89 Best Sights in Connecticut, USA

The owner of this 19th-century home, wealthy textile merchant Robert Moffat Bruce, bequeathed it to the town of Greenwich in 1908 with the stipulation that it be used "as a natural history, historical, and art museum." Today this diversity remains, reflected in the museum's changing exhibitions—more than a dozen new ones each year—highlighting fine and decorative arts, natural history, and anthropology. On permanent display is a spectacular mineral collection. Kids especially enjoy the touchable meteorite and glow-in-the-dark minerals, as well as the fossilized dinosaur tracks. The gift shop is terrific, too!

Housed in an 1878 steamboat warehouse, this museum tells the story of the Connecticut River through maritime artifacts, interactive displays, and ship models. The riverfront museum even has a full-size working reproduction of the world's first submarine, the American Turtle (named for its appearance); the original was built by David Bushnell, from nearby Westbrook, in 1775 as a "secret weapon" to win the Revolutionary War.

This strikingly modern building, designed by world-renowned architect César Pelli, houses 40,000 square feet of exhibit space under a wavelike roof that appears to float over the structure. Among the more than 165 hands-on exhibits, youngsters, teens, and adults alike can dive into a black hole and examine the moon's craters in the Exploring Space exhibit, race mini-sailboats and magnetic trains at Forces in Motion, and discover hidden athletic talents in the Sports Lab. Kid Space is perfect for ages three to six, and everyone enjoys mingling with free-flying butterflies in the Butterfly Encounter. Complete your visit by taking in a movie in the 3-D digital theater.

In the same spot since 1976, this outdoor flea market has grown from a dozen or so vendors to more than 500 on a typical Sunday, along with food trucks offering everything from a snack to full meals. You'll never know what usual and unusual treasures you'll find spread out on the field, as every Sunday brings out a different collection of vendors selling all manner of antiques, collectibles, housewares, and merchandise, along with, simply, "things." Serious buyers arrive by 5:30 am and pay $20 admission for the privilege; other "early birds" prepay $10 online to enter at 7 am; the rest of us are happy to browse from 8 am to 2 pm and pay just $3.

This excursion offers some of the best views of the Connecticut River Valley from a vintage steam locomotive pulled by 1920s-era coaches and an old-fashioned riverboat. The train, traveling along the Connecticut River through the lower valley, makes a 12-mile round-trip from Essex to Deep River Landing. Before returning by train to Essex, you have the option of boarding the Becky Thatcher riverboat and cruising along the river past Gillette Castle, Goodspeed Opera House, and fascinating deep-water coves and inlets. (The open promenade deck on the boat's third level offers the best views.) The train also hosts themed excursions such as the seasonal North Pole Express (from mid-November until Christmas).

Central to Old Lyme's artistic reputation is this grand late-Georgian-style mansion, which served as a boardinghouse for members of the Lyme Art Colony in the first decades of the 20th century. When artists such as Willard Metcalf, Clark Voorhees, Childe Hassam, and Henry Ward Ranger flocked to the area to paint its varied landscape, Miss Florence Griswold offered both housing and artistic encouragement. The house has been restored to its 1910 appearance, when the colony was in full flower (clues to the house's layout and décor were gleaned from members' paintings). The museum's 10,000-square-foot Krieble Gallery, on the riverfront, hosts changing exhibitions of American art. Café Flo, on-site, serves lunch on the veranda or have a picnic on the lawn.

The 122-acre park's main attraction is a rather outrageous, 24-room, oak-and-fieldstone hilltop castle—modeled after medieval fortresses of the Rhineland and built between 1914 and 1919 by the eccentric actor and playwright William Gillette. You can tour the castle (and its secret passages) and hike trails near the remains of a 3-mile private railroad, which chugged about the property until the owner's death in 1937. Gillette, who was born in Hartford, wrote two famous plays about the Civil War and was especially beloved for his play Sherlock Holmes (in which he performed the title role). In his will, he demanded that the castle not fall into the hands of "some blithering saphead who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded."

This magnificent 1876 Victorian-gingerbread "wedding cake" theater on the Connecticut River—so called for its turrets, mansard roof, and grand filigree—is widely recognized for its role in the preservation and development of American musical theater. More than 20 Goodspeed productions have gone on to Broadway, including Annie and Man of La Mancha. Performances take place from May through December; one-hour Opera House tours are offered on the first Saturday of the month.

The largest of the state's public beach parks, Hammonasset Beach State Park has 2 miles of white-sand beach, a top-notch nature center, excellent birding, and a hugely popular campground with more than 550 open sites. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming; walking.

Oddly enough, you'll find the world's largest indoor adventure ropes course within Jordan's Furniture Store. The 60-foot-high courses have more than 100 activities, like walking across zigzag swinging beams rope ladders, bridges, moving planks, a 50-foot free-fall jump, four 200-foot-long ziplines, and more. At Little IT, toddlers and little kids can zip along, too.

