People who aren’t aware of all the fabulous things to see and do in Connecticut consider it a New England afterthought—somewhere to pass through on the way to Vermont or Maine. Sitting between the population centers of New York City and Boston, Connecticut can be overlooked if you don’t know what’s here.
With action-packed amusement parks, dazzling casinos, destination-worthy architecture, and museums showcasing everything from Impressionist art to Egyptian treasures, Connecticut packs a big punch for a small state.
In the Nutmeg State, you can cruise through a scenic archipelago, walk among life-size dinosaurs, drift over farmland in a hot air balloon, and amble over a covered bridge to a waterfall.
Whether you’re a history buff or antiques hunter, foodie or beer lover, you’ll find many attractions and activities to keep you busy for days.
Explore the Connecticut Art Trail
It’s a super deal to be able to visit 24 museums for $35 with the Connecticut Art Trail Passport, especially when so many museums these days charge $20 each.
The pass includes the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut’s answer to New York City’s comprehensive Metropolitan Museum of Art; Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, a beautiful house museum with an remarkable collection of paintings by Monet and Degas; Old Lyme’s Florence Griswold Museum, a lovely yellow home whose carefully tended garden and views of the Lieutenant River inspired a resident American Impressionist art colony in the 19th century, and the New Britain Museum of American Art, the country’s first museum dedicated to American art with works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Chihuly, Andy Warhol, and Winslow Homer.
Museums accepting the Connecticut Art Trail Passport span the state. Purchase the pass at your first stop, and have it stamped at each museum you visit.
Spend the Weekend in Mystic
If people know the name of just one town in Connecticut, it will likely be Mystic. Thanks to the movie Mystic Pizza, blockbuster attractions, and a dining scene that has attracted national attention, Mystic is firmly on the tourism map. West Main Street is lined with well curated boutiques and galleries, and culinary magnets are paces away.
The arbiter of America’s top foodie awards, James Beard has recognized two restaurants in downtown Mystic. The small and yacht-like Port of Call is known for Latin dishes like empanadas and bacalaitos as well as the time and attention the chef takes to cure, ferment, and otherwise prepare food in house. Shipwright’s Daughter, inside the Whaler’s Inn, serves sustainable, locally sourced fish-forward cuisine like smoked clam dip and fluke a la plancha. There’s a huge selection of other restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, and bars to keep everyone fed and watered.
In between eating and drinking, fit in some of Mystic’s well-known attractions. Mystic Seaport is a recreated 19th-century seafaring village full of buildings to explore, like a one-room schoolhouse, a printing shop, and a cooperage.
You can climb aboard America’s last surviving whaling boat, the Charles W. Morgan, take a horse and carriage ride, and see a show at the small planetarium. There’s a range of kid-friendly activities and the opportunity to head out on the Mystic River in a captained steamboat or sailboat or in a self-propelled rowboat, sailboat, or pedal boat.
You can spend hours at the Mystic Aquarium observing belugas and penguins, petting sharks, holding horseshoe crabs, and watching sea lion shows. In addition to the scores of tanks and exhibits outside and inside, visitors can also catch a 4-D movie, walk among animatronic dinosaurs, and strap on goggles for a VR experience that makes it feel like you’re swimming with humpback whales.
The town’s popularity means that Mystic is often busy–hard to find parking, challenging to get dining reservations at top spots, and with downtown traffic that’s often backed up.
This latter kvetch can be partially attributed to the drawbridge (which is an attraction in itself) that opens regularly, leaving cars and pedestrians stranded on either side for a few minutes. If you’re stuck on the right side, pop into Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream for an ice cream cone that will immediately make you forget the wait.
Cruise the Thimble Islands
Mid-coast around Branford, a picturesque archipelago of small, rocky islands dot the Connecticut shoreline. There are dozens or hundreds of Thimble Islands depending on how you characterize an island. Many have homes and all are private except one. Several companies offer narrated tours in season from the charming hamlet of Stony Creek, or you can rent a kayak for a serene day on the water.
The 49-passenger Sea Mist is the longest-running cruise—and the only boat with a Thimble Island Brewing Company IPA named after it. On a 45-minute outing, hear tales of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure, the wrath of hurricanes, people associated with the islands like President William Taft and General Tom Thumb, and how the area’s granite was used in the base of the Statue of Liberty.
Outer Island, the farthest from shore, is the only one you can land on (unless you’re an owner or an invited guest). Here, the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge is free to visit. A scientific research center, it’s a stop on the Atlantic Flyway for sea birds like herons and egrets, and a wonderful, free way to spend a summer day.
