2026 Connecticut Travel Guide | Hotels, Dining & Attractions

Whether you’re a lifelong local or planning your first getaway to the Nutmeg State, the Editors’ Picks in our 2026 Connecticut Travel Guide highlight the best places to eat, stay, and explore across the region. Curated by the Yankee team with insights from local experts, these handpicked spots capture the flavor, charm, and spirit that make Connecticut so special.

2026 Connecticut Travel Guide

2026 Connecticut Travel Guide | Attractions

Best Agritourism Stop:
White Gate Farm, East Lyme

Bordered by approximately one mile of weathered stone walls and populated with whitewashed farm buildings and animal-friendly enclosures, this 100-acre working farm provides a glimpse of organic farming in an up-close and friendly environment. White Gate is a year-round marketplace for those seeking locally grown, truly organic produce and meats. There are farm-to-table meals and cooking classes held under tents and in the farm’s outbuildings, while the main farmhouse has been converted into an inn that is rented out for overnight stays.

Best Free Summer Event:
International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven

From May through June, the Elm City hosts an extraordinarily diverse and lively arts and culture festival that features all sorts of performances, talks, films, and tours taking place throughout the metropolis. Numerous musical acts from around the world perform on the New Haven Green throughout the festival, while plays, poetry readings, author appearances, art displays, and film screenings are staged at smaller venues. Guided tours, meanwhile, of several of New Haven’s historic, colorful neighborhoods make this a citywide celebration. Visit the festival’s website for times and places of events.

Best Fun Spot for Grown-Ups:
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville

Attention, motorheads: There’s year-round fun to be had at this 1.5-mile serpentine racetrack nestled in the gently rolling hills of northwest Connecticut. Opened in 1957, it is among the nation’s oldest continuously operating road racing venues—Connecticut’s own Paul Newman indulged his passions for speed and competition here for many years—and today on select weekends in spring, summer, and fall, races of all sorts can be enjoyed from the infield or on the bowl-like hillsides surrounding the track. In addition to watching the races, there are opportunities to take your own vehicle for a spin or participate in one of the many driving classes and amateur competitions.

Best Indie Music Store:
Redscroll Records, Wallingford

If you’re a fan of vinyl records, this place is your little slice of stereophonic heaven. Redscroll Records resides in a high-ceilinged warehouse that has row after row of tables covered with black plastic milk crates, each crammed full of albums, both used and new. Nearly all musical genres are represented, with a special emphasis on underground music. CDs and 45s line the walls on shelves, and everything throughout the store is clearly labeled and logically organized.

Best Museum Shop:
Nature’s Art Village, Oakdale

Dinosaur lovers young and old love this place, and its adjacent museum shop is custom-made for paleontologists of all ages and levels of interest. After taking in the 60-acre family fun park with its life-size dinosaur sculptures, enter the six-store annex and head to the Ancient Fossil Shop. There you’ll find hundreds of fossil bits and pieces like dinosaur egg fragments, real dinosaur bones from Utah Valley, Green River formation fossils, and much more for sale in a high-ceilinged room that also showcases several authentic dinosaur skeletons.

Best New Attraction:
Lost in New Haven, New Haven

One man’s trash is artist Robert Greenberg’s treasure. His collection of nearly 100,000 items—from clocks and locks to building signs and concert tickets—tells the rich history of his hometown. Housed in a 25,000-square-foot converted warehouse, Greenberg’s “cabinet of curiosities” includes a fascinating portrait of Yale University athletics told through such unexpected items as the pie tins that students tossed across the green in the 1920s in a precursor to the Frisbee craze.

Best Rail Trail:
Farmington River Trail, Farmington area

The Farmington River west of Hartford winds its way through some of central Connecticut’s prettiest cities and towns, and the best way to enjoy the region is to take a bike ride or a walk on the approximately 18-mile Farmington River Trail. The mostly paved pathway connects four towns from Farmington to Simsbury and parallels the river over most of its course. Along the way, you’ll catch views of the river, wildlife, historic mills, rapids, and forested stretches. And because there are several parking areas along the trail, riders can do as much or as little exploring as they wish.

2026 Connecticut Travel Guide | Dining

Best Breakfast Spot:
Pop Over Eatery, Simsbury and Mystic

Popover pastries do indeed top the menu at these two cheery breakfast and lunch spots, one in an upscale Simsbury strip mall and the other in downtown Mystic. Four “overstuffed” versions, like the Protein Pop (eggs, turkey sausage, bacon, mushrooms, and onions) and the corned beef fave, Irish Pop, ensure that you won’t need to order seconds. In addition, there are breakfast sandwiches and plates, pancakes, waffles, and healthy granola-based bowls. Both locations have deep offerings of coffees, teas, soft drinks, smoothies, and (in Mystic) brunch-appropriate libations.

