How to Spend 4 days on a Classic Road Trip to New England
One of our ultimate goals on our travel bucket list is to visit all 50 states of America. On the path to achieve this lofty task, a road trip that can take you through multiple states during a single trip is inevitable. And perhaps one of the most iconic routes is the journey to the New England States. In this guide, we’ll share our experience into the Heart of the North East and exactly what you can expect from 4 days in the New England states.
Overview of the New England Itinerary
A trip to New England can be done in about 4 or 5 days if you’re focusing on the highlights of each state. With such limited amount of time, planning an efficient route is essential. We decided to use Boston, Massachusetts as a base and added 3 other states to the itinerary; Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. With 1 more day or a bit more effort, its possible to comfortably add Vermont. We decided to save it for a snowboarding trip instead. After flying into Boston, we rented a car and embarked on the New England road trip.
Rhode Island
Upon landing in Logan International Airport, we picked up a rental car and headed directly to New Port, Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US. The drive is about an hour and a half with traffic. We arrived at a colonial street with vintage shops & restaurants along the harbor in search of some seafood. New Port is renowned for its fresh oysters and clams so we tried the famous stuffies (stuffed clams) and they did not disappoint. The next stop was the famous cliff walk along the rocky shore where you can find the opulent mansions known as “The Breakers”. After some recommendations to skip the capital city of Providence, we headed back to our hotel in Boston to rest up for tomorrow’s journey.
Massachusetts
We started the next day exploring the city of Boston and doing a $20 budget travel vlog. Boston is one of the best cities in New England and has tons of historical landmarks, nightlife, and delicious seafood to enjoy. Anyone who likes history will enjoy the sites along the Freedom Trail and the Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum. A few of our favorite restaurants include Luke’s Lobster, Neptune’s Oysters, Mike’s Pastries for cannoli, and North End Fish & Sushi for super cheap but delicious sushi and lobster rolls. We ended the night at one of my favorite bars in the country, Hong Kong for $1 chicken skewers and karaoke! For more of the top 10 best things to do in Boston, check out this post.
Maine
We continued our New England road trip by heading to Portland, Maine which is about an hour and 40mins North of Boston. Along the way, we made a quick 25min detour to Lexington, MA to check out the Lexington Revolutionary War Monument, the oldest war memorial in the USA. Portland, ME is famous for its eclectic food scene and lobster, and the city lived up to the hype. Despite the insane price tag, the feast we had at High Roller was incredible and I had the best lobster roll of my life. We ended the night by exploring the cobble stoned streets of downtown and embracing the colonial vibe. The next morning was reserved for adventuring around the scenic Portland Head Light house along a jagged cliffside and of course more lobster.
New Hampshire
After departing Maine in the afternoon, we headed westward towards our final state, New Hampshire. This state is famous for its massive mountain ranges and scenic natural landscapes. We even stopped at a covered bridge (apparently these are a big deal?) before reaching our final destination, The Mount Washington Cog Railway about 2 hrs away. The Cog Railway is a unique experience where you can ride an antiquated steam engine locomotive to the top of Mt. Washington!
Mount Washington is the highest peak on the North-East, and is notorious for its erratic weather with the highest surface wind speed ever recorded (over 231 miles per hour)! If the climate cooperates, you’ll also have stunning views of the surrounding 3 states along with a scenic ride up. Be sure to dress warmly for the summit since temperatures are significantly lower. The entire experience last about 4hrs, so after this we headed south 2 and a half hrs back to Boston. If there was more time, America’s Stonehenge in Salem, NH is another great archaeological tourist attraction to see.
The New England road trip concluded with a late night dinner in Boston and flying out the next morning. Overall New England is a great region to explore a diversity of delicious food and natural landscapes within a short amount of time. I may never financially recover from all the lobster dinners but at least we got to check off 3 new states from our bucket list. Stay tuned for more adventures thru the US on our journey to hit all 50 states! For more adventures to the best cities in the country and our other cross-country road trip, check out our other posts. Thanks for reading and keep leveling up!
Check out our full experience riding a steam engine train to the top of a mountain here!
Check out our full 4 day road trip in New England here!
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