Tour Yale’s Fabulous, Free Museums
Yale University’s 300-year-old campus is interesting to tour but know that it also has multiple world-class, free museums.
Come to the Yale University Art Gallery for van Goghs and Hoppers and don’t miss the sculpture garden and rooftop terrace. This was architect Louis Kahn’s first public commission, and it’s across Chapel Street from his last—the Yale Center for British Art. Holding the largest collection of UK art outside the UK, it has art pieces from all the major players including Turner, Constable, and Gainsborough.
The newly renovated Peabody Museum of Natural History is famous for its dinosaur skeletons. Visitors who appreciate stunning architecture and rare books should take a free Saturday tour of the Beinecke Library’s inspiring building that houses a Gutenberg Bible and the papers of many notable people.
Eat a Hot Buttered Lobster Roll
If the only kind of lobster roll you know about is made from cold, mayonnaise-covered lobster salad, you are in for a treat. Connecticut invented the warm, buttered lobster roll that features big chunks of warm lobster meat tossed in butter and spooned onto a toasted, buttered roll. Often served with a side of coleslaw and a bag of potato chips, this is a preferred warm weather lunch along the Connecticut coastline.
Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough in Noank is a lobster legend, serving all forms of the crustacean since 1947. It does not stand on ceremony and is definitely not a fancy, white-tablecloth kind of a dining establishment with tuxedo-clad waiters. Instead, you meander around a tiny fishing village until you notice the huge red lobster on the side of a building. Place your order inside, take a seat on a picnic bench overlooking the Mystic River, crack open your BYOB beer, and dig into a Connecticut shoreline classic.
Guilford’s Lobster Pound and Clinton’s Lobster Landing are two other spots known for lobster, but they appear on many menus throughout the state, especially in summer.
Have a Dinosaur Day
At Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, a geodesic dome protects 2,600 dinosaur footprints unexpectedly found by a construction crew. One of the world’s largest dinosaur trackways, it’s surrounded by models of dinosaurs and interactive exhibits.
Oakdale’s Dinosaur Place is not an archaeological site, but it has 50 life-size dinosaurs that you can encounter along one-and-a-half miles of wide, flat, wooded trails. Heaven for a dinosaur-loving kid, Dinosaur Place is literally a prehistoric playground. Kids can climb a T-Rex Tower, try their luck on a dinosaur-themed mini-golf course, and play on a dinosaur-themed playground. There’s also a maze, a splash pad, and indoor activities.
Live Like the One Percent in Greenwich
One of the wealthiest towns in America, Greenwich is the “Gateway to New England”–the first Connecticut town over the New York border. It’s a favorite country home spot for high net worth hedge fund managers, bankers, and corporate hot shots who don’t blink at paying cash for multi-million-dollar mansions.
The main shopping street here is Greenwich Avenue, whose numerous blocks are lined with retailers like Lily Pulitzer and Saks Fifth Avenue as well as home-grown stores such as Hoagland’s, the local go-to for elegant gifts, and Richard’s, a beautiful shop for high-end fashion. Two Greenwich brothers started the now national chain Vineyard Vines, which of course is represented on the East Coast’s version of Rodeo Drive.
Restaurants and coffee shops dot the area so there’s always a place nearby to rest your feet and refuel. Have a cocktail and appetizer at Happy Monkey, people watch from the patio at Terra, or nurse a latte at CFCF Coffee.
Art galleries here are small but well stocked with recognizable names. At the end of the avenue, turn left at Museum Drive to explore the art and natural history exhibits at the Bruce Museum.
If you’re visiting on a Sunday between June and October, check the Greenwich Polo Club calendar and head to the rolling hills of backcountry to witness the sport of kings. Some of the world’s most exciting high-goal polo is played here on Sunday afternoons. Horses gallop at top speed across the field surrounded by smartly dressed spectators. The Champagne flows and, at the halfway mark, people wander onto the field to stomp divots.
See if the Brant Foundation Art Study Center on the polo grounds is open. This small, free, contemporary art museum is usually open by appointment only, but sometimes hosts open houses on match days.
Order a Pizza at Frank Pepe’s
Pizza fans from around the globe make pilgrimages to New Haven to sample its invention, “apizza” –a crispy Neapolitan-style pizza. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana made the original apizza in 1925, so while there are other outposts, head to the original for its seasoned ovens and history.
Pepe’s is most famous for its white clam pie. There’s no tomato sauce or mozzarella, just clams, loads of garlic, pecorino Romano, olive oil, and oregano. Add bacon for an extra layer of flavor and leave room for dessert as there are Italian bakeries in walking distance. Two other New Haven apizza stars are Sally’s and Modern. Go ahead and taste test!
