Accessible travel in New England is more vibrant than ever, with barrier-free boardwalks, adaptive outdoor adventures, and sensory-friendly cultural experiences welcoming all visitors. Whether you’re cruising the waters of Lake Champlain, exploring a scenic forest trail, or enjoying live music under the stars, this curated guide highlights the best summer spots that prioritize inclusion, accessibility, and unforgettable fun for everyone.

Visit the beach. Go for a carriage ride. Listen to music under the stars. Summer fun in New England is accessible, no matter how you get around or interact with new environments. Here, we round up one-of-a-kind experiences that are especially welcoming to wheelchair users and visitors with disabilities. It’s time for everyone to get out and enjoy the best our region has to offer.

Accessible Travel in New England: 10 Inclusive Adventures

On the Water | Accessible lakes, beaches, and adaptive sailing programs.

Lake Williams Trail Boardwalk | Marlborough, MA

It used to be that the only way to experience Lake Williams was from the shore … until the city of Marlborough installed a half-mile-long floating boardwalk across the northern part of the lake. Wide enough to accommodate any mobility device, the ADA-friendly boardwalk allows you to feel as though you’re actually walking (or rolling) on water. Approached from the courthouse side, the boardwalk is a great spot to get wrapped up in the morning mist, catch a glimpse of local wildlife, or see the sky turn pastel at sunset.

Community Sailing Center | Burlington, VT

With 435 square miles of flat, sparkling water, Lake Champlain is a dream destination for sailors new and old—and, thanks to the Burlington-based Community Sailing Center, those with cognitive or physical disabilities, too. The center’s Adaptive Watersports Program offers three-hour group sails aboard a custom 23-foot Sonar keelboat designed with accessibility in mind, while private lessons emphasizing adaptive teaching methods are available on smaller Martin 16s. And with both boat types available as rentals, experienced skippers are invited to take the helm.

Treks & Trails | Barrier-free nature paths, adaptive outdoor centers, and inclusive biking.

Wallace Barnes Accessible Nature Trail | Bristol, CT

A new addition to the Harry C. Barnes Memorial Nature Center, this trail might just be the most accessible mile in all of Connecticut. Those using mobility devices will relish the smooth surfaces of its boardwalks and soft gravel paths. Meanwhile, a series of offset, high-handled benches—protected under timber-framed shelters—creates spaces for rest and reflection. Watch songbirds flit through the trees, listen to Freeman Hill Brook babble under one of the trail’s bridges, or wait patiently for a heron to appear out of the reeds.

Adaptive Outdoor Education Center | Carrabassett Valley & Brunswick, ME

With the founding of AOEC in 2015, Bruce and Annemarie Albiston brought their vision of a more accessible Maine wilderness to life. The all-inclusive programming across the state is truly Maine’s all-access pass to the great outdoors. Watersports your thing? Try a weekend waterskiing trip, or sail around the islands of Casco Bay. With rentals (bikes especially) available from their adaptive-equipment library, outdoor adventure options feel limitless.

The Driving Range | Bolton, VT

Built by scores of volunteers over the span of two years, this latest addition to Vermont’s renowned collection of mountain biking trails opened in 2024 as the first course of its kind in the state. Berms, descents, flows, jumps—they’re all here, on a trail network specifically designed for adaptive riders. Part of a mission to make mountain biking more welcoming and accessible, the Driving Range encourages everyone, regardless of ability or equipment, to immerse themselves in the beauty of the Green Mountains.

Sights & Sounds | Sensory-friendly arts, accessible cultural sites, and scenic viewpoints.

Boston Symphony Orchestra | Boston & Lenox, MA

Creative programming and thoughtful amenities help draw everyone into the wonder of one of New England’s most cherished musical institutions. The paved pathways of Tanglewood, the BSO’s summer home in Lenox, allow scooters and wheelchairs to navigate the rural campus with ease. Concert programs are available in large print and Braille, and hearing aids are provided upon request. Exploring Boston? Check the Symphony Hall schedule for special performances featuring lower lighting and sound levels, noise-reduction headphones, and other aids for autistic or sensory-sensitive concertgoers.

Acadia by Carriage | Acadia National Park, ME

Acadia’s 45 winding miles of historic carriage roads have long brought visitors into the heart of this showstopping national park, filled with pristine forests and ocean views. Now, thanks to a partnership between the Friends of Acadia and tour operator Acadia by Carriage, free horse-drawn carriage rides are available for wheelchair travelers who want to explore these famous pathways. The special carriage uses a heavy-duty ramp to accommodate many types of mobility devices, with room for two or three friends or family members to come along. Note: Be sure to book well in advance.

WaterFire | Providence, RI

This beloved public art experience draws people from far and wide to see the three rivers in downtown Providence transformed by the ethereal glow of more than 80 bonfires. Though the city’s Riverwalk—which includes ramps and an elevator—is generally navigable for those in wheelchairs or scooters, there’s also a WaterFire viewing area on Memorial Boulevard specifically reserved for visitors with disabilities that provides unimpeded views of the blazing displays. Alternatively, the festival’s Access Boat (by reservation) gets those with physical disabilities onto the water for an up-close look at the magic of WaterFire.

Castle in the Clouds | Moultonborough, NH

When shoe tycoon Thomas Plant built the Lucknow mansion in the early 20th century, he likely wasn’t expecting his estate to become one of the most popular destinations in New Hampshire. Sitting atop 5,000-plus acres of preserved Ossipee Mountains woodlands, the Arts and Crafts–style stone mansion is reached via an accessible trolley that runs every 15 minutes. The fully accessible first floor and gardens are open for rambling, and a video tour of the second floor is available upon request. Afterward, enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner at the wheelchair-accessible Carriage House Restaurant, all while drinking in a wide-angle view of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Old Man of the Mountain Historic Site | Franconia, NH

Visitors in wheelchairs or scooters can “view” the Old Man of the Mountain, thanks to an interactive art installation that allows folks at differing heights (from 3 to 7 feet) to once again—or for the first time—see where the iconic “Great Stone Face” originally stood. From here, wend your way south on the eight-mile recreation trail through Franconia Notch. Or, head north to the wheelchair-accessible Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway (cannonmt.com) to take in the sweeping views. So bring your adventurous spirit, and get ready to explore this storied White Mountains destination.

Let us know your favorite spots for inclusive outdoor adventures and accessible travel in New England below.

This feature was originally published as “All-Access Pass” in the May/June 2025 issue of Yankee Magazine.

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A few miles north of Kingfield, Maine, there is a curve in Route 27 where the trees edging the narrow roadway suddenly part. People call this the “Oh my gosh!” corner—because when faced with the spectacular visage of Sugarloaf Mountain rising out of the North Woods, what else can you say?

That kind of exclamation, that catching of the breath, is one way we know we are experiencing beauty. We have all felt it, and indeed it’s one of the reasons we travel to new places. We grow more alert, we look more closely, we await being astonished. We are open to all that we find.

These pages will take you to the grand sweep of the ocean, to skies burnished by sunset or speckled with stars so bright they seem to burn a hole from another world. You will soar above craggy bluffs rising from the sea, and over a tiny island in a shimmering lake. There’s a covered bridge, too, inviting you to see beauty in an enduringly simple, perfectly engineered way for villagers to get where they needed to go.

More than anything, look through these photos and then find their equal wherever you may travel in New England: villages, cities, woods, waterways, orchards, farms. Be alert for even the smallest moments of beauty, as when you stroll through a green and lovely cemetery and then there you are, by the tomb of the poet Longfellow, and you are in two worlds—his and yours. Such encounters are waiting for you throughout this region, where travelers have come for generations to find themselves seeing with wide-eyed wonder and the inevitable “Oh my gosh!” —Mel Allen

12 Beautiful Places to Visit in New England This Year

What would you add to our list of beautiful places to visit in New England? Let us know below.

This feature was originally published as “The Beauty of It All” in the May/June 2025 issue of Yankee Magazine.

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Whether you’re bound for Cape Cod, the White Mountains, the Maine coast, or any other summer-fun destination in our six-state region, our annual travel guide proves one thing’s for sure: You won’t run out of ideas to jump-start your travels.

Massachusetts

2025 Massachusetts Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in Massachusetts This Summer 2025

Boston

2025 Boston Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in Boston This Summer 2025

Maine

2025 Maine Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in Maine This Summer 2025

New Hampshire

2025 New Hampshire Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in New Hampshire This Summer 2025

Vermont

2025 Vermont Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in Vermont This Summer 2025

Connecticut

2025 Connecticut Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in Connecticut This Summer 2025

Rhode Island

2025 Rhode Island Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions
10 Best Things to Do in Rhode Island This Summer 2025

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From fresh-shucked oysters in the Seaport to hidden fashion gems in Allston, the best places to visit in Boston are full of flavor, culture, and character. This curated collection—handpicked by Yankee editors—highlights the city’s most exciting spots to eat, stay, and play in 2025. Whether you’re brunching in Brookline, catching an indie flick in Coolidge Corner, or exploring world-class art in unexpected corners of the city, there’s something here for every kind of urban explorer. Consider this your insider guide to Boston at its boldest and best.

Best Places to Visit in Boston | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Boston Hotels

Best Affordable Overnight: Hotel 1868, Cambridge

To find a quality stay priced consistently under $300 per night—even on peak summer weekends—head to Cambridge’s Porter Square, situated within easy reach of adjacent Harvard and Davis squares and their abundant restaurants, shops, and theaters. Located across the street from a subway stop, this chic 50-room hotel offers a gym, business facilities, concierge service, and modestly sized but generously comfy rooms.

Best Boutique Hotel: The Newbury Boston, Boston

Rebranded and completely reimagined in 2021, The Newbury continues the luxe heritage of its original incarnation as the nation’s very first Ritz-Carlton hotel, circa 1927. Its refined rooftop Italian restaurant, Contessa, keeps foodie guests fully sated, while its more lounge-y street-side bar offers a perfect place to linger. With in-room tea service and your very own fireplace “butler,” you can’t help but feel you’ve landed someplace truly special. If at all possible, splurge for a park-side room: The sweeping views of the Public Garden are worth it.

