Must-see attractions in Connecticut

  • UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 09:  Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

    Wadsworth Atheneum

    Connecticut

    In 2015 the nation's oldest public art museum completed a five-year, $33-million renovation, renewing 32 galleries and 15 public spaces. The Wadsworth…

  • Yale Center for British Art

    New Haven

    Reopened in 2016 after extensive restoration, this fabulous gallery was architect Louis Kahn’s last commission and is the setting for the largest…

  • Exterior, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

    Yale University Art Gallery

    New Haven

    This outstanding museum was architect Louis Kahn's first commission and houses the oldest university art collection in the country; it includes Vincent…

  • Philip Johnson Glass House

    Connecticut

    Inspired by Mies van der Rohe, this icon of mid-century modern architecture was the home of late Pritzker Prize–winner Philip Johnson and his art…

  • Mark Twain House

    Mark Twain House & Museum

    Connecticut

    For 17 years, encompassing the most productive period of his life, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910) and his family lived in this striking orange-and…

  • This decorative iron gate is the entrance to the Memorial Quadrangle on the campus of Yale University. The gate beneath Harkness Tower, crafted by Samuel Yellin, is the most ornate of his many works at Yale.

    Yale University

    New Haven

    Each year, thousands of high-school students make pilgrimages to Yale, nursing dreams of attending the country's third-oldest university, which boasts…

  • M657FF New Britain Museum of American Art _ New Britain, Connecticut, USA

    New Britain Museum of American Art

    Connecticut

    Moved to its present, modern premises in 2003 in honor of its centenary, the impressive yet little-known New Britain Museum of American Art houses a stand…

  • Hartford

    Connecticut Science Center

    Connecticut

    Designed by Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli, the Connecticut Science Center is both an exciting architectural space and an absorbing museum for adults…

  • Roseland Cottage

    Connecticut

    This colorful museum was once the summer home of Henry Bowen and his family. Meticulously maintained by the fabulous people at Historic New England, the…

  • Shore Line Trolley Museum

    New Haven

    For a unique take on East Haven's shoreline, take a ride on this open-sided antique trolley – the oldest continuously running suburban trolley line in the…

  • Westport Arts Center

    Connecticut

    The Westport Arts Center is right on the river and has a busy schedule of changing exhibits, kids' classes and performances.

  • Hammonasset Beach State Park

    Connecticut

    Though not off the beaten path by any means, the two full miles of flat, sandy beach at Hammonasset Beach State Park handily accommodate summer crowds…

  • Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

    New Haven

    Built in 1963, this extraordinary piece of architecture is the largest building in the world designed for the preservation of rare manuscripts. The…

  • Grace Farms

    Connecticut

    This 80-acre parcel was purchased in the 1990s by a consortium of well-intentioned and well-heeled New Cannanites to save the property from development…

  • Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

    Connecticut

    Swing into the parking lot of this spotless white clapboard mansion, which was once the town store and is now a brilliant contemporary gallery…

  • Bishop's Orchards Winery

    Connecticut

    Bishop's Orchards Winery has been serving shoreline communities with fresh produce since 1871. Much more than just a winery, Bishop's is also a pick-your…

  • Stepping Stones Museum for Children

    Connecticut

    This museum is bursting with interactive, instructive fun, from the weather cycle to gravity to the principles of conservation. The Toddler Terrain is a…

  • Museum of Connecticut History

    Connecticut

    This museum, housed in the Connecticut State Library on Capitol Hill and renowned for its impressive genealogy library, packs a punch for US history buffs…

  • Elizabeth Park Rose Gardens

    Connecticut

    Known for its collection of 15,000 rose bushes, the 102-acre Elizabeth Park was donated to the city by a wealthy industrialist, who asked that it be named…

  • Mount Tom State Park

    Connecticut

    The best swimming in the Litchfield Hills is at this state park, 3.5 miles west of Bantam. The not-even-1-mile 'tower trail' leads to the stone Mt Tom…

  • A 16 acre park in New Haven, CT, used for many public events and bordered by Yale University.