Devote a Day to Essex
Essex is always a good idea for a day trip. One of the state’s most popular attractions is here, the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat Ride. For a relaxing day, climb aboard a historic steam train and travel into the heart of the Connecticut River Valley.
Disembark at Deep River to add a riverboat excursion to this 12-mile, one-hour train ride and you will find yourself steps away from the Becky Thatcher. Learn about the river’s ecology, wildlife, and human history on a one-and-a-quarter-hour cruise, passing small boats and jet skiers and landmarks like Gillette Castle. Note that the first-class car offers alcoholic beverage service, and the riverboat has a snack bar.
The star of the picturesque town of Essex is the Griswold Inn, which opened its doors in 1776. One of the longest continually operating inns in the U.S., it’s decorated with collectible books, outstanding maritime art, and memorabilia from its long history. The cuisine highlights classic New England fare such as creamy clam chowder and perfectly roasted cod. Don’t miss the inn’s own flavorful and aptly named Revolutionary Ale.
At the end of the road on the waterfront, the Connecticut River Museum tells the history of the state through the lens of the river. A favorite exhibit is a replica of the world’s first submarine that you can climb inside. Called the Turtle, it was invented in Connecticut in 1776 and looks like a big wooden grenade.
Another popular attraction is a replica of the boat Onrust, which takes passengers out on the river. Dutchman Adriaen Block sailed Onrust up the Connecticut River six years before the Mayflower, and his exploration led to the establishment of a busy Dutch trading fort in what is now Hartford.
Visit the Homes of American Literary Royalty
It might surprise you to know that Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Harriet Beecher Stowe lived literally right next door to each other for years in a neighborhood of Hartford called Nook Farm. Both homes are National Historic Landmarks that are open for engaging tours.
One of America’s most celebrated authors, Twain lived in a 25-room High Gothic Victorian mansion where he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Before taking the tour, visit the separate museum for background and context. The 23-minute Ken Burns documentary about Twain runs on a loop and provides a terrific overview.
Another member of American literary royalty, Stowe became a worldwide phenomenon after the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Her less grand Victorian Gothic home is interpreted as a social justice learning center, tracing the movement through to today.
Experience All There is to Do at Foxwoods Resort Casino
Casinos are by nature exciting, and Foxwoods takes this directive seriously. There’s a zip line, golf, bowling, and a multi-level go kart track. Theaters attract headline entertainment. An outlet mall, spa, and golf course also keep guests busy. Don’t forget paint-your-own ceramics, an escape room, and Dark Ride VR.
The massive Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is also on the tribal land. The highlight here is walking with an audio tour through a realistically recreated historic Pequot village, learning about everyday life centuries ago. If the 185-foot observation tower is open, take the elevator by the main entrance for a fantastic view of the Foxwoods Resort complex surrounded by 2,000 acres of forest.
This entertainment behemoth has four hotels (with one under construction) and numerous restaurants and bars. Oh, and yes, you can gamble here!
Tour the Philip Johnson Glass House
You may look at a photo of the not-so-large Glass House and wonder if it’s worth a trip to New Canaan. It is. The house is part of a compound that includes a light-filled sculpture gallery, a bunker-esque painting gallery with rotating exhibitions, and a building with no right angles called Da Monsta.
Johnson dotted the magnificent 49-acre grounds with surprises like a 30-foot sculpture he liked to climb near a pond with a pavilion. He designed the landscape, too, building bridges, digging the pond, and cutting trees for perfect views.
The house is open from May to November, and tickets must be pre-booked. Tours leave from the Visitor Center in downtown New Canaan (leave time to peruse the museum store), which is across the street from the Metro-North train station and surrounded by restaurants and shops.
Sip Your Way Along the Connecticut Beer Trail
There are more than 125 craft breweries in Connecticut that run the gamut from waterside hotspots and farm-based settings to closet-size passion projects.
Some of note include Two Roads Brewing Company in Stratford, Danbury’s huge Charter Oak Brewing and Taproom, and Stony Creek Brewery in Branford, which gets very lively on summer weekends. Not far from Hartford in Manchester, Elicit Brewing Company & Beer Garden curates brews from around the state (and beyond) in addition to serving its own.
To find a brewery near you or create your own beer itinerary, go to ctbeer.com.
Learn About an Eccentric Actor at Gillette Castle
Built to look like a medieval castle by the eccentric actor William Gillette in the early 1900s, Gillette Castle overlooks the Connecticut River in East Haddam and is the centerpiece of a 184-acre state park. The 24-room mansion was customized by Gillette with intricate locks and doors, no two the same.
