Help me compare California vs. New England coasts
 

My family has been going to California for years every summer. Love the mild weather, no mosquitos, scenery, etc. Have seen it all--Monterey peninsula, Big Sur, Cambria, Santa Barbara, Laguna, San Diego. Have thought about trying a 10 day excusion to New England just for a change of pace but need reassurance.

First, I've never seen a drop of rain in California. Looks like 3-4 inches fall every August (when I'd go) along East coast. Next, is the coastline from Acadia in Maine to Newport Rhode Island as beautiful as California, or would I be disappointed?

This summer, we flew into S.D for 3 days, 2 in Laguna, 2 at Disney, and flew out of Santa Barbara after 3 days, which was just about right mileage/timewise and gave us diverse experiences & landscapes. We have a disabled toddler and can't travel much more than 3 hours when changing sites.

If we decide to go, I was thinking about the following itineray:

Fly into Bangor and on to Bar Harbor for 2 nights.
Camden 2 nights
Kennebunkport 2 nights
Newport, RI 2 nights
Boston 3 nights and fly out

1) Is the travel time from Kennbunkport to Newport unreasonable? 2) We usually don't like large cities but included Boston because it is easier to fly out. Are the family attractions there centrally located and easy to get to or are they spread out with big city grit and traffic?

I had considered NH White Mountains and Cape Cod/Nantucket but didn't think it would be feasable with a
10-11 day limit and car time issues. Just want a nice mix of New England coast without feeling like I'm driving everwhere. I would appreciate any input. Thanks.

NE coast and CA coast are very different. NE not as dramatic but very New Englandy. Worth a trip to see it.The Nat'l Park in Bar Harbor is great but no where near as dramatic as Big Sur but lovely just the same.Drive from Kennebunkport to RI is very doable. I think you will be surprised at the smaller distances in NE compared to CA. Actually, I would delete Camden and do Kennebunkport, although others may disagree. I would add the Freedom Trail in Boston and esp. the Plymouth area with Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower. Newport is nice too, esp. if you want to do the mansions but otherwise, if I were pressed for time, I would skip it and spend more time in Boston or Cape Cod. Just my opinion.

I love the white mountains especially the Kancamaugus Highway! I don't think our east coastline is as beautiful as Calfornia. IMO

Personally I'd rather do 3 nighters than 2-nighters. Maine is all about relaxing!

I enjoy the Maine coastline, but Maine is all about the lakes to me. Moosehead, Belgrade Lakes or Sebago...I'd try to fit one in and then probably head for Cape Cod rather than all the way down to Newport.

Bugs aren't much of a problem in August, just get some Backwoods Off to spray on your clothing, and don't use fruity shampoos.

If you dislike weather, and if rain would spoil your vacation, then don't take a chance on a New England vacation.

The drive from Kennebunkport to Newport would take about 3 hours with optimum traffic, i.e., not weekday rush hours, Saturday AM or Sunday after about 2 PM.

The main differences between the New England and CA coasts is that New England, having been densely settled and industrialized much earlier, has used its coast differently. Once you leave Maine, most of it simply does not have a scenic highway for you to travel on. To see the actual coast, you'd have to get off the highway and travel through small towns, adding significantly to the 3-hour travel time, which uses inland highways in Massachusetts.

Not sure why you think Kennebunkport-Newport is reasonable and White Mountains -Cape Cod is not, the drive times would be about the same, you wouldn't need to include Nantucket to get nice coastline. I agree with the above poster who recommended Maine/Cape Cod rather than Maine/Newport.

The drive from Kennebunkport to Newport is very long, and most of it is not scenic. On most of the road you will see only trees and buildings. There are occasional scenic stretches, but most of this route is either nondescript or outright ugly.

I suggest removing either Newport or Maine from your trip. Do not try doing both. Either see Maine and Boston, or Boston and Newport. If you decide to visit Boston and Newport, it may be possible to also fit in a few days on the Cape.

If this is your first trip to New England, consider visiting in early October (Maine) or late-October (Boston). Autumn is the most beautiful time of year in New England.

Enjoy your visit. It is all doable. Remember a long ride around here is around 3 hours. I know people in the West who drive that far to play softball. Once while going to a wake in CT, we hit 4 states in 3 hours (and stopped a couple of times). Also the water even in August is cold. The one thing that I do agree with is that if you don't want to experience any bad weather, don't come or come in the early fall when you have a better shot of it being good. It's not that the weather in August is particularly bad but unlike CA, who knows?

