lcantrall

My parents who are 70ish and myself (48) are trying to plan a trip this June. We would fly into Boston and stay there for a few days but would then like to visit some New England towns. I have looked in both Maine and Massachusetts, both which seem nice. We are looking for quaint towns with history, fun unique shops, and scenery. My parent are both healthy but hiking and outdoor trails are not really something they could do. Any specific areas that would be good to look into? Would probably spend 4-5 day outside of Boston. We don't mind splitting time between a few areas but don't really want to spend hours in the car every day. Any guidance would be great!

capecod73

Look at Newport, RI. It's a great location to visit with a variety of activities - the mansions from the gilded age are fascinating and likely something you would all enjoy.

Mystic, CT isn't too far from Newport and gives you the quaint New England feel, and has a nice aquarium if that's of interest.

Maine has Bar Harbor...Old Orchard Beach and a number of towns on the Atlantic that are "typical New England". However summer doesn't kick in until late June/early July and the further north you go the more likely it is that the weather will be cool so keep that in mind.

dfrostnh

Portsmouth NH for shops, historic Strawbery Banke area, boat trip. Maine is right over the bridge. Rt 1 in Kittery ME is outlet mall he!! but Kittery Point has some interesting places and you can take a back country route to York which has some beautiful beaches.

Concord NH has a walkable downtown with some unique shops including the League of NH Crafts main store. You could visit Canterbury NH's Shaker Village for a very interesting tour if they can do some walking. Should you hit some rainy weather Concord has a wonderful independent bookstore, Gibson's, which has frequent author visits plus there is the independent Red River Theater (movies). The Currier Museum of Art is in Manchester, less than 30 minutes south. To the west is Warner, small but it has a couple of small museums (Telephone Museum, Kearsarge Indian Museum, etc) plus another independent bookstore Main Street Bookends of Warner. Should you want to take some drives, you can get a list of wineries, breweries and ice cream shops from the state of NH. Concord also has the NH History Museum.

If you wanted to combine with a visit to Portsmouth, it's less than 1 hour east. There is a row of restaurants that share a back deck overlooking Portsmouth harbor. Eat indoors or out. You can walk the entire back deck area.

Depending on the time of your visit, towns in the White Mountains (just an hour north of Concord) have a lupine festival during peak bloom.

emalloy

You might want to spend some time in the Cape Ann MA area: Rockport is a charming artsy with iconic views, Gloucester is a working harbor town with some beautiful areas like eastern point, bass rocks, Marblehead, Essex, each with its own and a bit different character.

Weather can be changeable in June, sometimes warm, sunny and dry other times cool/cold, rainy and damp. If it is one of those warm, sunny times then Cape Cod might be fun and less crowded than in the summer. If you go mid week, you will probably be fine getting last minute lodging.

lcantrall

Thank you all for your ideas. We definitely want to go to Bar Harbor for a few days. I'm thinking of driving to Portland when we land in Boston and stay there for two nights. Leave there and head up to Arcadia to spend two nights. Then drive back down stopping in different towns for a few days. Finally drop off the car in Boston and spend a full day there and fly out. I know that we should make reservation for Bar Harbor, but what about driving back down after that? Should we be able to find places to stay as we go?

dfrostnh

You should be able to find places to stay. Things really don't get busy until July 4th weekend except south of Portland where towns/beaches are an easy getaway weekend. College graduations should be over with. Unless there's a big event going on, there should be plenty of lodging choices.

Keep in mind that the great coastal scenery is usually at the end of a drive down a country road so you may put in more miles and time than you expect. You can spend a day exploring the Harpswell area east of Brunswick. There's a guide to public conservation areas you can get. The Giant Steps would be an easy hike along a cliff. Not as high and dramatic as Ogunquit's Marginal Way but you might not see anyone else on the walk. If the lobster place at Cundy's Harbor is open, it's very scenic spot and good food (on picnic tables). Boothbay shouldn't be as crowded as it gets in summer.