Best Hotel Lobby: Four Seasons Hotel Boston, Boston

Superstar designer Ken Fulk refreshed the common areas of this downtown stalwart to highlight its location across from the Public Garden, with an ethereal Maxfield Parrish–esque mural behind the front desk and a series of lobby “living rooms” inspired by grand country houses. Guests and visitors alike can dine in style at the Fulk-envisioned Coterie, a sleek bar-café with botanical-inspired cocktails and both French and New England classics (e.g., steak frites and lobster rolls).

2025 Best Boston Dining

Best Affordable Seafood: Yankee Lobster Co., Boston

Located at the far eastern end of Northern Avenue, this Seaport District standby does quality seafood at reasonable-for-Boston prices: Fish sandwiches, fish and chips, and fried clam strips come in at $20 or less, and the abundant fisherman’s platter, heaped with enough fried seafood to feed two, is about $40. It helps that the restaurant fronts a wholesale operation that moves thousands of pounds of fresh lobster on any given day.

Best Bagels: Bagelsaurus, Cambridge

Greater Boston has seen a bagel renaissance these past few years, with a number of excellent spots graduating from pop-ups to full-fledged brick-and-mortar operations (Exodus Bagels in Roslindale and Brick Street Bagels in the South End, to name two). But Bagelsaurus still rules them all, thanks to bagels blessed with tender-but-chewy interiors, crackling exteriors, and just-right coatings—delicious on their own or as the foundation for an astoundingly good breakfast sandwich.

Best Bakery: Colette, Boston

Baguettes, croissants, éclairs, macarons, quiches—there isn’t a single thing at this South End bakery-café that fails to delight us. Of particular note are the canelés and the classic flan Parisien, brimming with custardy goodness, and the brioche filled with chocolate-hazelnut praline. Small and charming (mignon, as the French would say), Colette is the neighborhood spot we all wish we had. Additional locations in Medford and Melrose.

Best Brunch: Bar Vlaha, Brookline

Prime-time dinner reservations can be tough to get at Bar Vlaha, whose superlative Greek cuisine has seen it consistently lauded as one of Boston’s best restaurants. Brunch, on the other hand, is a more relaxed affair—and it’s just as terrific. Standouts include saganaki, fried sheep’s milk cheese in a Metaxa brandy sauce with pistachios and a bit of jam or seasonal fruit; tsoureki, a Greek take on French toast with fruit, whipped cream, and fantastically creamy maple yogurt; and the tangy, spicy egg-lover’s dream known as shakshouka.

Best Coffee Shop: Ogawa Coffee, Boston

If the work-from-home trend has thinned out the crowd of coffee drinkers in downtown Boston, you’d never know it at this buzzing spot near Downtown Crossing. The only U.S. outpost of a three-quarter-century-old Japanese coffee company, Ogawa is most notable for its skill in coaxing maximum flavor out of its beans without adding acidity or bitterness, as its popularity proves.

Best Farm-to-Table Dining: Field & Vine, Somerville

The vibes at this seasonal-dining haven are downright Edenic: twinkling lights, abundant greenery, and a friendly mix of neighborhood regulars and visiting foodies. Savor the wood-fired seafood, the cheddar-scallion cornbread with miso butter, and any of the imaginative peak-produce salads (think: beets and berries, or peaches and purslane).

Best Italian Restaurant: SRV, Boston

Nine-year-old SRV always captivates us. How can a restaurant be this consistently great for so long? The menu is deeply Italian with a special focus on Venetian cuisine, yet it also surprises (think: pasta stuffed with beets and poppy seeds, a classic in Northern Italy but rare here). Plus, they have two outdoor patios for summer dining. With new chef de cuisine Jacey Vaccaro at the helm, we can’t wait to see what comes next.

Best Lunch: Sofra Bakery & Café, Allston and Cambridge

We have long loved Sofra’s contemporary spins on traditional dishes from Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece. But almost as soon as the original Cambridge location opened in 2008, it outgrew its small space. With its much larger second café now open in Allston, Sofra offers spacious comfort in which to enjoy classics like spinach falafel with beet tzatziki, lamb shawarma, and heirloom tomato galettes with feta. Don’t skip dessert: The sesame-cashew bars and chocolate earthquake cookies are signature treats.

2025 Best Boston Attractions

Best Bakers’ Mecca: Elmendorf Baking Supplies, Cambridge

The modest scale of this storefront belies its outsize appeal for carb lovers: a full-service café, kitchen supplies ranging from French whisks to proofing baskets to sanding sugars and sprinkles, a range of baking books, and knowledgeable staffers to answer any question. They even mill flour here from local grains, using it in the café’s pastries and also bagging up the good stuff for shoppers to take home and turn into the best bread they’ve ever made.

Best Hidden-Gem Museum: Nichols House Museum, Boston

If you’ve ever longed to peek behind the facade of a stately Beacon Hill townhouse, now’s your chance. The Nichols House Museum beautifully preserves the former residence of Rose Standish Nichols, a landscape architect and writer—and niece of legendary sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens—who lived here from 1885 until her death in 1960. Inside the rooms, you’ll find period furniture, Flemish tapestries, pieces by Saint-Gaudens, and mementos that tell the story of Nichols’s life as she moved through Boston’s literary, political, and artistic circles.

Best New Family Attraction: Museum of Ice Cream, Boston

The city’s latest entry in the “immersive experiences” category, this candy-colored ode to America’s favorite dessert invites visitors into a fantasy world that encompasses a ball pit filled with oversize ice cream sprinkles (sadly, nonedible), a simulated airplane flight on the “Creamliner,” interactive ice cream trivia, and a tasting lab where the samples include lobster ice cream (buttery and creamy, but not overtly lobster-y).

Best Small Art Museum: McMullen Museum of Art, Brighton

In 2021, Fidelity vice chairman and Boston College alum Peter Lynch donated $20 million worth of his personal art collection to this BC-owned institution on Commonwealth Avenue. The gift included works by such heavy hitters as Sargent, Cassatt, Picasso, and Homer, now on display on the museum’s first floor. Upstairs, special exhibits on topics such as illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Irish Arts and Crafts movement, and the Cuban avant-garde are curated as expertly as in much larger museums, but on a more intimate scale.

Best Movie Theater: Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

How rare it is to find a 1933 Art Deco movie palace selling out on any given night of the week—and rarer still that it should show a dizzying range of new releases, retrospectives, midnight screenings, documentaries, and films shot in 70mm (and serve up a mean tub of popcorn with real butter, to boot). With its long-awaited expansion finally completed, the Coolidge has added classes and seminars to the mix. Simply put, it’s a national treasure for Bostonians to call their own.

Best Nature Escape: Boston Nature Center & Wildlife Sanctuary, Mattapan

Sixty-seven acres in all, these woods, meadows, and wetlands offer blessed relief from urban life without the need to venture beyond city limits. Equally diverting are the various educational programs, spanning birding excursions and foraging walks to poetry workshops and crafting classes. (Where else can you make your own candles and herbal oils using plants harvested on-site?) Meanwhile, a mile-long universal-access trail welcomes nature lovers of all abilities.

Best New England Style Fix (Men’s): Sault New England, Boston

It’s not just the merchandise that makes this store so appealing—it’s the merchandising. In his South End shop (there’s a second location in Portsmouth, New Hampshire), owner Philip Saul evokes a world of oxfords and flannels, regattas, and striped silk ties with vintage New England–style home accessories and locally made leather wallets. Sault’s ever-growing lines for women and kids are worth a look, too.

Best New England Style Fix (Women’s): La Ligne, Boston

Among La Ligne’s founders is Boston native Meredith Melling, which may be why there’s more than a little New England style in this NYC-based clothing line. In La Ligne’s recently opened boutique on Newbury Street, modern takes on nautical stripes appear in many colors and fabrics, monogramming is encouraged, and cardigans get a star turn. But for all its nods to the classics, this is decidedly fashion-forward clothing, with silhouettes that tuck and swing in all the right places. Bonus: Many popular pieces come in sizes from XXS to 3X.

Best Secret Fashion Stash: Designers Circus, Allston

The Filene’s Basement era of deep discounts on designer fashion may be sadly over, but this nondescript shop in Allston Village is doing its best to fill the void. Owner Kathleen O’Neill had her own clothing line for decades and now sells clothing by about 80 independent designers from around the world for at least half off retail. Styles range from earthy to cutting-edge, and with a bit of digging, you’ll always find something that suits you—and that no one else has.

See More: 10 Best Things to Do in Boston This Summer 2025

Honorees were selected by Yankee editors led by senior food editor Amy Traverso, longtime Boston resident and the cohost of Weekends with Yankee.

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From sun-soaked beaches and historic inns to jazz clubs and artisan doughnut shops, the best places to visit in Rhode Island are packed with charm, flavor, and unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re craving a seaside lobster roll, sipping wine on a vineyard terrace, or soaking up live music with an ocean breeze in your hair, this handpicked collection—curated by Yankee editors—celebrates the Ocean State’s must-visit destinations for 2025. Dive into the local scene and discover the food, stays, and adventures that make Rhode Island a small state with big appeal.

Best Places to Visit in Rhode Island | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Rhode Island Hotels

Best Coastal B&B: Sea Breeze Block Island, Block Island

You can visit Block Island, or you can be immersed. If the latter is what you’re after, Sea Breeze is the place to stay. A quick veer off a main road, and you’ve arrived at the compound of small cottages, artfully decorated and nestled among gardens with an Atlantic Ocean backdrop. A chef-cooked breakfast is delivered each morning by picnic basket.

Best Luxury B&B: Margin Street Inn, Westerly

The simplicity-loving Quakers who built the 19th-century Greek Revival and Colonial Revival mansions that make up this luxurious inn might raise an eyebrow if they could see what their former homes have become. But modern guests revel in the beautifully styled common spaces, the spacious suites outfitted with Matouk and Ralph Lauren linens, the morning reveal of artist and innkeeper Sarah Cooper’s ever-changing frittatas, and the landscape adorned with heritage trees and historic outbuildings. Downtown is a pleasant 0.8-mile walk along the Pawcatuck River.

