I will be in New England this coming week and will have some free evening hours after work (from 6 - 10ish) in several cities (Hartford, Worcester, Providence, Taunton). I'll wrap up in Boston at 5 on Friday but catch a flight at 8.

Does anyone have ideas for some fun places to see, experience or explore that won't break the budget? I will have a rental car.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Ruth,

You didn't mention what you're interested in, museums, etc..but there is a lot to do in all of those areas, especially since you have a rental car. Can you narrow down what you like to do and how much you can spend?

My experience suggests that few museums outside of Boston have evening hours, and those in Boston only do so a couple times a week at most.

Am thinking that restaurants, movies, concerts, plays, musicals, and bars/nightlife will be the way to go, and Boston will likely provide the most options here. Agreed with Vivid01 -- what interests do you have?

I'm interested in checking out something that would be unique to the area - maybe some historical or scenic areas (I love to drive), intersting old buildings, museums. A fun, unique, inexpensive - mid-priced restaurant would be great too.

Thanks again!

If you go to the Connecticut site ctvisit.com you can click on events to find what is happening in the area. Do click all the counties as this is not a very large state. If you go down to the Mystic/Stonington area you will find some interesting houses to look at. Sunset is later at this time of year, close to 7:30 now, and light a bit after that so you will have time for exploring. The casinos are open 24/7 and both have very interesting, but not old buildings. I kind of get the Dorothy on the yellow brick road when I approach them, Oz out in the middle of nowhere.

The Worcester Art Museum is open till 8PM on Thursdays, and is actually quite nice.

I'm sure there are many things to do in Providence, but if you like baseball, you could head out to see the Pawtucket Red Sox, the Sox AAA team. It's a great ballpark. Also, the Rhode Island School of Design museum is open late on Thursdays

There was a longish Hartford restaurant thread recently, but I would be surprised if much in the way of cultural/historic sites are open this time of year except in conjunction with colleges (Brown in Providence, Wesleyan in Middletown, CT, Trinity in Hartford, Holy Cross in Worcester). If you are in Worcester on Thursday, the Museum of Art is well worth a visit as is the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, but I don't know the hours. RISD and Brown both have museums in PVD.

Heres the thread that I believe Ackislander was referencing.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...on-sat-eve.cfm

Check http://www.realartways.org/events.htm as their events are a lot of fun and open late. Also, agree with the Wadsworth Atheneum recommendation. For the casinos, it would be worth it as they are obviously open and are inside-oriented but with a nice drive on the way there.

I don't necessarily agree with emalloy that it would be worth leaving Hartford at 6 to drive to Mystic / Stonington as they are around an hour drive each and wouldn't leave much time.

Was also going to recommend a PawSox game for Providence. Providence Place is a huge mall in Providence.