New England Fall Colours and Acadia at a slower pace

Boston to North Conway

Boston Logan airport to North Conway, New Hampshire, about 2 hours 45 minutes

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : North Conway
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

Fly into Boston Logan (BOS) by about noon; there is no reason to take a dawn flight. Your See Sight Tours guide meets you at arrivals and the driver loads the bags into our van.

Après-midi

We leave the city on Interstate 95, cross the short New Hampshire coast near Portsmouth and turn north on Route 16 through the lakes and woods around Ossipee, stopping about halfway for lunch on your own, toilets and a stretch. As the road rises, the maples on the hillsides turn orange and red. We reach North Conway, a small town in the Mount Washington Valley, by about 3:30 pm and check in to the hotel for two nights, with a lift to your floor or a ground-floor room. The rest of the afternoon is free: a rest after the journey, or a slow walk along the flat main street to the old railway station of 1874, with benches on the way.

Soir

The welcome dinner is at about 6:30 pm.

Compris

• Pick-up at Boston Logan airport (BOS)
• Welcome dinner in North Conway

The Cog Railway up Mount Washington

North Conway through Crawford Notch to the Cog Railway base station and back, about 2 hours 30 minutes in two legs

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : North Conway
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

Breakfast is unhurried, and we leave at about 9:15 am for the hour's drive through Crawford Notch, a steep pass where the road runs below granite cliffs and the colour is often at its brightest in early October. At the base station we board the Mount Washington Cog Railway on a late-morning departure. It has carried passengers to the summit since 1869, pushing up three miles of track with grades as steep as 37 percent, over the curved trestle called Jacob's Ladder and above the tree line. The ride is seated both ways. At 6,288 feet (1,917 m), Mount Washington is the highest peak in the northeastern United States, and on a clear day the view reaches into four states and Quebec. You can stay close to the train and the summit building during the hour at the top. Summit trips run only when the weather allows.

Après-midi

Lunch is near the base, then on the way back we pause at Silver Cascade and Flume Cascade, two waterfalls a few steps from the road.

Soir

Back at about 4 pm, with dinner together in North Conway.

Compris

• Mount Washington Cog Railway round trip to the summit, weather permitting
• Lunch near the base station
• Crawford Notch with stops at Silver Cascade and Flume Cascade
• Dinner in North Conway

Activités en option

• The Conway Scenic Railroad Valley train from North Conway, about an hour in vintage coaches, in the late afternoon (price shown at booking)

Camden and on to Bar Harbor

North Conway to Camden, about 3 hours split by a coffee stop, then Camden to Bar Harbor, about 1 hour 45 minutes

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Bar Harbor
• Environ 5 h de route

Soir

We accept it so that you then have three nights in one place; a stop in between would mean a single-night hotel. We split it with a proper break. We leave North Conway at about 9 am, stop halfway for coffee and toilets, and reach Camden at about noon for lunch by the harbour, where the windjammer schooners tie up. Afterwards the van drives up the road on Mount Battie in Camden Hills State Park to the summit car park, with a view over the harbour and the islands of Penobscot Bay a few level steps away; the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote about this view. The stone tower has steps for anyone who wants the higher view. In the afternoon we follow the coast road through Belfast and Bucksport onto Mount Desert Island and reach Bar Harbor by about 5 pm. Dinner is on your own, close to the hotel.

Compris

• Lunch in Camden by the harbour
• Mount Battie summit by road, Camden Hills State Park

Cadillac Mountain, Jordan Pond and the carriage roads

Bar Harbor, the Park Loop Road, Cadillac Mountain and Jordan Pond, about 1 hour 15 minutes of driving in short legs

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Bar Harbor
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

We leave at about 9:15 am for the Cadillac Summit Road, with summit road access booked by us for mid-morning. At 1,530 feet, Cadillac is the highest point on the Atlantic coast of the United States, and from the summit car park a short paved loop with benches looks over Bar Harbor and the islands of Frenchman Bay. Then the Park Loop Road along the coast: a stop above Sand Beach, and Thunder Hole, where waves boom into a slot in the granite when the tide is right; where the group prefers, we watch from the railing at the top rather than the steps down to the rocks.

Après-midi

Lunch is at Jordan Pond House, where hot popovers with strawberry jam have been served for more than a century, on the lawn above the pond. Afterwards a horse-drawn carriage takes us for an hour along the broken-stone carriage roads and over stone bridges. We are back in town by about 3:30 pm.

Compris

• Acadia National Park entry
• Cadillac Mountain summit, road access booked by us
• Sand Beach overlook and Thunder Hole on the Park Loop Road
• Lunch with popovers at Jordan Pond House
• A 1-hour horse-drawn carriage ride on the carriage roads

A lobster boat and a free afternoon

Bar Harbor harbour and town, on foot and by boat

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bar Harbor
• En bateau

Matin

After a late breakfast we walk a few minutes to the harbour for a mid-morning trip on a working lobster boat, a little under two hours on Frenchman Bay. Seats are on deck and in the cabin. The captain hauls a few traps, measures each lobster with a brass gauge and explains why the small ones and the egg-carrying females go back into the sea. Harbour seals often rest on the ledges, and seabirds work the water around the boat. Back on shore by about noon, the rest of the day is yours. Many guests walk part of the Shore Path, a level gravel path beside the water that starts at Agamont Park with benches along the way, or sit on the village green with a coffee. Others take a nap, browse the shops or book the optional whale cruise.

Soir

In the evening we meet for the farewell lobster dinner, with time to say thank you to the guide and driver.

Compris

• Lobster boat trip on Frenchman Bay, about 1 hour 45 minutes
• Farewell lobster dinner in Bar Harbor

Activités en option

• A whale-watching cruise from Bar Harbor in the afternoon, where the season still runs (price shown at booking)

Bar Harbor to Boston by way of Freeport

Bar Harbor to Freeport, about 2 hours 30 minutes, then Freeport to Boston Logan airport, about 2 hours

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

The second long day of the trip, about four and a half hours in all, and like day 3 it is split by a sit-down lunch so no leg runs over about two and a half hours. After breakfast we leave Bar Harbor at about 9:30 am, cross back to the mainland and drive south on Route 1 and Interstate 295, with a short stop for coffee on the way. We reach Freeport at about noon for lunch together and an hour to stretch your legs in the flat, compact centre around the L.L.Bean flagship store, which has benches outside and a giant boot by the door. At about 1:30 pm we carry on south past Portland and Portsmouth to Boston Logan, arriving at about 3:45 pm. Please book a domestic flight leaving after 6:30 pm, or an international flight leaving at 7 pm or later, since check-in opens about 3 hours ahead.

Soir

If you would rather not fly the same day, ask us about a night in Boston before you go home.

Compris

• Lunch in Freeport
• Drop-off at Boston Logan airport (BOS)