Connecticut
These 5 Connecticut day trips will fill you with holiday magic. Check them out
Winterfest Parade in downtown Norwich
Winterfest Parade in downtown Norwich
John Shishmanian, The Bulletin
Looking to make some core memories with your family and friends this holiday season?
Connecticut has plenty of festive attractions perfect for a day trip. From holiday shopping in a charming Christmas village to relaxing on a Christmas-themed train ride, the state offers lots of ways to fill everyone in the family with holiday cheer.
Whether you’re coming from in or out of state, here are five holiday attractions worth a day trip in Connecticut.
See the lights at Glow Hartford
Recently ranked as one of the nation’s best Christmas light displays by U.S. News & World Report, Glow Hartford is an indoor light display set in the Connecticut Convention Center with over a million lights. Interactive light displays feature Christmas scenes and impressive structures from all over the world, including the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. The light show is joined by a vendor marketplace, giant LED swings, a scavenger hunt, a light-up train ride and visits with Santa.
Tickets to Glow Hartford cost $30 for adults, $20 for children ages 5-15 or $15 for seniors over 65, military, police, first responders and veterans. The lights will glow every Thursday-Sunday through Dec. 29, with additional dates the week before Christmas. Hours are 4-9 p.m. on weekdays or 12-9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Adventure at Powder Ridge
For those who love winter sports, head down to Winterfest at Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort. Along with skiing, snowboarding and snowtubing, this ski resort’s festival has a winter village with live music, visits with Santa in an igloo, carnival games, a paintball gallery, a vendor market, food trucks and an ice bar. General admission to the winter village is $9, and admission with a ski, board or tubing session is $21. Winterfest is open on weekends through Dec. 22, with hours from 5-9 p.m. Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Take a train ride at the Connecticut Trolley Museum
It may not be the Polar Express, but the Connecticut Trolley Museum offers a Christmas train ride through a “Tunnel of Lights” with over 10,000 tiny bulbs. Passengers can choose to experience the lights from an open-air trolley car or stay warm with a closed car. General admission tickets cost $16 for closed cars or $21 for open cars. Trolleys run from 5-9 p.m. every Friday-Sunday from Nov. 29 through Dec. 22.
Visit Mystic
During the holiday season, Mystic has too many Hallmark-worthy Christmas events to even count. (In fact, there is even as Hallmark movie called “Mystic Christmas.”) Dazzling light displays can be found at the Mystic Aquarium and Seaport Museum, while Downtown Mystic hosts a lighted boat parade featuring Santa on a tug boat.
Mystic also offers an elevated holiday shopping experience, ranging from charming boutiques on Main St. and a holiday stroll through the Downtown Mystic Shops to Olde Mistick Village, an outdoor mall modeled after a colonial village which hosts the town’s Holiday Lights Spectacular and Holiday Carnival.
Drive through Connecticut’s Christmas Movie Trail
Love holiday movies? You can now visit Connecticut filming locations of Christmas movies from Lifetime, Hallmark and Netflix on the nation’s first Christmas Movie Trail. A map of 22 in-state filming locations and a supplementary itinerary for each movie invites holiday film enthusiasts to go on a self-guided tour of Connecticut’s cozy inns, charming shops and iconic landmarks captured on screen.