Valerie
Los Angeles
I'm going to be in Connecticut next month and will be on a pretty tight budget. I'm looking for the best free and inexpensive things to check out! I love the outdoors, art, museums, you name it. Thanks!
Mystic and surrounding areas have beautiful scenery. Quintessential New England Shoreline. Olde Mystic Village is free to walk around (various shops in an old 18th century setting), Mystic Seaport has a fee to enter. Downtown Mystic is also nice to walk around, and stop at Mystic Pizza for everything Julia Roberts.
Drive Route 1 north from there and you'll hit Stonington (Connecticut) where there's another waterfront town to walk around. Nice little shops to browse. Go to the point and park for free, not a large area but great views. Crowded on weekends.
If you decide to try one of the casinos, Mohegan Sun is the nicer of the two. You don't have to spend money, just walk around the mall and watch the people. (Good on a rainy day)
Mystic and Stonington would eat up a day, maybe two if you like to explore.
Essex is nice, I would recommend taking the steam train and visiting Gillette Castle State Park. Castle is free to park, but a fee to get inside. Its nice to just walk the grounds and hike a bit. Nice views.
Hartford or New Haven have a lot to do, depending on your interests. New Haven has Yale and lots of culture. Hartford has Bushnell Park, The Mark Twain House & Museum, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Night life in both cities.
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Hiking is a great free thing to do in CT, there is Tarrywile Park & Mansion in Danbury but also some really beautiful parks in Kent such as Lake Waramaug State Park which has a beautiful lake and when you hike to the top its a gorgeous view of the town. Mount Tom State Park in Litchfield has some really great trails as well.
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