Connecticut Attractions Guide

Mystic

• Mystic Seaport Museum — The nation's leading maritime museum, with a recreated 19th-century seafaring village and the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan.
• Mystic Aquarium — Belugas, sea lions, and penguins, plus one of the largest outdoor beluga habitats in the US.
• Olde Mistick Village — A recreated colonial village of shops and eateries, a short walk from the aquarium.
• Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center — Woodland trails, a natural history museum, and raptor programs just outside Mystic.
• Mystic River — Stroll the drawbridge-lined waterfront or take a sailing cruise past historic tall ships.

New Haven

• Yale University campus — Walk the Collegiate Gothic courtyards; free guided tours leave from the visitor center.
• Yale University Art Gallery — Free admission to one of the country's oldest university art museums.
• New Haven Green — The historic 16-acre green anchored by three 19th-century churches.
• Yale Peabody Museum — A newly renovated natural history museum with dinosaur fossils and Egyptian artifacts.
• Center Church on the Green — See the 1812 church and its crypt of 137 colonial gravestones.

Hartford

• Mark Twain House & Museum — The author's ornate 1874 home where he wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, with guided tours.
• Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art — America's oldest continuously operating public art museum, with 50,000 works.
• Connecticut Science Center — Hands-on exhibits, a planetarium, and a butterfly encounter on the Connecticut River.
• Bushnell Park — The country's oldest publicly funded park, home to a 1914 carousel and seasonal festivals.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe Center — The Uncle Tom's Cabin author's Hartford home, preserved with period furnishings.

Litchfield Hills

• Kent Falls State Park — A series of waterfalls cascading through a limestone gorge, best after rain or in fall.
• Fall foliage drives — Routes 7 and 202 through the hills are among New England's best leaf-peeping drives, peaking mid-October.
• Covered bridges — Bull's Bridge in Kent is Connecticut's most photographed, spanning the Housatonic River.
• Lake Waramaug — A 656-acre lake ringed by fall color, with a popular state park for swimming and boating.
• White Memorial Conservation Center — 4,000 acres of trails, boardwalks, and a nature museum in Litchfield.

Practical Tips

• Best season: September and October for fall foliage; summer for the coast and Mystic.
• Getting around: a car is essential outside New Haven and Hartford; Metro-North trains connect New York City to coastal Connecticut.
• Yale's museums are free — check hours before visiting.
• Fall weekends in Litchfield Hills book out early; go midweek for quieter trails.

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