familythattravels

Traveling from Philadelphia to Eastport, Maine in early August. Want to break up the drive with 1 overnight stay - possibly in Vermont on the way out and a different location on the way back. Any suggestions?

cw

Portsmouth, NH, is an option, assuming you don't want to drive far out of the way.

Vermont will add a few hours to your drive.

dfrostnh

check route options. To avoid traffic and incredibly boring interstates, we go from Springfield MA north thru western MA via I91 which goes up through VT. If you get off in Brattleboro VT you can head to Keene NH and then to Concord NH. From Keene until you can get on I89, it's a state hwy mostly 50 mph. From I89 go I93N then I393 to avoid Concord's commercial strip, then Rt 4 (more 35 and 50 mph road) to I95 in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth is probably a good choice. Keene is a college town with a shady main street and interesting shops.

But, if you don't mind a detour, I would stay at the Norwich Inn in Norwich VT. Nice restaurant at the inn and nice restaurant across the street. If you like to bake, King Arthur Flour is a destination stop just a couple of miles away. This would probably add about 2 hours to your route.

googlemaps shows fastest route from concord nh to eastport is 5 hr 50 min. If you take the inland route it's 6 hr 28 min. If you alter the route to include Conway NH in the White Mountains, it's 6 hr 45 min.

I95 is a pretty dull ride. We're opting for the lengthier more scenic route for our July trip to the Stonington ME area. North Conway is a very pretty, popular town so might be an option for an overnight. If you want to see water, however, I would alter the route for an overnight in Meredith NH on Lake Winnipesaukee.

familythattravels

Thanks for the suggestions. Right now I have us staying in Gorham, NH on the way out to Eastport...looking at Portsmouth.NH for the stop on the way home. Not convinced about that last part yet....would like to avoid CT on the way home that state is always a traffic nightmare.

clarkgriswold

If you want more responses I think you need to repost under another title. Your question really has nothing to do with Downeast Maine.

dfrostnh

There's not a lot of east/west routes. From Portsmouth you can go south on I95 to rt 101 (limited access hwy) to Keene NH to Brattleboro VT then over Hogback Mountain to Bennington VT then Albany NY. Will add hours.

If you can get thru Hartford CT in the middle of the day, traffic isn't too horrible.