Fall Foliage in New England by Train

Day 1 - Tucson to Boston

We fly to Boston, Massachusetts’ capital and largest city, and check into our Boston area hotel.

Day 2 - Boston Day Tour

We start with a tour of the city of Boston. We’ll learn about the different districts of the city including the Back Bay where we find so many beautiful brownstones, each with its own unique architectural design. We will also see Beacon Hill and the gold domed state house, Boston Common, America’s first public park and the Public Garden. we see the Old Statehouse, once headquarters for English governors and later the site where the Declaration of Independence was read to the waiting citizens of Boston. We see the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world!  After lunch we continue to the Boston Tea Party Museum and the JFK Library and Museum. (B, L)

Day 3 - Train Ride to Maine

This morning, we board the Amtrak Downeaster train to Maine. Our local guide will meet us for a driving tour of the coastal village of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.  This afternoon, we’ll enjoy free time in Perkins Cove, with its Marginal Way Shoreline Walking Path, benches to sit and watch the ocean roll in, boutiques and bobbing lobster boats. We check in to our hotel, then rejoin our group for a delicious lobster dinner. (B, L, D)

Day 4 - New Hampshire

Today we’ll explore New Hampshire. A boat ride on Lake Winnipesauke, one of the largest lakes enclosed in one state and a short coach jaunt brings us to Wolfeboro, the oldest summer resort in America. We enjoy free time for lunch and shopping in Wolfeboro, then tour the Wright Museum with its fascinating exhibits about military and home-life in World War II. In the late afternoon, we board the Winnipesaukee Railroad Turkey Dinner Train. We enjoy delicious hot roast turkey with all the trimmings during our two-hour trip along the lake. (B, D)

Day 5 - White Mountains of New Hampshire

We take the Kancamagus Highway through the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Mid-morning, we arrive at the Conway Scenic Railway for boarding of our train. We’ll travel on what was once the Maine Central Railroad’s famed Mountain Division line, on tracks that were laid in the 1870s. Enjoy some of the most dramatic natural scenery in the East as we travel through spectacular Crawford Notch – past sheer bluffs, steep ravines, cascading brooks and streams, panoramic mountain vistas, across Frankenstein Trestle and Willey Brook Bridge en-route to Crawford Station. Tonight we escape the ordinary and relive the romance of dining on the rails as we ride a restored Pullman dining car while enjoying an elegant 5-course dinner on the Cafe Lafayette Dinner Train. (B, L, D)

Day 6 - Vermont

Today we travel by coach into the Berkshires via Vermont. After our included lunch at the Publik House, we enjoy a visit to the Vermont Country Store, Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find. In today’s global economy, merchants at the Vermont Country Store search throughout the nation and abroad to find goods that fill the needs of American and international customers alike.  We lunch at the Publyk House in Bennington, then travel on to Hemmings Automobilia, a filling station with memorabilia and an automotive museum with 27 vintage automobiles. Visit our Car Lover’s store, café and old-fashioned Sunoco Station. (B, L)

Day 7 - Flight Home

It’s almost time to head home, but first we enjoy a Fall Foliage Leaf-peeper tour along the Berkshires scenic back country roads before arriving in Stockbridge, a picture-postcard town, where Norman Rockwell lived and worked. We can explore the Rockwell Museum on our own, stop in the Red Lion Inn to view its extraordinary teapot collection, shop in Stockbridge’s many quaint shops and lunch before we head to the airport for our flight home filled with memories of the fabulous fall colors and wonderful New England. (B)

Itinerary subject to change.