2025 Best Rhode Island Dining

Best Beach Bar: Ocean Mist, Wakefield

You can’t get much closer to the water than this local institution perched directly above the shoreline, where waves roll under the wooden deck. And in such an intimate venue, you can’t get much closer to the entertainment, which is part of why many consider Ocean Mist to be the best live-music spot in Rhode Island. Utterly unpretentious, full of sun-browned characters, and boasting an impressive weekly lineup of rock, reggae, and blues bands, the Mist is also the rare beach bar where breakfast is more than a hangover cure—the food is excellent.

Best Coffee Shop: Rise ‘N Shine Coffee Bar, Providence

Rise ‘N Shine is a sweet side-street surprise. Housed in a historic carriage house, this IYKYK gathering place serves locally roasted coffee, pretty lattes, and fresh pastries with a side of Wi-Fi. Owner Neal Kaplan has outfitted the picture-perfect space with comfy seating, newspapers at the ready, and a footwear-centric theme that pays soulful homage to his cobbler great-grandfather and the building’s former life as a shoe shop.

Best Comfort Food: Ye Olde English Fish & Chips, Woonsocket

Woonsocket may be famed as Rhode Island’s center of French Canadian culture—Acadian immigrants once worked the city’s textile mills—but this bastion of British comfort food is perhaps Woony’s best-known eatery. Founded by émigrés from Yorkshire in 1922, the no-frills restaurant remains true to the recipe carried across the pond more than a century ago, other than replacing lard with vegetable oil for frying. The fish is local, the golden chips sliced in-house, the food savory and delicious—just like in ye good olde days. 401-762-3637

Best Doughnuts: Knead Doughnuts, Providence and Westerly

There are doughnuts that are cheaper by the dozen, doughnuts that are mixed-media works of art, and then there are Knead Doughnuts: classics worth their weight in gold. Look for the varieties made of brioche dough, a recipe of fresh yeast, butter, and real vanilla bean, fermented for 24 hours for maximum flavor. The Jelly is a masterpiece of hand-rolled brioche filled with seasonal jam and tossed in granulated sugar. “Knead” we say more?

Best Game-Time Grub: Boon Street Market, Narragansett

A cavernous former train depot situated along the Narragansett Pier has quickly become this seaside town’s hottest social stop since opening last summer. Part food hall, part indoor-outdoor bar, Boon Street Market readily switches from an affable summer hangout to a lively sports bar when games are on. What remains constant is the quartet of fast-casual dining options: Mexican, Italian, a burger and barbecue joint, and a noodle bar.

Best Ice Cream: Brickley’s Homemade Ice Cream, Wakefield

When an eatery can be spotted by its long line of customers, it’s a safe bet that folks know its offerings are worth the wait. Such is the case at Brickley’s, a family-owned ice cream shop serving up more than 45 flavors of homemade ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbets, and sorbets from a window on Main Street. Adding to the allure is the intoxicating aroma of waffle cones baked on-site.

Best Inland Outdoor Dining: The Tree House Tavern & Bistro, Warwick

A bit off the radar (yet a 10-minute drive from T.F. Green Airport), this hidden gem features a perennially scrumptious seasonal menu with a dedicated tea menu and Instagram-worthy desserts presented in tantalizing fashion. The interior is lovely, but plan ahead to dine in the gardens—a magical spot aglow with lanterns hanging from trees—the kind of setting that could only be dreamed up by a mother-son florist team turned restaurateurs.

Best Seaside Outdoor Dining: The Lobster Bar, Newport

Heading to Bowen’s Wharf is a must-do when visiting the City by the Sea, but be sure to venture all the way to the end or you’ll miss The Lobster Bar. At this expansive, indoor-outdoor restaurant, you’ll discover a jovial atmosphere, friendly staff, and 180-degree views of the harbor. The menu offers something for everyone (even landlubbers) and earns bonus points for its flights of mini lobster rolls: traditional, naked, and fried.

Best Vineyard: Sakonnet Vineyard, Little Compton

New England’s oldest vineyard makes its home in Little Compton, but it’s hardly a stodgy institution. New stewards James Davids and Marissa Stashenko have made mindful updates to the property, along with launching new wines and a new menu. Beyond light bites such as flatbreads and charcuterie, recent offerings include lobster rolls, roasted chicken, and cookies. Situated on 169 acres, it’s a beautiful place for a taste of the Farm Coast.

2025 Best Rhode Island Attractions

Best Body & Bath Boutique: Beauty and the Bath, Wickford

Part of North Kingstown (which just celebrated its 350th), the village of Wickford is as picturesque as can be. Built around a natural harbor, it boasts one of the largest collections of 18th-century architecture and a thriving shop-small community. Among its merchant-boosters is Lori Lyons, longtime owner of Beauty and the Bath. Her cheerful shop is replete with sleepwear, gifts, and bath and body products in scents that range from luxe to local (e.g., Rhody fave Del’s Lemonade).

Best Community Arts Venue: The United Theatre, Westerly

This 1926 theater hasn’t just been renovated—it’s been transformed. Three screening rooms, a black-box theater, and other performance and display spaces occupy the restored vaudeville venue as well as the long-shuttered Montgomery Ward department store next door. Visitors can catch a movie, hear a band, attend a lecture, browse an art gallery, or pose in a yoga class.

Best Guided Adventure: Rhode Island Lighthouse and Newport Harbor Tour, North Kingstown

It doesn’t get more Ocean State than this 90-minute cruise. Listening to narration by a historian who delivers information with the panache of a TV journalist, you’ll pass by 10 historic beacons and lesser-known small islands. Journey under the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, see the house built on a rock known as Clingstone, and take in views of rolling lawns behind grand mansions.

Best Jazz Venue: Courtland Club, Providence

On Sunday nights, jazz heats up a former bakery on Federal Hill. Circa-1920 ovens still occupy the wall behind the stage, but the club’s “New England tropical” food is 21st-century hip. The unmarked entrance at 51 Courtland Street conveys a speakeasy vibe: Be brave, walk in, and you’ll be welcomed with a knowing wink from the eclectic crowd of regulars bent over craft cocktails and nodding to the groove.

Best New Family Attraction: Harmony Railway & Gift Shop, Chepachet

It’s no accident this gift shop on Putnam Pike resembles an old railroad station: The front porch doubles as the depot for a diesel-powered miniature train that runs around a half-mile track for the amusement of visitors as well as the satisfaction of retired-firefighter-turned-conductor Russ Gross. The ride ends back at a well-curated shop full of local crafts, farm-raised honey, soaps and lotions, and plenty of train-related swag.

Best Public Art: The Avenue Concept, Providence

Providence’s reputation as Rhode Island’s cultural capital is written all over the city’s walls: Nearly 50 monumental murals enliven old red-brick buildings, with themes ranging from simple (fish, flowers, pets) to whimsical (an angel-wing selfie wall) to meaningful (Gaia’s “Still Here,” which depicts Narragansett artist Lynsea Montanari and nods to the state’s extant Native American population). The nonprofit Avenue Concept facilitates self-guided tours of the city’s public art with a free mobile app.

Best Summer Apparel: Three Islands, Watch Hill

The Westerly neighborhood of Watch Hill is like a mini Chatham. Within a brief stretch, there’s a candy store, an ice cream parlor, restaurants, and boutiques including Three Islands. Founded by cousins Justin Goff and Phil Barney, who became smitten with all things Bali while on a surfing trip, the clothing brand’s seasonal flagship is where you can find “a little sunshine for your closet,” made from hand-screened batik.

Best Summer Theater: Theatre by the Sea, Wakefield

In Wakefield, summers at the shore have meant show tunes as well as sno-cones since 1933, when Theatre by the Sea opened in an old barn on Cards Pond Road. The footlights of this rustic summer-stock stage once drew such luminaries as Mae West and Marlon Brando. Saved from extinction more than once, the theater now offers a four-show run of summer musical staples like Hairspray; arrive early for cocktails in the shady courtyard before the curtain goes up.

Best Urban Green Space: Providence River Parks, Providence

Begun in 1994 with the opening of Waterplace Park and the Providence Riverwalk, then greatly enhanced by the river-spanning Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge in 2019, the necklace of parks girding Providence’s downtown rivers is finally complete. The opening of 195 District Park on the Providence River’s west side six years ago and the addition of Point Street Park in 2023 allow unfettered strolls from the heart of downtown to the mouth of Narragansett Bay.

Honorees were selected by Yankee editors with contributions from Elyse Major, a Rhode Island–based journalist and editor in chief at Hey Rhody Media Co.; and Bob Curley, prolific freelancer and author of books on Rhode Island and Caribbean travel.

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Whether you’re craving a cinnamon roll the size of your head, scouting boutique hotels with serious style, or hunting for hidden gems from shoreline seafood bars to flower-filled farm stores, you’ll find them all right here in the Nutmeg State. This handpicked guide showcases the best places to visit in Connecticut in 2025, from buzzy New Haven pizza joints and romance-themed bookstores to scenic B&Bs and one-of-a-kind cultural experiences. Curated by Yankee editors and local experts, it’s your ultimate roadmap to exploring the charm, creativity, and culinary magic of Connecticut.

Best Places to Visit in Connecticut | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Connecticut Hotels

Best B&B: The Watson Boutique B&B, Thompson

An hour’s drive from Boston or Hartford, even closer to Providence and Worcester, and just a smidge over an hour from Newport, this inn can be thought of as the bull’s-eye of southern New England: a perfect home base from which to see and do so much. Yet amid a French Provincial aesthetic that carries straight through to morning’s breakfast spread, you may feel content to park yourself here—especially with innkeepers so willing to design custom experiences, from champagne picnics to in-room massages.

Best Boutique Hotel: The Watershed, Norwalk

From the moment you enter this freshly reimagined sanctuary with botanical-garden vibes, the bustle of the surrounding coastal community quiets, and relaxation is the law. A window-walled and wood-paneled lounge overlooks the Norwalk River. On-site Siena Ristorante serves up mouthwatering wood-fired pizzas. A retreat-like rooftop bar might distract you from sleep in one of the newly renovated rooms, where organic teas from nearby Grace Farms Foods soothe you while supporting a good cause. Zen out with your furry friend for an additional fee.

