Hello all,

Wife and I will be at the Naval Submarine base in New London/Groton CT in two months. Neither of us are familiar with the area, so I would like to ask if anyone could provide suggestions for sights to see along the coastal area of the general CT area, from Narragansett RI to the east, to possibly as far west as Branford. Of particular interest are towns with walkable downtown areas with dining and shopping opportunities. Already know about Mystic, and will stop in Watch Hill at the suggestion found in an earlier thread.

Can also use suggestions for interesting small towns between Bradley International Airport and the New London area. A person in an earlier thread suggested Chester, so we hope to stop there on our way to or from.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

C

Newport, RI isn't that much further from Groton than Narragansett (Google Maps says it's an hour and 8 minutes from Groton as of now). Highly recommend a visit there, famous for it's Gilded Age "cottages" like The Breakers. I can't make any specific recs for places, but there is also a selection of restaurants to have lunch by the water.

I lived in RI for a summer in college and my brother in law was stationed in Groton, definitely more things to do closer to RI than Groton.

Agree with the above recommendation for Newport, one of my favorite towns in the US. The cliff walk & breakers make for a great day trip.

Coast Guard House restaurant is strong, my sister and her husband ate there often.

Iggy's Doughboys and chowder house in Warwick is a great area, delicious frozen lemonade next door.

North Kingstown town beach is a quaint beach area, cute downtown area.

I have family in east Hampton so I took the ferry over to Orient point and drove over to Montauk, that would be a great weekend trip if you're there for an extended period of time. The Whaling homes in Sag Harbor were really cool. I can give more recs here if needed, but that's a really pretty area.

I'll send anything else that comes to me.

I hated Connecticut the two years I worked for UTC at Hartford and much of that state is horrendous

but Mystic where they filmed the Julia Roberts movie is still quaint

I would head for Martha's Vineyard and Block Island

Buddy grew up and still has his family home in Essex. He claims it's a very quaint picturesque small coastal town