We're looking for suggestions for a road trip from Boston during the gap period btw Christmas and New Years - Dec. 26-30...We are planning to spend New Years Eve in NYC so no need to suggest good New Years places. Also, we're pretty open in terms of driving distance, locale, etc. Thanks!

I'd make a stop in Newport to see a mansion or two in high holiday decorum. I trust you have seen hotel rates for this time in NYC!

Not sure if gambling is of interest to you but there are two very large casinos between Boston and New York in Connecticut - Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

Also you can drive from Boston to New London and take the ferry over to the North Fork of Long Island (crossislandferry.com). There may be things of interest to you in that area.

Are you interested only in stops between Boston and New York City ? If so, I would go with Providence, Newport, Mystic, - but are you considering other destinations? Would you go out to Western Mass area (for instance to a place like The Porches and MassMoca, Norman Rockwell museum, etc - or into Vermont or NH (for scenery, mountains, ourdoor winter activities, crafts) and then loop down to get to NYC? Five days, to me, could be a lot to spend in, say, Newport at that time of year.

It would help to know your interests: architecture, museums, outdoor hiking, etc -

Escargot, we would definitely be open to Western Mass and other areas outside of those just btw Boston and NY (I didn't actually mean to make that sound like a limitation oops). We've been to Porches before and liked it. Some ideas that we've had so far have been Southern VT or the White Mountains.

Any specific ideas for smaller, high end inns or resorts (something similar to Top Notch in Stowe) would be appreciated.

Beautiful scenery, a good drive, skiing if possible, hiking, good food and just R&R in general are some of the activities that would interest us!

There are lots of places we've enjoyed in New England over the years - some that come to mind are

We love the Balsams, but that might be a longer drive than you'd like:
www.thebalsams.com

www.whitemountainhotel.com

www.lmgnh.com

www.stonehurstmanor.com

Wentworth by the Sea

Also, we enjoyed many visits to the Middlebury/Vergennes/Woodstock/Bristol area of mid Vermont when one of ours was a MIddlebury student -and truly enjoyed the entire area of mid Vermont

the Swift House Inn was our favorite, and we preferred staying inthe Carriage House rooms -

www.swifthouseinn.com

the area offered good hiking, skiing at the bowl or killington, plenty of cross country, great drives between MIddlebury and Burlington area with galleries, crafters, good restaurants, plenty of r & r and fireplaces, etc - and gorgeous scenery between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains

www.midvermont.com

if you take the mountain road off the exit near Bethel
it's a gorgeous ride - and about 3 1/2 hrs from Boston -

Of course, you can also have a great time in Portsmouth or Portland too, if you haven't spent much time in either of those cities.

Hope you have fun whatever you decide to do !