Activities in New England
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FEATURED
Boston Whale Watching Cruise
3 hours (Departs Boston, Massachusetts)
by Viator
Looking for a whale watch that requires less travel time, offers the most comfortable ride available and gives you more time viewing some of the world's most…Not LP reviewed
from USD$47.25 - All activities
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Fenway Park
From April to September you can watch the Red Sox play at Fenway Park, the nation’s oldest and most storied ballpark. Unfortunately, it is also the most expensive – not that this stops the Fenway faithful from scooping up the tickets. There are sometimes game-day tickets on sale starting two hours before the opening pitch.
Head to Gate E on Lansdowne St; arrive early (but no earlier than five hours before game time) and be prepared to enter the ballpark as soon as you purchase your tickets. Otherwise, you can always get tickets in advance from online vendors or on game-day from scalpers around Kenmore Sq. If the Sox are doing well, expect to pay two times the…
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Boston Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour
1 day (Departs Boston, Massachusetts)
by Viator
Discover Boston at your leisure with a one-day ticket on the Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour. Create your own itinerary to see the most popular sights of Boston at…Not LP reviewed
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Al Gauron Deep Sea Fishing
Al Gauron Deep Sea Fishing offers fishing trips, lasting from two to 12 hours (full-day trips go from 8:30am to 4:30pm, July to August). Whale watches and other cruise packages are also available.
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Victory Chimes
Although traveling by schooner largely went out of style at the dawn of the 20th century, adventurers can still explore the rugged Maine coast on sailing vessels known as windjammers. A dozen of these multi-masted vessels anchor at Rockland, and each offers trips ranging from three to 11 days around Penobscot Bay and further up the coast. Travelers will explore towns and islands, stopping for hiking, sightseeing, or shopping. They also take their meals on the boat (expect sunset dinners and plenty of lobster). Bunks below decks are basic shared quarters, with shared toilets and showers; private cabins are available on some boats. The largest in the fleet, this classic…
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NPS Freedom Trail Tour
Show up at least 30 minutes early to snag a spot on one of the free, ranger-led Freedom Trail tours provided by the National Park Service. Tours depart from the visitor center in Faneuil Hall, and follow a portion of the Freedom Trail (not including Charlestown), for a total of 90 minutes. Each tour is limited to 30 people.
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Magic Hat Brewery
This insanely popular brewery, off US 7, offers free tours of its brew operation – and of course they'll tip the tap to let you sample the art. Perhaps the coolest brewery you'll ever see.
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Cap'n Fish's Boat Trips
Cap'n Fish's Boat Trips offers four-hour whale-watching trips (adult/child aged six to 10 years $38/25).
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North Hartland Lake Recreation Area
Getting to the middle of nowhere is easy in Vermont though the perfect place is North Hartland Lake. Within minutes of Quechee Village, you can scoot your boat off the North Hartland Lake Recreation Area ramp. Trees and meadows swallow virtually every shred of evidence of the existence of anyone beyond you and whoever else is plying these tranquil waters. You head into the various nooks and rivulets of the 215-acre lake, and just beyond sight of the beach, a noisy great-blue heron rookery occupies the tops of the pines on the north shore. Around the bend an eagle may just be pulling this afternoon’s catch out of the water. You’ll see an occasional shallow-domed muskrat…
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Cliff Walk
For a glorious hike take the 3.5-mile Cliff Walk, which hugs the coast along the back side of the mansions. You will not only enjoy the same dramatic ocean views that were once reserved for the filthy rich, but you will get to gawk at their mansions along the way. The Cliff Walk stretches from Memorial Blvd to Bailey's Beach; a scenic place to start is at Ruggles Ave near the Breakers.