Gillette conducted his own private three-mile narrow-gauge railroad on his property with passengers including Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. He threw birthday parties for his 17 cats and included hidden stairwells and other surprises in his 14,000-square-foot home.
Gillette’s most famous role was Sherlock Holmes who he played more than 1,300 times over the course of 33 years. He also wrote the first authorized Sherlock Holmes adaptation for the stage, came up with the catchphrase “Elementary, my dear fellow” (which evolved into “…my dear Watson”), and originated the character’s deerstalker cap, curved pipe, and magnifying glass.
Follow the Freedom Trail
More than 100 sites in the 50-plus towns on the Connecticut Freedom Trail tell the inspiring and often harrowing stories of African Americans in the state. See where Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson lived, a statue of Jackie Robinson, and honor the lives of other pioneering Black Americans at churches, cemeteries, and monuments.
Many sites on the trail are connected to one of the most important cases in the struggle towards abolishing slavery in the United States—that of the African captives who commandeered La Amistad. Steven Spielberg told their story in his movie Amistad. A dramatic series of events resulted in their imprisonment and trials in Connecticut.
Residents raised national awareness and funds for their defense, and when their release was secured in 1841 by former US President John Quincy Adams at a pivotal US Supreme Court trial, they housed and educated the Africans until their safe passage back to Sierra Leone.
Not officially on the trail but definitely of note is a memorial at the Simsbury Free Library. It outlines the two formative summers Martin Luther King, Jr. spent in Simsbury–outside Hartford– working on a tobacco farm in a college work-study program that also brought Mahalia Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, and Arthur Ashe to Connecticut. King preached for the first time to 107 boys in his dorm, sang in the choir at First Church in Simsbury, and in letters home expressed wonder at the freedoms he experienced. It was his first time outside of the segregated South, and his eyes were opened to the possibility of universal civil rights in America.
Ride the Coasters at Lake Compounce Amusement Park
The oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States (it opened in 1846), Lake Compounce Amusement Park in Bristol is famous for its roller coasters. Hang on as you climb, drop, and zoom through the woods at 60 mph on the 4,725-foot Boulder Dash. You can also loop the loop on the Zoomerang rollercoaster or scream your head off on the 15-story, triple launch Phobia Phear Coaster.
If tamer rides are more your style, climb into a Flying Elephant, drive a mini classic car, or shoot ghosts with a laser gun. At the Crocodile Cove water park, float on a lazy river, plunge down a water slide in a raft, and cool off in a water playground. There’s enough to keep the whole family busy for days at this 332-acre park.
A smaller, tamer amusement park, Quassy, in Middlebury, is easier to manage with small children. At 20 acres, it’s a lot smaller while still offering rides, a lake, beach, boat rentals, water park, and arcade.
Go Antiquing
Countless antiques dealers have stores on back roads across the state and on main streets in towns like Woodbury and Kent. The Stratford Antique Center and South Woodstock’s Scranton’s Shops provide lots of variety, and the cute town of Putnam is also a hotbed for antiques and collectibles.
The four floors of Putnam’s Antiques Marketplace are packed with seemingly every item imaginable from every time period and every category. Antique toys, costume jewelry, porcelain figurines, vintage clothing, furniture, ephemera, fine art…the list could go on forever…and the Antiques Marketplace isn’t even the only antiques store in Putnam.
Take a Dip at Hammonasset Beach State Park
Many towns in Connecticut limit access to their beaches, but if you’re here and would like to take a dip in the Atlantic, Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison is a great choice. The 1,000-acre park has two miles of beach, a boardwalk, and the Meigs Point Nature Center.
An environmental learning center, Meigs Point offers nature walks and wildlife presentations. There’s also a touch tank and displays that include about 50 species of local wildlife like turtles, snakes, amphibians, crabs, and fish.
Set out for a trail hike, reserve a campsite or cabin, go biking or fishing, or even scuba diving!
Wander Around Hogpen Hill Farms
Surprising art awaits you at the 234-acre Hogpen Hill Farms sculpture park. An Airstream trailer is suspended 31 feet in the air. Metal fish sway from trees. Stainless steel arches are stuck in the ground like a giant Slinky.
The arrangements of massive stone monoliths that evoke Stonehenge are, however, the big draw.
Here you can also hike on five miles of wooded trails, follow paths through a bamboo thicket, and admire the giant black inflatable swan floating in a small lake.
This is the private property of the man responsible for the 100 unconventional sculptures, but he opens it with advanced ticketing.
Explore Litchfield
Litchfield’s quintessential town green has the requisite churches, boutiques, and restaurants. Plus, the Litchfield Historical Society, with its well curated museum exhibits, is steps away.
