Top Things to do in Connecticut
Top Hotels in Connecticut
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What to do and see in Connecticut, United States: The Best Things to do Good for Couples
Connecticut is a study in attraction and contrast. In one small state, you’ll find miles of sandy oceanfront shoreline, acres of forested hiking trails, and world-class museums, art and theater. Here family-friendly adventure parks and aquariums are just minutes from dynamic casino resorts and quaint, historic small towns — offering experiences that range from culinary to cultural, luxurious to laid-back. It’s the perfect place to unwind and recharge, all at the same time.
Restaurants in Connecticut
1. Yale University Art Gallery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 953 reviews
Yale University Art Gallery is the oldest college art museum in America. The Gallery’s encyclopedic holdings of more than 250,000 objects range from ancient times to the present day and represent civilizations from around the globe. Spanning a block and a half of the city of New Haven, Connecticut, the Gallery comprises three architecturally distinct buildings, including a masterpiece of modern architecture from 1953 designed by Louis Kahn through which visitors enter. The museum is free and open to the public.
Reviewed By 397markc397 - Hudson, United States
I know people are attracted for special exhibits, and the one during my visit was indeed very special, however the gallery is well worth a visit at any time. A very diverse and deep amount of art is always on display, and along with the helpful and friendly security staff, its a true pleasure to visit! Just a note on the current exhibit: Matthew Barney Redoubt. Absolutely breathtaking. If you miss this at least google. Its stunning!
2. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 92 reviews
Reviewed By fcannarella - Hartford, United States
A really nice overall theater experience. And knowledgeable and helpful staff and very comfortable seating
3. Bruce Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 197 reviews
Explore Art and Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm;; closed Mondays and major holidays. Closed Christmas Eve, Monday,12-24-18, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, Monday, 12-31-18, and New Year's Day. Tuesdays are free, all other days are "Pay as You Wish," with a $10 suggested donation.
Reviewed By ArthurG121 - Scarsdale, United States
We have visited the Bruce Museum Numerous times over the last few years. When we heard that they had reopened, we decided to plan our visit. As a result of the Pandemic of 2020, you must reserve in advance by going to their website And picking a specific tine you’d like to arrive. They are limiting the number of guests to twenty five people per time slot. The Bruce Museum is small however they had three very interesting exhibits. They are in the process of planning and building an entirely new and much larger museum on their property. There are many reasons to plan a visit. They are located in a beautiful part of Greenwich and you’ll want to allow time to stroll to the water as well as to walk on Greenwich Avenue. The museum staff is made up of people who live their jobs and more importantly, the Bruce Museum’s organization values them too. During the months that the museum was closed, they didn’t furlough any of their staff. Not even their security guards. Everyone was kept on and received their full salaries. When I heard this from one of the security guards, I decided that we had to become members to support this wonderful institution!
4. Mystic Seaport Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3,309 reviews
Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation's leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, the Museum is home to four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the Charles W. Morgan, America's oldest commercial ship and the last wooden whaleship in the world. The Museum's grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT and include a recreated 19th-century coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT.
5. The Mark Twain House & Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,622 reviews
The Mark Twain House & Museum, a National Historic Landmark in Hartford, Connecticut, was the home of America's greatest author, Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. It is also where Twain lived when he wrote his most important works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and The Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. A stunning example of Picturesque Gothic architecture, the 25-room home features a dramatic grand hall, a lush glass conservatory, a grand library and the handsome billiard room where Twain wrote his famous books. The Webster Bank Museum Center at The Mark Twain House & Museum offers visitors an opportunity to learn more about Mark Twain, his family, the historic house, and the author's legacy. This state-of-the-art facility houses our ticket desk; the Aetna Gallery with a permanent exhibition on Twain's life and work; a rotating exhibition hall, The Hartford Financial Services Theatre, showing a Ken Burns mini-documentary on Twain; classroom space; the lecture hall-style Lincoln Financial Auditorium; The Mark Twain Store; entertaining spaces like the soaring Hal Holbrook and the sunny second floor cafe/patio area.
Reviewed By christinerH1415MU
Located right in Hartford, but tucked away in it's own little area, the Mark Twain house is a must see if you are in the area. It's available only by prebooked tour, and they do book up ahead of time so purchase tickets before driving out there. The cost of an adult ticket is $20, which seemed a little pricey until we were on the tour, and it quickly became apparent the price is worth it. Our tour guide Brendan was phenomenal, his knowledge of the history of both Mark Twain and the house itself was unmatched. The house is rich in history and was very advanced for its time, including having one of the first residential telephones which is still there today. The tour takes about 60-90 minutes, and then plan an extra 20-30 for time at the museum and gift shop.
6. Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 403 reviews
Pequot Museum, located in an ancient cedar forest minutes away from Foxwoods Resort Casino, is the largest Native American museum in the world. REOPENING MAY 19TH!!