Best Burger:
Liv’s Oyster Bar, Old Saybrook

Who would have thought that one of the top burgers in the state would be found in a shoreline oyster bar? But Liv’s has been surprising carnivores for more than 10 years with its eight-ounce Wagyu burger with bacon and farmhouse cheddar or bleu cheese served on a brioche bun and accompanied by Old Bay French fries, coleslaw, and pickles. If you’ve got room, the oyster sampler plate plays a delicious accompanying role.

Best Coffee Shop:
Two Wrasslin’ Cats Accord, East Haddam

This colorful café and feline-themed lounge in wooded East Haddam provides respite for visitors to nearby Gillette Castle. Two Wrasslin’ Cats is the creation of a retired molecular biologist who wanted to invent a space for peace, acceptance, tolerance, reflection, good coffee, and good vibes. And boy, does it deliver. The shop serves up a couple of comfortable rooms for lounging, a multicolored outdoor deck, and an admission-by-donation room occupied by several felines basking in dappled sunlight. In addition to the menu of coffee and tea choices, there are several fine breakfast and lunch offerings.

Best Craft Cidery:
Long View Ciderhouse, Southington

Sipping finely crafted hard ciders and sitting around a firepit while watching the sun set is a superb way to pass time at this central Connecticut farm and cidery. This historic property—the farm dates back to the early 1800s—makes hard ciders and sells them from their seasonal mountaintop cider truck and orchard bar. There are typically a dozen different creations on tap on any given day, while the orchard’s distilled brandies are great for warming body and soul on chilly evenings. Food trucks provide eats, and there is occasional live music.

Best Diner:
Laurel Diner, Southbury

Just a bit off the main drag in Southbury, you’ll find this modest whitewashed eatery with a dozen or so counter stools and a handful of tables serving breakfasts and lunches that have drawn nationwide praise. Owners Peter and Stephanie Homick took over the diner in 1997, and over the past three decades it’s been a true team effort: Stephanie runs the front of the house, while Peter mans the griddle, where he churns out heavenly corned beef hash, omelets, pancakes, hash browns, burgers, and grilled sandwiches galore. The diner’s grilled cinnamon roll is de rigueur for kids and adults alike.

Best Doughnuts:
Flanders Donut and Bake Shop, East Lyme

When Brooklynites Andy and Ingrid Terracciano founded the bakery in 1972 in tiny East Lyme they didn’t know what to expect. But five decades on, this family-owned shop continues to delight. More than 35 different doughnuts anchor the menu, from a traditional powdered sugar to the loaded chocolate-covered buttercream. Crullers and sticks of various flavors are also fan favorites. The glass cases are stocked throughout the day, though it’s best to arrive early for the most varied selection.

Best Italian:
Geppetto, Torrington

The lure of a more family-friendly life brought Carlo and Michelle Pulixi from New York City to Torrington, where they opened an Old World–themed Italian restaurant in the heart of the city’s downtown a few years ago. Geppetto is modeled on their previous restaurant in Brooklyn and features a rustic dining room, exposed brick walls lined with Italian wine bottles, a lengthy bar, and an elevated back area for larger groups. Menu highlights include roasted chicken livers wrapped in pancetta, gnocchi cacio e pepe, pan-seared halibut, and a choice of prime strip and ribeye steaks.

Best New American:
Washington Prime, South Norwalk

Get your modern American food fix at this fine dining mecca known primarily for its aged steaks and eclectic offerings of seafood, pasta, and small plates. Come hungry. Start with some locally harvested Copps Island oysters on the half shell, then share plates of thick-slab bacon, hot honey calamari, and fig and prosciutto crostini before moving on to Prime’s famous steaks. The dining spaces are as varied as the menu, with slick dining rooms, an intimate bar area, and blissful alfresco drinking and dining on Prime’s spacious, sunny patios.

Best New Restaurant:
Dandelion, Westport

With its vaulted ceiling, free-flowing indoor-outdoor dining areas, and mostly Mediterranean menu, Dandelion is a welcome addition to Fairfield County’s rich dining scene. Feast on such innovative delicacies as Moroccan cigars (local goat, preserved lemon, labneh, and harissa), dandelion salad, wood-fired sea bream, and fig and almond cake. A tawny-colored guava-rita with a jaunty lime is the favorite drink.

