Travel Information for Connecticut Hotel Guests
If you are searching for an inn, hotel, motel or resort near a Connecticut attraction, amusement and theme parks, or close to shopping, cultural events, historic sites, museums and performing arts centers, or nearby zoos, a festival, a golf course, a Connecticut state park, this is where you will find it.
CONNECTICUT, one of the 13 original colonies, is a lace work of preserved Early American and Colonial structures and sites with a legacy of Victorian architecture, military firearms, Industrial Revolution manufacturing, literature and theater, and American Impressionist art. Today, world-class theater, music and art museums contribute to its well-stocked treasure-trove for seekers of cultural pursuits. Connecticut is also very much a place for family adventures, with easy access to attractions of great diversity such as beaches, historic carousels, old-fashioned fun parks, vintage train rides, farms and ranches for picking, petting and riding, museums and science centers, zoos and nature centers. Connecticut's small size, great diversity of terrain and wide open spaces make it ideal for outdoor enthusiasts. Almost every type of outdoor activity has its following here like cycling, hiking, kayaking and canoeing, river tubing, camping, downhill skiing and snowboarding, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. saltwater and freshwater fishing, boating, and hot air ballooning.
The Discovery Museum at BRIDGEPORT is an interactive museum with a simulated trip to the moon; at Captain's Cove maritime and amusement center visitors can take a guided tour of the Nantucket, a floating lighthouse; the Barnum Museum pays homage to showman P.T. Barnum.
Nearby, at MILFORD, there is bird-watching in a variety of habitats at the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center.
Some 16 towns make up the CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY region, among them East Haddam where visitors can tour the stone castle in Gillette Castle State Park or the Goodspeed Opera House where nationally acclaimed musicals are performed in a historic Victorian theater (15 of its shows have gone on to Broadway); at Chester, first settled in 1692, visitors can ride one of Connecticut's Historic River Ferries; at Essex the Connecticut River Museum spells out the history of the “No. 1 Small Town in the U.S.” and visitors can see the scenic river from the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat; other attractions include The Museum of Fife & Drum at Ivoryton showing America on parade; and the Fort Saybrook Monument Park at Old Saybrook where story-boards "walk" visitors through Old Saybrook’s history.
Visitors can find out why DANBURY was once called the "Hat Capital of the World" and other interesting exhibits relating to the Housatonic Valley at the Danbury Scott-Fanton Museum and Historical Society; the Military Museum of Southern New England includes the first tank made in the U.S.; the Danbury Railway Museum is housed in a restored train station; nearby the Brookfield Craft Center, housed in four colonial buildings near picturesque Candlewood Lake, is a showcase for contemporary art.
Jurassic-period dinosaur tracks (200-million years old) are housed under a geodesic dome at Rocky Hill in DINOSAUR STATE PARK.
Visitors can follow a trail through 15 historic places in FARMINGTON VALLEY, among them the Hill-Stead Museum Farmington, a Colonial Revival style house (1901) set on 150 acres.
At GUILFORD the Henry Whitfield State Museum is the oldest house in Connecticut and oldest stone house in New England (1639); the Guilford Handcraft Center is devoted to fine arts and handcrafts. Connecticut’s Old State House in its capital HARTFORD is the oldest statehouse in America, site of the country's first written constitution; other attractions include the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, the home of one of the country's most influential writers, the Mark Twain House where Twain wrote several of his books, the 1844 Wadsworth Atheneum with a collection of Hudson River School painting and African-American art, and the Elizabeth Park Rose Gardens, the first municipal rose garden in the country. I
In EAST HARTFORD the Vintage Radio & Communications Museum of CT tells the story of radio.
In WEST HARTFORD there are tours of Noah Webster House/Museum of West Hartford History, Webster's restored colonial birthplace which show how a typical family lived on the eve of the Revolution.
South of Hartford, three 18th-century houses of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum at WETHERSFIELD are furnished to provide a glimpse into a distinct period of American history; Wethersfield Museum contains permanent and changing exhibits.
LITCHFIELD HILLS is a region of rustic scenery, covered bridges, vintage clocks and Lake Compounce Theme Park in BRISTOL; also in Bristol is The American Clock & Watch Museum and the Carousel Museum of New England; the Gunn Historical Museum & Library is a 1781 house museum with changing exhibits & furnished rooms; other attractions are the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association Museum in KENT, the Gay-Hoyt House Museum, Sharon Historical Society, a 1775 Colonial house in SHARON, and in LAKEVILLE the Holley House Museum and Salisbury Cannon Museum.
MYSTIC Seaport is a maritime museum renowned for its tall ships in a re-created 19th-century New England whaling village; Mystic Aquarium has nearly 4,000 types of sea life, including whales and bottle-nosed dolphins.
Nearby, at GROTON, visitors can board the world's first nuclear-powered submarine at USS Nautilus & Submarine Force; The Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center traces the history of the tribe from its beginnings 11,000 years ago, with a 350-year-old Pequot village and interactive exhibits.
The NEW CANAAN Historical Society shows off its wares in five vintage buildings which are are home to seven museums and a library; the New Canaan Nature Center has 40 acres of diverse habitats with walking trails.
The Peabody Museum of Natural History in NEW HAVEN showcases 9-million natural wonders; the legendary American theater Shubert Performing Arts Center has backstage tours and "graffiti walls" covered with autographs of the performers. Yale University is one of the world's great seats of teaching; the Campus includes the Yale Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.
The Maritime Aquarium in NORWALK takes a look at the marine life of Long Island Sound, plus IMAX movies; Sheffield Island Lighthouse is a bird sanctuary accessed by ferry and with an 1868 lighthouse.
Native American artifacts are shown at the Museum of Natural History & Primitive Technology surrounded in SOMERS by nature trails. STAMFORD Museum & Nature Center includes a New England working farm, country store, woodland trails and picnic area; The United House Wrecking Co. is Connecticut's largest antique emporium.
The STORRS/MANSFIELD collection of over 2,000 puppets can be seen at Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry.
Visitors ride past rock outcroppings, rushing water, and historic structures on the “Naugy” at the Naugatuck Railroad Co/Railroad Museum of New England at THOMASTON.
Three centuries of Connecticut art and decorative arts are on show at Mattatuck Museum in WATERBURY, and at nearby Middlebury the Quassy Amusement Park is on the shores of Lake Quassapaug.
The New England Air Museum at WINDSOR LOCKS has more than 70 aircraft, from 1909 to modern jets.
Nearby at GRANBY the Salmon Brook Settlement is a 1790 Weed-Enders House with museum store, genealogy library, 1870 school, and a tobacco barn with general store.
At EAST GRANBY the Old New Gate Prison & Copper Mine, the colonial government's first prison, is filled with subterranean intrigue.
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