Reviewed By GregK1239 - Contoocook, United States
We went here for the first time on our recent trip to Foxwoods. We were all very impressed with the size and scope of the museum. The exhibits were all top quality, and the recreated village is spectacular. I would definitely recommend spending a few hours here if you are in the area.
7. Yale University
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 806 reviews
One of the country's oldest and most prestigious universities.
Reviewed By veniag2019 - Fajardo, Caribbean
Loved Touring Yale. Made me want to go back in time and attend College here. Awesome guide and Great end of Summer Day to See a Beautiful Campus. Will go visit the Libraries more in depth the next time Im in town. If your thinking of going back to school or just want to see a Great Campus with wonderful people. Make sure you stop over to the Campus Tour best thing about it is its FREE.
8. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 573 reviews
The first public art museum in the United States features 50,000 pieces ranging from ancient to contemporary, the largest collection of Hudson River School paintings in the world, an impressive array of Pilgrim-era furnishings and European and American art.
Reviewed By kzsull01 - Windsor, United States
My husband and I have visited the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, multiple times, most recently on Sunday, April 18th, 2021. This museum, which is definitely worth visiting, is highly recommended and a great value, being free at the time of our visit and I believe will be free until sometime in July, based on what I read in the newspaper. The way this write-up is structured is that I first provide ‘General Information About Our Visit’ including Some Minor Issues. Then I talk about the Special Exhibits and then the Permanent Collection, in particular, the parts of the Permanent Collection that we enjoy the most. General Information About Our Visit Including Some Minor Issues: The museum has a great mixture of various types of artwork, addressing art from multiple perspectives, including cultural, historical and political, depending upon what is applicable. Our primary focus this time was on the multiple special exhibits, especially, ‘Paul Manship: Ancient Made Modern’. We also enjoyed the permanent collection, in particular, the Hudson River School/Landscape paintings, which are all very beautiful, as well as the other paintings/artwork that I mention later in this write-up. All the art throughout this museum is nicely curated with very good write-ups providing excellent supporting background information with great details, including time period of the artwork and cultural, historical and political impact. . We always enjoy this museum and hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy it as well. We only wish we had more time to see all this museum has to offer, which definitely is quite a bit!! We thank the museum for offering free admission at this point in time. It is definitely a great value. However, we can’t wait until when the museum starts to be open for more days a week and not just for their reduced hours. In addition, we would like more flexibility in terms of the time we arrive at the museum, than with needing to have timed tickets. Our visit to the museum took about an hour and a half, based on the amount of time available to us. However, it could easily have taken more than four hours to really see and absorb all the artwork that was on display. We parked on the street on the side of the Hartford Public Library for this visit. This parking was free on Sunday there, and was a short walk to and from the museum. There was also validated parking for a $3 flat rate for museum visitors with ticket validation based on the museum’s website, which is the Preferred Parking, located at the Connecticut Convention Center Garage. 100 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford CT, 06109. The website provides directions to this parking. Some Minor Issues: Although the museum provides a good map, we often go to the museum to view the Special Exhibits, but they are usually hard to find due to the way the museum is laid out. So I bring a list of the exhibits with me to the museum and ask for directions to each Special Exhibit as we enter the museum. However, it would be helpful for the museum to provide a list of the Special Exhibits as you enter the museum along with the directions to each. That way you won’t miss any of the current Special Exhibits and you will know where they are located. The other thing that we have experienced is that it was not easy to navigate from gallery to galley, based on how the museum is laid out and how the traffic flow is being controlled due to COVID-19. You feel like you are going in circles and you have to go up and down from the same floor multiple times to get to different galleries on it. It is definitely more walking than expected or even necessary. Special Exhibits: ‘Paul Manship: Ancient Made Modern’’: This exhibit is well done and is located on the third floor, 3R of the Avery Building, based on my notes. It is nicely laid out with a lot of space between the various pieces on display. Paul Manship’s approach to his artwork is interesting, unique, and nicely depicted throughout the exhibit where he modernized mythology by introducing a distant sense of motion to his sculpture and emphasizing surface detail. He blended styles from diverse places and time periods into a ‘mixed style”. He melded antiquity with modernism with his classical and ancient sources giving an allure of antiquity in the modern urban life experience, in particular in New York, where he provided cultural inspiration through his famous pieces of artwork in Rockefeller Center and the Bronx Zoo. . He blended iconography from multiple sources adding complexity to their meaning and storylines using different sources both distant and immediate. Native American Imagery reflected on the complicated representation of Indigenous people at the turn of the 20th century by non-Native artists. His imagery of ‘Indian and Pronghorn Antelope’, depicts the mythical idea prevalent in American visual culture, but also challenges it by