7 Day New England Road Trip

**DonnaR57** · 05-23-2012, 04:04 PM

So much of Acadia is accessible to everyone. There is a park road that goes all the way around it. Check out the NPS site for Acadia. I was in Acadia years back with a family of non-hikers, and we were able to enjoy much (even though it rained the whole day we were there). I just was doing some research for a summer trip up there this year -- with any luck, we'll be there in mid-July.

Donna

**AZBuck** · 05-23-2012, 05:16 PM

As Donna points out, like all national parks Acadia has portions that are readily accessible to even the most mobility limited individuals. The beauty, and the problem, with Acadia is its remoteness. It's a full 5 to 6 hour drive from Boston depending on traffic, which means that you'd be using a large chunk of your available time just getting there and back. It can be a very scenic drive, but it will require spending at least a couple of successive nights in different lodgings, something you said you wanted to avoid. It would also keep you near the coast where fall color develops later, so going to Acadia could easily mean that you miss out on New England foliage season.

AZBuck

**ZamaGirl** · 05-23-2012, 08:44 PM

Actually our plan was to spend the first night in Boston (since we'll probably be coming in late) and then drive straight up to Maine, spend a 2 or 3 nights there, go into to NH and spend 1 or 2 nights there and then spend whatever is left of our 7 days back in Boston. Any suggestions as to where we should stay in Maine & NH? If it makes more sense to stay in two different places while in Maine to make sure we see as much as we can in the short period that we'll be there...then we'll definitely do it.
Acadia just looks like such a beautiful place...I hate to not see it when we're so close to it.
This is such a great forum, all of you have been so much help to me! I would have never been able to figure out where to go and what to see without your help. Thanks so much!!

**DonnaR57** · 05-23-2012, 09:27 PM

As I said earlier, we're planning to be in the Acadia area in July. I will be posting a trip report "as I go", as I did last year. I will be sure to review where we are staying in the Acadia area, which is a "motel and cottages" place in Trenton, just across the causeway from Mount Desert Island. It looks cute in the pictures, and had good reviews in two places I checked.

Donna

**glc** · 05-23-2012, 09:30 PM

If you are going to spend 2 or 3 days in Maine, why not do that at Acadia? Head north from Boston on I-95 to I-295 at Portland, and get off in Brunswick and take US-1 up the coast. You should be able to make it to the Acadia area from Boston in 1 day.

**CAnative** · 05-23-2012, 11:18 PM

Boston to Acadia area is a feasible drive in one day. We flew from CA to Boston, stayed overnight in a suburb and drove north the next day. In my opinion, Acadia is one of the most accessible parks to see by car (or bike.) My third visit was 2 summers ago when my husband had a conference at Jackson Labs.

**ZamaGirl** · 05-30-2012, 03:13 PM

We're planning a trip to the New England area in Oct and the last 3 nights will be spent in or near Boston. It sounds like
Boston can be a little hectic and expensive so I was thinking maybe staying in one of the outlying towns not too far from Boston. We were planning to drive around to see Salem, Cape Cod, etc. We'll have a rental car so getting around is not an issue. Any suggestions from anyone as to what city/town we should stay in? We do enjoy historical places and plan to see as much as we can while we're there. Thanks!!

**ZamaGirl** · 05-30-2012, 03:17 PM

Thank you everyone for all your advise. It helped tremendously in our planning. I just placed another post asking about the Boston area and I'm eager to see the reponses I might get. Thank you again everyone!!!

Please don't create secondary threads when discussing one road trip. 2nd request.

**Mass Tim** · 05-30-2012, 04:05 PM

Indeed, Boston can be expensive, but then again, so can some of the surrounding suburbs. Fortunately, getting to and around Boston is fairly easy...if you're not driving. The MBTA ("The T") can be of great help here. Since you're planning on visiting Salem, Boston, and Cape Cod (hopefully not all in a single day), that points to the Natick/Framingham area to be a bit outside of the city, but still within an easy drive to each of those three places.

**Charlie H** · 05-30-2012, 05:41 PM

Several years ago we stayed at a Ramada Inn at 800 Morrissey Boulevard and it worked out very well for us. It was near a train station and the hotel had a free shuttle. We were there for five days and the car never left the parking lot. They're currently showing rates of about $150 which I think you will find to be cheap for the Boston area. We were later told that that wasn't a very good part of town but we had no problem. There was a very good restaurant called Phillips Old Colony House right next door.

I would not recommend driving in to downtown Boston. Boston is a very hard town to find your way around and even if you can get to where you're going, there's no place to park when you get there. I seem to recall seeing a sign on a parking garage that said $8 for 1/2 hour and that's been ten years ago.