Best Gourmet Escape: Lost Fox Inn, Litchfield

Two fox statues perched atop columns of river stones beckon travelers into a recently reimagined historic retreat, where modern comforts and unforgettable meals are overseen by old painted portraits. The spirit of the original 1740s tavern lingers in rough-hewn beams and chestnut floorboards, and guest rooms are harmoniously furnished with a blend of vintage and new. It’s the Lost Fox Tavern & Restaurant, where Philippines-born chef CJ Barroso crafts a seasonal menu of New England–inspired fare, that’s the strongest magnet. Every dish is made from scratch and locally focused, even the fan-favorite seeded whole-grain bread with house-cultured butter, radishes, and rosemary salt.

Best History Lover’s Hotel: The Abner Hotel, Litchfield

A stone courthouse with a distinctive clock tower that since 1888 has been an architectural standout on the Litchfield Town Green legally changed its identity in 2024. Check into The Abner, a 20-room hotel named for Reverend Abner Reeve, and you’re just a short stroll from the independent law school established in 1774 by his son, Tapping Reeve; the first of its kind in the country, it’s now a museum. And so, in some ways, is this cool new place to stay, where the ultimate suite was once the judge’s chambers. There’s nothing stodgy here, though. The Courtroom restaurant is a convivial hub, and Verdict:, the rooftop bar, will have you deliberating over which well-crafted cocktail to swizzle. (Go for one made with Litchfield Distillery spirits.)

2025 Best Connecticut Dining

Best Cheese Shop: Fromage Fine Foods & Coffees, Old Saybrook

Old Saybrook is blessed to have this fromagerie that sports some 250 cheeses from all over the world. Owner and cheese expert Christine Chesanek (her name practically says “cheese”) has been curating this wonderful collection and other gourmet specialty foods since 1992, and people come from all over the state to partake of the bounty. Fromage is also renowned for gift baskets and charcuterie for picnics and holiday celebrations.

Best Cinnamon Rolls: The Flour Girl, Hebron

This country bakery serves up a sensational treat on Sunday mornings: fresh-baked, generously iced, softball-size cinnamon buns well worth the early-morning drive. Customers begin queueing up well before the 9 a.m. opening, and there’s an eight-per-customer limit—far more than a family of four can consume. The icing is a homemade cream cheese recipe. Picnic tables out front and outdoor café tables in back provide seating for instant cinnamon roll gratification.

Best Immersive Dining Experience: Beauty & Essex, Uncasville

Like its sibling locations in New York, Vegas, and L.A., the newly opened Connecticut outpost of Beauty & Essex at Mohegan Sun is more than just a place to get a meal. Wagyu steak tartare, Japanese whiskey, and vintage Fender guitars are all on offer at this glitzy dining spot, where the visitor experience might begin with browsing the upscale pawn shop that doubles as the restaurant’s entrance. From there it’s on to the speakeasy Pearl Lounge and Bar, where a DJ keeps the vibe flowing, and then the bejeweled Peacock Dining Room. Shareable plates and generous entrées (including a three-pound stuffed lobster) will encourage you to linger—and maybe, just maybe, work up the courage to buy that retro Vox amplifier you’ve always wanted.

Best Inland Lobster Roll: The InishShor, Colchester

Owner Alex Levere was contemplating closing the doors to his struggling seasonal eatery until a viewer poll run by a local TV affiliate catapulted the tiny landlocked spot into the upper ranks of the state’s lobster roll purveyors. The InishShor’s Connecticut-style hot buttered lobster roll is rich and meaty, and it comes with fries and coleslaw—a tough combination to beat.

Best Pizza: Zeneli Pizzeria, New Haven

Owned by four Albanian brothers who arrived by way of Naples, Italy, this Wooster Street pizzeria earns rave reviews—no easy feat in a pizza-crazed city. And it’s with good reason: Zeneli’s Neapolitan-style pies are covered with San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh ricotta, mozzarella, burrata, and Parmesan cheeses; crowned with such toppings as garlic, shaved prosciutto, and whole leaves of basil; then baked in wood-fired ovens. The pasta dishes are fire, too.

Best Roadside Lunch Stand: Clamp’s, New Milford

“No Sign, No Address, No Phone, Just Good Food.” So states this throwback eatery that’s been serving up great grub since 1939. Housed in a whitewashed shack with no indoor seating, the bare-bones operation has a cultlike following of both locals and visitors recreating in bucolic Litchfield County. Of particular note is the burger, made from beef ground daily by a local butcher shop. A few picnic tables and benches provide outdoor seating. Located at the intersection of Route 202 and Sawyer Hill Road; no website

Best Seafood Bar: Moby Dick’s Oyster Bar + Grill, West Haven

What was once a cozy neighborhood watering hole has morphed into a lively seafood bar that serves as a gathering place for locals as well as shellfish aficionados from all over. Fresh oysters and clams on the half shell, tuna sashimi, a colossal shrimp cocktail, and lump crabmeat are available à la carte or together in the Moby Dick’s “Skyscraper” seafood tower. And the mussel pot for two is a marvelous meal unto itself.

Best Wings: The Bidwell Tavern, Coventry

Originally a way station and watering hole for weary travelers, The Bidwell Tavern saw its story begin down the street in 1822. Housed now in another character-filled 19th-century building, it has gained more recent fame for its chicken wings. Served in batches of 10, 20, or 30 wingettes and drumettes, all are deep-fried and accompanied by blue cheese dressing. There are 40 different sauces and dry rubs, so bring friends and try a bunch.

2025 Best Connecticut Attractions

Best Bookstore: Montgomery & Taggert, Chester

Wander through the swoon-worthy selection at Connecticut’s first romance-themed bookstore, and find the perfect happily ever after. The cottage, with its own flower-filled reading garden and a lush nature preserve as its backdrop, has a bewitching origin story: Best friends Sarah Borgnis-Tobin and Elizabeth Tucker met working at a library before curating their own dream store. Locally made artisanal goods and bookish gifts are artfully displayed on antique tables, and there are cozy sitting areas and shelves for every subgenre imaginable. Fun fact: The Little Chestnut Airbnb above the store can be rented for your own romantic rendezvous.

Best Charter Fishing: Nightjack Sportfishing, Stonington

Long Island Sound is ideal for sportfishing, and chartering a boat is the best way to go after the big ones. You and up to five friends can set out on a half-day or full-day outing with this locally owned operation. Skipper John Alves provides all the gear you’ll need for fishing fun. Popular catches include striped bass, bluefish, black sea bass, fluke, scup, and tuna.

Best Family Entertainment: Hartford Yard Goats Baseball at Dunkin’ Park, Hartford

Play all! At downtown Hartford’s Dunkin’ Park, there are plenty of things for the whole family to do in addition to watching the city’s Double-A baseball team compete. Fans can enjoy a wide variety of tasty food and beverages (Bear’s Smokehouse always hits it out of the park), visit the live goats penned in the outfield bleachers, participate in fun promotions between innings, let the kids run the bases, and be dazzled by postgame fireworks on Saturday nights.

Best Farm Store: Tonn’s Marketplace, Burlington

Third-generation farmer Jordan Tonn and his wife, Aubri, bring 21st-century biz savvy to their burgeoning operation, which has grown by leaps since his grandfather launched a hobby farm and roadside stand. Their photo-perfect market, with a seasonally decorated antique farm truck and cute alpacas and Nigerian dwarf goats outside, is stocked with fruits and vegetables harvested from their orchards and fields that very day. The balance of the retail lineup is like a whirlwind tour of the best gourmet foods and gifts produced by Connecticut family businesses. Last summer, the Stage @ Tonn’s Marketplace made its debut, and when there’s live music, you can bet there’ll be local food trucks. (Happily, Tonn’s own Farmstead Ice Cream truck takes up weekend residence from April through fall.)

Best Flower Farm: White Flower Farm, Morris

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, this family-owned farm ships plants, bouquets, and gardening accoutrements far and wide. But White Flower Farm is a place, not a catalog: one where you’ll be inspired by sweeping display gardens and impossibly lavish containers … by the sheer variety of combinations of nature’s materials … and even by the simplicity of the all-white Moon Garden, a perennial border that still blooms where it was first planted and that gave this nurturing nursery its name.

Best Summer Theater: Elm Shakespeare Company, New Haven

For 17 days at the end of August, Edgerton Park comes alive with nightly performances of a Shakespeare play presented on a sustainably built playhouse stage inspired by Elizabethan theater tradition. Bring a picnic and blankets or chairs to spread out in front of this impressive construction. The company celebrates its 30th year of performances with the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Admission is free; donations are happily accepted.

Best Tearoom and Cocktail Lounge: Fable, Southington

There’s a mystical world in the heart of Connecticut where “romantasy” exists outside the book covers. By day, Fable’s allure is its menu of more than 60 teas, served hot or iced, with or without elixirs such as lion’s mane and rose. All around you are enticing gifts, from herbs and beauty potions to antiques and sparkly things. And there are book clubs, workshops, and classes: Make a fairy garden, perhaps, or learn to grow native plants. Then … the weekend approaches, and night descends. Purple light beckons you to enter Underworld through a back door. Tea? No, no, no. It’s time for a beautifully crafted cocktail, even if you’re here for a Sip + Read. Expect some nights to be much more high-key, with live music, movie screenings, and themed parties.

Best Tour: Railroad Museum of New England, Thomaston

It’s quite the pairing: The Railroad Museum of New England and Fascia’s Chocolates will celebrate their 100th Chocolate Decadence train tour when the 2025 season kicks off on May 10. Book a departure from Thomaston featuring a rotating choice of beverages—wine, beer, spirits—and you’ll sip as you learn to taste a variety of chocolates. All trains stop at Fascia’s for a make-your-own experience: The treats you design can be devoured when you get back home—if you can wait that long.

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From the Berkshires to the Cape, the best places to visit in Massachusetts offer something for every kind of traveler. Whether you’re chasing the perfect burger, craving a dreamy farm dinner, or checking into a boutique hotel full of charm, this curated guide—handpicked by Yankee editors—highlights the most exciting destinations to explore in 2025. Think creative cocktail bars, award-winning pie shops, historic inns, buzzing flea markets, and so much more. No matter your travel style, you’ll find unforgettable experiences waiting across the Bay State.