referencing other cultures, blending native imagery with visuals from Greek and Egyptian sources. This definitely was an interesting approach!! The ‘Discovery, Change, and Innovation: Major Events in Manship’s Era’ provided an interesting timeline and good context. We recommend this exhibit, including reading the write-ups that provide good background information. ‘Todd Gray/MATRIX 185’: This is a very unique exhibit, located on the first floor off of Avery Court. It addresses the enduring impact of European colonialism, slavery and the American diaspora through photography using imagery of African people and landscapes with European imperial gardens and monuments and constellation images taken with the Hubble Telescope. The concept of the exhibit, which uses a collage of photographs to take us on a complex journey across time and space about history, identity and politics through Africa, Europe and the cosmos, is definitely thought-provoking, interesting and unique, but not really our type of art. We definitely had to read the write-up about this exhibit to understand what it represents. ‘The Dance on the Volcano: German Expressionism at the Wadsworth Atheneum’: This exhibit is located off of the Great Hall on the first floor of the Morgan Building near the Antiquity to the Renaissance Section of the museum. It depicts a timeframe of daring themes in art, using strong colors, flattened forms and distorted perspectives, artwork tied to Expressionism. Although this exhibit was relatively small it was interesting from the perspective of its historical significance, including Georg Tappert’s Geisha-Revue , which memorializes the feverish artist life in Berlin, Germany on the brink of World War I. . ‘A Love of Wood: Chaim Gross’s I Love My Baby’: This was the last day for this exhibit which was small with a very unique wood-carving. It had interesting write-ups providing good context to what was on display. On-Going Exhibits: ‘Design in the American Home, 1650 to 1850’: This exhibit is located on the first floor off of Avery Court. We have seen this exhibit multiple times in the past and have always enjoyed it. On display is beautiful well restored/preserved furniture, always worth seeing. The exhibit is like a walk back through time. The write-ups provide great historical context and are quite educational. . Permanent Collection – The Parts We Enjoy the Most: During our visit, as we have done in the past, we also enjoyed the permanent exhibits. The European and American paintings displayed in Salon Style in the Great Hall on the first floor of the Morgan Building, off of Avery Court, are beautiful and always nice to see. Also, off the Great Hall, is the Antiquity to the Renaissance Section of the museum, which includes: East Asian Antiquities, Egyptian, Greek and Roman artwork and, Medieval and Renaissance Europe artwork. The artwork in this section is nicely laid out, quite interesting, and very nicely preserved, being very impressive with historical significance. The write-ups within these exhibits are very educational and make you feel like you are taking a nice walk back through ancient time. These write-ups include: ‘Arts of China: the Qing Dynasty’; ‘Renaissance Art’; ‘Medieval Art’; ‘Early Christian and Byzantine Art’; ‘Living in the Ancient World’; and ‘Greek Colonization and Trade’. Before we leave the first floor of the Morgan Building we also like to take a look into the Victorian ‘Goodwin Parlor’, which is beautifully furnished. We always enjoy seeing the very exquisite Hudson River School landscape paintings located on Level 3 of the Avery Building in the American Art Section of the museum which has pieces from the time period of 1700s – 1950. The Hudson River School paintings include multiple impressive landscape paintings by world-renowned artists who followed the unique Hudson River School approach, which has always been one of our favorites. Also in this section of American Art is Early American and Late 19th Century Art and Design, which we enjoy. The second floor of the Avery Building includes the impressive Samuel Colt Collection as well as the Wetmore Parlor in the American Decorative Arts Section of the Museum, which has pieces from the 1600s – 1865. The second Floor of the Morgan Building includes European Art including the interesting and unique Cabinet of Art and Curiosity as well as the large collection of Baroque Art from multiple time periods and art tied to the French Revolution and Neoclassical, Romanticism, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements. . Again, we recommend this museum and hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy it as much as we have for a great mixture of various types of artwork.
9. Elizabeth Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 418 reviews
This walkers' haven, with several gardens along its wildflower trail, a lovely pond and sports and concert facilities, is best known for its magnificent rose garden, with 800 varieties of roses.
Reviewed By Waterfallz
This is a beautiful park with lovely pond and famous Rose Gardens; also Heirloom Rose Garden and stunning Shade Gardens, Tulip Gardens, Perennial Garden, Iris Garden, Herb Garden and more.The accreditation of Elizabeth Park's Kim Arboretum occurred in 2019. Wedding ceremonies in the Rose Garden and other gardens are frequent. The Pond House Restaurant has (seasonal) outdoor seating options as well as indoor seating year round. Food is very good; decor is eclectic - something for everyone - and reasonably priced. There is also a lovely wedding/event venue in the building. There are well-used walking trails, green houses, a playground and more.
10. The Submarine Force Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 874 reviews
The home of the world's first nuclear submarine has several other exhibits on the history of submarines.
Reviewed By peterf192 - Groton, United States
I really should have reviewed this site a long time ago. I am a retired submarine sailor. This museum, which includes a chance to tour the USS Nautilus, which was America's first nuclear submarine is a GREAT chance to see and feel a comprehensive example and memorial to the submarines and submarine sailors of rhe U.S. of A.!