Best Pizza:
Modern Apizza, New Haven

New Haven pizza has been getting a lot of attention lately, due primarily to the city’s unique style of charred-crust, brick-oven “apizza” and its big three major purveyors: Frank Pepe’s, Sally’s, and Modern. Of the three, Modern is the only one that’s still a one-shop, mom-and-pop operation, and pizza aficionados are taking notice. Among the top pizza choices at Modern are the Italian Bomb (three meats, three veggies), the Clams Casino (clams, bacon, red bell pepper), and the deceptively simple, soul-satisfying mozzarella cheese pie. Wash it all down with locally made Foxon Park soda, the beverage of choice here.

Best Restaurant with a View:
Café Flo, Old Lyme

This seasonal lunch spot offers farm-fresh food and drink as well as inspiring views of a legendary stretch of the Lieutenant River behind Old Lyme’s Florence Griswold Museum. Tables are strung along the museum’s back veranda, overlooking a landscape that was painted hundreds of times by many of the finest early-20th-century American Impressionist painters. Simple yet elegant soups, salads, and sandwiches play starring roles, along with an enticing list of wines by the glass or bottle, local beers, and seasonal cocktails.

Best Sustainable Seafood:
Mystic Fish Camp, Mystic

This new dine-in-the-rough seafood spot in downtown Mystic just might be the future of seafood dining in New England. The brainchild of David and Kathleen Standridge, the forces behind the award-winning Shipwright’s Daughter restaurant, Mystic Fish Camp shines a light on underutilized species such as scup, dogfish, and pollock, which are served at a fraction of the cost of haddock and cod. The restaurant’s Poor Man’s Lobster Roll, meanwhile, is made from monkfish, done up in hot and cold versions, and nearly half the price of a regular lobster roll.

2026 Connecticut Travel Guide | Hotels

Best Glamping:
Wild Ride, Sterling

In far eastern Connecticut there’s a wild mustang sanctuary where you can actually camp in style at one of four glamping sites on a 150-acre wooded preserve. While the Wild Ride mustang sanctuary’s primary mission is to train formerly wild horses, guests may interact with the animals as they roam around the grounds. There are three fully furnished glamping geodomes that sleep three to five guests, plus a large geodome that can host as many as 20. Hiking and biking trails and seasonal berry picking offer plenty of daytime action.

Best Luxury Overnight:
Belden House & Mews, Litchfield

This lovely old mansion located just off Litchfield’s main street has been transformed into a high-end inn and spa of sterling quality. Belden House & Mews has spared no expense in creating a one-of-a-kind regal escape for city-weary travelers seeking some quiet time away. Step through the foyer and behold the large, couch-laden living room, the chandeliered library, and the green-hued, window-paneled bar. Most rooms come with four-poster beds and cushy furnishings. And behind the main house you’ll find the Belden’s bathhouse, complete with treatment rooms, a sauna, hot and cold baths, and a sun-dappled outdoor pool for the warmer months.

Best New Hotel:
Delamar Mystic, Mystic

Standing proudly on the banks of the Mystic River, this twin-gabled hotel, one of the latest in the Delamar Hotel Collection, takes full advantage of its waterfront location. Each room and public space has gorgeous views of the river as it flows by on its way to Long Island Sound. There’s a lovely heated outdoor pool perched between the hotel’s terrace and boat dock. The Delamar is situated about half a mile upstream from busy Mystic center, serving up easy access to summer fun but also guaranteeing a quieter, more peaceful stay in this charming seaside village.

Best One-of-a-Kind Rental:
CT Pizza Palace, New Haven

The Elm City has gone pizza-crazy in the past couple of years, hosting the world’s largest pizza party and staging a David vs. Goliath public relations dust-up with neighboring New York City. For visitors who are looking to get the full New Haven apizza experience, consider staying a night or two at this nostalgic Airbnb that is outfitted with vinyl booths, a jukebox, wall-mounted pizza menus, and other pizza-themed decor. Even better: It’s just steps from the famed Modern Apizza and an easy walk to legendary Wooster Square, home to Sally’s and Frank Pepe’s pizzerias.

Best Solo-Travel Escape:
The Spa at Norwich Inn, Norwich

This renowned inn and spa, located in the quiet recesses of eastern Connecticut, offers plenty for solo travelers who wish to unwind in privacy or engage in group activities with fellow lodgers. The spa features an array of options, from massages and facials to saunas and yoga classes. Other activities of interest include afternoon teas, happy hours, weekly trivia nights, and a wide range of dining options, from Ascot’s Pub to the Spa Juice Bar to the more formal Kensington’s Restaurant. Meanwhile, shuttles ferry guests to nearby attractions like Mohegan Sun Casino, Mystic Seaport, and Mystic Aquarium.

Honorees were selected by Yankee editors led by travel and branded content editor Kim Knox Beckius, with contributions from Mike Urban, author of six books on New England cuisine and frequent contributor to NewEngland.com.

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