Visit Connecticut: A guide to CT travel, tourism, vacations, hotels, food, and attractions

> 50 Great Things to Do in Connecticut

A trip through Connecticut offers casinos, museums, antique shopping and more

Connecticut, an easy drive from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and eastern Pennsylvania even for a day or weekend getaway trip, is the southern gateway to a New England vacation. Hotels, inns, resorts, and romantic bed and breakfasts are plentiful. Connecticut tourism runs the gamut from a family vacation at Ocean Park Beach in New London to playing the slot machines at the casinos to browsing antique stores in Litchfield.

Among the highlights for tourism in Connecticut are the slots and table games of the Foxwoods casino and Mohegan Sun casino in the eastern part of the state. Mystic has the renowned Mystic Aquarium – great for families with children – and Mystic Seaport, a museum of seafaring.

Hartford, the geographic center of Connecticut, has the bright new Connecticut Science Center, attracting families and science buffs from far and wide. The capital city also has a home of American writer Mark Twain. Famous eagle-watching river cruises and steamboat cruises and antique railroad excursion trips entertain tourists along the Connecticut River near the town of Essex.

The coastal Fairfield region presents a range of outdoor and family fun like the Beardsley Zoo and Barnum Museum in Bridgeport and the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk. New Haven claims to be the home of the first pizza in America; don’t pass through the city without stopping at a pizza parlor.

The Litchfield region is classic small-town New England. A drive in the region reveals small towns with village greens and steepled churches, stone walls and fields, luxury inns and dining – and lots of great antique shopping.

Plentiful shopping also can be found at Olde Mistick Village in Mystic, as well as the Tanger Outlet Center in Westbrook and the Clinton Crossing outlets in Clinton. As with all parts of New England, inland and waterfront parks for hiking, biking, and play are easy to find.

> 50 Great Things to Do in Connecticut