United States of America Travel Forum

Hi
We are going to New England for about 12 days at the end of October/beginning of November.
I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to suggest an itinerary that will give us a good sense of New England. There seem to be so many potential little towns to visit but a lot of them seem to offer pretty much the same thing.
Any suggestions are welcome; we'd like to begin and end in Boston.
We enjoy good food and wine - so any vineyards (especially ones with accommodation) would be welcome. We also like walking, people watching, discovering unusual/un-touristy places but are equally happy checking out what all the fuss is about at tourist sights.
I know a lot of these things are down to individual preference so if it makes it easier, please say what you would do with 12 days in New England and it'll give me a starting point!
Thank you!

I do not know much about wineries but what I would do is spend a day in Boston, and then I'd do some suburbs (Lexington, Concord, Walden Pond etc). If it was early in the fall season (it would depend on how much the trees had turned color by the time you were there), I would go north next. If it was too late in the season to see any color in the north, I'd go south first. This is what we'd do with a southern itinerary first.

Day 3 Boston to Falmouth or Woods Hole. If I had time, I'd go all the way up to Providencetown to the National Seashore
Day 4 Take a ferry from Woods Hole out to either Nantucket or Martha's Vinyard.
Day 5 Go through New Bedford (Whaling Museum) and Fall River MA to Newport RI to see the summer 'cottages' that the NY rich people built for themselves.
Day 6 Newport across James Island, to Wickford and drive along the coast to Mystic Seaport in CT. I might take the ferry to Block Island from there. In any case I would visit Mystic Seaport.
Day 8 - go up through western MA to Bennington VT
Day 9 - up to the area around Lake Champlain(like Barre).
Day 10 - Then cross the White River to Laconia NH, and then
Day 11 - go to Portsmouth NH - you might want to stay in or visit Strawberry Bank.

I personally would like to go to the Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor in Maine, but it is kind of out of the way for this kind of loop.

http://www.sandcastlewinery.com/, it is in PA. I love that winnery. Also New Hampshire is proud of their tax free big wine wharehouses, also their is quite decent brewery near Grant house, will try to remember where is it, may be. Also Newport with is luxury palaces is a place to visit in New England. And Rockport artist village and Hammond castle. Also there is some (as people say) amazing toy trains museum on the road from NYC to PA.

GrandmaR said "Day 9-Up to the area around Lake Champlain (Like Barre)

Sorry, but the fact is that Barre is about 60 miles east of the Lake. Perhaps you mean Shelburne, or Burlington, or Milton, or St Albans, or the Lake Champlain Island communities like South Hero, Grand Isle, North Hero or Alburgh. US route 2 goes along the lake in this area. I live in Alburgh in summer.

When I wrote that originally, I had in there a disclaimer statement that I didn't know much about northern New England - including that I've never been to Vermont. One of 4 states that I've never been to. But somewhere along the way in editing, that got cut out. So I'm glad that you added the information.

We used to live in RI and we also spent summers in Mass., so I've been to a lot of places around there, and I did go to summer school one year in Maine.

Days 1 and 2 in Boston. Day 3 in Salem (see the Peabody-Essex museum). Day 4 in Portsmouth, NH or the southern Maine coast. Day 5 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Day 6 and 7 xxploring Vermont (visit Woodstock and Burlington). Day 8 in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts (see the Norman Rockwell museum and the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge). Day 9 in Mystic, Connecticut (see the seaport and the aquarium). If you like casino gambling, Foxwoods, the largest casino in the US, is nearby. Day 10 in Newport, RI (see the Breakers and at least one other mansion). Day 11 do the whaling museum in New Bedford and then drive back to Boston. If you have any additional time, try to do a side trip over to Nantucket Island.

I had the chance to be in Vermont last Sept and really enjoyed it. My favorite was around the Burlington area- beautiful lake, college town, Shelburne Museum was wonderful- enjoyed a great lunch and tour of the Von Trapp Lodge (Sound of Music fans?) poked around the Ethan Allen homestead (nothing much) visited a couple of places that specialized in things like maple, syrup, Vermont cheese- visited Ben and Jerry's factory, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company (not my thing, but I did send bears to the little girls in my family- they were thrilled. Stowe was okay- too crowded for me, even on a week day- Enjoyed the Vermont Country Store (Orton, I think) did a little antique browzing and buying- headed up to Canada for a couple of days- 30 minutes away- had a beautiful scenic drive through Maine, also.

These answers are great!! Thank you and please keep 'em coming!