    New Haven Green

    New Haven

    New Haven's spacious green has been the spiritual center of the city since its Puritan fathers designed it in 1638 as the prospective site for Christ's…

  • Nathan Hale Homestead, historic site of American Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale in Coventry, Connecticut

    Nathan Hale Homestead

    Connecticut

    Nathan Hale, a schoolteacher turned patriot who was eventually pegged as a spy during the American Revolutionary War and hanged by the British at the age…

  • Photo of a very old, vintage, antique tombstone (headstone) at the historic Grove Street Cemetery, one of the oldest burial grounds in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. ; Shutterstock ID 2312436465; your: Barbara Di Castro; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; full: poi
2312436465

    Grove Street Cemetery

    New Haven

    Three blocks north of the green, this cemetery holds the graves of several famous New Havenites behind its grand Egyptian Revival gate, including rubber…

  • Bushnell Park

    Connecticut

    The Capitol overlooks the 37-acre Bushnell Park, the first public park in the USA built with taxpayers' money. It was designed by Jacob Weidenmann and…

  • Jones Family Farm

    Connecticut

    Nestled in the White Hills of Shelton you'll find the 150-year-old, 400-acre Jones Family Farm, home of one of the premier wineries in the state. Aside…

  • Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

    Connecticut

    This aquarium focuses on the marine life of Long Island Sound, including sand tiger sharks, loggerhead turtles and harbor seals, with daily feedings at 11…

  • Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

    Connecticut

    This is one of the best surviving Second Empire–style country houses in the nation, so it's no wonder the 62-room mansion was chosen as the set for the…

  • Gillette Castle

    Connecticut

    Built in 1919 by actor William Hooker Gillette, who made his fortune playing Sherlock Holmes, this gaudy, medieval-style 'castle' is an eccentric turreted…

  • Harriet Beecher-Stowe Center

    Connecticut

    Hartford was home to Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the antislavery book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Upon meeting Stowe, Abraham Lincoln reputedly said, 'So this…

  • Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden

    Connecticut

    The town’s religious history extends to the founding of the first theological seminary in the USA by local resident Reverend Joseph Bellamy. His home, the…

  • Florence Griswold Museum

    Connecticut

    Florence Griswold's house, which her artist friends decorated with murals (often in lieu of paying rent), is now the Florence Griswold Museum. The 'home…

  • Silver Sands State Park

    Connecticut

    Meander off into the marsh's dirt trails for some excellent birding (there's also a Connecticut Audubon Center at Milford Point, down the road), or stick…

  • Kent Falls State Park

    Connecticut

    A rather amazing and popular site, you can walk a quarter-mile to the top – where there's a gushing 70ft waterfall – stopping at various platforms along…

  • State Capitol

    Connecticut

    Built of New England granite and white marble and topped by an ostentatious gold-leaf dome, the Gothic palace that is Connecticut’s State Capitol (1879)…

  • Old State House

    Connecticut

    Connecticut's original capitol building (from 1797 to 1873) was designed by Charles Bulfinch, who also designed the Massachusetts State House in Boston,…

  • Bruce Museum

    Connecticut

    One of Greenwich’s wealthiest 19th-century residents, Robert Moffat Bruce was a textile tycoon who deeded his property to the city to become what is now…

  • Haight-Brown Vineyards

    Connecticut

    The veranda overlooking the state’s first wine-producing vineyard (established 1975) sets the mood, while chocolate and cheese pairings make it even more…

  • PEZ Visitor Center & Museum

    New Haven

    PEZ dispensers are iconic American kitsch, but their origins are in Austria. You'll glean this and a few other factoids here, but the real gems are the…

  • Sculpturedale

    Connecticut

    Denis Curtiss has turned his yard into a veritable menagerie of cast-iron giraffes, hippos, turtles, elephants, herons and even a few people. They're…

  • West Cornwall Covered Bridge

    Connecticut

    You'll want to venture down to the river's edge to photograph this quaint covered bridge, built in 1864 and famed for allowing the passengers of horse…

More destinations you need to see