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Mt Washington Cog Railway
Purists walk, the lazy drive, but certainly the quaintest way to reach the summit of Mt Washington is to take this cog railway. Since 1869 coal-fired, steam-powered locomotives have followed a 3.5-mile track up a steep mountainside trestle for a three-hour round-trip scenic ride, with two daily departures (weekend departures only from late April to late May). Reservations are highly recommended. On weekends from late November through March the train runs a shorter, one-hour round-trip up to Kroflite Kamp at 4100ft (adult/child $31/26). Instead of having drive wheels, a cog locomotive applies power to a cogwheel (gear wheel) on its undercarriage. The gears engage pins…
reviewed
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Waterfront Diving Center
Ever since the 18th-century French and Indian War, 120-mile-long Lake Champlain has been a major thoroughfare from the St Lawrence Seaway to the Hudson River. During the American Revolution and the War of 1812, numerous historic battles were fought on the lake to control this navigational stronghold and many military and merchant ships sank to the lake’s deep, dark bottom as a result of a cannonball or temperamental weather. The misfortunes of these vessels make lucky finds for scuba divers. Two hundred wrecks have already been discovered, including the 54ft American Revolution boat Philadelphia, pulled from the waters in 1935 (and now sitting in the Smithsonian…
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Guided Tours
The Adams family sights are accessible by Guided Tours, which depart from the Adams National Historic Park Visitor Center. Every half-hour, trolleys travel to the John Adams and John Quincy Adams Birthplaces, the oldest presidential birthplaces in the United States. These two 17th-century saltbox houses stand side by side along the old Coast Rd, which connected Plymouth to Boston.
The houses are furnished as they would have been in the 18th century, so visitors can see where John Adams started his law career, started his family, and wrote the Massachusetts Constitution (which was later used as the basis for the US Constitution). From here, the trolley continues to The Old…
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WaterFire
Particularly during summer, much of downtown Providence transforms into a carnivalesque festival thanks to an exceedingly popular public art installation called WaterFire (401-401-272-3111; www.waterfire.com). At this event, 100 flaming braziers anchored into the city's rivers illuminate the water, viewed by thousands of pedestrians strolling on bridges and finely landscaped riverside parks.
All the gazing and making out is accompanied by live (and canned) music, outdoor stages hosting theatrical performances, public ballroom dancing (you can join in) and a few ostentatious gondolas that drift by the pyres. Even cynical readers will have to admit the spectacle is both…
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Kennebec River Rafting
The villages of Caratunk and The Forks, south of Jackman via US 201, are both at the center of the Kennebec rafting area. White-water rafting trips down the Kennebec and nearby rivers are wonderful adventures. Trips cost from $75 to $130 per person, and many trips don’t require previous experience. Numerous companies run organized rafting trips on the Kennebec, Dead or Penobscot Rivers. Trips range in difficulty from Class II (easy enough for children aged eight and older) to Class V (intense, difficult rapids, with a minimum age of 15). Rafting companies include: Crab Apple Whitewater, Maine Whitewater, New England Outdoor Center, Northern Outdoors, Professional River…
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Mistress
Although traveling by schooner largely went out of style at the dawn of the 20th century, adventurers can still explore the rugged Maine coast on sailing vessels known as windjammers. A dozen of these multi-masted vessels anchor at Rockland, and each offers trips ranging from three to 11 days around Penobscot Bay and further up the coast. Travelers will explore towns and islands, stopping for hiking, sightseeing, or shopping. They also take their meals on the boat (expect sunset dinners and plenty of lobster). Bunks below decks are basic shared quarters, with shared toilets and showers; private cabins are available on some boats. Mistress, a 46ft schooner, offers an…
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Wildcat Mountain
With a vertical drop of 2112ft, Wildcat Mountain tops out at 4415ft. Just north of Jackson, Wildcat’s 225 acres include 47 downhill ski trails (25% beginner, 45% intermediate, 30% expert), four lifts and 90% snowmaking capacity. The longest run is 2.75 miles. The cirque at Tuckerman Ravine has several ski trails for purists. What’s pure about it? No lifts. You climb up the mountain then ski down. Purists posit that, if you climb up, you will have strong legs that won’t break easily in a fall on the way down. Tuckerman is perhaps best in spring, when most ski resorts are struggling to keep their snow cover, since nature conspires to keep the ravine in shadow much of the…
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Clarke Outdoors
New England’s three northern states – Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine – are justly noted for their outdoor activities, but that doesn’t mean that Connecticut can’t compete. Northwest Connecticut’s Housatonic River is particularly good for canoeing, kayaking, rafting and tubing. With the spring floods, the white water can reach Class III. Expect to pay about $90 for guided white-water rafting during the spring run-off, and about $25 for unguided rafting the rest of the year. Clarke Outdoors can equip you with a canoe, kayak or raft for a 10-mile run down the Housatonic River. It also leads white-water rafting trips during spring’s high water. Guided rafting…
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Maine Windjammer Association
Although traveling by schooner largely went out of style at the dawn of the 20th century, adventurers can still explore the rugged Maine coast the old-fashioned way: onboard fleet sailing vessels known as windjammers. A dozen of these multi-masted vessels anchor at Rockland and offer trips ranging from three to 11 days around Penobscot Bay and further up the coast.
