Please help me plan a (grown-up) family vacation for this Xmas in New England

December 5, 2011 11:20 AM

Please help me plan a (grown-up) family vacation for this Xmas in the New England area (Connecticut and north, probably?). This "Winter fun for the Non-Skier" list is a good start, but I don't really know how to put something together into a reasonable itinerary.

We would be leaving New Haven, CT on Dec 21 and returning Dec 25. We are four adults who are mobile, though not extremely active: we would like to have fun and see/do new things, but not be exhausted at the end of the day. We don't ski, though snowshoeing, sledding, and sleigh-rides might be options. Museums/breweries/sugarhouses/festivals also sound good. We'd like to stay in inns, but we'd also like to be frugal about accommodations.

We would prefer quaint small-town stuff, I think, but know that snow might make that difficult. It seems like taking Amtrak might make snow less of a risk, but then we'd be able to see less, and would need to go to places that were walkable (which seems like it would be more difficult if it's super snowy). Renting a car is definitely an option.

Any ideas on train vs. car, particular itineraries that might be good, places to go/stay, and things to see/experience/eat would be fantastic, thanks.

posted by unknowncommand to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

You're fairly close to Cape Cod, which is quaint as all hell. Also - it's a weird freak of nature that the Cape proper stays more snow-free, and a bit warmer, than the mainland in winter (the sea acts like insulation).

Elsewhere in Massachusetts, in the Northwestern Massachusetts area (Williamstown and environs) you've got a Shaker museum, and a Norman Rockwell museum.

The Ben and Jerry's factory in Burlington, Vt. is something I should mention just because it's there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:29 AM on December 5, 2011

Best answer: You can go to Newport, RI and look at Gilded Age mansions. It's fun, although I always feel bathed in the blood of exploited workers by the end. You can also eat at The White Horse, the oldest tap house in North America (serving beer since the 1690s, if I recall correctly). Newport also has some other interesting sites.

You can easily get to Providence by rail and look at some of the sites (historic houses, HP Lovecraft walking tour, a pretty good art museum at RISD), stay in a B&B (the Annie Brownell House was good for my family when they visited), and day trip to Newport by bus. It's a good way to spend 2-3 days --a city, but not a huge city.

Feel free to memail me if you would like more RI tourist ideas.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:39 AM on December 5, 2011

Woodstock, Vermont, has good restaurants, an inn, Christmasy-activities (including a sleigh ride), and cross-country skiing all close to town. You can take Amtrak there (the nearest station is in White River Junction) but you'll probably want a car.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:53 AM on December 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

western mass (amherst/northampton area) is bucolic and lovely all year round, so winter is no exception. northampton is a nice little city with a walkable main strip - lots of shops, restaurants, places to lounge and people watch. if you stayed put in that area, there's a christmas lights tour in Springfield, lots of craft fairs over the weekend, and yankee candle factory - that sort of stuff. five colleges with lots of shows and events, and it's also an hour to northern ct, the berkshires, vermont and new hampshire, so you could take day trips to brattleboro (another little downtown) or elsewhere. lots of quaint old-fashioned inns, too. amtrak is in the area, though driving is easy and convenient too.
posted by carlypennylane at 2:17 PM on December 5, 2011

Response by poster: These were all wonderful ideas, thanks! We ended up driving to Newport, and had a great time.
posted by unknowncommand at 7:56 AM on December 24, 2011