A few years back we flew into Boston and rented a car. Drove along Mass. coast up to Maine (ended in Camden I think) and then headed over to the White Mountains. Then back down to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was my favorite. Then back to Boston for the trip home. The scenery is nice but not dramatic like California. Lots of history and the best part of all...the seafood!!! Our trip was a total of 8 days, I think.

With a 10 day vacation, the odds are good that you will have some rainy days. However, that's part of the New England experience. There are lots of historic places that are good rainy day
visits. As for scenic splendor, Acadia and Cape Cod are by far the most picturesque. However, the entire Maine coast is quite scenic, with rockbound coves and small clapboard villages. Don't expect any of the desolate and spectaular scenery that you find on the west coast. However, Maine's coast of countless bays and peninsulas is actually as long as California's if you streched it out! As for nice beaches, once you get north of Kennebunkport, the number of long sandy beaches drops off dramatically. The water temps north of Cape Cod are considerably cooler.
As for a choice between Cape Cod and Newport, I would probably choose the Cape, just because of the endless choices of beaches to be found there.

I'm with shaz60: New England is easy to drive. Being from California, if I had 10 days, I wouldn't make it a Newport or Cape Cod experience. BOTH1

At Cape Cod, take the ferry out to the islands. You can do this in one day - mainland - Nantucket -Martha's Vineyard - mainland. We really enjoyed Nantucket! Still thinking of that lobster roll we had! Or, you can opt to spend one night on one of the islands and enjoy the beaches there.

Newport remains one of the highlights of any New England trip for me. There is no other place like it on the North American continent. You will need at least two days to visit all those mansions and wonder at the wealth of those families. I've been to Newport three times and still haven't seen every mansion.

The California coast is for spectacular scenery and sunshine, New England is for history, quaint towns, lovely people, and those strange roundabouts!

Have a fun trip! :)

Never been to coastal CA, but I am a life long New Englander and agree with many of the point made here.
Why both Camden and Kennebunk? I think you should pick one or the other, and either stay in Cape Cod or Cape Ann in MA. If you stay in Cape Cod you could stay in Falmouth and have a short ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard for either a day trip or a few nights. The cliffs of Gay Head/Aquinnah is in IMO one of the best coastal spots in all of New England. Also agree with 3 nights in each spot. New England is so much more compact than California, although traffic can be tough to navigate during certain times of the year/times of the day.
White Mts/Cape Cod would also be a great trip, and in fact much less driving than from Bar Harbor to Newport. I live on Cape Cod and can make it to Lincoln or Conway NH in 3 1/2 hours tops. If I drove to Bar Harbor that would be 6 hours, and that would be the same from Newport to Bar Harbor. My point is that you will do more driving with your currently planned trip than the one you considered.

Let me say first of all that I love Maine and will be returning for a week there in August. I've also spent a considerable amount of time along the Monterey/Big Sur coastline.

If you are strictly comparing just the coastline itself then California from SF south to LA has to win for sheer scenic beauty.

If you toss in all the historic, cultural and culinary aspects, then I think it becomes a toss up.

The weather in New England can easily throw a monkey wrench into your plans. Of course the last time I visited Big Sur, we spent the whole day looking at fog, not scenery.

The one big advantage New England has for you is that you have never been there so it will all be new to you. That, in itself will be worth a lot.

To get more specific, I would fly into Bangor, Maine (Banga to the locals) and spent your time exploring the coast from Camden on north. South of Camden (for me) has become so overrun that I just drive on by. I'm sure that I'll get flamed for that but, for me Maine starts in Camden.

Did not know there were no mosquitoes in California. Well, I'll be darned. Must be cause there's no rain either. Ayep, that would do it; No rain, no mosquitoes. Must be dry, though?

A-nope.

Got lots of rivers, canals, and irrigation ditches.

Parts used to be desert or semi-desert, now it's just urban sprawl or one giant farming conglomerate after another.

Thanks for all the info. Let me try to sort some of this out. I have 10 days to see some of the New England coast, doing 2 and 3 nighters, with no change of place being more than 3 hours from the next. Also, travel with disabled toddler, so hiking/biking, active things out of the question.