Best Places to Visit in Massachusetts | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Massachusetts Hotels

Best Boutique Hotel: The Coach House, Salem

A “Witch you were here” sign welcomes you to Instagrammable privacy at this upscale property. You’ll find history in the bones of the house, with luxury in details such as chandeliers, decorative fireplaces, and Frette sheets and linens. The 11 rooms and suites include a concierge service—a must with self-check-in (aka no front desk). It’s an easy walk to Pioneer Village and Forest River Park (an ideal spot from which to watch the moon rise).

Best Island Retreat: The Edgartown Collection, Martha’s Vineyard

Comprising five stylishly updated historic inns, this 69-room boutique property offers walkable access to the many enticing restaurants and boutiques of Edgartown, on the east side of Martha’s Vineyard. Inviting amenities abound, including sunny porches and patios, waffle robes, and Lather bath products; a thoughtfully curated breakfast and afternoon snacks also come with your stay.

Best Refreshed Lodging: The Trail in Adams, Adams

Count on a blissfully restful night when you tuck yourself into one of these nine artist-decorated rooms with en suite baths; maybe you’ll even drift off in the unique “floating” bed suspended from the ceiling in the Beau & Joe room. This semi-urban retreat was reopened in 2023 by Yina Moore, founder and director of the nearby Adams Theater. She kept the bold colors and playful patterns of the former Topia Inn while modernizing the common spaces. You’ll appreciate the emphasis on “green living,” too, with easy access to a rail trail, on-site EV charger, independently ventilated rooms, and organic linens, towels, and toiletries.

2025 Best Massachusetts Dining

Best Burger: The Bistro Box, Great Barrington

Run by two graduates of the Culinary Institute of America, this cheerful, seasonal window-service spot nestled beneath towering pines is no ordinary burger joint. Foodies come from miles away to dig into the signature Box Burger crowned with tomato-bacon jam, sharp cheddar, and garlic aioli, along with sides of Parmesan-truffle fries and crispy veggie spring rolls. Indulgent shakes and sundaes feature artisan ice cream from Hadley’s Maple Valley Creamery. Watch for creative daily specials, and come early on weekends and sunny days to beat the crowds.

Best Clam Shack: Straight Wharf Fish, Nantucket

After a nationally publicized two-year legal fight with prominent billionaires who own wharf houses nearby, this stylish, laid-back clam shack finally opened last summer. The food is simple but fantastic (no surprise—it’s overseen by Gabriel Frasca, chef-owner of the renowned Straight Wharf Restaurant next door). Pair the clam roll with pickled lettuce and tartar sauce with hand-cut onion rings and a crisp organic white wine from Crete. Harbor views and a warm white-oak interior make the scene more chic than shack.

Best Creative Cocktails: Steel & Wire, Worcester

Named for and adorned with photos that honor Worcester’s rich industrial history, this intimate space blends the warm welcome of a neighborhood bar with the inventive cocktail program of a hip lounge. Talented mixologists will pour you anything from a classic martini to a thoroughly modern Fiery Passion (with jalapeño tequila, Aperol, passion fruit, and lime). Enjoy your sips while nibbling on hummus and charcuterie or—if it’s trivia night—testing your wits against those of your fellow patrons.

Best Farm Dinners: Chatham Bars Inn Farm, Brewster

Farm-to-table cuisine has been a Chatham Bars Inn hallmark since the resort’s inception … in 1914. These days, New England’s ultimate dining-at-the-farm experience takes place 20 minutes north, in the fields where the resort cultivates its own bounty of vibrant, peak-flavored produce. Seated at communal tables, sharing a Wednesday evening’s four-course feast, you’ll feel nourished by both the earth that feeds you and the festive company of your new friends.

Best Open Kitchen: Heirloom Lodge, West Stockbridge

Counter seats overlooking the action are a hot ticket at this newcomer, and that’s not solely because chef-owner Matt Straus was a theater kid at Skidmore. The renowned sommelier, chef, and restaurateur who founded San Francisco’s Heirloom Café has new “props” to play with at his first East Coast venture: namely, ultra-fresh local ingredients, assembled with the eye of a sculptor who chisels away the unnecessary. Even rotisserie chicken for two feels like a revelation in a space that is somehow totally 1797 and totally today.

Best Pies: Petsi Pies, Somerville

It’s hard to choose a favorite from this venerable bakery, which is beloved for both sweet and savory creations. But you can’t go wrong with a slice of apple crumb or, available in autumn, sweet potato–pecan. Or feed the whole family with the hearty bacon-leek-Gruyère pie. Founded in 2003 by talented baker Renee “Petsi” McLeod, this sunny spot near Porter Square is now helmed by Jill Remby, who carries on McLeod’s tradition of excellence in decadence.

Best Romantic Restaurant: The Red Inn, Provincetown

One of the most enchanting spots on the Outer Cape to celebrate a special occasion, this rambling 1805 house in Provincetown’s peaceful West End presents a seasonally changing menu of exquisite contemporary New England fare, with an emphasis on seafood. The lobster salad and local diver scallops with a citrus beurre blanc are among the stars. For brunch, book a table on the covered deck overlooking Provincetown Harbor. There are also eight overnight accommodations with sleek furnishings.

2025 Best Massachusetts Attractions

Best Art Gallery: Salmon Falls Gallery, Shelburne Falls

Master glass artist Josh Simpson, the proprietor of this airy gallery overlooking the Deerfield River, has earned international acclaim for his dazzling “Megaplanet” glass orbs, which are displayed at the Corning Museum of Glass and other illustrious institutions. Here you can browse his pieces, including many smaller and more affordable items like tumblers, vases, and pendants. But you’ll also find gorgeous works by more than 90 artists, including leather wallets, fiber wall art, and hand-forged jewelry.

Best Author’s Home: Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, Concord

When you tour the house where Louisa May Alcott both penned and set her seminal novel, Little Women, you’ll feel as though the author and her sisters might pop back through the turquoise front door at any moment. The collection of family possessions is remarkably intact, as is the spirit that has propelled her semi-autobiographical story through time and around the world. As Lexington and Concord mark 250 years since the outbreak of the Revolution, you’ll also be entering a structure that housed father-and-son militiamen and that has witnessed history since 1650. How lucky we are Louisa’s dad ignored neighborly advice to tear it down.

Best Family Attraction: Heritage Museums & Gardens, Sandwich

The top draws at this eclectic cultural campus are its nationally significant collections—ranging from American folk art to vintage automobiles—and its 100 acres of lovingly tended gardens. Stroll among seasonal blooms like hydrangeas and rhododendrons, or take in contemporary outdoor sculpture along winding paths. Guests can round out their visit with refreshments from the on-site Lilly’s Café, or detour to The Adventure Park (separate admission required) for high-flying fun in the form of roughly 80 treetop challenges featuring ropes courses, ladders, and ziplines through the forest canopy.

Best Family-Friendly Museum: EcoTarium, Worcester

Celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, the EcoTarium (originally called the Worcester Lyceum of Natural History) is a fun-filled destination for families with school-age kids. You’ll find live animal exhibits, interactive science experiments, a planetarium, and outdoor play areas designed to connect children with nature. A 12-minute open-air train ride is a multigenerational favorite. To honor the attraction’s bicentennial, a stunning new courtyard mural features hundreds of individual tiles painted by local families and community members.

Best Flea Market: Brimfield Antique Flea Market, Brimfield

Everyone from the most ardent collector to the occasional bargain hunter flocks to this thrice-annual mega rummage sale that’s been going strong since 1959. Thousands of dealers sprawl along a mile of U.S. Route 20, and treasures of all kinds await: Depression glass, vintage signs, patchwork quilts, elegant Shaker tables, plus myriad collectibles, from the trendy to esoteric. Each iteration of the market runs Tuesday through Sunday: May 13–18, July 8–13, and September 2–7 this year.

Best Historic Site: Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell

Thanks to its auspicious setting on the Merrimack River, Lowell became the nation’s earliest planned textile factory town and, by the mid-19th century, its preeminent industrial center. Composed of several refurbished and unaltered buildings, this 142-acre park interprets the city’s rise, subsequent decline, and ongoing revitalization. Highlights include the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, the Pawtucket Dam and Gatehouse, a park devoted to native son Jack Kerouac, guided boat tours, and vintage trolley rides.

Best Island Rides: NanTukTuk, Nantucket

This clever pedicab service was started in 2023 by Michael Gormley, an enterprising young man from New Hampshire who lived in Sri Lanka for 10 months. The ubiquitous tuk-tuks there, and the fact that his grandmother couldn’t negotiate the cobblestones of downtown Nantucket, gave Gormley the idea to start the company. He’s expanded his pickup territory and added more bright-red tricycle cabs to his fleet. It’s huge not to deal with Nantucket parking (and the name is very fun to say).

Best Live Music Venue: The Cut, Gloucester

Pop, rock, and country acts—including Alisan Porter, American Authors, and Los Lobos—have performed in this industrial-chic club since it opened in downtown Gloucester in January 2024. Shows take place mostly on weekends and range from tribute bands and DJ sets to open-mic comedy and stand-up acts.

Best Museum Gift Shop: Ox & Yoke Mercantile, Sturbridge

For timeless kitchen items like iron trivets, redware pottery, and hand-formed tin bakeware, shop the Ox & Yoke Mercantile at Old Sturbridge Village, where those Village-made crafts are beautifully displayed for sale, alongside an array of on-theme gifts. Need a 19th-century-style dress? They’ve got you. You can visit this destination shop without purchasing admission to the museum, or hit up the online store to have handcrafted items shipped to you or to loved ones near and far. Every purchase helps sustain this living-history museum and its myriad educational programs.

Best New Performance Venue: Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow, Becket

Dance enthusiasts will greet this new performance space with open arms, as the 220-acre campus of Jacob’s Pillow has felt the absence of the original theater, lost to fire in 2020. Twice as big, with seating for up to 230 people, the design balances technological innovation with connecting the “magic box” to the land: It can be completely darkened for video and live streams, or fully opened to the outdoors. Undoubtedly, it will impact the future of dance around the world. An opening celebration runs July 6–12, followed by the world premiere of Andrew Schneider’s HERE.

Honorees were selected by Yankee editors with contributions from Meg Lukens Noonan, a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award–winning freelance writer and Nantucket devotee; and Andrew Collins, a travel writer based part-time in New Hampshire and author of numerous guidebooks, including Ultimate Road Trips USA & Canada.

