The Ultimate 10 Days New England Road Trip Itinerary.
New England was always a precious, long-awaited item on our bucket list. That, and road tripping. So, last year, when we had to choose where to travel, it was an easy choice — A New England road trip!
Before we start going over what we believe is a great itinerary to look at when you plan your New England road trip, a short disclaimer: Before planning our trip, we read countless blog posts and forums, and what was always missing (to us at least) was the profiling of who wrote it, and what the mindset of their trip was; a family road trip is different from a couple’s road trip, and a couple’s road trip — with children or without — is also quite different.
So, who are we? We’re Yoav and Tslil — a couple, at the time of traveling — 36 and 28 years old. We love hiking but also chilling doing nothing; we’re coffee lovers and photography enthusiasts; we love food, don’t have any restrictions, and while we normally like nice hotels, for the road trip we were all about the adventure and spontaneity of it.
What will we cover in this blog post?
- Pre road trip thoughts: RV vs. Car dilemma, shopping list, and more.
- A 10 days itinerary with embedded map, links, photos and other recommendations.
- Equipment list.
Pre road trip notes and thoughts
- RV vs. Car — We spent quite some time discussing what we should do. On one hand, RV is always a sort of dream that you want to fulfil. We’ve all seen it in the movies, in the Simpsons, and let’s face it — it’s just cool! That said, looking back at our trip (as you will see below) there are some amazing cabins and accommodation options throughout the road trip which we’re glad we didn’t miss. Yes, you can still rent an RV and stay in these AirBnbs but it won’t be economical. It seemed quite a friendly sort of trip for RVs but we’re happy with our decision of going for an SUV.
- Car — We rented an SUV ( Hyundai Tucson), which was perfect for us; we wouldn’t take a smaller car. There’s just a lot to carry, a lot of grocery shopping, a cooler that you want to have handy and more. Make sure your car has an E-ZPass which is required for toll roads. AND — we recommend making sure your car has GPS. Sometimes there’s no cellular reception and it’s great to know you have the GPS just in case.
- Shopping — We came all the way from Israel, so we really needed to plan things ahead and make sure we weren’t wasting time shopping for essentials that might be difficult to find.
- Amazon Pick up — We bought all of our essentials on Amazon, and since we didn’t plan staying the night in Boston (where we landed), we made sure to deliver everything to an Amazon pick up spot.
- What did we buy? (no affiliate links, it’s all for real here) — Cooler, headlamp, portable camping cookware, stove, first aid kit.
- Additional shopping at Target — There’s a Target shop everywhere. Once we started driving (you’ll see below) we went to Target to fill our cooler with fun stuff, bought some storage boxes for easier accessibility and made sure we had snacks while driving, because let’s admit it — that’s an important part of the road trip :) - Apps to download:
- Waze / Google Maps
- Alltrails — a must-have for hikes discovery and hike navigation + “are we there yet” answers during a hike
- Spotify
- Airmap — if you fly drones
- Agoda, Airbnb, Hotwire, Booking
-iOverlander — great for finding camping spots, where to buy gas etc…
Clockwise or anticlockwise? I guess both can work, for us the decision wasn’t really based on weather or Fall Foliage season, we just knew that we wanted to keep Maine for the end, and we’re happy that we went for that decision. I’m sure either works.
Our 10 days itinerary (we’re pretty proud of it…)
Before we start, here’s a Google Map itinerary that I’ve created based on another one that I stumbled upon in my research. You can duplicate and edit it at your convenience; it’s great to have it handy and update it as you go. As you can see, we started in Boston and ended the road trip in NYC. It’s all about the segments rather than the trip as a whole, so no matter your direction or trip’s length, I hope you find it useful.
Day 1 — Boston, Newport (RI), and Mystic (CT)
We landed in Boston, which we’d already visited in the past. Our mindset was really about “getting out” of the city and so, although Boston is gorgeous (it really is, and you might consider adding another day there if you have the time) we went to pick up our stuff from an Amazon pick up spot, and started driving to Rhode Island. We made sure to make a stop at Target (there are many) where we bought lots of snacks, water, beer, wine, groceries, and a large plastic box in which we stored everything so it wouldn’t make a mess in the car.
In Newport we went for a very nice cliff walk, drove past beautiful mansions and had great coffee in the very chill Newport.
We kept driving to Mystic, a little seaside town that is nice to walk in. There are little shops in the main street, if you’re into it, but let’s admit it, we were there for the Pizza! Which was great! and with a touch of nostalgia for those of us who watched Mystic Pizza.
We found a nice little Motel at Mystic and stayed there for the night to relax after a long flight and a few hours of driving.
Day 2 — Mohawk Trail, Manchester (VT) and Moosalamoo
After a coffee by the seaside at Mystic, we started driving up north, aiming to drive through part of Mohawk Trail, which is a nice scenic route. We didn’t drive the whole thing but it was definitely worthwhile. (There are plenty more during the rest of the trip so don’t worry if you’re skipping it).
