New England Trip
Sep 7th, 2004, 11:34 AM
#1
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New England Trip
I am going to combine a New England coastal tour with a fall foliage trip. I've never been to New England and hoped someone could make a few suggestions for me. Flying in to Providence on 9/25 we have a free hotel stay for 3 nites a few minutes south of Boston in Foxborough but wondered is it too far a drive to visit the Cape for 3 days and drive back and forth or should we skip the free nites and pay the extra to stay on Cape Cod just to have more time on the island? Secondly, after 3 days on Cape Cod we'd like to drive up the coast to Portsmouth or there abouts. Can anyone make a recommendation on where to stay and what city to stay in? Thirdly, can anyone suggest a base city and B&B to stay in the white and green mountains. We plan on staying in each about 3 days. Although, I read that it isn't necessary to visit both the green and white mountains. We like to hike, bike, and sight see.
Sep 7th, 2004, 12:56 PM
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Well I'll try and answer some of your questions.
Staying in Foxborough and driving to the Cape every day for three days would be near impossible. If you want to see the Cape for 3 days, stay on it. The Cape is bigger than you may realize - decide where you want to stay, and explore from there.
Portsmouth is a small quaint seaport city. It's worth a night or two. You can also explore the southern Maine coast from here. An alternative would be Ogunquit or Kennebunk - two nice Maine seaside resort towns.
As for the mountains, this is where the spectacular foliage is. The Whites are more rugged, and are a hiker's paradise. The Green's are less touristy, more bucolic. A few nights in Jackson NH and Woodstock Vt will allow you to see some very spectacular scenery. Both areas will be busy with leaf peepers, but there are plenty of remote back country roads to explore. As for biking, the Cape has some of the best biking trails in the Northeast. Wellfleet is a good town to base yourself for biking. There are many avid bikers in New England, and there are lots and lots of beautiful biking treks you can do in NH and Vt. There are many books that will help you with your hiking and biking planning - 50 Hikes in the White Mountains, 50 Hikes in Vermont, 30 bike Trips in New Hampshire, etc,etc. Do your hotel & b&b booking ASAP!
Staying in Foxborough and driving to the Cape every day for three days would be near impossible. If you want to see the Cape for 3 days, stay on it. The Cape is bigger than you may realize - decide where you want to stay, and explore from there.
Portsmouth is a small quaint seaport city. It's worth a night or two. You can also explore the southern Maine coast from here. An alternative would be Ogunquit or Kennebunk - two nice Maine seaside resort towns.
As for the mountains, this is where the spectacular foliage is. The Whites are more rugged, and are a hiker's paradise. The Green's are less touristy, more bucolic. A few nights in Jackson NH and Woodstock Vt will allow you to see some very spectacular scenery. Both areas will be busy with leaf peepers, but there are plenty of remote back country roads to explore. As for biking, the Cape has some of the best biking trails in the Northeast. Wellfleet is a good town to base yourself for biking. There are many avid bikers in New England, and there are lots and lots of beautiful biking treks you can do in NH and Vt. There are many books that will help you with your hiking and biking planning - 50 Hikes in the White Mountains, 50 Hikes in Vermont, 30 bike Trips in New Hampshire, etc,etc. Do your hotel & b&b booking ASAP!
Sep 7th, 2004, 12:58 PM
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Skip the free nights, pay to stay on the Cape, and why are you calling it an island.
You need to understand that you are planning a last-minute trip to a very popular place during its busiest weeks of the season. Do you erally want to stay in a city? Do a search of these boards, I guess the word "foliage" would be good, for past recommendations of places to stay in NH and VT. Most will have a 2 or 3-night minimum at this time of year, but that shouldn't be a problem for you.
You need to understand that you are planning a last-minute trip to a very popular place during its busiest weeks of the season. Do you erally want to stay in a city? Do a search of these boards, I guess the word "foliage" would be good, for past recommendations of places to stay in NH and VT. Most will have a 2 or 3-night minimum at this time of year, but that shouldn't be a problem for you.