Tour the Litchfield Distillery to understand how the family behind Crystal Rock Water came to produce bourbon, vodka, gin, and agave spirits. Like farm-to-table dining, seed-to-glass distilling uses ingredients from local farms to create outstanding results.
If you’re feeling like a hike, head to White Memorial Conservation Center, a 4,000-acre preserve with 35 miles of trails. Start at the natural history center where you can enjoy the dioramas and get tips on where to go. The most popular trail is Little Pond Boardwalk, a one-and-a-half–mile wooded path over the water and wetlands of the pond.
The milk produced at Arethusa Farm in Bantam is turned into ice cream and cheese and sold at Arethusa Farm Dairy retail locations across the state. Arethusa a Mano is a gourmet coffee shop that sells pastries baked on premises and light meals like quiche and paninis made with Arethusa cheese. Arethusa al Tavolo is the full dining spot serving regionally sourced produce, meat, and seafood.
Another outstanding dining experience just down the road in Morris, The Restaurant at Winvian
expertly prepares creative multi-course dinners with a menu that changes daily. Many ingredients are sourced from the on-property organic gardens, greenhouses, apiary, and hen house. This AAA Five Diamond restaurant is part of a unique (and pricy) Relais & Chateaux hotel with 18 themed cottages.
Meader the Back Roads on a Fall Foliage Drive
On a glorious, crisp, bright, sunny fall day, driving country roads amidst the splendor of vibrant foliage feeds the spirit. This is iconic New England at its finest.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection maintains a fall foliage report so you know where and when foliage is peaking. The Department also suggests seven scenic leaf-peeping-loop routes. Their “Yankee Roots” loop (#4) begins in Vernon and travels approximately 100 miles through the Quiet Corner with its farms, rolling hills, and low-traffic roads.
Keep your eyes peeled for farm stands, pumpkin patches, apple-picking opportunities, breweries, and farms that offer wagon rides and pumpkin painting.
Enjoy a Musical at the Goodspeed Opera House
Overlooking the Connecticut River in East Haddam, the Goodspeed Opera House is one of the state’s most recognizable buildings.
Opened in 1877 to produce musicals (always musicals, never opera), Goodspeed has sent 21 shows to Broadway. Three of the world’s most famous musicals made their debuts at the Goodspeed: Annie, Man of La Mancha, and Shenandoah.
The theater has launched not only shows but stars including Ariana Grande and Idina Menzel.
Admire Spectacular Gardens
There’s a lot of farmland in Connecticut and a lot of gardeners.
You can pick your own sunflowers in mid-July at Buttonwood Farm in Griswold where 300,000 blooms blanket 14 acres.
Preston’s Wicked Tulips Flower Farm opens its colorful fields for people to pick their own tulips
in April and May.
In Killingworth, the 10,000 lavender plants at Lavender Pond Farm bloom in June and July. The 25-acre farm has chickens and bees, a pond and covered bridge, corn hole games, and a small, motorized train.
If you like roses, time your visit to Hartford’s Elizabeth Park in mid-June. Its two-and-a-half acres are planted with 15,000 rose bushes in 475 beds, reflecting 800 varieties.
If you’re curious about the private gardens on grand estates, look at the Garden Conservancy’s website to learn when some of the state’s most spectacular private gardens are open for ticketed viewing.
Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
The Connecticut countryside’s farms, rolling hills, and forests are beautiful not only from the road but also from the air.
Step into the basket and take a hot air balloon ride with Aer Blarney Balloons, which operates out of bucolic Bethlehem.
You can help inflate the balloon if you wish or take a lesson in how to operate it. With pilots and balloons certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, Aer Blarney takes passengers on flights in colorful, 90-foot balloons at dusk or dawn when the winds are most calm.
Summer trips are lovely, but if the weather is right and foliage colors are vibrant, an autumn balloon ride is spectacular.
Shop and Hike in Kent
Kent’s downtown is popular for strolling, shopping, and eating, especially on weekends when New Yorkers increase the town’s small population. There’s a strong community of artists, writers, actors, and fashion designers here, so galleries and design stores are especially prevalent.
Kent Falls is the state’s highest waterfall but it’s visible from the road and reached by an easy quarter-mile trail.
Connecticut has been voted the best state for hiking based on factors including the number of hiking trails and waterfalls relative to state area and the percentage of land covered by parks. Bull’s Bridge River Walk is a great choice for a hike as it passes one of Connecticut’s iconic covered bridges, meets with the Appalachian Trail, and offers options for varying degrees of difficulty.
If you’re visiting in winter, head to Mohawk Mountain Ski Area in Cornwall, a small, child-friendly place with ski instruction.