Some have suggested I skip Maine, but I had always thought Maine was THE place for an East Coast summer vacation. The most dramatic scenery of Maine appears to include Acadia. If I skip Camden and go from Bar Harbor to Kennbunkport this means a long ride (5/6 hours?) I could start at Kennebunkport and move South, but this area doesn't seem to include the "quinessential Maine" coast. If I fly into Portland and go as far as Camden, I will be backtracking. I could spend 10 days in Maine, but I'm afraid of it being too much of the same.

A trip to White Mountains also seems to be veering off course a bit, as it isn't on the way to anything. How beautiful is this area?

Some of you suggest I drop Newport, but I routinely see it listed recently as one of the top ten U.S. vacation destinations, and I've read that attractions are centrally located. Touring mansions also seems to be different from other itinerary activites. So, I need more help. Maybe I should fly into Boston area and move North. Trying to do combine Maine coast (or maybe Kennebunkport is good enough?) with Newport mansions with White Mountains (worth the side trip?) with Cape/Natucket (never been there, so don't know if this area is a must see) with travel restrictions. Where should I start/fly into and where should I fly out of? What gets cut? Thanks again.

Oh, throw Portsmouth, NH into the above mix. Just read several people raving about it on another thread.

I have done both trips. We love the California coast in August, because the weather does not generally get too extreme, but we cannot do that trip more than once every few years because it would be boring. We could do a New England coastal trip every year because of the variety and the points of interest along the way.

I agree with JoyceL that you should choose between upper and lower New England. You can set up an itinerary in either region that will give you ocean, mountains, lakes, family activities, history and culture. And Boston would fit into either itinerary. Trying to do both regions in the same trip is very ambitious and will make you feel like you are bound to your car.

You can easily do 10 days just in Maine (and throw in Portsmouth, NH, for the heck of it) and get a taste of both the coastline and the inland lakes. You could choose Bar Harbour, Ogunquit / Kennebunkport and Lake Sebago as the three destinations, each worth 3 days or so. It's not much more than an hour from Logan Airport in Boston to Ogunquit. The weather is not guaranteed, but you should generally expect to lose only one or two days out of ten. You do get mosquitos (more in June or July than in August), but not so bad. The beaches in Ogunquit and Kennebunkport are much, much nicer and more interesting, IMO, than the beaches in Southern California.

If you were interested in Newport, I would consider tying that with the Cape (about 1-1/2 hours away) and then maybe the Berkshire region (about 3 hours from the Cape or 2-1/2 hours from Newport). The Berkshire region is beautiful with lots of culture - Tanglewood, Jacobs Pillow, etc.

Whichever trip you choose, Boston should be your airport of choice. Not that Logan will win any awards for user-friendliness, but you will have the greatest array of flight choices.

If a "beach vacation" is very important to you and your family, yes the Cape is superior to Newport. But for all around things to do, all packed into one relatively small area, Newport beats the Cape hands down. For example, you could spend 5 days in Newport, see a different mansion each day, eat at a different restaurant at every meal, go to the beach, take a boat tour, take in a movie, browse through litterally hundreds of retail shops ranging from tacky t-shirts to upscale art, watch a baseball game at one of the country's oldest ballfields in continuos use, and more, without EVER getting in your car. No single town on the Cape offers as much. If going to a very nice beach everyday is going to be the focal point of your vacation, well then yes the Cape is it. But if not, make Newport an important stop if you decide to do Southern New England.

Uderradar, pardon my ignorance, but where exactly is the Berkshire region?

Knute,

Has your head exploded yet?! I grew up on the NE Coast and now live on the CA coast and my head is spinning from all the advice! 8}

The Berkshires are the mountains in western Mass. due west of Boston.

You have gotten a lot of good comments here. It's really hard to compare the two places. You have to look at the natural beauty as well as the cultural charm.

I agree with the fact that Newport makes for a more enjoyable trip than Cape Cod.

My big tip for you would be to fly home out of Providence instead of Boston. The PVD airport is much, much, much more user-friendly and closer to Newport. Also, it would make more sense to put Boston in the middle of your trip south from Maine. Then you could effortlessly add a New Hampshire or Cape Cod leg (or Berkshires!).

Sorry, can't help you with the weather issues or the mosquito problem. The main thing that my NE relatives comment on while in CA is how pleasant it is to sit outside in the evenings and not see or hear a single one! However, this year we are having a West Nile outbreak. Go figure!

Have a lobster roll for me!