Powered by the winds, travelers will explore towns and islands along the way, stopping for hiking, sightseeing, or shopping. They also take their meals on the boat (expect sunset dinners and plenty of lobster - meals are generally excellent). For a complete list of schooner companies and the rundown on vessels,…
reviewed
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American Eagle
Although traveling by schooner largely went out of style at the dawn of the 20th century, adventurers can still explore the rugged Maine coast on sailing vessels known as windjammers. A dozen of these multi-masted vessels anchor at Rockland, and each offers trips ranging from three to 11 days around Penobscot Bay and further up the coast. Travelers will explore towns and islands, stopping for hiking, sightseeing, or shopping. They also take their meals on the boat (expect sunset dinners and plenty of lobster). Bunks below decks are basic shared quarters, with shared toilets and showers; private cabins are available on some boats. American Eagle accommodates 26 passengers…
reviewed
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Catamount Trail
- Stowe, USA
- Activities › Hiking
Within Stowe's wide network of trails that traverse mountains and skirt lakes is the longest cross-country ski trail in the US, a 300-mile-long route that runs the length of Vermont. Known as the Catamount Trail, it starts in southern Vermont at Readsboro and ends at North Troy on the Canadian border.
In between lies some of the finest skiing in the east, from backcountry trails on Mt Mansfield to 11 ski touring centers (some within the Green Mountain National Forest), including Blueberry Hill (www.blueberryhillinn.com) and Mountain Top Inn & Resort (www.mountaintopinn.com). Contact the Catamount Trail Association (%802-864-5794; www.catamounttrail.org) for more…
reviewed
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Portland Trails
Thanks to the hard work of the conservation organization Portland Trails, there are more than 30 miles of multi-use trails sprinkled about the Greater Portland area, with another 20 miles on the horizon. One of the most popular paths is the 3.5-mile Back Cove Loop, which provides excellent water and city views northwest of the city center. This trail connects to the Eastern Promenade, a 2.1-mile paved waterfront path that follows a former railway, just east of East End. For a complete rundown of trails (26 in all), with maps, visit the Portland Trails website or purchase their Portland Trails Map & Guide ($4.95).
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Swan Boats
On the tranquil lagoon of the Public Garden you will find the slow-going swan boats, which seem out of place in today’s fast-paced city setting, because they are. The story of the swan boats goes back to 1877, when Robert Paget developed a catamaran with a paddlewheel that was propelled by pedal. Inspired by the opera Lohengrin, in which a heroic knight rides across a river in a swan-drawn boat, Paget designed a graceful swan to hide the boat captain. While today’s swan boats are larger than the 1877 original, they still utilize the same technology and they are still managed by Paget’s descendents. A relic of Boston’s bygone days, the swan boats present an image of…
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Mountain Top Inn & Resort
Within Stowe’s wide network of trails that traverse mountains and skirt lakes is the longest cross-country ski trail in the United States, a 300-mile-long route that runs the length of Vermont. Known as the Catamount Trail, it starts in southern Vermont at Readsboro and ends at North Troy on the Canadian border. In between lies some of the finest skiing in the east, from backcountry trails on Mt Mansfield to 11 ski touring centers (some within the Green Mountain National Forest), including Mountain Top Inn & Resort and Blueberry Hill. Contact the Catamount Trail Association for more information.
reviewed
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Blueberry Hill
Within Stowe’s wide network of trails that traverse mountains and skirt lakes is the longest cross-country ski trail in the United States, a 300-mile-long route that runs the length of Vermont. Known as the Catamount Trail, it starts in southern Vermont at Readsboro and ends at North Troy on the Canadian border. In between lies some of the finest skiing in the east, from backcountry trails on Mt Mansfield to 11 ski touring centers (some within the Green Mountain National Forest), including Blueberry Hill and Mountain Top Inn & Resort. Contact the Catamount Trail Association for more information.
reviewed
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Huck Finn Adventures
New England’s three northern states – Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine – are justly noted for their outdoor activities, but that doesn’t mean that Connecticut can’t compete. Northwest Connecticut’s Housatonic River is particularly good for canoeing, kayaking, rafting and tubing. With the spring floods, the white water can reach Class III. Expect to pay about $90 for guided white-water rafting during the spring run-off, and about $25 for unguided rafting the rest of the year. Huck Finn has a tubing service. They also offer a guided tour through the Lost Park River, miles of spacious tunnels buried under Hartford.
reviewed