12 Day New England Itinerary

[taylora02]

I am planning a first time RV trip to New England with my husband and children (ages 10 & 7) for Summer 2016. I would love feedback and suggestions on this itinerary, campgrounds, and attractions, please.

DAY 1: Rent a 25' motorhome from Cruise America RVs, Bloomfield, CT. Stay at Fisherman’s Memorial State Park.

DAY 2: Visit Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT & historic homes in Newport RI. Drive back to Fisherman’s Memorial to spend the night.

DAY 3: Drive back to Newport to finish touring. Then, visit Plymouth, MA. Spend the night at Normandy Farms Campground.

DAY 4: Visit Boston. Go back to Normandy Farms for the night.

DAY 5: Visit Cambridge, Lexington, and Concord. Spend the night at Hampton Beach State Park.

DAY 6: Visit Portsmouth, NH. Drive to Wagon Wheel RV Resort and Campground to spend the night.

DAY 7: Visit Kennebunkport, ME and Freeport, ME. Drive to Bar Harbor, ME. Stay at Hadley’s Point Campground, Bar Harbor, ME.

DAY 8: Visit Acadia National Forest. Stay at Hadley’s Point Campground.

DAY 9: Visit Bar Harbor, ME for the day. Stay at Hadley’s Point Campground.

DAY 10: Drive to White Mountain National Forest. Visit Bretton Woods and ride on the cog railway. Take a hike in the Franconia National Park, NH.
Spend the night at the Lost River Valley Campground, North Woodstock, NH

DAY 11: Visit Montshire Museum of Science & King Arthur Flour Bakery & Cafe, Norwich VT for the day.
Return RV to Cruise America, Bloomfield, CT.

(Flex Day 12 to add to itinerary.) Thanks for your help!

[Rangerman40]

Having done most of your trip last year except mine was Cape Cod/ Old Orchard Beach/ Acadia/ White Mountains I can tell you there is waaaay too much driving in there. My trip mentioned above was 18 days long and we stayed at 4 different campgrounds. Cape Cod took 6 days by itself and I still feel I didn't see all of it. 1 day for Acadia is quite the injustice. Same for the White Mountains. No way you can get all that done in a day. We stayed at Lost River Valley Campground and it's an hour drive to the Cog. Half day for the Cog minimum.

[Flintstones]

Padlin has it right, and the other posters concerns about too ambitious an itinerary are right on.

Your campground selections are fine, but I also would keep it to Mystic Seaport area, Boston, Acadia National Park, and White Mountain area.

Mystic seaport, a great take on foot, In Boston, a Duckboat Tour and again explore on foot, Acadia great for camping, biking and hiking. I would forget Bretton Woods, drive and camp on the Kangamangus Highway and explore all the neat natural attractions, plus enjoy North Conway and maybe a scenic train ride, or head over to the Cog Railway if thats a must.

[lbrjet]

You will need more time in NH to do the things you have planned. Agree with a previous poster that it would be much better to stay in hotels for this trip.

[fwed]

Day 7: You're staying over in Portsmouth then driving to Kennebunkport, Freeport, and then to Acadia. Do not take US Route 1, turnpike only for your schedule. Even at that, good luck. First, don't even think about taking a rig into Kennebunkport and stopping anywhere. It's a trafic jam with a car, and parking is almost impossible. If your family is anything like my wife, Freeport and LLBean is at least a half day experience. Then you've got about 4 hours at top speed to Acadia on the turnpike to Route 3, then Route 1. Doing this, if you can, you'll miss all of Route 1 and all that it has to offer. Then it's a long way from Acadia to the White Mountains.

I don't blame you for wanting to see all of this, but personally I'd see less area and see it all better.

[Matt_Colie]

Hey Taylor,

You need to do a bunch more research before you do anything else. I used to live in the area (at one time, the four house down from Mystic Seaport). You can easily blow a day at the Seaport. There is no way you can even nearly do Mystic and Newport in the same day. it may only be 50+ plus miles between the two, but it is not all E-way. Going back and forth as your plan shows is a big waste of time.
You are also missing the submarine museum in New London and WHOI. You need to re-evaluate your effort level.

Matt (BTDT)

[Padlin]

Using your list. Fisherman's can be hard to get into but is a great CG.

DAY 1,2: Rent a 25' motorhome from Cruise America RVs, Bloomfield, CT. Stay at Mystic. Visit the Sub museum, Aquarium, maybe Mystic Seaport.

DAY 3,4: Fisherman’s Memorial State Park, visit historic homes in Newport RI. Hit the Salisbury Beach, eat seafood.

DAY 5,6,7: Visit Plymouth, MA. Then to Normandy Farms Campground.
Visit Boston, at least a day, maybe 2 depending on what you want to do.

DAY 8: Visit Kennebunkport, ME and Freeport, ME. Drive to Bar Harbor, ME. Stay at Hadley’s Point Campground, Bar Harbor, ME. Note, Rt 1 along the coast can be a very slow drive.

DAY 9,10: Visit Acadia National Forest. Visit Bar Harbor.

