed.

Charlottetown is small -- you really only need about 2 or 3 days there.

gail

What about breaking up the trip by taking the CAT ferry, at least on way. It sails from Portland, ME (about 2 hours north of Boston) or Bar Harbor on different days of the week to Yarmouth, NS.

Seafood in Boston can start a real fight here. The most frequently mentioned places are Turners Fisheries, Legal Seafoods, Summer Shack - and perhaps Union Oyster House. Legals is now a large cahin, but started in Boston. Summer Shack has 3 locations, Cambridge, Boston, and one of the CT casinos. I love the Cambridge location, but strangely the Boston location is awful. There is another poster here who hates it as much as I love it. In my opinion, you are not going to have a bad meal at any of the above and each has its + and - ; just keep in mind that good, fresh seafood is not cheap - as there have been many complaints about all of these places being pricey.

For that amount of time, walk the Freedom Trail, stop in North End (Italian for dinner). Bad weather - go to a museum, first choice Isabella Stewart Gardner. Maybe a Duck Tour.

On your way to Maine, stop in Wells at the Maine Diner. It is rather authentic diner-style food - nothing fancy, but they use quality ingredients and the pies are wonderful.

Get a toll transponder (EZ Pass/Fast Lane) if you do not already have one - the tolls along this route are annoying and you can save time and the annoyance of digging out coins and bills if you get one. If you go to the EZ Pass/NY site they used to be one of the few that would give you the transponder device for free, even if not a NY resident.

You did not ask and do not know if you are familiar with route, but I would suggest ignoring the routing on yahoo, mapquest and most GPS and other mapping programs. Get on NJ Turnpike and in Woodbridge pick up Garden State Parkway. Do not go thru NYC - instead go over Tappan Zee Bridge, and then 684/287/84 towards White Plains and then Hartford (look at a map and this will make sense). Under no circumstances should you take I95 thru coastal CT. After Hartford pick up Mass Turnpike - from there it depends on where you are staying.

Have a good trip.

bennnie

There is so much to do in Bar Harbor

-carriage roads for a bike ride or horse drawn carriage ride.
- hikes for all skill levels
-popovers at the Jordan Pond House
-schooner sail - we did the one with the red sails at sunset - great except for the kind of weird guy singing sea shanties - but easily ignored and not always there. Bring a bit of wine and cheese.
-whale watching
-make your way over to Winter Harbor/Schoodic Pennisula if you drive to PEI - part of Acadia National Park is there - wonderful scenery.

For Boston - there are many nice hotels in the Copley area - Marriott, Westin, Sheraton, Hilton are all good. The Lenox and Colonade are good too.
-

china_cat

For Boston hotel tips you have to give us an idea of budget. And I think there are dozens of threads with sightseeing suggestions here.

We've been to PEI once, and found its a pretty big place. There are several (6, I think?) different areas of the island to choose from, and so you have to decide what sort of things you want to do. The most touristed is the area around Charlottetown and Summerside, where the Anne of Green Gables stuff is. We stayed on the east side of the north coast, near Souris, and it was very quiet and the beaches were great up there, but it was definitely "away from it all". but it was about 45 minutes from there to Charlottetown, and we never actually got there...all the driving it takes to GET there left us a bit homebody-ish once we arrived. We did particularly like the beach at Greenwich state Park, and when we dined at the nearby Inn at St Peters thought it looked like a very nice place to stay.

I should add that there isn't that much to see anywhere, as goddesstogo said a couple of days is enough for sightseeing. But there's plenty to do and relax. Lots of lovely beaches, lakes, golf courses, biking trails. So where you stay probably depends on what you want to do. We actively did NOT want to be tourists and sightsee, hence we choose a quieter area. If thats what you are after, Charlottetown is probably the place.


Agree with Gail, mostly, about seafood restaurants (see, we DON'T have to have war here ), though I like the downtown Summer Shack location. But would add that most of the nice restaurants will have good seafood, so you don't necessarily have to go to a fish place. You can get Italian with seafood in the North End, or more adventuresome seafood at my favorite, the East Coast Grill in Cambridge.

another thought about PEI...we were surprised at the complete lack of fresh fish served anywhere, at least in August. Also true in Halifax. It seems they export almost all the fish, and there was very little. And in Canada, lobster is out of season in August. We couldn't get one in PEI. We finally had one in New Brunswick on the way home, and it came from Maine! Have your lobsters in Maine before you leave, if you are after that. In Halifax and PEI you will find lots and LOTS of scallops and mussels and oysters. But not much else.

china_cat

Here's a link to my trip report, which is not that idfferent from what you are planning, except that I started from Boston, and spent a whole week in PEI. It might have some helpful bits.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...9&tid=34673378

LizaMarie

I think the Barking Crab has pretty great seafood in Boston! http://www.barkingcrab.com/

also I second gails's post regarding going over the tappan zee vs going through NYC. I traveled back and forth between NY and Boston for an entire year and that always worked best. too much traffic to go over the george washington bridge.

I love Bar Harbor, ME
here is a link to my travel blog and the review of my trip there last year:
http://marztravels.blogspot.com/2008...-national.html

LizaMarie

also I would say for must see's in Boston -
the freedom trail
USS Constitution
fanueil hall
the aquarium
museum of science
a duck tour
walk newbury st and the public gardens
isabella stewart gardner museum
North End (Italian neighborhood)
fenway park!

wyatt92

For great seafood, try Neptune Oyster in the North End. I also like B&G Oysters in the South End. Either way, both restaurants are in great neighborhoods for exploring.

hlsam

As for seafood in Boston, it depends upon what you want. If you want something a bit more gourmet try Todd English's Kingfish at Quincy Market or even Legal Seafood now has more gourmet type dishes. I also like Atlantic Fish company on Boylston across from the Prudential.

If you like more basic seafood, you'll have lots and lots of options from Barking Crab (great ambiance on the water) to anywhere else around the city.

mentorteach

Thanks! This all really helps. If it helps, my budget for hotels, since we're at the most staying 2 nights in several, is under $189 a night. Also, my FAVS are oysters, lobsters and clams. My sis loves those in addition flounder and other fish. Restaurant budgets will be under $40 a person, dinner and drinks included. For the basic seafood, we can take a dive place (we're from VA Beach originally), like a cheaper oyster bar or something with a decent happy hour price cut. In Boston, we would like to do a nice splurge on hotel and food at least one night.

Amere

P.E.I. is my favorite place! I went about 4 years ago and stayed for 8 days. We stayed in Cavendish. We rented a cabin, I highly recommend doing so. Go way up to North Cape and eat at the restaurant and witness the most spectacular sunset. We set up our tripod and took black and white and color pictures there.
We ate at a good restaurant in North Rustico. I do not remember the name, but the village is so small, I doubt you would miss it. It was a place to get lobster and it came with a buffet that served P.E.I. mussels. Definitely check out the national park near Caverdish. We went on a horse and buggy ride in Park's Corner to the 'Lake of Shining Waters' - if you are an Anne fan. that will have meaning to you. The musical in Charlottetown is great and definitely worth a see. We found the island to be so beautiful and the people so friendly. Have a wonderful time!