SUV rental for Massachusetts - Connecticut trip

In June we are visiting the US again. Last time we stayed in NYC and really enjoyed it but this time we thought we would be a little bit more adventurous so we are going to rent an SUV at Newark Airport and go and see a bit of New England before going to NYC.

Our plan is that we will pick up the car and then stay a couple of nights not far from Woodbury Common, then drive up to Massachusetts and spend 4 nights there, then drive to Connecticut and spend 4 nights there, then drop the car off at Newark airport and get the train into Manhattan where we will spend 5 nights.

I have been looking at the car rental sites and Hertz seems to be the cheapest which surprised me. It says that the rates listed include: Airport concession fee recovery, Loss Damage Waiver, Tax, Liability Insurance Supplement, Vehicle Licensing Cost Recovery, airport transportation and domestic security fee. Are there any other options which need to be considered or that they haven%26#39;t mentioned?

Although I have TomTom on my PDA we would also like to have a road atlas of the areas we are going to, where can we get one from when we first arrive?

Are there any must see/do things in Massachusetts or Connecticut?

SUV rental for Massachusetts - Connecticut trip

You can go to www.ctvisit.com for a free guide to Connecticut and maps. You can also order a road map of CT from Hammond or Rand McNally (www.randmcnally.com) or Hagstrom (www.hagstrommap.com) CT has a beautiful shoreline so you can go to Old Saybrook, Westbrook, etc...Mystic Seaport is a big attraction. It is a reconstructed whaling town. There is also the world class Mystic Aquarium. Many people visit the casinos (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun). I would suggest visiting New Haven to see the campus of Yale University. They have world class art galleries and museums, plus the buildings themselves are architecturally interesting. Plus, New Haven prides itself on the best pizza in the state...nay, the country! Litchfield County in CT is nice for typical small town New England things like antiquing and leaf peeping, white clapboard churches and old Victorian hosues. In Hartford there is the Mark Twain house and the Harriet Beecher Stowe house. I think in Coventry is the Nathan Hale house (a hero of the American Revolution).

For Mass., don%26#39;t miss Boston! You can do the freedom trail, visit Quincy Market, the Old North Church, the Italian North End, the USS Constitution, the Kennedy Library, Fenway Park (go Red Sox!), take the ';duck tour'; which are amphibious landing vehicles.

SUV rental for Massachusetts - Connecticut trip

Thanks for your reply, exactly what we are looking for. We love the coutryside and wildlilfe but also llike to soak up a bit of culture by going to art galleries and museums.

Really looking forward to our trip. Thanks once again.

My pleasure. Here is a nice little art and decorate arts museum in the Hartford area (a hidden gem): http://www.hillstead.org/

The Wadsworth is the leading art museum in Hartford: http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/

Yale%26#39;s Peabody Museum (impressive dinosaur collection) http://www.peabody.yale.edu/

Web page for Connecticut landmarks: http://www.ctlandmarks.org/index.php

If you are interested in the American civil war and fight against slavery, you may want to look into the CT freedom trail: www.ctfreedomtrail.com/site/urailroad.html

Thanks again!!! Some great links there.

Do you really need an SUV? Gas prices are rising very fast. You probably won%26#39;t do any off road driving. Also, if you have car insurance, check to see if it will cover you in a rented car in the States. In the US, our car insurance covers rental cars and we never spend the extra for Liability insurance at car rentals.

Definitely plan time in Boston. The Museum of Fine Arts is excellent. If you are at all interested in science, the Boston Science Museum is probably one of the best in the country.

I-95 through Connecticut can be very congested during rush hour, so either plan to travel the coast midday, or take other routes. The Merritt Parkway, which parallels it is very pretty.

If you%26#39;re looking for one more small but very good museum in CT, come to New Britain to the New Britain Museum of American Art. http://www.nbmaa.org/

It%26#39;s off Route 84 which is the inland route from NYC to Boston. And eat lunch at Angelos Deli on West Main just before turning in for the museum.

Have a great time!

Thanks for the reply. We don%26#39;t need an SUV but we do drive one over here as we live in the Highlands of Scotland and can get quite a bit of snow in the winter, so we feel more confident in that type of vehicle as that%26#39;s what we are used to. As for the price of gas, we pay over $8 a US gallon over here so your prices will seem very cheap to us!

I%26#39;m pretty sure our insurance companies don%26#39;t cover rentals but I will check to make sure.

Thanks for the tip on taking the Merritt Parkway we would prefer to take scenic routes where possible, and also for the info on the museums, just the kind of thing we like.

Really looking forward to our trip!

$8 a gallon! Oh my!

Make sure you go on the Merrit Pkwy. Its one of the oldest Pkwy%26#39;s in the US. you can take it down to NY, its a fun ride. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Parkway

Just make sure that you don%26#39;t get on northbound after 3pm or southbound at 7am.(unless you like traffic jams)

Since you are coming in June, you definitely won%26#39;t have to worry about driving in snow and a large SUV is not always the best thing to drive in the city. Something to think about, you might have time to visit southwest New Hampshire as it is just over the Mass. border and offers some more options for your trip. All the states have a Dept of Tourism that will be very happy to send you maps, etc so you can have them with you when you start. In Springfield Mass we love the Dr Suess figures at the museum downtown and the Botanical Gardens at Smith Colleg in North Hampton.

Other important museums/collections beyond those in New Haven and Boston include the Clark in Williamstown, the Addison in Andover, and the Peabody-Essex in Salem--all in Massachusetts; also the Wadsworth in Hartford, Conn. In Cambridge, MA, the Harvard and MIT museums have important collections. The principal tourist areas in Mass are Cape Cod, Boston, Cape Ann, and the Berkshires. All are worth a visit although the high season for cultural events in the Berkshires is July-Aug. Connecticut has been well covered in earlier posts. While you%26#39;re at it, might as well visit Rhode Island, where Newport offers exceptional sights.