Costs run slightly above the national averages, the highest usually during the fall foliage season (October and November), when leaf peepers will pay any price, it seems, to be where the action is.
Weather
Of course, summer is when most people want to come here, and when the locals enjoy trying to get sunburned. (Winter is best, of course, if you are a skier or other cold weather fan).
Connecticut is best from late April through early November.
Maine is best from May through early October.
Massachusetts is best from late April through early November, but Boston is glowing the brightest in winter, if you can stand the snow and slush.
New Hampshire and Vermont enjoy similar weather, though the former's is a tad milder, thanks to the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf Stream. The season for skiers is December through March, but for everyone else it's May through October, with the autumnal turning colors of the maple trees an annual time of pilgrimage.
Rhode Island's weather is a mix of Connecticut and Massachusetts, though with the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream again.
Activities in New England
Connecticut is much more than bedroom to New York City, having an expensive way of life all its own, with outdoor activities including antique hunting, tramping along quiet roads, visiting Native American parkland or snooping around Old Mystic, the state's fabled historic seaport. Indoors, there are programs at concert halls in Hartford and New Haven, and the attractions of galleries in both cities, too.
Maine is a large state with a small population, so there's plenty of room in which to hunt, though fishing is also wildly popular. The seacoast is gorgeous and still unpeopled Down East (the northern part of the coastline), while the southern half of the Atlantic shore is dotted with wealthy enclaves. You can try to go boating here, but forget about going swimming or surfing, as the water is much too cold, even in summer. Except for the fine galleries in many small seacoast towns and in Portland, indoor activities seem to consist mainly (sorry about the pun) in eating lobsters and clams.
In Massachusetts, Boston overwhelms the eastern half of the state by its presence, but there is still room on Cape Cod to enjoy watersports activities (especially in summer), and in the Berkshires out west to take part in hiking and biking, or even fishing. Antique hunters must go to Sheffield here, and lovers of nostalgia to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Performing arts fans should consider the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood or the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival near Lenox.
New Hampshire's glory is the White Mountains, where you can ski quite nicely in winter or hike around Crawford Notch in summer. Everyone should go up the Mount Washington Railway and also try driving to the summit on the gorgeously scenic auto road.
Tiny Rhode Island (the country's smallest state) attracts people with Newport, the first major resort area in the US. You can get out on the water in rented boats, for sure (at Fort Adams State Park), and there's golf nearby, but the main draw here are the "cottages," huge mansions built by millionaires at the turn of the last century (c. 1880-1910). Don't miss The Breakers, the Marble House and the Astor home, all on or near Bellevue Avenue.
In Vermont, scenery is king, the Green Mountains providing a base for a throne. Small towns (especially Newfane and Townshend) are also at their most idyllic here, so be sure to slow down and get out to look at one or more of them when you're driving around. You can ski in winter on Mount Snow, or rent mountain bikes there during the summer. The same activities go on, in spades, at Killington during both seasons as well. For indoor types, check out the Norman Rockwell Exhibition in Arlington (he lived in Massachusetts, too), and for addict shoppers, try the Manchester Center Factory Outlet scene, one of the nation's busiest.
