Mystic Ct Hotels

The Great Connecticut Summer Staycation

Gas prices have you worried? Airline tickets are astronomical? Is a cruise a bit out of reach for the family this year? What’s a parent to do?

In a few weeks, the kids will be home for the summer and maybe you have been able to get a few days (or a week) off of work yourself. Now is the time to plan out that vacation to maximize the fun without blowing your budget for the rest of the year. 

How will you craft an inexpensive summer vacation in this economy? A “staycation” is most likely the answer! Staycations are an old idea, but the concept has been around for at least 33 years…trust me, my mother was the queen of the staycation long before it became cool.

You see, sometimes my family had tough times and our household couldn’t take vacations out of state. So my mother found activities close to Woodbury.  

Does a staycation really save you money? Well, you don’t have to pay for a hotel, you can cook and bring your own meals, and transportation costs are at a minimum. The only thing you really need to pay for is admission… and sometimes, some activities are FREE! I compiled a few of my favorites here, and still have tons of ideas left over. There is a lot around to discover.

Both the Mystic Seaport and the Mystic Aquarium are great, but you may need to choose one or the other depending on your budget. Just down the road is the Submarine Force Museum in Groton which is FREE! A good link to them is  http://www.ussnautilus.org/ . I last went in April with some friends we made in Guam, they had many free activities for the kiddos. My son Chris’ photo is even on their website, showcasing the decorated “Sonar Dome” he made.

In Niantic, CT you will find Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut, where your kids will find two outdoor places and five different scavenger hunts for different age levels! Children from 1 through adult are $6. With an advance reservation, a group of $10 or more gets you an admission fee of only $4.75. Check out their website for further information:  http://www.childrensmuseumsect.org/hoursdirection.html .  

New London County has a lot else to offer, although I might be a bit biased; I taught at Stonington High School for 3 years, and this area is very close to my heart for another reason: it’s also where I met my husband and had my son.

Mystic CT Hotels For Visitors | timecity.org

The art of finding Mystic CT hotels doesn’t really have any mystique to it, considering it’s not really a big enough place for there to be any confusion. But there’s some real mystique about how the town is situated and the kind of attractions it has for visitors. Let’s start with the fact that the town doesn’t exist, so the major attractions are located in two areas that belong to different towns (Stonington & Groton) on opposite banks of the Mystic River.

Given the layout and the wealth of attractions, it’s best that travelers should choose a hotel that matches the reason for the trip. For instance, a majority of travelers have the Mystic Seaport at the top of their list of attractions. This is America’s biggest maritime museum, and the entire place is a period 19th century recreation of a coastal New England village.

The Aquarium & Exploration Institute’s beluga whales are another big attraction. Many visitors are interested in the institute’s programs related to marine rehabilitation. Among more populist attractions, there’s Mystic Pizza which is still very much famous as the inspiration behind the 1988 Julia Roberts movie of the same name.

There are also many more things to do here like shopping in the Olde Mistick Village and visiting Historic Bridge District on the Stonington side of the River. For all these visitors, a hotel along Greenmanville Avenue or Hendel Drive near the exit from I-95 offers easy access to both the Seaport and Aquarium. Not a big surprise that there are a whole bunch of big name Mystic CT hotels on this very spot.

Many are of the family friendly type, with suites and rooms offering everything fro refrigerators to microwaves. Guests are provided with complimentary hot breakfasts every morning and can expect to use free wi-fi internet. Facilities available for use at most every hotel include a pool, and business and fitness centers.

Apart from these visitors, there is a whole new breed of high spenders who come to enjoy the pleasures at the Foxwoods &Mohegan Sun casino resorts. The location of these resorts is set apart from the main tourist attractions, but it’s still accessible enough that many tourists can make a quick visit to one or both resorts. It also works the other way round, with the casino guests staying at a hotel onsite at the resort able to visit all the aforementioned attractions.

Whether visitors choose to stay near the Aquarium and Seaport, or at the casino resorts, two things can be said for sure. First, a visit to this quaint town is sure to be very unique and different from most anything else in Connecticut or New England. Secondly, even though it’s a small town, the hotel choices are quite varied and visitors will be surprised at the excellent facilities in each hotel.

A history of Mystic, Connecticut, from Pequot village to tourist town

Frommer's New England

Frommer's 96 New England

New York Magazine

Experiencing America's past, a travel guide to museum villages