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Whether you’re a lifelong Vermonter or planning your first getaway to the Green Mountain State, the Editors’ Picks in our 2025 Vermont Travel Guide highlight the best places to eat, stay, and explore across the region. Curated by the Yankee team with insights from local experts, these handpicked spots capture the flavor, charm, and spirit that make Vermont so special. From cozy inns and farm-to-table feasts to artisan shops and scenic outdoor adventures, this guide is your go-to for experiencing the very best of Vermont this year.

Best Places to Visit in Vermont | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Vermont Hotels

Best Affordable Overnight: COHO Inn & Motor Lodge, Weston

While the former Colonial House Inn is still a stopover on the long-standing Vermont Inn-to-Inn Walking Tour, owners Ali and Lane Knaack have been busy forging their own path since taking over in May 2024: rebranding, refreshing, and renovating (the last part being ongoing, with the goal of bringing AC units and other upgrades to the COHO’s midcentury motel annex). The couple’s personal touch can be seen, too, in the wealth of snowboarding books and memorabilia on hand (Lane is a former pro) and the curated offerings of local beer, wine, and charcuterie; outside are Ali’s flower beds, which have been known to yield fresh-cut blooms for the main inn and dining room.

Best Historic Inn: The Tillerman, Bristol

A rambling 1790s structure and seven cheery, gable-ceilinged guest rooms are the historic part, while the food and drink are thoroughly modern. The seasonally changing menu relies on local farms, and mozzarella is made in-house. Best seats? The dining rooms are lovely, but sip a Vermont brew or craft cocktail in the clubby parlor, then amble over to the bar for a distinctively garnished pizza—and taste why The Tillerman earned a 2024 Yankee Food Award for its pies.

Best Inn Cuisine: Derby Line Village Inn, Derby Line

A white mansion located less than a mile from the Canadian border is the domain of Austrian chef-owner Fritz Halbedl, whose menu showcases his native fare—schnitzel in a choice of traditional preparations, sauerbraten, spaetzle, and the sweet soufflé known as Salzburger nockerl—plus a selection of steak, pasta, and seafood dishes, and Austrian wines. Upstairs are five sumptuously furnished guest rooms; the “Majesty” is our favorite.

Best Island Camping: Burton Island State Park, St. Albans

Surrounded by the waters of Lake Champlain but just a 10-minute passenger ferry ride from companion state park Kill Kare, Burton Island offers tent sites, lean-tos, and three cabins. There’s a surprisingly cosmopolitan feel here, as the park is frequented by Quebec boaters who use its marina and enjoy the Burton Island Bistro, with its wine selection and homemade omelets.

Best Rustic Retreat: Quimby Country, Averill

Tucked between Forest and Big Averill lakes—and set deep in an early 1900s North Woods dreamscape—the 19 cozy cottages at Quimby Country have welcomed generations of rusticating families. High-summer accommodations include three hearty meals a day in the lodge; in shoulder seasons, there’s a B&B plan. All cottages have woodstoves, and some have full kitchens, too.

2025 Best Vermont Restaurants

Best Artisan Chocolates: Tavernier Chocolates, Brattleboro

Tavernier combines fine chocolate from Ecuadorian cacao trees with locally sourced and endlessly inventive ingredients—think wild peppermint, spruce needles, morel mushrooms, even slow-cured organic garlic. Along with bars and boxed individual bonbons, specialties include drinking chocolate and “chocolate charcuterie,” a sliceable pâté with flavors ranging from miso to maple, chèvre to lavender.

Best Diner: The Country Girl Diner, Chester

Everything seems to take on a relaxed, mid-20th-century feel when you chow down on a towering Texas burger heaped with onion rings, a stack of plate-size pancakes, or a slab of one of co-owner Jess Holmes’s peanut butter pies. She uses Vermont eggs, Cabot butter, and local maple syrup in the kitchen at this beautifully preserved diner, a 1944 Silk City classic.

Best Drive-In Restaurant: A&W, Middlebury

No, the servers don’t roller-skate to your car. But they do take your order there, and ferry your tray right to the rolled-down window of your—well, probably not a ’59 Chevy. Burgers, fries, hand-breaded chicken tenders, Coney dogs, and, of course, that famous frosty-mug-taste root beer are all featured at this veritable museum of delicious roadside eats.

Best Farm-to-Table Dining: Maple Soul, Rochester

Better to call it “farmer-to-table”: When dinner service gets under way at this comfortably elegant eatery in a former late-1800s home, the patrons tucking into executive chef Jim Huntington’s pitch-perfect cornbread, baby-back ribs, and other down-home fare might include the very folks who provided the ingredients. Not only does Maple Soul partner with 30-plus local farmers and producers, says general manager Jen Huntington, but “we always welcome them here to see what we’re doing with their product, to be part of the conversation.” Similarly, the Huntingtons make a point of visiting their partners’ operations, which include their sole chicken provider, Happy Bird in Isle La Motte, and regular microgreens supplier Uphill Farm, right in Rochester. The result is a New England–meets–North Carolina menu with a lot of maple, a lot of soul, and a lot of integrity … which means a lot of fans, too, so reservations are strongly advised.

Best Italian Grocery: AR Market, Barre

Vermont’s most historically Italian city has the Italian market it deserves. With its initials representing alimentari (groceries) and Roscini (a family surname of Italian-born owner Peter Colman), AR Market offers shelves packed with imported Di Martino and Rustichella pastas, San Marzano tomatoes grown in Campania’s volcanic soil, almond cantucci and amaretti, fine olive oils, and much more. Colman’s other business, Vermont Salumi, smokes and cures on-site, and there’s a wood-fired pizzeria next door.

Best Locavore Butcher Shop: Roma’s Butchery, South Royalton

The village meat market is back, thanks to master butcher Elizabeth Roma and her custom-cut, head-to-tail butcher shop. Drawing on more than a dozen farms within a 25-mile radius, Roma does pork, lamb, poultry, and grass-fed beef in a variety of cuts. She makes her own sausage, too, and offers handcrafted salumi from Waitsfield’s Babette’s Table.

Best Small Plates: Frankie’s, Burlington

Hen of the Wood alums Jordan Ware and Cindi Kozak have brought new energy to the space formerly occupied by the late-lamented Penny Cluse Café, creating an ever-changing menu where small plates—perhaps littleneck clams with charred-scallion butter and house focaccia, or pork croquettes with pickled rhubarb sauce—are the stars. Just don’t call them starters: Double up, and that steak entrée might have to wait for next time.

Best Winery: Whaleback Vineyard, Poultney

A restored 19th-century barn near the waters of Lake Saint Catherine is the home base for this Stone Valley winery. Whaleback’s grapevines number more than 6,000 plants across nine beautiful acres, all helping to produce a range of only-in-the-Green-Mountain-State favorites, from the Vermont Apple Blend fruit wine to Whaleback’s signature white, Moonlight in Vermont. Drink up the setting in the farm’s tasting room, set inside a Colonial farmhouse.

2025 Best Vermont Attractions

Best Family Attraction: Great Vermont Corn Maze, Danville

Polite Vermonters won’t tell you to get lost—unless they’re talking about New England’s largest and most challenging corn maze, 24 acres of frustrating fun that’s taken ears and ears to create. A new design takes shape each season, which begins in late July when the stalks grow tall and runs through mid-October. Afraid you’ll never get out? Try the “Scenic Maze” route, which comes with directions.

Best Moderate Hike: Jerusalem Trail, Starksboro

The 2.4-mile Jerusalem Trail starts off gently, at Jim Dwire Road, and remains deceptively easy until you duck under a sap line and cross a logging road. Watch for blue blazes as you scramble over rocks to meet the Long Trail. Turn left, and it’s a short hike down to the Green Mountain Club’s Glen Ellen Lodge. Take a right, and in another 1.8 miles you’ll be atop 4,083-foot Mount Ellen.

Best Mountain Biking: Millstone Trails, Barre

In a state with serious trail-riding cred, Barre’s former quarry lands are a haven for newbies and experienced pros alike. The rocky playground boasts more than 30 miles of trails across 1,500 acres of ever-changing terrain. Cruise into the season along the large, gentle loops in the Barre Town Forest or take on the steeper climbs of Millstone Hill and its “Gnome Man’s Land,” whose trails live up to names like Roller Coaster, Vortex, and Screaming Demon. Fascinating quarry relics and scenic overlooks are sprinkled throughout (don’t miss the dramatic east-facing Sunrise Lookout, which sits atop the plunging rock walls of an abandoned quarry).

Best Outdoor Footwear: Farm-Way, Bradford

Though muck boots remain a fixture at this haven for everything outdoorsy, the offerings venture way off the farm: from sandals and sneakers to hiking boots and, yes, clogs. Brands include Merrell, Blundstone, Keen, OluKai, and even exquisitely crafted hikers made by Italy’s Zamberlan. Inventory runs deep for men, women, and kids, and there’s plenty of staff around to help with try-ons.

Best Performing Arts Venue: Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph

When Upper Valley Baroque artistic director Filippo Ciabatti first visited the Chandler, he clapped his hands in the middle of the hall to get a sense of the acoustics. He was immediately impressed, as are the audiences at this 1907 gem, a gift of Randolph native Albert Chandler. Along with concerts in varied genres, the Chandler hosts theater and dance (the Grand Kyiv Ballet was a recent visitor), and Randolph’s late-summer New World Festival is a perennial favorite. 

Best Retail Hub: The Essex Experience, Essex

Fast food and fast fashion, begone. At this former outlet mall, a Main Street vibe pulses through 20-plus independent shops and restaurants that include the state’s largest collection of Vermont art and crafts (ArtHound Gallery) and a small-batch distillery and brewery with a James Beard semifinalist in the kitchen (Black Flannel and Christian Kruse, respectively). Also local-leaning are the music and events at the Double E cultural hub, where a rescued 1700s barn serves as an outdoor stage. Even that shopping-mall staple, the cineplex (Essex Cinemas), channels the kind of small-town theater where blockbusters share billing with classic, indie, and international films.

