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North America

Planning a North America holiday

We are working to update this page to include information about Nova Scotia and Quebec. For the time being, it refers only to New England (with the exception of the passports section).

• When to go
• Where to go
• What to do
• Getting there
• Passports & visas
• Getting around
• Guide books & maps
• Internet

When to go

The seasons in New England are comparatively short, and don't match British seasons.

While spring in Britain is often glorious, in New England it's called the Muddy Season: all that snow melting. That's why our summer holidays don't start until mid-May. By then it has warmed up, and everything is bursting with life and colour.

From June through to early September you can expect British summer type weather: often sunny, usually warm, sometimes hot, generally dry. Perfect for our gently active holidays with enough heat and sunshine to make strolling alongside a lake, or picnicking on a deserted beach an absolute pleasure. In fact, the New England summer is a revelation. From the blaze of colour of late spring, when the lilacs bloom in extravagant mounds of colour, through the high summer when New England is at its most leisurely and laid-back, to the first mellow tones of fall, every month has its glories.

Autumn, the fall, begins early in this northerly location. By the second week in September, the foliage is beginning to turn orange, gold and red, and by mid-October it is all over with inns closing for the winter, or at least for a well earned holiday. Remember, fall is the highest of high seasons, and we prefer the quieter times when you are also more likely to encounter fine weather, and the welcomes are at their most genuine.

So the pick of the times to visit New England? We'd suggest mid-June to early July for a warm spring type holiday, and mid-July to late August for a ‘summer’ holiday, but we'd also strongly recommend going in late August through to mid-September because it's still warm and you get the glorious beginnings of the fall foliage.

Fall peak times inevitably vary from year to year and by region, the more northerly areas tending to be two weeks or so in advance of more southerly areas, but you'll best catch New England's fall between about 15 September and 15 October.

This is still a great time for walking, too: indeed, some say it's the best time. Remember, most Americans will do no more than stroll half a mile (if that) from their car, so you'll find most trails and tracks as peaceful as ever.

The only period when there is a significant influx of visitors is from Independence Day (4 July) to the Labour Day weekend (toward the end of August), and the first two weeks of October for fall. But many Americans are more weekenders than holiday-takers, so you'll find Friday and Saturday nights busier in many inns (often with prices higher and minimum stays of two nights).

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Where to go

The USA's northeast corner pivots on Boston, and is a huge area made up of six states: Massachusetts (the most developed), Connecticut (the most southerly), Rhode Island (the most "chi-chi" with its Providence sailing), New Hampshire (the most mountainous), Vermont (the most undeveloped), and marvellous Maine (in to which the other five states could easily fit).

We've chosen to concentrate on the three states that most readily offer the ‘Inntravel Experience’ - Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, though we also offer Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Boston is the gateway, and well worth at least a 2-night stay to give you time to explore. Uncharacteristically of American cities, it is one that you can discover on foot.

In each of our chosen states, we have focused on one area that we feel gives you the very best of that state: in Vermont, the Green Mountains which gave the state its name; in New Hampshire, the rolling landscapes close to the dramatic White Mountains; in Maine the north-east corner known as Down East Maine focusing on the Acadia National Park; and Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Our recommendation (and, we suspect, your choice) would be to stay in at least two states so you experience the variety and sheer scale of New England. That's how we've planned our fly-drive itineraries, often based on 2- and 3-night stays, to give you two days to explore, but, as ever, you can add extra nights wherever you wish, or indeed create your own itinerary. As with our other holidays, if you wish to combine one of our itineraries with a few nights in accommodation that you have arranged yourself, this does not pose a problem.

A word of warning about New England ‘inns’ if you do wish to explore a different region: from our own visits we know that the larger ones tend to be very much hotels, despite an ‘inn’ in their name, while some of the smaller ones are very ‘prissy’ with good sounding menus and poor quality cooking. One problem is that inns can often pay to be included in directories, and another is that American tastes often differ to our own, so what guide books describe as ‘comfortable’ we would regard as formulaic, and ‘characterful’ as kitsch.

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What to do

The best advice we've received is not to be an archetypal American tourist in America: in other words, don't try to cram too many sights in to your stay.

Indeed, our experience has been that the slower you take it, the better New England is enjoyed - and particularly on foot whether it is the streets of Boston or a Vermont village, the New Hampshire White Mountains or a Maine island. For this reason, the emphasis of all our holidays is on leisurely exploration.

Getting there - and back

The 8.5–9 hour flights are hardly the highlight of the holiday, but are long enough to relax and not too long to get too fractious.

Our holidays include scheduled flights with British Airways from Heathrow. The best plan is to take a late morning flight out of the UK arriving in Boston in mid afternoon enabling you to enjoy a full evening in Boston, then set off the next morning. On the return, we recommend late afternoon flights, which allow you to get some sleep and arrive back early in the morning.

Passports, visas & health requirements (updated October 2008)

NEW ELECTRONIC TRAVEL SYSTEM (ESTA)
Most British citizens are able to enter the US without a visa under the Visa Waiver Programme (VWP - see information on passports and visas below). However, from January 2009, everyone wishing to travel to the US under the VWP must also obtain Electronic Travel Authorisation. This should be done by completing a simple online form on the website of the US Department of Homeland Security at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. This system will be used to determine eligibility under the VWP, and a decision will normally be made within seconds. Travel Authorisation must be obtained at least 72 hours before your departure to the US, and is valid for two years (or for the validity of the traveller’s passport, whichever is the shorter). However, we strongly recommend that you seek authorisation before arranging your holiday to the US.