Sep 7th, 2004, 02:11 PM
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Agree with both of the above.
And Foxboro is not exactly "a few minutes" south of Boston.
Skip the stay in Foxboro, shell out the dough to stay on the Cape, which as mentioned by Anonymous is not an island, and as mentioned by zootsi is bigger than people think. Plus, Foxboro isn't all that nice to vacation in.
Portsmouth is nice, don't know of any recommendations. You could head up a little farther to Maine and stay in Ogunquit or York...
Go stay in Jackson NH/ North Conway area (Wentworth Inn, Eagle Mountain House are good places to stay). From there you can hike many trails along the Kancamagus and do Mt. climbs, take the Scenic Railroad or even the Cog railway up Mt. Washington.
Are you flying out of Providence as well?
If you haven't made your reservations yet you better get to it, especially in the North, where it is getting to be peak foliage at that time and the best places to stay are either full or filling up fast.
And Foxboro is not exactly "a few minutes" south of Boston.
Skip the stay in Foxboro, shell out the dough to stay on the Cape, which as mentioned by Anonymous is not an island, and as mentioned by zootsi is bigger than people think. Plus, Foxboro isn't all that nice to vacation in.
Portsmouth is nice, don't know of any recommendations. You could head up a little farther to Maine and stay in Ogunquit or York...
Go stay in Jackson NH/ North Conway area (Wentworth Inn, Eagle Mountain House are good places to stay). From there you can hike many trails along the Kancamagus and do Mt. climbs, take the Scenic Railroad or even the Cog railway up Mt. Washington.
Are you flying out of Providence as well?
If you haven't made your reservations yet you better get to it, especially in the North, where it is getting to be peak foliage at that time and the best places to stay are either full or filling up fast.
Sep 8th, 2004, 02:54 AM
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I agree with the above posters. Portsmouth doesn't seem to get any raves for places to stay but it's a great city to visit. You can choose from several boat tours. The Heritage which is docked on Ceres Street has a great inland rivers cruise that goes thru Great Bay. We had seen that area thousands of times from the road but never knew anything about it. Good narration. Portsmouth also has a lot going on at night.
For Vermont, instead of Woodstock which is almost on the NH border I would choose a place like Middlebury, a nice college town. That would give you a different view and probably great biking opportunities. The western side of Vermont has more farms which I've heard look like England's lakes district. Expect Woodstock to be very crowded but do stop for a quick visit. We just had lunch for the first time at Simon Pearce in Quechee VT. The renovated mill building is beautiful, you can watch apprentice glass blowers and potters, and the restaurant overlooking the falls is great. (A little pricey but worth it.)
NH will give you the best hiking opportunities but VT which is flatter is probably better for biking.
We stayed in Whitefield NH and rambled over into VT but it was an all day drive back and forth to Waitsfield. Nice drive but you don't want to spend all your time in a car. If you can spend 3 days in VT and 3 in NH, that would give you a wider selection of places to visit.
BTW corn mazes are growing in popularity in our area. The Great Vermont Corn Maze in Danville VT will provide a strenuous walk and nice views once you get to the top. They say it takes about 2 hours. It's a lot of fun.
For Vermont, instead of Woodstock which is almost on the NH border I would choose a place like Middlebury, a nice college town. That would give you a different view and probably great biking opportunities. The western side of Vermont has more farms which I've heard look like England's lakes district. Expect Woodstock to be very crowded but do stop for a quick visit. We just had lunch for the first time at Simon Pearce in Quechee VT. The renovated mill building is beautiful, you can watch apprentice glass blowers and potters, and the restaurant overlooking the falls is great. (A little pricey but worth it.)
NH will give you the best hiking opportunities but VT which is flatter is probably better for biking.