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Whether you’re a lifelong local or planning your first Granite State getaway, our 2025 Editors’ Picks spotlight the very best places to eat, stay, shop, and explore across New Hampshire. Hand-selected by the Yankee team—with help from regional experts—these standout spots capture the charm, creativity, and character that make New Hampshire unforgettable. From mountaintop hikes and lakeside retreats to hidden-gem restaurants and artisan shops, this guide is your go-to for discovering the most memorable experiences the state has to offer this year.

Best Places to Visit in New Hampshire | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best New Hampshire Hotels

Best Country Inn: The Lyme Inn, Lyme

Operated as a stagecoach tavern in the early 1800s, this venerable four-story hotel stands out for its sophisticated rooms and suites, many of them overlooking the handsome Lyme Common. Romantic restaurant Ariana’s serves creative, contemporary, regionally sourced fare in a post-and-beam-style space with a stone fireplace. If you’re seeking an attractive base for exploring the campus of Dartmouth College and the surrounding Upper Connecticut River Valley, look no further.

Best Family Retreat: Sundeck Cottages, Gilford

In 1980, a young Carl Johnson began a summer ritual of vacationing with his grandparents at “Sun Deck” Cottages, a lakeside resort on Lake Winnipesaukee. Today, Carl and his family do the hosting as the owners of this seasonal retreat of simple but charming private cottages—plus apartment units and a lakefront house rental—that have welcomed parents and kids for more than 70 years. The big lake is just steps away, so bring your kayak or paddleboard, and most definitely bring your swimming gear. For additional summer diversions, Weirs Beach is a short drive away.

Best Luxury B&B: Cranberry Meadow Farm Inn, Peterborough

Chef-owner Carolyn Hough harvests most of the ingredients for guests’ breakfasts from her garden and nearby farms. Come fall, homemade yogurt and granola might be followed by caramel-glazed apple hand pies and freshly laid eggs topped with Swiss chard pesto. Any calories gained can be burned on trails that begin right from the 83 acres surrounding this exquisitely nurturing inn. Hike to Cranberry Meadow Pond, then on to the summit of Pack Monadnock.

2025 Best New Hampshire Dining

Best Craft Brewery: Blasty Bough Brewing Company, Epsom

Set in a cozy restored farmhouse, this sustainability-focused nanobrewery turns out complex, inventive ales such as the cardamom-and-vanilla-spiced Högmåne Scottish ale and The Welcome Table, a heady Belgian-style golden strong ale. After filling up on a Korean-spice-rubbed brisket sandwich or a hummus-and-veggie plate, head upstairs to enjoy the music of some of the region’s leading folk acts in the intimate listening room. Although Blasty Bough’s setting is pastoral, it’s less than a 20-minute drive from Concord.

Best Farm-to-Table Dining: The Hungry Diner, Walpole

The sprawling field beside this festive farmer-owned restaurant is filled with tables, a swing set, and various outdoors games, giving the feel of a family picnic. The kitchen sources most of its ingredients, including beef, pork, and poultry, from its nearby sustainably operated farm (which also offers cozy accommodations in a 1774 country inn). Dig into thoughtfully prepared comfort food like mac and cheese with fried chicken and jalapeños, and sample a flight of beer from the impressive list of 16 on tap.

Best Ice Cream Sandwiches: The Sandwich Creamery, North Sandwich

Located 20 minutes from Lake Winnipesaukee’s north shore, this beloved family dairy sells decadent ice cream sandwiches out of a self-serve general store across from a small patch of greenery with picnic tables and a playground. The novel flavors rotate but might include the Moose (peanut butter cookies with chocolate ice cream) and the Lemon Blue (lemon cookies with blueberry ice cream). Also on offer here: ice cream pints, cheeses and other gourmet snacks, prepared foods, and colorful crafts.

Best Japanese Restaurant: Nichinan, Portsmouth

Savor artfully prepared modern Japanese fare in this sophisticated, softly lit oasis named for Portsmouth’s sister city on Japan’s southernmost island. The 50-seat space is tucked inside the plush Hotel Thaxter, fashioned out of an 1860 church. Standout dishes include the fatty tuna sushi with kumquat and pickled cucumber, and chilled soba noodles with king crab. Be sure to peruse Nichinan’s impressive craft cocktail list.

Best Lobster Rolls: The Little Red Schoolhouse, Campton

You might not expect to find the state’s most delicious lobster rolls in the foothills of the White Mountains, 100 miles from the nearest lobster buoy. But this seasonal (late May–mid-October) counter-service spot set in a historic schoolhouse serves up succulent rolls, hot-buttered or lightly tossed in mayo, along with burgers, fried seafood, and addictively good garlic fries. There’s a nice selection of local beers and ice cream, and seating is at picnic tables or in a double-decker screened-in porch with panoramic views of the mountains and the Pemigewasset River.

Best Pizza: Zizza Authentic Pizzeria, Milford

We know just how much of a hot-button issue pizza can be, but Zizza inspires us to all just get along. The names are fun (say hello to the meat lover’s Zizza Mizza), while the preset combos are deliciously creative (fried eggplant, ricotta, Parmesan, and fresh basil? Yes, please!). And if you’ve still got a hankering for something extra, do yourself the favor of taking home a few of the house-made cannoli.

Best Special-Occasion Dining: Stages at One Washington, Dover

Chef Evan Hennessey has earned a slew of accolades for his sublimely inventive multicourse feasts, served on exquisite earthenware in a rustic-chic third-floor space in downtown Dover’s historic Washington Street Mills complex overlooking the Cocheco River. The “progressive New England” tasting menu changes frequently to take advantage of what’s fresh and available nearby, with recent dishes including hazelnut and miso hummus with goose-leg confit and pickled mussels, and roasted lobster soup with preserved pear, puffed quinoa, and dry kimchi. Lighter bites and curated sips are served in the intimate and informal Living Room lounge.

Best Vineyard: Zorvino Vineyards, Sandown

When Jim and Cheryl Zanello bought their 80-acre Sandown retirement property in 2000, they planted a few grapevines to dress up the land. Then they kept planting. In the decades since, Zorvino Vineyards has become an acclaimed destination that’s only furthered the Northeast’s growing winemaking cred. Among the flavors born here are the Marquette, a barrel-aged red that pops with fruit flavor, and La Crescent, an easy-drinking white that will cool down any hot summer day.

2025 Best New Hampshire Attractions

Best Antiques Store: Just L, Littleton

A cornerstone of this historic downtown shopping district on the edge of the White Mountains, Lance Williamson’s shop abounds with midcentury decor and other intriguing items, mostly from the 1950s to the 1990s. You might find a Marcel Breuer–designed Wassily chair or a whimsical tulip lamp, or anchor pieces like teak dining room tables and low-slung sofas. There’s also a great selection of smaller gifts and accent pieces, from Russian nesting dolls to vintage vinyl to 1950s CorningWare.

Best Bike Tour: PortCity Bike Tours, Portsmouth

Proving that sometimes two wheels are better than four, PortCity’s guided trips let you soak up New Hampshire’s Seacoast in an unforgettable way. The company offers a range of options, from a two-hour pedal through Portsmouth’s historic neighborhoods to a photo-worthy exploration of harbor and islands. But for our money, the three-and-a-half-hour coastal ride and lobster roll journey is the summer trek that will keep your spirits riding high long after you’ve retired the bike for the day. Private and custom tours are also available.

Best Crafts Gallery: Gibson Pewter, Washington

Second-generation craftsman Jonathan Gibson meticulously casts, hammers, and spins pewter tankards, candlesticks, pitchers, oil lamps, and more. You can watch him work, using traditional tools and classic Colonial designs, inside his rustic barn studio beside the picturesque Washington town common—the highest village center in New Hampshire. Gibson also displays and sells stunning antique pieces dating back as far as the early 18th century.

Best Day Hike: Mount Tecumseh Trail, Waterville Valley

If you’re looking to ease your way into conquering all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-footers, Mount Tecumseh is a great peak to tackle first. While it was recently found to be a few feet shy of qualifying for the Granite State’s 4K club, it still offers a challenging five-mile out-and-back climb that rewards you with sweeping views of the Waterville Valley … and those bigger northern summits you may want to bag next.

Best Outdoor Retailer: REI Co-op, Bedford

While outdoor people prefer to be, you know, outside, REI’s newest New England store inspires one to linger indoors. Surveying its 22,000 square feet, you can practically feel the endorphins kicking in. Paddleboards and boots, bikes and climbing gear, bocce sets and kites—they’re all there, along with knowledgeable staffers who are always amped at the chance to assist you in getting you back outdoors in no time. 

Best PYO Berry Farm: Monadnock Berries, Troy

Encompassing 10 acres of land that’s been farmed for more than two centuries, and with majestic Mount Monadnock for a backdrop, Monadnock Berries’ setting is as delicious as the grape-size blueberries clustered on row after row of bushes. Grab a snack at the rustic café and farm stand before heading out to harvest delectables that also include gooseberries, currants, and raspberries.

Best Sculpture Garden: Bedrock Gardens, Lee

It’s hard to think of a more enchanting way to pass a sunny afternoon than with a ramble through this collection of shade trees, lawns, water features, and art installations. The serene Spiral Garden and striking Belgian Fence are favorite spots in which to commune with nature, and handmade benches and swings throughout the property provide seating for contemplation. Check out the array of native plants and whimsical gifts in the garden shop, too.

Best Used Bookstore: Old Number Six Book Depot, Henniker

However much time you’ve allotted for your visit to this bibliophile’s dream, prepare to tack on at least an extra hour to peruse the 160,000-plus titles that stuff the floor-to-ceiling shelves. Opened in 1976 by the married pair of educators who still run it today, Ian and Helen Morrison, the shop boasts books in practically every genre, along with a rich collection of old magazines (including some long-ago Yankee issues). Even better, it operates much as it did half a century ago: no website, no email, just a landline and two owners who are delighted to welcome you. 603-428-3334

Honorees were compiled by Yankee editors with contributions from Andrew Collins, a travel writer based part-time in New Hampshire and author of numerous guidebooks, including Ultimate Road Trips USA & Canada.