PASSPORTS, VISAS & HEALTH REQUIREMENTS
Most British citizens (and some British Overseas Citizens and citizens of certain British dependent territories as listed at www.cic.gc.ca) can enter Canada without a visa provided they have a valid passport and do not have a criminal record. Please note that your airline will pass on your personal details to the Canadian immigration authorities prior to your arrival in Canada. In the US, the Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) enables most people described as British citizens to enter the US without a visa, provided that they hold a full, machine-readable passport (MRP). MRPs have two lines of text as letters, numbers and ‘<’ symbols at the foot of the personal information pages.

From January 2009 everyone travelling under the VWP must also obtain Electronic Travel Authorisation - as detailed above . If your passport does not have the two lines of text described, it is not machine readable, and you should obtain a B2 holiday visa from the US Embassy (the process for which takes several weeks and usually requires you to attend an interview) or apply for a new passport. In addition to being machine-readable, all new passports issued on or after 26 October 2005 must incorporate a digital photograph, and all those issued on or after 26 October 2006 must contain biometric data. Biometric passports were phased in gradually by the UK Passport Agency throughout 2006 and are denoted by a rectangular symbol at the bottom of the passport cover. The situation may change, so you should check with us, or visit www.usembassy.org.uk for up-to-date information. (This website also lists the circumstances in which you must apply for a visa, for example if you have a criminal record.) All visitors to the US are photographed and have their index finger digitally scanned on arrival, and your airline will pass on your personal details to the US immigration authorities prior to your arrival in the US, including details of your country of residence and the address of your first destination in the US.

Please check the validity of your passport. We recommend that your passport is valid for a further 6 months beyond your date of return from the US or Canada.

It is our understanding that currently no specific visas are required for travel between the US and Canada if you are combining New England and Nova Scotia, provided that you fulfil all the requirements outlined above for each country.

There are no reciprocal health agreements between the UK and the US or Canada. It is therefore all the more important that you have comprehensive travel insurance to cover you in the case of illness or an accident.

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Getting around

Two things you can't do easily in New England are get around by plane or train. The ‘hub and spoke’ system means you have to fly in and out of Boston to get almost anywhere in New England, so any air journey more or less takes a day.

Even more disappointing are the very limited railways. There are two lines running from New York - one to Vermont, the other up into Canada - but the train times are not very user-friendly, and they are all but impossible to use if you are starting from Boston.

In sharp contrast, the road system is great. That's no surprise really in such a car dominated country, but what is a really pleasant surprise is driving along beautifully engineered and maintained, empty (by British standards) interstate highways through magnificent landscapes.

The main state roads from town to town are generally also well maintained and comparatively traffic free, but the other surprise is how many minor roads are not asphalted, particularly in Vermont. Dirt ‘back roads’ are the norm, and you soon get used to driving on them. In fact, they help put the fun back in to driving. Ordinary saloon cars cope well with the roads, though we can arrange hire of a 4x4 for you, if you so wish.

The three things you do have to watch out for, though, are traffic lights, policemen and signs. You can often turn right at traffic lights even when the lights are at red – if there are no cars coming, and the signs tell you that it is permitted. You will get fined for exceeding the speed limits (50mph on highways and as low as 20mph in villages), no excuses accepted. You will miss a turning or two in towns as signs are often ‘environmentally friendly’, that's to say small, positioned close to the ground, and easily missed or obscured. On the other hand, most people are delighted you've asked them the way, and will want to chat for minutes or hours if you wish!

As a general guide, the drive from Boston to Vermont or New Hampshire is an easy 3-4 hours, while Boston or Vermont/New Hampshire to our area of Down East Maine is a full day's drive.

The only times the roads are really busy are rush hours around Boston, and the Independence Day (4 July) and Labour Day (end of August) weekends. At other times, the open road is yours to enjoy.

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Guide books and maps

Sadly, most guide books are fairly superficial, predictable and highly conservative in their attitudes to ‘exploration’, accommodation, shopping and eating out. Their definition of an authentic experience does not always deliver the ‘under the skin’ experience that we at Inntravel look for.

Consequently, if you buy a Fodor, Frommer, Thomas Cook, AA, Travel Smart type guides to New England, you may find yourself learning little about the places and things you really want to learn about. Better to buy guides dedicated to an area, such as the "An Explorer's Guide" series, published by The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont, with editions dedicated to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Local bookshops in each area also stock locally published guides, which are often not available nationally, or even on the internet (unless you surf really deep).

Similarly, maps are generally disappointing, and the best (and most user-friendly because they are in big atlas format) we've found are the DeLorme series, again available on a state-by-state basis, which you can supplement with local maps or the US government's series.

Using the internet to explore

As ever, it's not the amount of information that's the problem, it's finding the good and relevant stuff, especially when almost every New England village, inn, restaurant, shop and bicycle hirer has their own website. Some of the best sites to start at are:

www.discoverusa.com
www.discovernewengland.org
www.massvacation.com
www.vermont.uk.com
www.visitnh.gov
www.visitmaine.com
www.bonjourquebec.com

But our best advice is to search for a particular area or subject. We've found that Google alongside Alexa delivers the best and fastest results on a particular New England subject.

For online maps to locate places and for driving directions, we often use http://maps.yahoo.com/

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