DAY 11,12: Drive to White Mountain National Forest. Visit Bretton Woods and ride on the cog railway, or the bus. Take hike on top of the mountain.
Spend the night at the Lost River Valley Campground, North Woodstock, NH

Return RV to Cruise America, Bloomfield, CT.

[BozemanTrail]

Way too much driving/moving around with or without an RV. Cut the number of destinations down.

Also, it may be more minor, but a 25' class C with two kids/two adults is going to be cozy to say the least, especially the Cruise America units without slide-outs.

[APT]

Based on your itinerary, I'd say skip the RV. It will be more costly to drive and cumbersome logistically driving to/from campgrounds to sight see compared to hotels that are already in the areas you want. An RV as hotel on wheels will not be pleasant for that trip IMHO.

We finished a 10-day Boston/NH trip on Sunday. It takes us 2-days each way towing. We spent 4 nights @ Minuteman Campground and 3 nights at Lost River. It was a little less of a hassle for us since we tow a TT vs. driving a MH. Minuteman was a place to sleep. It could have been a rest area or Walmart parking lot honestly. Everyone was beat after each day we stayed there. We had two Boston city days and one beach day. Half a day on each end hanging out with friends near the campground. It was about 2h drive to Lost River where we spent only a little more time relaxing at the campground. We ate all breakfasts in the camper, but only two lunches and once dinner.

[Rangerman40]

We are doing the whale watching out of Ptown today actually!! Tomorrow I think we are going to hit up Marthas Vineyard for the day.

[Crabbypatty]

Rangerman40 Do the Whale watch at P Town. The Lobster Roll at the Lobster Pot was very good. In Woods Hole they have a science discovery cruise very fun. also Shuckers has a great lobster roll and good ambiance.

Bar Harbor: On the causeway driving into Mount Desert Island(Bar Harbor) is Trents Lobster Pound. That was the best 2lb lobster that I ever had anywhere. Its on the right before you go over the causeway.

12 Days in NE. Your trip sounds too busy. Slow down and enjoy the ride. Been going to NE for 12 years still havent seen everything.....

Happy Trails

[Rangerman40]

I'm in the middle of a 17 day New England trip and my itenerary is as follows:
Cape Cod- 7 nights at Nickerson State Park (mid cape, easy access to everything)
Old Orchard Beach, ME- 2 nights (tank clean outs, regroup, resupply, 1 beach day)
Acadia National Park- 4 nights at Blackwoods CG
White Mountains (lost river valley cg)- 3 nights

I've got 4 days left in Cape Cod and still don't feel like I'm going to see it all. I think you have too much planned and too much driving for the time allotted.

[4runnerguy]

We just got back from doing part of your itinerary, although we were in a rental car and tent camped. We spent about the same amount of time as you will, realizing we had to prioritize and miss many places along the way. But it was either go and see what we could or not go at all. We particularly paid attention to the days and time of day we were driving certain stretches of highway. For instance we left Cape Cod and drove north through Boston all the way to Bar Harbor in one day. But it was a Sunday and traffic flowed well the whole way. I would imagine we would have spend four or five or more hours for this same trip if we took it on a weekday. Being stuck in an RV for hours during rush hour is no way to spend a vacation, so plan carefully.

Some places aren't especially RV friendly. Newport RI, for example, might be a challenge to find a place to park your RV. We took commuter rail into Boston from the Kingston station. If you are even allowed to take your RV in, you might have to pay for two spaces with the length of your rig.

I would spend your entire days at Mystic and environs and then head to Newport for a whole day there, rather than the back and forth to Newport that you have planned.

At Acadia, make sure you rent bikes and spend a day exploring the carriage roads. Probably the best day of our 17 day trip out there. There are many easy roads, no cars, and great scenery.

We took the Kancamagus Highway instead of going further north as you have planned. Lots of hikes along here plus some great swimming holes that the kids will love (except during spring runoff). Just an alternative to save some miles by not going so far north.

[Crowe]

Too aggressive. Keep in mind miles between stops up here means nothing-it's all about time. 40 or 50 miles can take 3 hours. You also aren't allowing near enough time to thoroughly enjoy yourself. You'll be spending more time cruising between sites than visiting. In answer to your questions, why do you want to go to Cambridge? I'd drop that and stick with Lexington and Concord, but if you take your time and truly explore you can spend a day at each place. Honestly I'd cut the number of places to visit in half. Acadia itself can easily be a day between things to see and do plus traffic. Kennebunkport is a good half-day, if not more. If you like to shop you can easily spend all day in Freeport. Boston? Days by itself depending on what you want to see and do. Make a list, prioritize, and then work it out. You will not do this area justice on that schedule.

Your best bet for Boston is to do it from Normandy Farms. There's little or no parking at T stations. You can't drive the RV in there-no place to park. Not sure what the other campgrounds may offer to access the city.

[taylora02]

Thank you so much for the feedback! We were definitely planning to park the RV and use public transportation in Boston.
A few questions:
- What cities/attractions could be dropped (or should definitely be kept in) from the itinerary?
- Where would be a good place to park the RV and pick up public transportation in Boston?