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Whether you’re a Maine native or visiting for the first time, the Editors’ Picks in our 2025 Maine Travel Guide highlight the best places to eat, stay, and explore across the Pine Tree State. Curated by the Yankee team with insights from local experts, these handpicked spots showcase the beauty, charm, and character that make Maine unforgettable. From seaside cottages and world-class lobster rolls to scenic hikes and vibrant art galleries, this guide is your go-to for experiencing the very best of Maine this year.

Best Places to Visit in Maine | 2025 Editors’ Picks

2025 Best Maine Hotels

Best All-Inclusive Resort: Quisisana, Center Lovell

Year after year, families return to this pines-sheltered, cottage-style resort edging western Maine’s Kezar Lake for a getaway like no other. Guests of all ages bond over porch parties, hearty meals, and a slew of water and land activities, but they come for the daily performances. Staff members—most recruited from top performing arts schools and venues—morph into stars, exchanging uniforms for costumes to perform Broadway musicals, chamber concerts, piano recitals, and opera.

Best All-Season Acadia Hotel: The Pathmaker Hotel, Bar Harbor

There’s no beating the location of this new 46-room boutique-ish property, a short stroll from Bar Harbor’s Village Green, Main Street shops, and low-tide trail to Bar Island. The Ethan Allen–furnished rooms couldn’t feel fresher, and underground parking is a boon during the congested summer season. (Rates are a steal the rest of the year, when most Bar Harbor lodging goes dark.)

Best Beach Hotel: The Nevada, York

Watch the sun rise out of the Atlantic through plate-glass windows at the curvaceous, L-shaped, aqua-trimmed Nevada. Henry de la Pena built this hotel facing Long Sands Beach to resemble the flybridge of the USS Nevada, on which he served during World War II. Today this reimagined hotel retains its 1950s vibe but welcomes guests with beachy Art Deco style, contemporary amenities, and Lulu’s tiki bar, plus a commitment to sustainability.

Best Boutique Hotel: Rockport Harbor Hotel, Rockport

With views over a well-protected harbor on one side and toward the Camden Hills on the other, this dog-friendly new hotel blends in with its long-standing brick neighbors. Twenty-one spacious studios and suites pamper guests with indulgent bedding, spa-inspired bathrooms, kitchenettes, fireplaces, and private balconies. Meanwhile, the cozy Oak Room restaurant earns nods for its wood-fired pizzas.

Best Seaside Cottages: The Dunes on the Waterfront, Ogunquit

Sea-salted memories are guaranteed when you stay in this idyllic waterfront colony with picket fences and seashell paths. Reopened in 2024, these adorable, newly kitted-out white cottages are spread amid shady green lawns, colorful gardens, a heated pool, and a firepit. Paddle, row, or ride the shuttle boat to the namesake dunes. Or crack open complimentary sparkling rosé and snacks, then settle into an ocean-facing porch chair.

Best Summer Retreat: Otyokwa, Bremen

Up to 25 guests can share Otyokwa’s five lovingly-if-minimally restored sleeping cabins, built as a boys camp in the 1930s and lining a half mile of silent shoreline on Pemaquid Pond. Every rustic detail—from the rec hall’s old-school record player to the striped wool throws on the bunks—oozes tasteful Vacationland nostalgia. Bigger groups can spill into a farmhouse and two gorgeous houseboats.

Best Wellness Stay: The Longfellow, Portland

The Longfellow embraces health for people and the planet. That starts with limiting single-use plastics whenever possible. Rooms are certified as ideal for restful slumber: Heavenly bedding, a clock with meditations and sound baths, and blackout curtains help achieve this. Enhance your stay with a massage or time in a meditation lounging chair or the hot-cold infrared sauna. Then indulge in delicious, wellness-forward food and drinks in the inviting lounge and café.

2025 Best Maine Dining

Best Beer Garden: Odd Alewives, Waldoboro

Scattered with patio tables, firepits, and lovely flower gardens, the half-acre spread behind Sarah and John McNeil’s gorgeously renovated 1820s barn is a superb spot for a pastoral happy hour. The McNeils stopped brewing their own beer this off-season to focus on a wider menu of Maine suds and their to-die-for wood-fired pizzas. Toppings are grown on-site or sourced nearby—try the pickle pie, with sour-mustard pickles from nearby Morse’s Sauerkraut, or the early-summer seasonal pizza with smoked alewives in a rich cream sauce.

Best Bistro: Water Street Kitchen & Bar, Wiscasset

Fresh seafood and pasta are the specialties at this Mediterranean-leaning restaurant overlooking the Sheepscot River. Chef-owner Ed Colburn’s signature paella de Mariscos is worth the 45-minute wait. In the meantime, sip the white-bean soup and share the Brussels sprouts and truffle fries. On a stormy day, the cozy lounge, with its fireplace and tin-sided bar, competes with tables on the year-round glassed-in porch.

Best Brunch: Ocotillo, Portland

Melanie and Pliny Reynolds first turned Portlanders on to the sublime simplicity of Texas-style breakfast tacos at their Tex-Mex barbecue joint, Terlingua. At their new breakfast-lunch-and-dinner stop, Ocotillo, tacos share a menu with decadent Benedicts, huevos done proper, and some stiff brunch cocktails. The Southwest-mod dining room is loud and lively; the ramada-covered patio an oasis.

Best Cocktail Bar: Papi, Portland

Inspired by the cantinas of Old San Juan, lively Papi feels as if it’s anchored the Old Port longer than its two years, in part because the baroque interior—with its distressed walls, bodega candles, and lush hanging greenery—feels so lived in. Cofounder LyAnna Sanabria has earned industry raves for her maximalist, Latin-inflected cocktails, such as the Tamarindo Lindo: Ojo de Tigre mezcal, tamarind, sumac, strawberry, and black pepper. ¡Ay qué rico!

Best Coffee Shop: Bintliff’s Corner Brew, Gardiner

Owner Roger Bintliff restored a portion of downtown Gardiner’s 19th-century Dingley Block, and the warm, welcoming vibe of his hardware store turned coffeehouse owes a lot to the pumpkin-pine plank flooring, weathered original brick, shelves full of antiques, and dried flowers hanging from exposed beams. Linger over loads of creative specialty drinks (try the habanero mocha latte) and a full brunch menu to boot.

Best French Restaurant: Chez Rosa, Kennebunkport

It’s French fare with Maine flair, prepared inside a bright, airy barn tucked off Dock Square. Expect both reimagined classics such as fish Wellington and traditional ones like steak frites and Maine lobster vol-au-vent. The menu invites crafting a meal from appetizers, fromage, and charcuterie; consider pairing cheese fondue with a bistro salad. A decidedly French wine list meets a mostly Maine beer list.

Best Maine Meal: The Dolphin Marina and Restaurant, Harpswell

It’s worth the leisurely drive down the Harpswell Peninsula and out to the tip of Basin Point to this oceanfront restaurant located on land owned by the Saxton family since the early 1900s. Go for the ultra-fresh seafood, especially the rave-worthy fish chowder or lobster stew, each served with a blueberry muffin. While feasting, savor panoramic views over island-sprinkled Casco Bay.

Best Oyster Bar: North Beacon Oyster, Rockland

Intimate, approachable, and the rare raw bar where the turf on the menu also shines, chef-owner Mike Mastronardi’s North Beacon takes advantage of the local catch and harvest. Try the lobster sliders and New England cioppino—but know that Mastronardi also makes a mean steak frites and the Midcoast’s best, gooiest cheeseburger.

2025 Best Maine Attractions

Best Acadia Tour: Island Time Ebike Rentals, Southwest Harbor

Six years since the National Park Service OKed pedal-assist rides wherever bikes are allowed, about half of all cyclists on Acadia National Park’s carriage roads are riding e-bikes. Island Time got in on the trend early. Its guides know MDI trivia cold, and the leisurely four-hour tours take in views of the Bubbles and other landmarks along the way. And the hills? No sweat.

Best Art Gallery: Karma, Thomaston

For a contemporary-art gallery based in New York and L.A., a seasonal outpost in a sleepy Midcoast village seems surprising. But Thomaston’s former St. James Catholic Church feels made for it. Credit the vaulted ceilings, the light pouring through the rose window, and a years-long renovation undertaken by painter Ann Craven after she bought the place in 2016. Last summer’s group show included heavy hitters like Katherine Bradford and Alex Katz.

Best Cultural Site: Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, Patten

In the Indigenous Penobscot language, tekαkαpimək (pronounced deh gah gah bee mook) means “as far as one can see.” It’s a fitting name for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument’s new visitor center atop Lookout Mountain, which is set amid the traditional homeland of Maine’s Wabanaki tribes. Exhibits and displays at this green-built architectural stunner share the region’s history and heritage and introduce its mountains and waterways from the Wabanaki perspective.

Best Mountain Golf Course: Sugarloaf Golf Course, Carrabassett Valley

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., Sugarloaf’s parkland-style 18-hole course takes advantage of its natural mountain topography and woodland setting. Narrow fairways, elevated greens, massive bunkers, dense forests, and the gurgling Carrabassett River challenge golfers. The eye-popping 11th hole, nicknamed “Precipice,” plays over the river, dropping 128 feet from tee to green. Unsurprisingly, the dreamy mountain views, especially in autumn, make it hard to keep your eye on the ball.

Best New Preserve: Anna M. Tondreau Preserve, Harpswell

What the Tondreau Preserve lacks in size, the 57-acre tract makes up for with terrain. Its 1.4-mile trail system crosses wetlands, climbs a gnarly ridge, skirts mossy boulders and crumbling stone fences, and reaches two isolated coves that are havens for wading birds and waterfowl. It’s a jewel among the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust’s 20 public-access preserves.

Best Rainy-Day Hideout: Another Round, Portland

The rare family-friendly hangout on Portland’s Congress Street has good espresso drinks, a tap list of local brews, and a library of more than 200 board games, from classics (Clue! Scrabble!) to retro oddities (Crocodile Dentist?) to esoteric indie offerings (Catan! Wingspan!). Find a new fave, and you can buy it to take home.

See More: 10 Best Things to Do in Maine This Summer 2025

2025 Maine travel guide honorees were selected by Yankee editors with contributions from Brian Kevin, features editor at National Geographic and former editor of Down East; and freelance writer and Maine guidebook author Hilary Nangle.

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