October Fall Foliage Itinerary
 

Hello. I am taking a 10 day trip to New England in October with my husband for my retirement celebration. This is my planned trip; I would really like some feedback on this. AND I will be looking online but if anyone knows of a great place to visit, please let me know. I have already made my lodging reservations at all these locations. (I am willing to cancel if I hear of better choices than below.)
Day 1: Boston
Day 2:Boston
Day 3: rent car; drive to Portland, ME
Day 4: drive to Bar Harbor
Day 5: Bar Harbor/Acadia
Day 6:Drive to ST. Johnsbury, VT
Day 7:Drive to Londonderry, VT
Day 8:Drive to Newport, RI
Day 9: Newport, RI (plan to go to Cape Cod this day)
Day 10: Fly home from Boston!

We have never been to New England and realize we will be on the go a lot but also want to see as much as we can. We live in Seattle, so don't go that way often. We have been to New York, so are flying into Boston.

Thanks for any tips!
Nancy

Bar Harbor, ME is waay out of your way.

For Fall Foliage I would go from Boston to Portland, ME if you want some costal views then east towards New Hampshire. Then straight across to Vermont - Green Mountains area to see the foliage. Perhaps Woodstock, Killington area (not the NYS Woodstock). Stay for a 2-3 of days. Take route 7 down into Mass. and stay in the Berkshires region (Lenox, Stockbridge) for 2 days. Then go east on 90 back to Boston.

Your last 3 days of your itinerary that you gave above, and the drive to Bar Harbor, is hours and hours of driving. When are you giving yourself time to sight see? To walk on trails? To see historic places? To have lunch?

Obviously I would reconsider your itinerary. I'm sure others will chime in.

In Vt, strongly consider taking Rte 100.

On your way to Portland, you should stop in Portsmouth NH. You can take an inlands river foliage cruise.

I agree with previous poster that you are driving too far. Also, I'm going to guess that a GPS will send you across NH from Bar Harbor on a northern route which pretty much skips the White Mountains although it is a nice drive thru Maine (and very rural so have a lunch spot picked out ahead of time). Googlemaps third option is only slightly longer but sends you further south to North Conway and thru the White Mountains.

If you like to bake, don't miss King Arthur Flour store in Norwich VT. The Norwich Inn is very nice.

Although the Cape is nice, unless you get out to some beaches, your basically just seeing highway. I would spend the time in Newport and visit small towns like Tiverton.

The route in Maine from Portland to Bar Harbor is pretty boring. Yankee Magazine called Camden ME one of the best spots in Maine for foliage. The harbor is beautiful and the view from Mt Battie (take the auto road) is gorgeous. We usually get off I95 to travel Rt 1 beginning in Brunswick. It's longer but more scenic except you don't see much coast unless you travel out on a state route. Maybe visit Pemaquid Point near Damariscotta.

BTW one of the best views in Portland ME is from Fort Williams Park. Great view of Casco Bay and all the boat traffic.

Expect heavy weekend traffic on interstates.
You might explore Yankee Magazine's website for foliage route suggestions.

HI again.

As per Dukey's recommendation about taking route 100 in VT, here's a link:
https://www.vermontvacation.com/land...oute-100-byway

From the above comments I hope you will have taken Bar Harbor off your trip. Too much time taken away from other beautiful places and agree that Cape Cod would be too much unless you want to spend a couple of hours off the roads and on the beach. Stay in the Newport area.

There are so many small local rural roads in VT that you might want to take time to get off the highways and just "get lost".

Thanks to all for your recommendations. We both love to drive, so we will be doing Bar Harbor. We have 2 days there. (I also can't cancel the hotel; no refund!). So, we will leave in early morning and drive, drive, drive.
I now know to ask in these forums before I plan a trip.


I checked online when making our trip plans and Portland to Bar Harbor, inland via 295, is 3 hours. On the coast via Hwy 1 is 3 hours 9 minutes.

To me that isn't a lot of driving; are these times correct?

Thanks again for all the info!
Nancy

Nancy, When are you going? If the purpose of the trip is for fall foliage, take a look at this website below (which was for 2015) but it'll give you an idea of when the colors peak in different areas. It of course varies year to year but it should be accurate with a week or two. You're covering a lot of ground so you're bound to find it someplace along the way. http://www.yankeefoliage.com/peak-foliage-forecast-map/


Definitely take Rte 100 in Vermont!

Boy, surprised googlemaps agrees with three hours. It's all inland and interstate but you can do it. You'll have to take Camden off your route since it's the inland drive that takes so long.

Did I miss something? Why would she take the inland drive/interstate just to save 15 minutes? I'd definitely take route 1 and have a stop in Rockport/Camden for brunch or lunch, also maybe a stop at the Penobscot Observatory near Bucksport.