Looking for a quintessential New England outing? The Lyman family first settled on a 37-acre plot just south of Middletown in 1741; today, it's an 1,100-acre orchard that's not to be missed. Get lost in the sunflower maze, then pick your own seasonal fruits—berries, peaches, pears, apples, and even pumpkins—from June to October. Or stop by the Apple Barrel Market, open all year long, to shop for farm-fresh pies, fruit baskets, jams and preserves, and gifts.

Built in 1874, this was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (better known as Mark Twain) until 1891. In the time he and his family lived in this 25-room Victorian "Stick Style" mansion, Twain published seven major novels, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Prince and the Pauper. The home has one of only two Louis Comfort Tiffany–designed domestic interiors open to the public. A contemporary museum on the grounds presents an up-close look at the author and screens an outstanding documentary on his life introduced by Ken Burns. Tour size is limited; book online before your visit.

Housed in a large complex 1 mile from Foxwoods, this museum brings to life in exquisite detail the history and culture of the Northeastern Woodland tribes in general and the Mashantucket Pequots in particular. Highlights include views of an 18,000-year-old glacial crevasse, a caribou hunt from 11,000 years ago, and a 17th-century fort. Perhaps most remarkable is a sprawling "immersion environment": a 16th-century village with more than 50 life-size figures and real smells and sounds. Audio devices provide detailed information about the sights. A full-service restaurant offers both Native and traditional American cuisine. A 185-foot stone-and-glass tower provides sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.

The famous Arctic Coast exhibit—which holds 750,000 gallons of water, measures 165 feet at its longest point by 85 feet at its widest point, and ranges from just inches to 16½ feet deep—is just a small part of this revered establishment and home to three graceful beluga whales and several species of seals and sea lions. You can also see African penguins, fascinating sea horses, Pacific octopuses, and sand tiger sharks. Don't miss feeding time at the Ray Touch Pool, where rays suction sand eels right out of your hand. The animals here go through 1,000 pounds of herring, capelin, and squid each day—Juno, a male beluga whale, is responsible for consuming 85 pounds of that himself.

Mystic Seaport, the nation's leading maritime museum, encompasses 19 acres stretched along the Mystic River. The indoor and outdoor exhibits include a re-created New England coastal village, a working shipyard, and formal museum buildings with more than 1 million artifacts, including figureheads, models, tools, ship plans, scrimshaw, paintings, photos, and recordings. Along the narrow village streets and in some of the historic buildings, craftspeople demonstrate skills such as open-hearth cooking and weaving, interpreters bring the past to life, musicians sing sea chanteys, and special squads with maritime skills show how to properly set sails on a square-rigged ship. The museum's more than 500 vessels include the Charles W. Morgan, the last remaining wooden whaling ship afloat, and the 1882 training ship Joseph Conrad; you can climb aboard both for a look around or for sail-setting demonstrations and reenactments of whale hunts.

Children under three are admitted free.

An important stop for art lovers, this 100-year-old museum's collection of more than 8,500 works, from 1740 to the present, focuses solely on American art. Among its treasures are paintings by John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, and Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as sculpture by Isamu Noguchi. Of particular note is the selection of Impressionist artists, including Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, and John Henry Twachtman, as well as Thomas Hart Benton's five-panel mural The Arts of Life in America. The museum also has a café, a large shop, and a library of art books.

The more than 100 aircraft at this museum include gliders and helicopters, a World War II–era P-47 Thunderbolt, and a B-29 Superfortress, along with other vintage fighters and bombers—and an extensive collection of engines, instruments, parts, uniforms, and personal memorabilia. There's even a fighter-jet simulator. Next to Bradley International Airport, the museum also frequently holds open-cockpit days, allowing both young and old to play pilot.

Possibly the state's finest beach, the 50-acre park has a broad white-sand beach, an Olympic-size outdoor pool with a triple waterslide, an 18-hole miniature-golf course, an arcade, a half-mile-long boardwalk, kiddie rides, food concessions, a nature trail, and a picnic area. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: partiers; swimming; walking.

Summer visitors congregate at this state park, Connecticut's first, which has a 1½-mile sweep of sandy beach, two picnic areas at the water's edge, sports fields, and several food stands (open seasonally). The on-site nature center offers various programs from bird-watching to nature walks.

The gold-domed State Capitol building, built in 1878 overlooking Bushnell Park, houses the state's executive offices and legislative chamber, as well as historical memorabilia. Walk past the statue Nathan Hale, the official state hero, to the Hall of Flags to see historic battle flags carried by Connecticut troops in wars from the Civil War through the Korean Conflict—along with a camp bed used by Marquis de Lafayette when he came to Hartford to meet with George Washington during the Revolutionary War. When the General Assembly is in session (January–early June in odd-numbered years; February–early May in even-numbered years), visitors can observe the proceedings from the public galleries. The League of Women Voters provides free guided tours each morning by reservation.