Our goal for this day was to get closer to Vermont. If you have time in the morning, we pinned “Kent Falls” as a nice place to visit, but we didn’t make it there. We drove to Manchester for lunch and started looking for a place to stay. We decided we were going for the adventure of sleeping in the car; we had an inflatable mattress, which was apparently too large for our car, but we managed, somehow. :)
After looking for a few camping spots, we found “Moosalamoo”, a very organized camping spot that is well divided into secluded areas, each with a fire pit, picnic table and gorgeous trees all around. Whether you travel with an RV, car, tent, whatever, I really recommend this spot. We cooked dinner with our stove, had a nice bottle of wine and captured great memories.
Day 3 — The Camel Hump (VT), Burlington (VT)
Okay, a moment of honesty here — today is the day where things start to get interesting, exciting and fun (I’d actually include last night in Moosalamoo too!).
Camel Hump was one of those hikes we put on our list, but didn’t really know what to expect. I love hiking, Tslil (my wife) didn’t imagine herself hiking so much (you’ll see we hiked 6 times on this road trip which I’d say is about 4 more than she was expecting).
We woke up early, had our coffee, tried to fold our annoying mattress, packed up and started driving to Camel’s Hump. By the time we got there, which was about 10:30am, it wasn’t that easy to find a place to park. We made sure we had water, hiking shoes and some snacks (you’ll need these!) Camel’s Hump is an 11km hike (it’s not round, so you basically go up and down the same route). It’s beautiful, and although it’s pretty moderate, the length might make it a little difficult, but bearable. The view at the top is outstanding, and that’s where we started our tradition of making mountain-top-worthy sandwiches, to eat whenever we get to these moments.
After a very satisfying climb with breathtaking views, we started walking back. It took another 2–3 hours to get back to our car. That was when we started driving towards Burlington area. We hadn’t booked a place for the night ahead, so we just explored the usual apps — Hotwire, Airbnb, Agoda etc.. and ended up staying at a motel 15 mins away from Burlington, which is a nice city. We had a good dinner and drinks and went back for a very good sleep.
Day 4 — Burlington (VT), Stowe (VT) and Lincoln (NH)
This was a chill day. After the long hike yesterday, we had to do something a lot lower key. We started with coffee in the city and a short walk to see Lake Champlain, then we went to a brewery (they say you have to check out the breweries in this area, and so we did!) We went to Switchback Breweries which was actually very good. From there we drove to Stowe which is a beautiful town. That was when I pulled out my drone to take some beautiful shots. Stowe is very quiet and has a great atmosphere. We had (another) coffee as we were planning another 2–2.5 hours drive to Lincoln (NH).
We didn’t have much planned for Lincoln. We looked for cool Airbnbs over there and in Woodstock as we wanted to get close to the White Mountain National forest in which we had a few plans for days 5 and 6.
Day 5 — Kancamagus Highway (NH), Flume Gorge Trail (NH), North Conway
*Please note: Ideally I’d start day 5 with the Welch & Dickey trail and then Kancamagus drive. We didn’t do it due to weather conditions so just keep that in mind as you read through.
We woke up to the only rainy-ish day that we had during our trip (we were VERY fortunate) but we decided to go, despite the rain, to Flume Gorge which is a 2–3 hour easy loop hike. There are a few stairs to climb, but nothing too serious. As long as you have a rain jacket, it’s totally doable and enjoyable, even with light rain. There are beautiful, powerful waterfalls all around and it’s great for families of all ages.
After a great walk we got back to our car and started driving to North Conway which is at the other end of Route 112 (Kancamagus). Since it was raining, visibility wasn’t what we’d hoped it’d be, (we didn’t see much of what we’d hoped for), but we got to North Conway, a city where you can find a lot of outlets, in case you’re on the lookout for things you need and thing you don’t need but still want :). We had a nice dinner at Muddy Moose.
Day 6 — Kancamagus Highway (NH) take 2, Welch & Dickey Trail (NH), Portland (ME)
We had to drive this highway again, and oh boy it was so worth it! Although it meant driving back west, we were totally fine with it. There are plenty of beautiful spots where you can see the beautiful fall foliage with water streams in the middle. The road itself is beautiful and it’s just worth every second of driving there.
We looked for a fun hike, and Welch & Dickey Trail, which wasn’t one that we planned to do, was one of our favorites. It’s a 7.1km loop trail. I would rate it moderate/difficult (difficult only due to a short climb at its peak) and it has an amazing mixture of tree-top views, boulders, wild flowers and more. Tslil, my wife, rates it as her trip favorite. So — we highly recommend that one.
After the hike we started a 2.5–3 hour drive to Portland (ME) as we were trying to get closer to the state we’d been waiting for the most : Maine.
I have to admit that we’d had quite high expectations of Portland (not sure why), but it felt like a ghost town at 9pm. We had an okay Lobster Roll at Becky’s Diner and were lucky to find a cool vintage-inspired cocktail bar called Blyth & Burrows where we had lots of fun.
Day 7 — Getting close to Bar Harbor. Wiscasset, Searport, Tremont.
