Can't afford to fly--driving vacation to New England

[darlaya]

I agree with others, skip the Acquarium in Boston, but highly recommend the acquarium in Mystic Connecticut. If you enjoy hiking, I highly recommend considering visiting the White Mountains, so many choices for where to hike. Bretton Woods offers a very scenic zip line as does Gunstock Ski Resort...two great options.

A lot really depends on your teens. I have two teenage boys, 17 and 14. We visited Boston last weekend...which we have done many times with them over the years. We did part of the Freedom Trail (they were bored), we saw "American Idiot) (they were unimpressed), we ate at the Hard Rock (they enjoyed that...I thought food was just ok), we headed to Patriots Place on Sunday to see the Patriots off to the Superbowl , took pictures with the trophy, walked through The Hall (Patriots Museum) and went into the stadium for the rally (again...unimpressed). Now this is the first time I have experienced this all around lack of enthusiasm for anything.

Some other things that you can enjoy in New England...White Water Rafting in Maine...there is a great deal running on Groupon right now ($49/pp), we love fishing and kayaking (which my boys still seem to enjoy). If you stay in the Boston vicinity, think about getting a Go Boston Card...this can be a good deal if you are staying in the area for 3-7 days.

Have Fun Planning!

 

[herdtoDisney]

I just thought of something that we've always enjoyed on vacations--food factory tours--like in Hershey, PA or Ben and Jerry's. We toured the Lake Champlain Chocolate factory too and the Herr's Potato Chip factory here in PA. Can you think of any other food factory tours on my CT/RI/MA/NH tour?

The Pez factory in Orange, CT has just started up a visitor center and tour. I haven't been yet but hope to soon! It's right off I95. There is also a really cool soda making tour at Avery Beverages in New Britain CT. We've done that-it's a small soda factory that is like stepping back in time, it's old school You get to see everything and prepare and bottle your own soda!

 

[alliesmommy]

Went up to New England in September. So beautiful!

Some things I'd recommend:
Boston: Duck Tours...this was a blast. We had a really great guide. The best tour I've ever been on.
We stayed at the Langham Boston and walked pretty much everywhere. We took a cab to our hotel and didn't rent a car until we were ready to leave the city to go to VT. If staying downtown, everything is a pretty easy walk.

We stayed in Stowe, VT for a week. Our favorite thing was the Shelbourne Museum. So interesting. It's HUGE! They have all of these old historical buildings and there are demonstrations of how things were made in the past. There's an old printing press, a blacksmith shop, etc. We took 2 days to walk it all, Really good value.

We also did Ben and Jerry's, Vermont Teddy Bear, Cabot, and a whole bunch of wine tastings.

 

[scrapquitler]

I just thought of something that we've always enjoyed on vacations--food factory tours--like in Hershey, PA or Ben and Jerry's. We toured the Lake Champlain Chocolate factory too and the Herr's Potato Chip factory here in PA. Can you think of any other food factory tours on my CT/RI/MA/NH tour?

I"ve never been, but I think you can take a tour of the Budweiser plant in Southern NH (somewhere around Nashua or Merrimack, I think). The Clydesdales are there, to0.

 

[3boymthr]

Thank you so much for all of your insight.

I'm surprised that no one has recommended the N.E. Aquarium. It is what my daughter remember best from our first trip to Boston, about five years ago. Is the Mystic aquarium generally thought to be better? I've been to the National Aquarium in Baltimore--honestly we avoid it now because there is no time when it isn't so crowded that you can't see the exhibits. We have a small-ish aquarium in Camden, NJ, which is clean but small and I don't consider to be worth the admission price. Has anyone been to the Camden Aquarium and can you make a comparison?

I am definitely going to include Newport and the White Mountains in our trip. Thank you for suggesting it.

I've been looking at rentals in Gloucester and the surrounding area. It looks very pretty and I think we'd like to stay there. But the train ride to Boston is longer than I thought and, once we all buy train tickets, we probably could have paid to park in the city. I am going to look into staying in Mystic and/or Braintree/Quincy, too.

While the train is not cheap and can take a long time parking in Boston is NOT cheaper about the same and possibly more depending upon where you park. But the big thing is on a weekday you absolutely positively will spend more time driving and trying to find parking then you would taking the train - Garages in Boston fill up quickly especially the museum lots (and on a game day Fenway lots are beyond expensive) but the drive time is a killer - usually longer than the time it takes to take the train - I drive to Boston one day a week to work. I live 30 miles outside the city (and work on the fringes with no rail access ). My morning commute is off hours (I'm leaving in just a few minutes) so it takes me 45 minutes. My drive out is during rush hour and it takes me over an hour and a half -on a good day. On a bad day it can take over 2 hours. Plus if you are not used to driving in Boston it can be in a word Terrifying. I hate it and I live here. There is no logic to the roads and the drivers are ruthless. I strongly recommend taking the Train if you are staying outside the city.

If you stay in the Braintree/Quincy area you would want to take the Red Line which runs more frequently and is less expensive than taking the Commuter Rail aka Purple Line.

 

[shamrock30]

Ipswich, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the Sea all have nice beaches, and there are others as well. There really isn't any reason to go to NH to get to a beach. Their coastline is much smaller. In NH, I'd head for the White Mountains instead.