an Englishman in New Hampshire

Hi I%26#39;m travelling to New England in September with my wife. We hope to see as much of New England as we can in 3 weeks. We%26#39;re starting and ending in Boston, could anyone give me advice on best things to see, best places to visit, good hotels, restaurants etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Steve

an Englishman in New Hampshire

baggo55, why don%26#39;t you use this as your base:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60745-i48-k252308…

Skip Washington DC. Head south to Cape Cod first, you may get a beach day or two in. If you head north later, you may be able to catch the leaves changing.

an Englishman in New Hampshire

Steve

What are your interests? If you are a history buff, there are battlefields (Lexington/Concord), Naval Bases (groton, Ct) battleships (New Bedford, MA)

Sturbridge village, etc

For more intrepid, there are great hikes throughout NE

If you like museums, besides all the obvious ones in Boston, there are great museums in the Berkshires like the Clark Art, Williams College, Mass MOCA (contemporary art if you like that)

A trip over to Martha%26#39;s vineyard is certainly worth it.

You can do a day trip or stay overnite. You will be missing peak season but can still have great weather in Sept.

Newport, RI is great to visit all the grand mansions.

Would you believe that you will not be able to see everything in 3 weeks?

The ';best'; is so subjective without input about what you think would be best.

Hotels 5*, 4*??

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

Thanks domaotc while I really want to do Washington we had already decided to leave that for another year, maybe with Chicago %26amp; New York. Will definitelty be heading to Cape Cod for a couple of days.

Hi neslaw1

Thanks for all that great info. You would have to be mad to go to New England and not take in the history so will definitely take your advice on that one.

I%26#39;ve visited USA on a number of occasions but only really done the big attractions Orlando, SF, LA, NY %26amp; Vegas we would really like to see %26#39;small town%26#39; America.

While we%26#39;re not overly fit 50 somethings, we really enjoy a good hike have you any suggestions that aren%26#39;t too strenuous.

The thing that made me start planning the trip was all the places you see on tv and movies, the Hamptons, Cape Cod, Martha%26#39;s Vineyard Rhode Island etc so hope to visit all these and more. Also we%26#39;re big Stephen King fans so have to do Maine, Salem etc.

I know 3 weeks will never be enough but I hope not to miss anything special with the help of kind people like yourself.

We%26#39;re not too picky with hotels, we usually go for location, but don%26#39;t mind spending a bit extra for something special.

Thanks again for taking the time to help

If you have read any of my past posts, you may know that I have a pet peeve with ';drive by'; vacations. I always recommend finding a few central places to stay for a few days and setting off on adventures. So, when you provide a basic outline of where you want to be there are lots of us on the various forums who can help. Some thoughts on the Cape which are a little different. Many people stay in the Hyannis area. But there are plenty of other places like Mashpee/Falmouth/Wood%26#39;s Hole which is the stopping off place for Martha%26#39;s Vineyard. Another suggestion on the Cape is the Bayside in Barnstable where it is much quieter and lots of great B%26amp;B%26#39;s in former captain%26#39;s houses. September is a little less expensive time of year.

You also want to go to the white mtns. There are lots of posts here about places to stay and reviews of hotels and restaurants to help you.

So after we have a tentative itinerary, then some more suggestions can be made for hotels, etc

1 clarification, I capitalized Bayside- it is not a specific place, just the location on the Cape. Sorry for any confusion.

Anyway, I have not spent alot of time on the CC forum where I am sure there is lots of great suggestions and we will be happy to give any suggestions for NH.

Thanks neslaw1

I agree, while I want to explore as much as I can, I would like to spend some time in interesting places. Will it be peak season or will I be able to find hotels as I go, or will i need to pre-book?

I%26#39;ve only just got my maps so will do a bit of work and come up with an itinerary and get back to you.

Thanks again

You could start off in Boston and take the boat into Provincetown, MA on the outer cape. Rent a car and head down through the cape staying a few days. You can take a day trip to Martha%26#39;s Vineyard. Head back up to Lexington/Concord for a few days and then to NH for the mtns. Go to Lincoln NH and travel through the Kancamaugus Highway-have a picnic and end up in North Conway. Shop a little and go back to Lincoln through Rte 302. Lincoln/Woodstock is a nice central spot to stay. You can either go back down the highway to Boston for a few days or over Rte 302 to the ME coast.

Our friends for England love the Lincoln/Woodstock area and of course the shopping in NOrth Conway for sheets and jeans!

Steve,

When I said ';Skip Washington DC';, I meant ';give it a miss'; (I think).

If you%26#39;re into history you should put Minuteman National Park on your initinerary. You may want to bring some flowers to leave at the graves of the unkown British soldiers who are buried there (many of your countrymen do).

Google ';Stephen King Bangor'; and you%26#39;ll get his home address. He used to hand out candy on Halloween, but he had stop when the crowds got too large. I don%26#39;t know if you%26#39;ll see him up in Maine, but he attends quite a few Red Sox games so you may see him at Fenway Park if you decide to attend a game.

If you want to see some small towns in between your destinations, bring your ';SatNav'; loaded with maps of the US or buy a cheap one here (I%26#39;m sure you could sell it when you get home). Good places to buy one here would be Best Buy, Staples, OfficeMax or even Wal-Mart. Just select ';Least use of Highways'; and you%26#39;ll see lots of small town New England.

Lastly, since you plan on visiting multiple New England states you should probably post questions on the forums of the ones you plan on visiting besides New Hampshire.

Dom

It will be off peak in Southern NE (Cape, Vineyard, RI, etc) but will be moving towards peak in NH and Vt. True peak leaf peeping a little later than September. So for hotels, I don%26#39;t believe you will any problem finding someplace to stay although if you have someplace you absolutely want to stay then prebooking is a good idea. It is like anywhere, there is always a hotel room but the best b%26amp;b with 4 rooms will not be available for a walk in.

The suggestion to see Ptown by boat from Boston is great. It allows you to get to the lower cape (which is actually north of the upper cape- go figure) in much less time than the drive. You can still visit the upper cape by driving from Boston(which is actually lower) and MV, off to Groton Ct for a nuclear sub tour and maybe to Mystic Village to see how far ships have come over the past few hundred years.

That also puts you near Newport, RI. with its harbor and mansions.

Other places I would definitely put on a NE visit list include the White Mountains, of course, a day at Lake Winnipesauki and a trip down the middle of VT and the Green Mountains to visit Stowe, Weston, Manchester, Arlington maybe a visit to Lenox, Ma and the berkshires and back to boston. Another locale which may be doable depending on itinerary could include West Point.