We started the day with a short drive to Cape Elizabeth which was beautiful yet very touristic. We went there for 15 mins and it was not too much of a detour on our way to Bar Harbor, so I’d say it’s worth a visit.
This day was all about getting close to Bar Harbor with some nice scenery on the way. We took a route that was more scenery, and closer to the water. I’d say that the highlight of the day, and quite a highlight I must say, was the Lobster Roll at Red Eats, Wiscasset (just in case you wondered why we went there). Don’t miss it. Wait in line, yes it might take quite some time, but everything you hear about it is true; just amazing. I’d go there again just for that.
After a delicious Lobster Roll we kept driving east, because we’re all after Acadia Park, Bar Harbor, right? We had a nice short coffee break in Searsport and kept driving to Tremont.
Maine was listed in our plans as one of the destinations in which we’d like to look for very cool, comforting cabins/Airbnbs. Don’t try looking for a cabin in Bar Harbor, there’s no real need for that because you will drive in this direction anyway, to start your hikes (which is what we were after in this area). So it’s not that we looked for Tremont specifically, it just happened to have this amazing lake-side cabin that turned out to be one of our trip’s highlights. We stayed there for two nights.
Day 8— Beehive Trail, Jordan Pond — Acadia National Park
Okay, here we are, Acadia National Park, going to tick some boxes off some of the park’s highlights that we’d read about and anticipated. So for this day we picked two relatively short trails.
Beehive Trail is a short (2.3km) loop trail that is named this way because it looks like a giant beehive. The trail has rungs and ladders, so there is some climbing, but you can do it at your own pace. I really recommend waking up early since it’s a heavily trafficked one, and since there are ladders it has a potential queue with people waiting for others to climb. I’d say that this hike had one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. It really reminded me of some of the hikes in New Zealand, and for this length of a hike I’d say it’s a no brainer, go for it.
Jordan Pond Full Loop Trail is yet another heavily trafficked loop trail which I’d say is pretty moderate. The trail has really nice views of the pond throughout the whole walk, it’s not too exciting, but it’s fun and easy. We carried our stove with us so we had a nice coffee and cookies break by the pond and it was beautiful.
After these two trails we had to go get a lobster, so we went to Bar Harbor where it was really nice to walk around, see the harbor, the small shops and get some souvenirs. We got some groceries and went back to our beautiful cabin.
Day 9 — Cadillac North Ridge — Acadia National Park
If you’ve read some other blog posts or seen any pictures of Acadia National Park, you must’ve heard about the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. We didn’t go for it, we just didn’t feel like waking up so early, considering we were very eager to have chill mornings at our cabin. That said — it sounds and looks like an awesome thing to do, so if you have the time, I guess it’s worth exploring that option. In any case, we were looking for a hike that would still get us to Cadillac mountain and explore other parts of Acadia’s National Park.
Cadillac North Ridge Trail is an out-and-back trail (6.4km). I’d say it’s pretty moderate, has some climbing but not overly long ones, and the peak is beautiful, throughout the climb itself and when you get to the peak, which is basically the sunrise view spot and also worth mentioning — accessible by car. So just in case your legs are tired or you don’t feel like hiking, driving up the mountain is a great option.
After this great hike, we went to Bar Harbor for the last time. We went to a really cool restaurant/café, called “Side Street Cafe” in which we had another awesome lobster roll and a great beer.
From there, we went to another airbnb-to-remember called “The Waterfall Tiny House”, a beautiful Victorian tiny house, which is by the river and waterfalls. We had a great time spending the night there, also thanks to the local beautiful dog who was in the farm where we stayed.
Day 10— Good bye Maine.
Day 10 was initially planned to be all about driving down south, and on our way to NYC, stop for a night around Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, but after reading a bit more and checking accommodation options, we decided to skip it. It also depends where you’re dropping the car; we planned to drop it in NYC since we knew we’d like to visit one of our favorite cities in the world again, so for us, this day was all about one long drive with some stops along the way. It was a ~8 hour drive(!)- pretty long but manageable. I can definitely see how you add a couple more days at this point, whether it’s about visiting Portsmouth (NH) or Salem (NH) or even Boston.
Equipment list
For the car
- Cooler
- Storage plastic box (to keep things organized)
- Groceries (that’s up to you but — drinks, snacks, coffee, milk, garbage bags, oil, pepper, salt…)
- Blanket (unless you have a sleeping bag)
- Chargers that connect to the car (for phone, batteries etc…)
Day to Day
- Headlamp
- Portable camping cookware
- Stove
- Knife / Cutlery
- Plates/Bowls/cups
- First aid kit
- Hiking shoes
- Clothes
- Bathing suit
- Water bottles
- Medium backpack (our hikes were day walks so we didn’t need tents)
- Optional: Tent and sleeping bags if you’re planning to camp
- Lighter
- Portable charger
- Camera (I personally took a 35mm film camera, drone and a digital camera, I used them all)
That’s it!
I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing parts of our trip. I could keep on writing thousands more words, but at the same time, remain speechless about the beauty of this area. If you’re planning your trip — lucky you — have fun! If you have any questions, comments or notes, please don’t hesitate reaching out.
