How would you spend your time?
 

We are traveling to New England for a wedding in July. We will arrive in Boston (using miles) on Thursday morning, the wedding is near Mystic, CT on Saturday, and we fly home Monday early evening, again from Boston.

We have previously spent a few days in Boston a few years ago, mostly doing the Freedom Trail. We would also like to spend at least 1 day in Providence, RI, including a visit to the Capitol. I haven't yet done the research to see if they do tours on the weekends.

Please give me your thoughts on whether we should visit Boston the first day of our trip, or perhaps save it for Sunday/Monday after the wedding.

How would you plan out this near 5 day trip? Thanks!

If they do tours of the Capitol in Providence, on Thursday, you could do that on the way south If you are interested in maritime history, spend Friday at Mystic Seaport. Otherwise on the way down on Thursday, you might stop at the Native American museum at Foxwoods Casino and hope for a tour of the Capitol on Monday .

There are other interesting things to do in the Mystic area in July, perhaps a boat tour or cruise or a paddle in a kayak.

The casinos are a big draw and easy to get to from Mystic, if that's your thing.

Providence on Thursday is a good idea. Spend the night, have dinner at one of the many trendy restaurants.

Friday morning, you have five choices.
(1) go on to Mystic and tour the Seaport and town
(2) go to Newport and see a mansion; have a nice lunch on the waterfront
(3) go to Tiverton, RI, via Bristol, exploring Bristol and then the rural area between the Sakonnet and Westport Rivers on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border. It is gorgeous, there are wineries, great ice cream, good food.
(4) explore southwestern Rhode Island in the area around Westerly, Watch Hill, and Stonington, CT.
(5) explore the area around Lyme, CT. Former art colony, museums, architectural charm.

2 and 4 can be combined, 4 and 5 could be combined.

90 minute walking tours are a good way to see Boston. There are many tours offered by BOSTONbyfoot.com and there is a tour of President Kennedy in Boston http://www.kennedytour.com

You will get a good tour of the old city as well on these tours. The Kennedy walking tour and many of the Boston by foot tours include a good view of the Massachusetts State House and some commentary of events there.

We loved culinary tours by Michelle Topor. It's the best way to tour Boston's North End with lots of food samples. I think the tour of China Town is only on Fridays. It ends with a dim sum lunch.
I second the suggestions for the Kennedy Library and the Native American Museum at Foxwoods. It's completely separate from the casino. There is parking at the Kennedy Library if you have a rental car but it's also accessible by T.

Good advice so far. In Mystic, definitely see Mystic Seaport. The aquarium there is nice as well.

You could spend several days in Newport, if you wanted, as there are several excellent mansions one can tour. If you only have time for one, I'd choose The Breakers.

A good place for food in Providence is Federal Hill. There are several Italian places along Atwells Avenue.

Thanks for the advice. We actually visited Newport (and the Breakers) as well as the Mystic Seaport our last visit in 2008.

I like the idea of the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, and would love to revisit Giacomo's in the North End.

No weekend tours of the RI State House. CT used to have Saturday tours, but those have been discontinued as well.

Kennedy Library definitely is worth a visit.

If you like gardens, you might want to visit Blithewold (Bristol, RI) or Green Animals Topiary Garden (Portsmouth, RI, near Newport).

You might consider Plymouth or Quincy (Adams Historical Park) in MA as well if you have never visited them - sort of out of the way, but not too much.