We stayed in Whitefield NH and rambled over into VT but it was an all day drive back and forth to Waitsfield. Nice drive but you don't want to spend all your time in a car. If you can spend 3 days in VT and 3 in NH, that would give you a wider selection of places to visit.
BTW corn mazes are growing in popularity in our area. The Great Vermont Corn Maze in Danville VT will provide a strenuous walk and nice views once you get to the top. They say it takes about 2 hours. It's a lot of fun.
Sep 8th, 2004, 03:38 AM
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First, get a map of New England - while it seems like a small geographical corner of the country, it is actually more spread out than you would think. And traffic congestion plus cities that get in the way, 100 miles here is not like 100 miles in other places.
It seems that you are saying you want coastal plus foliage. The end of September, you are only going to get foliage in northern New England.
From Providence, drive to Cape Cod and stay for 2 or 3 nights to get the coastal part of your trip. This is also a good place to rent some bikes. Foxboro is not convenient to anything except Providence.
After the Cape (see multiple posts here about what to do in the Fall on the Cape) drive north, perhaps stopping in Boston for a night. If you want to see Portsmouth, that could be another night.
From there, I would do the mountain, hiking part of your trip in Green or White Mountains. I am assuming that you are flying back out of Providence, so take a different route back for your home flight.
That is my opinion of a rough framework of your trip - if you start with that, you can fill it in with more research.
Don't make the mistake of trying to consolidate destinations with "home base" - it probably won't work well and you will spend far too much time in the car. Also another vote for reservations ASAP.
It seems that you are saying you want coastal plus foliage. The end of September, you are only going to get foliage in northern New England.
From Providence, drive to Cape Cod and stay for 2 or 3 nights to get the coastal part of your trip. This is also a good place to rent some bikes. Foxboro is not convenient to anything except Providence.
After the Cape (see multiple posts here about what to do in the Fall on the Cape) drive north, perhaps stopping in Boston for a night. If you want to see Portsmouth, that could be another night.
From there, I would do the mountain, hiking part of your trip in Green or White Mountains. I am assuming that you are flying back out of Providence, so take a different route back for your home flight.
That is my opinion of a rough framework of your trip - if you start with that, you can fill it in with more research.
Don't make the mistake of trying to consolidate destinations with "home base" - it probably won't work well and you will spend far too much time in the car. Also another vote for reservations ASAP.
Sep 8th, 2004, 03:51 AM
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Yankee Magazine has two excellent online resources for leaf-peepers.
The first combines a calendar and map, showing AVERAGE foliage show for any date you choose. Good for advance trip planning.
The second is CURRENT reports about foliage status. Check this at the start of your trip, for a reality check. Peak foliage can vary a lot from one year to another.
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/findcolor.php
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/map/tool.php
The first combines a calendar and map, showing AVERAGE foliage show for any date you choose. Good for advance trip planning.
The second is CURRENT reports about foliage status. Check this at the start of your trip, for a reality check. Peak foliage can vary a lot from one year to another.
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/findcolor.php
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/map/tool.php
Sep 8th, 2004, 03:11 PM
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..wanting to hook on to your message and find out from the readers where to stay in Boston proper? Fro the Freedom Trail and all of the sightseeing one would do while in Boston for 3 days. Restaurant suggestions would also be appreciated. Thank you for letting me piggyback!
Sep 8th, 2004, 03:39 PM
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Az we like to stay in Cambridge, the Hotel at Mit is unique and not something you'd find everywhere. It's easy to get to Boston on the "T" system. Right outside the hotel are several restaurants and nightspots within a few blocks, very lively at night. www.hotelatmit.com
Sep 11th, 2004, 04:03 PM
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If your interested in staying in Jackson NH and are looking for a B&B you may want to visit the chamber of commerce website www.jacksonnh.com, also the Eagle Mountain House and the Wenworth although very nice would not be best discibed as B&Bs thier both more of a larger historic hotel. Hope you have a marvelous trip!
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