The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571)—and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole (in 1958)—was launched and commissioned in Groton in 1954. The Nautilus spent 25 active years as a showpiece of U.S. technological know-how and is now permanently docked at the Submarine Force Museum, a couple of miles upriver from where the sub was built. Visitors are welcome to climb aboard and explore. The museum, just outside the entrance to Naval Submarine Base New London, is a repository of thousands of artifacts, documents, and photographs detailing the history of the U.S. Submarine Force component of the U.S. Navy, along with educational and interactive exhibits.

Cutting-edge art is not necessarily what you'd expect to find in a stately, 18th-century structure that, by turns, served as a general store, a post office, and, for 35 years, a church. Nicknamed "Old Hundred," this historic building is just part of the vast facility, which includes a 17,000-square-foot exhibition space that puts its own twist on traditional New England architecture. The white-clapboard-and-granite structure houses 12 galleries, a screening room, a sound gallery, a 22-foot-high project space for large installations, a 100-seat performance space, and an education center. Outside is a 2-acre sculpture garden. 

The Kate, as the Center is generally known, is an intimate, 250-seat theater in the Old Saybrook Town Hall building on the historic town green. The Kate presents a full calendar of concerts, dance, drama, opera, comedy, films (including some classic Hepburn films), and children's theater. (Some performances are broadcast on PBS TV in the national series, "The Kate.") In addition to the performances and presentations, a small museum displays memorabilia and reminiscences about Katharine Hepburn's life and career. She was a resident of Old Saybrook from 1912 (age five) until her death in 2003.

This 5-acre waterfront center, the cornerstone of the city's SoNo district, explores the marine life and maritime culture of Long Island Sound. The aquarium's more than 20 habitats include some 1,000 creatures indigenous to the Sound, including sting rays, sea turtles, harbor seals, river otters, and jellyfish. You can see toothy bluefish and sand tiger sharks in the 110,000-gallon Ocean Beyond the Sound aquarium. The Maritime Aquarium also operates an Environmental Education Center, leads marine-mammal cruises aboard R/V Spirit of the Sound, and has the state's largest IMAX theater.

The nation's oldest public art museum—and the first American museum to acquire works by Salvador Dalí and Italian Renaissance artist Caravaggio—houses more than 50,000 artworks and artifacts spanning 5,000 years, along with 7,000 items documenting African American history and culture in partnership with the Amistad Foundation. Particularly impressive are the museum's Baroque, Impressionist, and Hudson River School collections.

This 4,000-acre nature preserve houses top-notch natural-history exhibits. You'll find 30 bird-watching platforms, two self-guided nature trails, several boardwalks, boating facilities, and 40 miles of hiking, cross-country skiing, and horseback-riding trails. The Nature Museum has displays depicting the natural diversity found throughout the preserve, dioramas, live animals, a beehive, a digital microscope, and other unique exhibits of interest to kids of all ages (especially the scavenger hunt).

Featuring the largest collection of British art outside Britain, the center surveys the development of English art, life, and thought from the Elizabethan period to the present. The skylighted galleries, one of architect Louis I. Kahn's final works, contain artwork by John Constable, William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, and J. M. W. Turner, to name but a few. You'll also find rare books and paintings documenting English history. Explore on your own or take a free guided tour, offered Thursday and Saturday at 11 am and weekends at 2 pm.

New Haven's manufacturing history dates to the 19th century, but the city owes its fame to merchant Elihu Yale. In 1718, his contributions enabled the Collegiate School, founded in 1701 at Saybrook, to settle in New Haven and change its name to Yale College. In 1887, all of its schools were consolidated into Yale University. This is one of the nation's great institutions of higher learning, and its campus holds some handsome neo-Gothic buildings and noteworthy museums. Student guides conduct hour-long walking tours that include Connecticut Hall in the Old Campus, one of the oldest buildings in the state, which housed a number of illustrious students—including Nathan Hale, Noah Webster, and Eli Whitney. Tours start from the visitor center.

Since its founding in 1832, this art gallery has amassed more than 200,000 works from around the world, dating from ancient Egypt to the present day. Highlights include works by Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Eakins, as well as Etruscan and Greek vases, Chinese ceramics and bronzes, early Italian paintings, and a collection of American decorative arts that is considered one of the world's finest. The gallery's landmark main building is also of note: Opened in 1953, it was renowned architect Louis I. Kahn's first major commission and the first modernist building on the neo-Gothic Yale campus.

Hand puppets, rod puppets, body puppets, shadow puppets, marionettes—this museum has more than 2,500 puppets in its extraordinary collection. Many are the work of Frank Ballard, a master of puppetry who established the country's first complete undergraduate and graduate degree programs in puppetry at the University of Connecticut. If you're lucky you might even catch Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street on display.